mohammad abdollahi; omid ghader zadeh
Volume 10, Issue 24 , February 2004, , Pages 1-36
Abstract
One of the most secure channels of achieving social consensus and solidarity in Iran is the feeling of intimacy and social acceptance among the Iranian ethnic communities and groups. Adopting a socialogical approach, the present study investigates the degree of social distance between the inhabitants ...
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One of the most secure channels of achieving social consensus and solidarity in Iran is the feeling of intimacy and social acceptance among the Iranian ethnic communities and groups. Adopting a socialogical approach, the present study investigates the degree of social distance between the inhabitants of Baneh (who are Kurds) and members of other ethnic communities. In this study, the term social distance refers to the tendency among members of an ethnic community to accept or reject members of other ethnic communities. The tendency encompasses cognitive and emotional dimensions together with preparedness for action an appropriate conceptual framework was therefore designed for the analysis. It reviews the micro - and macro - level perspectives and theories of sociology, social psychology and the existing empirical resources. The results of the interview with the sample which consisted of 399 inhabitants of Baneh, demonstrates that the interviewees feel the least distant from persian/Fars ethnic communities, and the most distant from Arab ethnic communities come first, and Azari, Baluch, Lor, and Arab ethnic communities come next in success on. The research findings show that micro-sociological approaches to the study of ethnic distance in Iran are insufficient. Considering the fact that ethnic distance, and consequently, ethnic interactions in Iran, are influenced by the cultural, social, political and economic atmosphere of the country and the historical developments related to this atmosphere, it is necessary to pay attention to macro-level perspectives and theories, such as Heshter's theory of internal colonialism, which is based on the role of variables such as deprivation, degree of economic inequity and discrimination among ethnic communities, and which emphasizes the formation of ethnic identity and mobilization, and to integrate these perspectives into micro-level theories. The findings of this study demonstrate that social distance exists among the ethnic communities of Iran. The study therefore places special emphasis on the formulation and adoption of an appropriate ethnic policy to reduce such adistance in the country.
