A Sociological Explanation of Different forms of Citizen’s Participation in the City of Khalkhal
Subject Areas : Iranian Sociological Review
Eghbaleh Aziz Khani
1
(Department of Sociology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran)
Alireza Mohseni Tabrizi
2
(Department of Social Sciences, University of Tehran)
Hossein Aghajani
3
(Department of Sociology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran)
Keywords: participation, group bonds, social alienation, Mass Media, religiosity,
Abstract :
This study aims to have a sociological explanation of the different forms of participation amongKhalkhal citizens and the factors affecting it. In this study, the important issue is attention to dimensions ofparticipation. The theoretical framework and model were presented by using the theory of Talcott Parsons,Lipset, Habermas, De Tocqueville, Lerner, and Rostow. This research was a survey and the structural validityand reliability were tested through Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The statistical population consisted of over 18year old citizens of Khalkhal who were 36,000 according to the Census Bureau. Through a multi-stage clustersampling method, 380 people were selected as a sample. To analyze the data, two methods of descriptive andinferential statistics and SPSS and Amos graphics softwares were used. After preparing the matrix, onedimensionaland two-dimensional information tables were set. This study aims to explain the different kinds ofparticipation (social, cultural, psychological, economical and political) among the Khalkhal adult population.The results indicate that the independent variables of group bonds, social alienation, mass media and socioeconomicstatus had significant relationship with participation as the dependent variable. Also, the results ofStructural Equation Model show that all model fitness indices were over 0.90. It means that, based on thedefined measures, the model has moved away from the dependent model and become closer to a saturatedmodel. Since that AGFI=0.904, TLI=0.911 and IFI =0.915 are close to one, it shows the fitness of the model andRMSEA=0.078 shows the weak performance of the residuals in the model.