The Impact of Social Networks on the National Identity (Case Study: Isfahan University Students)

Abstract

Evaluation of the youth national Identity as the most vital, the most legitimate andthe most common type of collective identity, and the study of the factors influencingit, is one of the issues that have been the constant concern of sociologists andpolitical thinkers. The main concern in this respect is to preserve and enhance thecitizens’, especially the youth, sense of belonging and commitment to concepts suchas history, culture, state and the political system. One of the things that have comescarcely into theoretical and empirical examination is the impact of socialnetworking on a National Identity. Networks intensely touch the intra-group andinter-group interactions and communications of people and seem to influencenational identity and national consolidation.This study aims to investigate the issue of whether social networks can affectstudents’ national identity and how much they do so. The method used is surveyand data were collected using questionnaires distributed among a sample of 294university students in 2013-2014. Their reliability was calculated in formalmethods, and their validity was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and finally,they were analyzed by 22SPSS software.The findings of this study suggest that there is strong and significantrelationship between inter-group networks and four dimensions of nationalidentity, namely, the socio-cultural, historical, political and territorial identity.The abovementioned networks have more impact on the socio-cultural, political,historical, and territorial identity, respectively. Also, despite the impact of intragroupsocial networks on political and socio-cultural identity, the total value didnot confirm any correlation between students’ national identity and intra-groupnetworks.

Keywords

• social capital
• strong connections
• weak connections
• social networks
• national identity