The Impact of Virtual Social Networks on the Social Identities of Young People in Tehran

Abstract

This research was done to learn about the relation between the social identities of young people in the 4th municipal district of Tehran and their exposure to virtual social networks. The research was of survey type with questionnaires and multi-stage cluster sampling. The target group was the youth aged between 19 and 36 years old living in Tehran's 4th district. In order to do a validity test, the questionnaire was distributed among 60 respondents and the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was obtained as 0.822. Considering the recalculation of this test after collecting the questionnaires, the validity of the collection instrument was confirmed. In addition, regression test and partial correlation were used to investigate the hypotheses of research. This research was carried out based on a theoretical framework set by the network society perspective of Manuel Castells and the identity theory. To calculate the social identity, the sum of the scores of the criteria (or indicators) including family identity, individual identity and group identity were used. Finally, based on regression calculation and Anthony Giddens’s theory which refers to reflectivity of identity, a relationship between the amount of virtual social networks use and social identities of respondents has not been found. According to Manuel Castells’s view that says culture and beliefs systems may be influenced through network connections, one of the most important findings in this research has been the inverse relationship between the amount of use of virtual social networks and religious-Islamic identity of users. In addition, a positive correlation and Consistency between the religious identity of respondents and their social identity has been observed.

Keywords

• virtual social networks
• social identity
• religious identity