Power structure in family and social participation

Social participation has a critical effect on quality of life in any society. In this paper, we try to evaluate eventual relationships between the structure of power in family and quality and quantity of social participation. The main objective is to measure the correlation between the type of socialization in the family of orientation (origin), and the type of social participation and its scope. The principal approach is to take into consideration the genesis of participation in the process of decision making at home, and its continuation in the society as a whole. According to this approach, configuration of social participation and strengthening of civil society is influenced by developmental grounds of individuals; civil society is constructed by persons who are forming their civic identities. Methodology used is inferential statistics and survey. The study is carried out in Tehran in 2004 and 391 adults living in Tehran is included in this study. The research illustrates clearly the effect of structure of power in family on social participation among the adults. For Those adult whose family is democratic and egalitarian, the scope of social participation was considerable. People from these families will participate, in adulthood, in the destiny of society as a whole (unions, parties, political organizations…); they are true citizen of their society.