Investigating the relationship between historical awareness and national identity of citizens (Case Study of Kermanshah City)

The nature of national identity in any society depends on the dimensions of the constructor and its status, and consequently the nature of the constructive dimension and its status will bring different results in different societies. In the present study, the relationship between historical awareness and national identity of citizens in Kermanshah, in a sample of 384 people aged 18 and over has been studied. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between historical awareness and national identity of citizens (a case study of Kermanshah). The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed through formal validity and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbachchr('39')s alpha coefficient. Most variables had an alpha level above 0.75, which indicates the high power of the measuring instrument. SPSS statistical software and inferential statistical techniques such as Pearson correlation coefficient and regression were used to analyze the data. Findings show that between historical awareness and total national identity (r = 0.445), national identity in the social dimension (r = 0.104), in the political dimension (r = 0.583), in the geographical dimension (0.432) R = 0) and there is a positive and significant relationship in the cultural dimension (r = 0.260). In addition, the results of multivariate regression also indicate that the effect of historical awareness is in the political dimension (Beta = 0.555), geographical dimension (Beta = 0.141) and social dimension (Beta = 0.101). These three components of historical consciousness were able to explain and predict about 40% of the conceptual space of the dependent variable of national identity. Accordingly, it can be said that involving citizens in the political and cultural decisions of the country, expanding the supply of information to familiarize people with the historical, social and political aspects of life can promote a common sense of solidarity and national identity.