The role of media literacy in the production of social capital among the youth of Mazandaran province

Subject Areas : Sociological Studies of Youth

Shahryar Sajedi Raeesi ¹ , Davood Doagooyan ² , Ali Rahmani Firozjah ³ , Majedeh Gholipour ⁴

1 - PhD student in cultural sociology, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran
2 - Associate Professor of Social Communication, Department of Sociology, Amin University
3 - Associate Professor of Sociology, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran
4 - Assistant Professor of Sociology, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran

Received: 2023-01-30 Accepted : 2023-02-07 Published : 2022-07-01

Keywords: Social capital, interaction, Mazandaran, social media, Social networks,

Abstract :

Social networks, as one of the most important parts of the media in virtual space, play an important role in consolidating social relations and the symbolic unity of society, especially among young people. The amount of daily consumption of the presence of young people in these networks and the expansion and influence of these networks among people has caused many changes in the behavior and mentality of the members of the society. This research aims to investigate the role of these networks in promoting the social capital of Mazandaran province. The method of this research is applied research and qualitative method with exploratory technique. By conducting in-depth interviews, the researcher aims to investigate and explain the role of networks and social media in the process of social capital production. The statistical population is elites and experts in the field of social media, who were selected by purposive sampling and snowball method. Qualitative data were analyzed using coding. The results show that the greatest role of Mazandaran social media in the formation of interactions between users 1-in the subject of individual interaction: sharing of valuable content, mutual cooperation and discourse, criticizing and evaluating the performance of others, especially the officials, and forcing the officials to answer Officials and information exchange is online. 2- On the topic of social interaction: holding joint meetings (clubhouse), establishing online communication between groups and social strata, interaction between non-governmental organizations. 3- Interaction for public education: increasing media literacy, increasing awareness generalization of laws, introducing crimes and their punishments, bringing up the duties and rights of citizens, creating attitudes and attracting public participation and activities of non-governmental organizations. 4- Interaction for media production: the quality of media programs and advertising production. To others: giving correct information to the audience, not exaggerating and matching the messages with the needs of the audience.