SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATIONAL AND ETHNIC IDENTITY IN YASOUJ CITY

Abstract

Current research aims to investigate the relationship between national and ethnic identities and the factors affecting their formation in Yasouj city of predominantly Lur. The research was carried out using a quantitative-survey method, and the research tool is questionnaire. National identity was measured in terms of geographical, political, historical, religious, linguistic, and cultural dimensions, and ethnic identity was assessed with indicators such as more focus on city, language, courtesy, and local habits. The research data were collected out of a sample of 383 people aged between 20 and 40 years old residing in Yasouj, which were selected by a regular random method. The results from the bivariate analysis indicated that there is a significant relationship between demographic variables including religious adherence, social interaction, social confidence, social-economic base, and the use of collective tools, and national and ethnic identity. The relationship between national and ethnic identity is direct and significant, indicating the importance of rapid social changes in identity formation and possibility of co-existence of different identities in the contemporary society. The multivariate analysis showed that the variables namely adherence to religious values, social confidence, ethnic identity, domestic and foreign audio-visual mass media totally explained 50% of changes in national identity. In addition, the variables namely religious adherence values, education, written mass media, age, and social confidence have explained 19.6% of changes in ethnic identity.