An Analysis of National Identity and its Sextet Dimensions in Isfahan City

Entering the twenty-first century, the world witnessed several major developments that affect all aspects of human life, and in the midst of one of the most challenging changes, it is a change in the cognitive dimension and more precisely, identity of the people. In the past, never was identity an important issue of the day and had only a designated path guided by traditional beliefs and values, which were themselves supported by such social institutions as family and religion. However, new identities have emerged as media, technology and the overall process of modernization and development make individual identity a more salient phenomenon. National identity brings solidarity among individuals and emphasizes their collective purpose. Governments rely on national identity, and support it through their own value system by training, socialization, advertising and other means to induce unite their citizens. The key variable in defining national identity is values and social norms of a society. Industrialization of urban environments, technological development, cultural products, and the increasing use of new communicational insturments, has led to fundamental changes in cultural life of the people (Aghdam Alizadeh et al, 2010).This paper is an investigation in the status of national identity among Isfahani citizens and those socio-cultural variables which affect national identity. The method used in this survey is based on the objectives and research questions. Data has been collected through questionnaires, which is consisted of two parts. They assess situational variables related to dependent and independent variables. A total of 26 items were used to measure the dependent variable (national identity). Also, 11 items were dedicated to situational variables, 8 items to feeling of inequality, 6 items to individual variables, and 10 items to cultural capital. Research population according to the requirement of the research questions, include all residents of Isfahan who are over 18 years old. The sample size of 384 was based on Cochran's formula.Discussion of Results & The result shows that a significant reverse relationship exists between respondent's sense of national identity and inequality. Respondents feel more attached to their national identity if they feel less inequality and vice versa. Correlation coefficient also revealed a significant negative correlation between individualism and national identity. In fact, with the rise of individualism respondent's sense of belonging to dimensions of national identity decreases. Also, there is a significant reverse relationship between national identity and cultural capital respondents. In fact, in this study higher levels of cultural capital lead to a declined level of national identity. The Pearson correlation coefficients for the variables of national identity shows that there is a significant negative relationship between the media consumption and national identity. Finally, Relationship between income and national identity is also significantly negative, meaning that respondents with higher levels of income belong to the elements of national identity less seriously. Results of regression analysis indicate that the independent variable of individualism, has a significant relationship with national identity. Feeling of inequality and media consumption variables had the greatest impact on national identity and cultural capital variable is related national identity with the minimal impact of just 0.04 %. Overall, findings of this study show that most of the research variables have reverse relationships with national identity except age.