Relationship between Trust and Social Consensus among Citizens of 20 Years Old and Above in Gonbadekavoos

• Main Authors: Safieh Mehdizadeh Afrozi, Gholamreza Khoshfar
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: University of Isfahan 2014-04-01
• Series: جامعه شناسی کاربردی
• Subjects: Social consensus; Trust; National Identity; Gonbadekavoos
• Online Access: http://jas.ui.ac.ir/article_18355_cc56108b2c27d2744bc766e13b8a9dae.pdf
• ISSN: 2008-5745; 2322-343X

Introduction The is a study of the relationship between trust and social consensus among people of 20 years old and above in Gonbadekavoos. Social consensus is an important background for social order, especially when we talk about the inner order of society and social trust have been one of the most important factors for development of social capital and for social interactions and relations leading to social order. Characteristics of tribal culture of the research place (Gonbadekavoos) should be taken into consideration because solidarity is an important issue there and social consensus in that city is very crucial. Therefore the real question in this study is: is trust related with social consensus? What kinds of relationships exist between different types of trust and social consensus? Do trust influence social consensus? Our most important research goals include determining the amount of social consensus, trust and its dimensions, identifying the intensity and quality of the relationship between trust and social consensus in different tribes, identifying differences in the amount of social consensus and significance this difference has according to such variables as sex, education, and ethnicity. The theoretical framework of this research is based on the theory of Pioter Sztompka. He considers trust as a software factor in social order and one of the pillars of moral society. Material & Methods The present research is descriptive and explanatory in nature and the main tool for collecting information is questionnaire. Social consensus is measured with four public value: universalism, justice-orientation, piety and loyalty to the homeland, and trust in three kinds: Inter- personal trust, generalized trust and institutional trust. The mediating variable, national identity, is also considered. Research population include citizens of 20 years old and above in Gonbadekavoos city in 2012. For determining sample size Cochran formula was used and systematic random sampling method. Cranach's Alpha Coefficient was measured to make sure of the reliability of the research tool. Analyses were done by using SPSS. Discussion of Results & Conclusions The results of the descriptive findings shows that social consensus average is 3.07 in a 0-5 scale, which means it is average to up, and trust average is 2.70, a little bit below the average point (3). Different dimensions of trust, including personal, generalized and institutional each have the averages of 3.20, 2.10 and 2.89 respectively, and the average for mediating variable, national identity, is 3.53. 59% of the sample are men and 70% of them are in the age group of 20-39 years old. More than two third of the sample are born in city areas and about 75% them are married. More than two third of the participants are working and about 68% of them own a house. About 43% of the sample are Fars, about 41% are Turkmen and the rest are Turk (9/1%), Sistani (2/9%), Baluch (1/8 %) and 1/5% belonged to other ethnic backgrounds. The analysis indicates that there is a significant relationship between trust and social consensus and this is a moderate relationship (R=0/41). With regard to the amount of k-Square coefficient, the trust variable can predict about 17% of the changes of the dependent variable, social consensus. Institutional trust has the most impact alone on social consensus. It alone predicted 17% of the changes of social consensus and generalized trust explained only 0/7% of these changes. National identity as a mediating variable predicted about 40% of the changes of social consensus. The results of multiple regression analysis shows that a moderate correlation (R2=0/248) exists between independent and dependent variables. The results showed that relationship between trust and social consensus among the Fars is stronger compared to other ethnic groups.