Comparative study of real and virtual identity of the individuals (Case Study: Young people in Yasuj city)

In this research, the distinction between identity of young people in the real world and the virtual world is considered as one of the important issues of cyberspace. The definition and representation of individuals of their identity is somewhat different in the real and virtual world, due to the prevailing conditions in these two worlds. Using this space together with various advantages and disadvantages has faced us with a variety of issues, which one of those is identity, identity crisisand identity discrepancy.Theoretical framework of research had been presented based on the views of sociologists such as Giddens and Stewart Hall on identity; Graebner, Neumann (the influence of mass media); Scheler, stone, Ringgold, Miller and Thompson (Cyberspace and Identity); Anderson (the paradigm of double world and the emergence of simultaneous identities), and consequently, a research model was designed.The statistical population of the study were young people 18 to 35 years old in Yasouj, (45312 people). According to the Cochran formula, 380 people were selected by multistage cluster sampling method, and the data were collected using questionnaire.Finally, the overall research hypothesis was confirmed: there is a significant difference between the true identity of people in the real world and their identity in the virtual world, and the results showed the difference between different dimensions of identity in real space and virtual space, and identity differences (self-discrepancy) in some dimensions is significant based on the variables such as age, gender, education, income level and the amount of use of cyberspace.