Migrants’ Perception of Social Distance with Iranians: A Qualitative Study among Afghan Immigrants

Introduction Social distance is a term coined by Bogardus (1941) to describe the feelings and attitudes of people of one group towards another one. Social distance occurs when there is little understanding and familiarity between groups of people. Social distancing can be experienced and institutionalized at societal, group, and individual levels. When social distance is high, it is often accompanied by feelings of mistrust, fear, and apprehension. More than four decades have passed since the arrival of Afghan immigrants in Iran. The second-generation Afghan immigrants have a higher economic and social status than the first-generation immigrants. Reducing social distance is the prerequisite for the integration of immigrants in the host society. The present study aimed to analyze social distance among Afghan immigrants in Iran with a qualitative approach in order to answer the following questions: What understanding and interpretation do immigrants have of social distance and its processes in interaction with the host society? What are the mechanisms and processes in the formation of social distance between immigrants and the host society?  Material and MethodsThis qualitative study used a constructivist grounded theory approach to investigate, explain, and understand the phenomenon or meanings that people create around their views, values, attitudes, experiences, life histories, and ways of being in the world. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 first- and second-generation immigrants in Tehran and Yazd cities. The participants were selected using purposive snowball sampling through contacts with trusted people among the immigrants and introductions by them. An effort was made to include a variety of people in the sample from the ages of 18 to 65 years with different residence statuses (having an Amayesh card, passport, and Iranian birth certificate due to marriage, as well as those without a residence card). In addition, such characteristics as gender, ethnicity, and generational status were taken into consideration. Lincoln and Guba’s criteria were used to evaluate and validate the categories. First, the member control technique was applied by taking the constructivist data analysis strategy. Based on this method, the research focused all its attention on the interpretation of the data. Instead of using the linear method, it used the circular method (continuous back and forth between data collection and analysis) to discover the common or contradictory themes. Discussion and Conclusion The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed by using theoretical identification at the three levels of initial, centralized, and theoretical coding, including Institutional distance, media distance, emotional distance, limited maximal level of aspirations, problematic sense of belonging, preferred intra-network interaction, marriage as a threat or opportunity, and individual context of distance. Finally, the core category of "two-way demarcation" was discovered, which covered all the 17 categories extracted from the analysis. The findings showed that the immigrants faced legal restrictions at the socio-economic and civil-political levels, which limited their access to citizenship rights. Alba and Nye (2003) state that through limited access to citizenship, systems of stratification, in which ethnic demarcations shape access to certain positions, can be perpetuated. The immigrants stated that they felt helpless against the law and a sense of distance from Iranian citizens and society. In other words, they experienced an emotional distance from the host society. Bogardus (1941) considers sympathy and mutual affection as the determinant elements of social-emotional distance. When they are manifested, there is closeness between two groups. Simmel (1971) states that immigrants can become emotionally detached from the host society when they enter it. This feeling of "strangeness" may be caused, at least in part, by the host society's attitude toward and treatment of strangers. This strange process depends on a distinct combination of the two opposing factors of closeness and distance, which Bogardus refers to as social distance. Social distance or social closeness is created through certain degrees of understanding, interaction, and intimacy in intergroup or interpersonal social relationships. The findings of this research showed the mechanism of social distancing. The distance created for Afghan immigrants in Iran could be observed through legal barriers, in the form of formal employment discrimination and a status limited to the lowest level of the job ladder, as well as educational restrictions and confined social services.