A Study of the Relationship between the Growth of New Middle Class and Increasing Demand for Political Participation: Kermanshah City as a Case Study

A new middle class is among influential factors on Iranian social and political developments, before and after the Islamic revolution. Its rapid growth after the revolution has increased the demand for political participation in different civil and social institutions. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationships between the growth of the new middle class and increase in the demand for political participation in the city of Kermanshah. This research used survey as a research method and questionnaire as a technique for collecting data. The number of the sample in this study is 400 people, among university students and professors, teachers, and journalists, residing in Kermanshah.Cronbach test has been used for the evaluation of reliability, and formal validity has been applied for the validity of the research. The hypotheses have also been tested by using F and T tests. The findings of this research show that the growth of demand for political participation is not equal in different strata of new middle class in Iran. For example, the average of this tendency is 51.15percent among students and 46.43 percent between journalists, whereas the average of this trend is 40.33 percent amongst professors of the universities, and 34.67 percent among teachers. Furthermore, the results indicate the existence of significant relationship between the members of this class and political participation.