Cultural alienation among students of Tehran universities: A phenomenological study

The issue of alienation as a trauma and crisis not only targets human identity and takes him away from the path of perfection, but also threatens human health and causes psychological distress, uncertainty about the future, emptiness, disintegration of beliefs, powerlessness and identity crisis. The aim of this study is to identify the effective factors and markers in the formation of the phenomenon of cultural alienation. For this purpose, using criterion sampling, 18 people (5 males and 13 females) of Tehran university students were selected and interviewed individually in the form of e-mail, telephone and virtual mobile networks. In the fourteenth interview, theoretical data saturation was obtained, but in order to validate the findings, the interviews were continued up to the eighteenth person. Data analysis was performed using Colizzi’s seven-step strategy. In order to increase "accuracy", "reliability" and "verifiability", comments were sent to the participants, sufficient evidence was provided about the phenomenon and sufficient details of the data collection and analysis process were used. Consecutive reviews of the interviews identified three themes: "individual", "family" and "social", 14 sub-themes and 46 indicators and finally, the identified factors were discussed and solutions to improve the current situation were presented. Considering that the phenomenon of cultural alienation and the investigation of its causes among students who are on the verge of entering a new period of life and work environment have received less attention, an effort was made to present ways to prevent or reduce this phenomenon and Its consequences.