Villagers and Environmental Behaviors (A Qualitative Study on the Environmental Socialization Situation in the Villages of West Gilan)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the situation and How the environmental socialization in the villages of Tavalesh (Gilan province) by qualitative method. The study population includes 40 villagers and experts who were subjected to a semi-structured interview using purposive sampling. Data analysis was done using qualitative content analysis, based on Directed Deductive and through coding, categorizing and finding regular relationships between categories and concepts. The credibility of the research was obtained by two methods of selective credibility and credibility evaluation by communication method. Based on the concept of "environmental socialization" as the main modified concept based on Inglehart's theory of material/post-material values, 4 categories, 6 subcategories and 8 codes were extracted and analyzed. The research results indicate the weak situation of environmental socialization in rural areas and the existence of serious challenges and obstacles in this field. As a result, socialization agents have not been successful in the environmental socialization of villagers. The theoretical proposition resulting from the total of these findings is: In rural areas, the production of environmental protection culture under the banner of informal and formal education structure has not been given serious attention. In addition, the ineffectiveness of the educational performance of other organizations in this field is significant; Therefore, the rural community has not been exposed to environmental socialization. In general, the results indicate the underdevelopment of environmental education in the villages and ultimately the lack of environmental cognitive education of villagers.