The Trust in Political Parties in the Urban Environment: The Case of Shiraz Metropolis

Subject Areas : Urban Sociology

Asghar Mirfardi ¹

1 - Associate Prof. of Sociology, Sociology and Social Planning Department, College of Economics, Management and Social Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

Received: 2022-05-05 Accepted : 2022-10-05 Published : 2022-10-23

Keywords: Shiraz metropolis, Iran, Mass Media, Urban environment, political trust,

Abstract :

This paper examines trust in political parties and currents in the urban environment of Shiraz metropolis. The purpose of this article is to identify the level of trust in parties in the urban environment. The sample size was 383 cases that were selected by random cluster sampling. The survey method and the self-administered questionnaire were applied whose validity and reliability were evaluated by Face validity and Cornbrash’s alpha coefficient, respectively. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the level of trust in parties according to the use of domestic radios, domestic television, and magazines and newspapers. There is no significant difference between the level of trust in political parties according to the use of satellites, the internet, and abroad Persian-language radios, but there is a significant indirect relationship between the degree of trust in parties and the membership period in social networks. There is a direct and significant relationship between the awareness of parties and the dependent variable. There is no relationship between age and the dependent variable. Independent variables explained more than 23% of the dependent variable variances. Trust in political parties in metropolis areas is associated with some modern media and awareness of political parties.Extended AbstractIntroduction: Political trust is the feeling of confidence that citizens have towards institutions and political actors and they believe that institutions, actors, and politicians behave in the right way in their field of work even in the absence of continuous monitoring (Blind, 2006). The metropolis of Shiraz, as one of the metropolises of the country, has a population composition with ethnic diversity and has faced a high population increase in the last two decades. Considering the centrality of the province and the regional position of this city in the southern part of the country, the evaluation of the components of political culture in it is of great importance. In this regard, this paper examines trust in political parties in the urban environment of Shiraz metropolis. The purpose of this article is to identify the level of trust in parties in the urban environment. Considering that most of the population of Iranian society lives in cities and metropolises are also the focus of political, social, cultural, and economic actions, knowing political trust in the urban environment is of great importance. The basic research question is what is the relationship between the use of mass media and political trust in political parties in the urban environment of Shiraz metropolis?Methodology:In this research, the survey method and the self-administered questionnaire were applied whose validity and reliability were evaluated by Face validity and Cornbrash’s alpha coefficient, respectively. The statistical population of the research included all the residents of Shiraz city 18 years and older (Iran Statistics Center, 2017), according to the size of the statistical population, based on Lin's table (Lin, 1976), the sample size was estimated to be 383 cases. Cluster random sampling was used to select samples by referring to localities with different socio-economic characteristics. The alpha coefficient for the variable of trust in political parties was 0.87 and for the variable of knowledge about political parties was 0.73.Results and discussion: The results showed that there is a significant difference between the level of trust in parties according to the use of domestic radios, domestic television, and magazines and newspapers. There is no significant difference between the level of trust in political parties according to the use of satellites, the internet, and abroad Persian-language radios, but there is a significant indirect relationship between the degree of trust in parties and the membership period in social networks. There is a direct and significant relationship between the awareness of parties and the dependent variable. There is no relationship between age and the dependent variable. There is a direct and significant relationship between the level of awareness about parties and the level of trust in political parties. The Pearson coefficient obtained for the age variable in relation to the level of trust in political parties indicates the absence of a relationship between the two variables.There is no significant difference between the level of trust in political parties according to the membership in social networks (Sig=0.156). Nevertheless, those who are not members of social networks have more trust in political parties. Independent variables explained more than 23% of the dependent variable variances. The contents of social networks can have divergent characteristics towards political parties. Due to their high cultural consumption and their lived experience in connection with political and administrative institutions, users living in metropolitan areas have a high level of distrust towards political parties.Conclusion: Foreign media users have less political trust than those who use domestic media more. The results obtained from the study of the media's role in the political trust are in line with framework theories such as Rush's political socialization model (Rush, 1998), the socio-cultural perspective on political trust and the image hypothesis, and their arguments support. There is a direct and significant relationship between the level of awareness of parties and the level of trust in political parties. The results of this study show the importance of media and the impact of their orientation on the political and social attitudes of the residents of the society, especially the residents of urban areas. According to the obtained results, the role of the media in the formation and transformation of political attitudes, especially political trust, can be analyzed according to the nature of their direction.Trust in political parties in metropolis areas is associated with some modern media and awareness of political parties. This finding is consistent with the results of the study by Crete et al. (2006) and Koushki et al. (2019). There is no relationship between age and trust in political parties. The finding obtained from the test of the relationship between these two variables is also compatible with Rush's political socialization perspective (Rush, 1998) and shows that awareness and recognition of political parties that are obtained through socialization, play an important role in political trust in political parties.

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