THE INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL TRUST ON PARTICIPATION OF PEOPLE IN POLITICS IN JAHROM CITY, IRAN

Abstract

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study is to examine the implications of political and social trust for the political participation of people in Jahrom City, Iran. And also, this study tries to assess the effect of social media on people's trust, which can affect their political participation in the society of Iran. Methodology: The researcher-made questionnaire was used by experts to determine its validity. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to evaluate its reliability for all variables. Regression coefficient, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for data analysis and hypotheses testing. The sample size was calculated by the Cochran formula, and 383 individuals were selected by using simple random multi-stage cluster sampling. Main Findings: The regression results indicate that the generalized social and political trust could determine 9% and 11%, respectively of changes independent variable, which was the political participation of citizens in Jahrom City. The theoretical foundations of the research are based on the theories of Robert Putnam, Gabriel Mandel, Francis Fukuyama, Nicholas Luhmann, Jürgen Habermas, Martin Lipset, and Robert Dose. Applications of this study: The present study is an applied study in terms of purpose, a practical-field study in terms of data collection, a large-scale study in terms of scale, and a short-term cross-sectional study in terms of time. The statistical population of this research comprises the holders of voting rights, those aged 18 years or more living in Jahrom city. Novelty/Originality of this study: The contextual factors such as gender, marital status, income, job, and social class did not show a significant relationship with political participation, which may be due to the homogeneity of political behavior in cities due to the lack of individual characteristics and, consequently, the weakness of individualism in smaller social settings.