Meta-analysis of the Studies about the Association between Ethnic Identity and National Identity in Iran Focusing on the Role of Media

Ethnic diversity in Iran on one hand, and attempts to create a coherent national identity since the first Pahlavi era on the other, raise the question of how ethnic and national identities are associated in Iran. Although there have been random studies concerned directly and indirectly with issues at hand, the findings, generally, have not yet been conclusive. Therefore, this paper yields a meta-analysis of the findings of 50 research articles dealing with the question of the relationship between the two identity types in Iran. The findings suggest that ethnicity is a more sensitive issue among Kurd and Arab citizens. Research problem, in the current study, further, is to provide and account for “why” and “how” of ethnic identify activation and the role of media in this regard. Forty percent of the articles treated both identities the same and forty-eight percent of them viewed the media and globalization as the factors contributing to the activation of ethnic identity. In all the papers, national identity was deemed multiple and combinatorial, and only for Kurds and Arabs, belonging to their ethnic identity was stronger than their national identity. A positivistic approach and quantitative method, and in particular, the use questionnaires were a characteristic feature of the research sample.