Faezeh Taghipour; Haniyeh Naghdi; Reza Ebrahimzadeh Dastjerdi
Abstract
1- Introduction
As a novel notion in the new context of human collective life, which guides sustainable human interactions, the culture of citizenship has attracted the attention of many researchers. The citizenship culture has been affected by the concept of culture and citizen throughout history. This ...
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1- Introduction
As a novel notion in the new context of human collective life, which guides sustainable human interactions, the culture of citizenship has attracted the attention of many researchers. The citizenship culture has been affected by the concept of culture and citizen throughout history. This concept used to make sense in the field of law and people's obedience to it; however, it has found an extensive meaning at present. The Internet and social networks are means to disseminate cultural symbols and are regarded as a source of information and awareness in a variety of domains, such as culture, and the factor of creating cultural changes and transformations of the people.
The aspects of the problem have become wider and the significance of the matter has been aggravated with the spread of smart cell phones and the capability of using them for searching social networks such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter, etc., and also the extensive utilization of these networks by people throughout the day and night. Today's social networks have caused persons in these networks to deal with preparing, producing, publishing, and republishing diverse information in different areas. Because of the ever-rising application of these networks, they will influence the citizenship culture of people from all walks of life, and ignoring this issue can impose irreparable losses. Hence, the necessity to study the advantages and disadvantages of these social networks is not a secret. However, regarding the reviews carried out on the previous research, the majority of these studies have examined this topic with different approaches and they have paid less attention to investigating the impacts of social networks on the culture of citizenship. Taking into account the broadness of citizens' use of social networks and their impressions on different dimensions of life, the need for research on these networks is evident. Thus, the current article sought to respond to the question that whether it is possible to propose a model that can upgrade the culture of citizenship using social networks by investigating the role of social networks on citizenship culture.
2- Literature Review
Matani et al. (2019) in a study entitled “Investigation of Using Mass Media and Adherence to Citizenship Culture (Case Study: Citizens over 18 Years Old in Ghaem Shahr City)” using field method, survey technique, and questionnaire instrument concluded that there is a positive and significant relationship between using mass media and the total level of adherence to the culture of citizenship and its dimensions, i.e. social participation, generalism, responsibility, the tendency to follow the law.
Ghafarinasab et al. (2019) in a study entitled “Sociological Explanation of Citizenship Culture (Case Study: Citizens 15 Years Above in Eqlid City)” argue that citizenship is one of the important indicators of progress and development in developing countries. One of the dimensions of citizenship is the culture of citizenship. The establishment and extension of citizenship can be seen as a serious way of solving the social problems in developing countries. Using the theories of Marshall, Janoski, Faulks, and Turner, they examine the culture of citizenship among the citizens of Eqlid City. Besides, they exploited the survey as a method and also the questionnaire as an instrument for collecting data. They selected the sample by using a manner called multi-stage cluster sampling. Results demonstrate that the citizenship culture among citizens is about over mean. The examination of the hypothesis indicates that variables such as gender, marital status, the degree of religious commitment, social identity, the extent of using media, and political awareness have a significant relationship with the culture of citizenship.
Askarizadeh (2019) conducted a study entitled “Identifying Social and Educational Factors Affecting the Promotion of Citizenship Culture in the Neighborhoods of Bandar Abbas City” with a descriptive survey-exploratory method using a random cluster sampling method. The sample size also included 458 people. Besides, the questionnaire instrument was exploited in this survey. Of the social factors, awareness of citizenship rights, rule of law and orderliness, collective interests, awareness of external and internal events, responsibility, generalism, use of cultural centers, and use of the media influenced the citizenship culture, respectively. Among the educational factors, legal infrastructure and bylaws, written and specific educational goals, executive structures, the existence of different training courses, acceptance of change among citizens, awareness & capability of officials, innovative management and supportive managers, the ability of citizens, the attitude of officials, the enthusiasm of citizens, incentives, communication between officials and citizens, technical infrastructure, presence of supporting human resources in setting up and supervision affect the citizenship culture, respectively.
3- Methodology
The present study intended to present a model for promoting citizenship culture based on using social networks among citizens of Tehran. This is an applied study by purpose, a cross-sectional study by the data collection time, and a qualitative research design by the procedure. A qualitative method with a grounded theory approach was adopted, and the theoretical sampling method was used. The statistical population of this research included specialists and experts in social networks and citizenship culture (university professors, city managers, etc.) that reached saturation and no additional data were found through conducting a new interview. The open, axial, and selective codes were extracted via analyzing the interviews. On the basis of Corbin & Strauss's grounded theory, the causal conditions, context, intervening conditions, action/interaction strategies, and consequences were then examined and identified. In accordance with the conceptual model, the conditions for the promotion of citizenship culture were eventually specified.
