Comparison of Environmental Behavior among Ethnic Groups (Case Study: Azeri, Talesh and Gilak Tribes in Gilan and Ardabil Provinces)

• Main Authors: Mahbobeh Mahjobi daryakenari, Ahmad Rezaii, Sadegh Salehi
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: University of Isfahan 2019-09-01
• Series: جامعه شناسی کاربردی
• Subjects: environmental behaviors; ethnic groups; cultural capital; environmental attitudes; environmental awareness
• Online Access: http://jas.ui.ac.ir/article_24035_4c3bda0590768d4db5f98523b5f572e9.pdf

<strong>Introduction </strong> <br />In each society, people can have a totally responsible or completely irresponsible, medieval behavior with the environment. This wide range of environmental encounters is influenced by countless variables and factors that are mainly related to the individual's social environment (Aghili et al., 2009: 237). Various social in-house researchers have investigated the relationship between variables such as education, tourism, social capital, cultural capital, religion, etc., with environmental behaviors. Although various factors are related to environmental behaviors, but one of the variables that has not been addressed is the study of environmental behaviors among ethnic groups. <br />Although the issue of ethnicity and its diversity in Iran's ethnic, cultural, social and political literature is not new, some of the developments and social movements that have taken place in recent years have caused wider communication and interaction of relatives more and more, and this makes the subject more prominent than before. But apart from these debates, some other developments have also occurred among ethnic groups that could be a warning to the future of Iran. An examination of the results of internal and external research suggests that competition in ethnic groups may be an effective testimony to expanding the understanding of the environment across the population, highlighting the issues that, in the near future of ethnicity, can be one of the most important variables in influencing environmental issues. <br />Therefore, the present study, with the assumption that environmental behaviors among the ethnic groups in Iran are not the same, seeks to compare the environmental behaviors among the three ethnic groups (Azeri, Talesh and Gilak) in the two provinces of Guilan and Ardebil.  Accordingly, the fundamental question raised in this study is: Is there a difference between ethnic Azeri, Gilak, and Talesh groups regarding environmental behaviors? <br /><strong>Material & Methods </strong> <br />In this research, the survey method has been used, and according to the nature and subject of the research, the required data were collected through a questionnaire. The statistical population of the study consisted of citizens aged 18 and over in Ardabil, Rasht and Talesh. Based on the data of the year 1395 (2016), there are 1358525 people in the mentioned cities. Using the Cochran formula, 384 samples were obtained which, due to the lack of deficiency in the number of original samples, 391 questionnaires were distributed. The sampling method of the present study was to use a proportional random sampling method of volume size. <br /><strong>Discussion of Results & Conclusions</strong> <br />It seems necessary to briefly highlight the main findings of this study that compares environmental behaviors among the Gilak, Talesh, and Azeri individuals: based on the Toki test in which ethnic couples perform comparisons between couples, it has been shown that there is a significant difference between the Azeri and Gilak ethnicities, and in fact, the environmental behaviors of Azeri ethnicity are better and more. It can be concluded that by comparing the environmental attitudes among Azeri ethnic groups with Gilaks, the result is that the environmental attitudes of the Azeri ethnic group with Gilaks have a significant difference, that is, the environmental attitudes of Azeri ethnicity are better and more. Therefore, in analyzing this finding, it can be said that considering the better ecological attitudes of Azeri ethnicity than Gilaks, the environmental behaviors of the Azeri people are better than Gilaks. But, the results of the factor analysis indicate that the Gilak ethnicity with a coefficient of 17% has the highest coefficient of determination, which means that the variables in the research account for 17% of the dependent variable. Environmental attitudes are considered as influential variables in environmental behaviors. Since attitudes and beliefs represent commitment, we can say that they are echoing our behavior and actions, so an individual who has an environmental orientation tends to behave in ways to protect and maintain the environment. Also, the findings of the research show that there is no significant difference between the behaviors of the Azeri ethnic ecosystem support and the efforts. In fact, there are no significant differences between the two ethnic groups in terms of environmental attitudes, environmental awareness and cultural capital. Another finding from the Toki test between environmental and ethnicity behaviors is that there is a significant difference between the average behaviors of the Gilak ethnic environment and the effort. In other words, Gilak ethnicity support behaviors have a significant difference in comparison with the Talesh ethnic group. In fact, the environmental behaviors of the Gilak ethnicity are more and more successful. Therefore, by examining the environmental attitudes between the two sides of Talesh and Gilak, this important finding was obtained that the environmental attitudes are different between them. In fact, the ecological attitude of Talesh ethnic group is a better and more endearing endeavor than the Gilak ethnicity.