Future of Young People and Social Factors Affecting It

Hope and optimism about the future life are signs of dynamism and vitality in society and ideas for social improvement. Hope for future plays an important role in youthʼs life as builders of future. Since youth are a group of society, they effort for the future and young generation can form tomorrow the way they contemplate today. Accordingly, this study is to delineate the attitudes and feelings over the future of young people and social factors affecting it. This study combines the theoretical framework of Durkheim, Merton and Leeʼs theory of anomie, relative deprivation theory, social comparison theory and Gap theory. This research is performed using the survey method by means of multi-stage cluster sampling among 260 male and female students of University of Tehran. The results showed that the future expectancy is less than the average. Among the factors affecting future expectancy, feelings of deprivation and anomie were 26 of an inverse and significant relation and religiosity had significant positive correlation with hope for the future.