| چکیده انگلیسی مقاله |
Introduction Generally, this paper focused primarily on the association between ethnicity and religiosity. More specifically, it aimed to examine the major patterns and determinants associated with the religious attitude of ethnic groups in Iran. Theoretically, it was based on religious socialization theory, modernism, and fundamental changes in social values theories that explain socio-cultural changes of contemporary societies including the changes in religious attitude. The literature review indicated that while a substantially wide range of ethnic groups is widespread throughout the country, their religious attitude has not been sufficiently studied in the existing literature particularly from comparative perspectives. This study aimed to contribute to filling this substantial research gap. The data of this study were collected using a survey with 5200 males and females aged 15 years old and over in rural and urban areas of Ahvaz, Babolsar, Bojnord, Esfarayen, Gonbad Kavos, Gorgan, Hamadan, Kamyaran, Khoramabad, Mahmoudabad, Rasht, and Saghez. This analysis included seven ethnic groups of Kurd, Gilak, Lak, Lur, Mazani, Turk, and Turkoman residing throughout the country. Material & Methods The methodological foundations of this study were based on the analysis of an experimental research and survey study. The field of this study was Iran which has witnessed one of the most spectacular demographic swings throughout the world in human history (McDonald, 2005) and has experienced fundamental socio-cultural changes and challenges which are also significantly associated with gender dynamics and women’s status in Iran. More specifically, the empirical research findings of this analysis were based on a recently-conducted and nationally-representative survey to explain the dimensions and differentials of ethnic groups’ religiosity in Iran. The survey covered both urban and rural areas in the varying parts of the country with the total sample of 5200 males and females aged 15 years old and over in rural and urban areas of Ahvaz, Babolsar, Bojnord, Esfarayen, Gonbad Kavos, Gorgan, Hamadan, Kamyaran, Khoramabad, Mahmoudabad, Rasht, and Saghez. As noted above, the present study had seven ethnic groups including Kurd, Gilak, Lak, Lur, Mazani, Turk, and Turkoman, who lived in varying parts of Iran. Discussion of Results & Conclusions Generally, the results of this analysis revealed two key points including the patterns of religious attitude and also its determinants vary substantially across the ethnic groups. For instance, on the one hand, more than two-fifths of the respondents across the ethnic groups hold a ‘high and very high levels’ of religiosity and more than half of them believed in women’s right to decide about their dress codes in the public spheres. On the other hand, ethnic variations were significantly visible: while in the ethnic group of Mazani followed by the two other ethnic groups of Turk and Turkoman, the substantially higher proportion of religiosity and positive attitude towards full covering hijab or chador was observed, the proportions were substantially lower amongst the other ethnic groups particularly Lur, Lak, and Gilak residing throughout the country. Besides, the results of this research supported the fact the similarities and disparities still exist in terms of the determinants of religiosity that vary overwhelmingly across ethnic groups. This suggests that, on the one hand, the religiosity of all ethnic groups is significantly affected by determinants such as age, educational level, rural-urban places of residence, and gender attitude. On the other hand, the strength and magnitude of these determinants are not similar across the ethnic groups. While theses determinants play an important role in the religiosity of some ethnic groups, the opposite applies to some other ethnic groups of this analysis. In sum, these results confirmed the underlying conclusion that ethnicity plays a significantly important role, which echoes the fact that to comprehensively understand the association between ethnicity and religiosity, we must specify religious attitudes in terms of every single ethnic group. |