4- Conclusion
Interpreting and analyzing the statistical results revealed that social networks positively and significantly influence the dimensions of citizenship culture and upgrade the culture. Nevertheless, creating some changes and transformations is required in Iran in this regard so that effective performance in the direction of promoting citizenship culture based on social networks can be rendered. Nowadays, with the entry of virtual social networks in the lives of citizens, these networks have been greatly welcome to meet the needs of many people. These networks evidently affect different areas of life such that the consequences arising from the presence of these networks have found ostensible representation and it is undeniable. Furthermore, social networks are impressive to enhance and strengthen social interactions in virtual space and have unparalleled impacts on different aspects of citizens' lives.
parvin javanbakht; Reza Esmaeili; Fazeh Taghipour
Abstract
Abstract
Objectives: Elections are one of arenas where people express their opinions and desires and indirectly intervene in the public policy-making process. During the elections, candidates, groups, and political parties try to compete with each other based on different political principles to gain ...
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Abstract
Objectives: Elections are one of arenas where people express their opinions and desires and indirectly intervene in the public policy-making process. During the elections, candidates, groups, and political parties try to compete with each other based on different political principles to gain power and, if elected, implement their desired policy. In the past, advertising in political arenas was mostly done through speeches in circles, tracts, urban advertisements, making documentary films, and advertisements in media such as television and to some extent short messages, and its influence on the electoral behavior of the people was moderate, because only those active in the political fields tended to attend these circles and participate in the speeches of election candidates. In fact, these advertising methods were more traditional and created huge costs for the candidates and their sponsors. However, with the introduction of social networks, the form and effectiveness of advertisements changed both in terms of content and in terms of how they were transmitted to citizens, and more people, especially the younger generation of society, who were involved in social networks, were informed about their views, and its effectiveness was many times higher. Other media were and are now considered to be one of the most important tools for increasing the accuracy and efficiency of advertisements, which can be effective in strengthening people's voting. In fact, social networks are a tool under the control of candidates who intend to attract the attention and trust of citizens by expressing their ideas and programs to gain political seats. This advertising includes various methods that the type of utilization of them, as well as the initiative in using new methods, can facilitate the process of selecting candidates to a great extent. In fact, the behavior of candidates and electoral strategies have created a wide tendency to choose social networks as a persuasive priority for citizens, so that they can get more votes. Social networks are the current view of society, culture, politics, economy, and science. By carefully examining the relationships of people and other social entities in social networks in various fields, we will know the characteristics of the target society. It is a short story that turned into a discussion of social networks. In our country, despite the high importance of the issue of social networks and the increasing use of social networks by people, the researches that have been done in the field of political behaviorism are less focused on the persuasive methods used in social networks, which are one of the main elements in the field of communication, and on the other hand, the effect of these persuasive methods of social networks on people's voting behavior, which is one of the main elements in the field of political behavior and sociology, has been studied. Based on this, in this article, a structural-interpretive analysis of persuasive methods used in social networks and their effect on voters' behavior has been done.
Methods: This study was done with a qualitative approach, the research approach of this study is inductive-deductive in terms of data collection logic. For this purpose, it should be briefly stated, first by examining the theoretical and theoretical foundations of the research based on the synthesis of the results of the reviewed researches, the criteria related to common persuasive methods in social networks were identified based on the Delphi analysis, according to the two criteria, the average and the agreement coefficient. They are confirmed or deleted and finally, through structural-interpretive analysis, the identified layers are prioritized in the form of a pattern and explained from the point of view of the level of penetration and influence. In this research, 15 specialists from the fields of media, communication, and social sciences were selected through homogenous sampling and participated in two parts: overview and structural-interpretive analysis.
Results: Based on the analysis, it was determined that the most effective and influential method of persuasion adopted by election candidates, stimulating collective emotions and creating enthusiasm is established as two indicators of the instrumental function of persuasion. In fact, election candidates and their supporting groups try to influence collective and group emotions by producing content on social networks and increasing enthusiasm among them. At the least effective level, there is a massive showing of the competitors' weaknesses, which can also be said, this type of advertising behavior conveys the most negative aspect of influence to the people, because it makes the capabilities and realistic slogans of the candidate in question. Negative advertising against the competitor will be lost and will reduce the motivation of the followers
Conclusions: In fact, election candidates and their supporting groups try to influence collective and group emotions by producing content on social networks and increasing excitement among them. This issue greatly affects the increase of people's support, because such messages target the audience's perceptual bias and cause wider advertisements, both on social networks and in the minds of the audience. Messages are produced with the aim of mobilizing emotions and inciting them in social networks, causing stronger support groups to come into action. The messages that are published in social networks with the aim of informing about the candidate's future policies and plans, are aimed at creating more understanding about the goals and plans of the person in question, and the more these policies and strategies are based on facts, the more the audience will be affected.
