The purpose of the present study was to investigate the radicalization of leftist youth in Iran. The study took place from September 1979 and continued through January 20, 1980. A survey of 400 Iranian youth was conducted in the Iranian province of Khuzastan. The sample was stratified to include an equal proportion of rural and urban youth, as well as equal proportions of males, students and non-students. The urban sample was drawn from Abadan, the major city of the Khuzastan region. The rural sample was drawn from Eizeh. / Students used in the study were in the twelfth grade in high school. Their ages were 17 and over. Data collection was accomplished using face to face interviews which contained information on 170 variables. The data collected suggested that, based upon one operationalization of leftist tendencies, approximately 21 percent of the sample could be classified as hard core leftists. Among the respondents manifesting leftist tendencies, 85.7 percent were from the Abadan area. This indicated that the base of Iranian leftism continues to be in the urban areas. / The hypothesis that leftism would be stronger among students than among non-students was overwhelmingly sustained with 82 percent of the leftists surveyed being students. The picture was even more stark in the rural areas, with all but a few of the rural leftists being drawn from the ranks of the students. / The hypothesis that leftists would be more prominent among males than females was confirmed only among the rural portion of the sample. Among the total sample of leftists youth, 52.4 percent were males and 47.6 percent were females, indicating a relative balance between the two groups. / The study found that 60 percent of the leftist respondents were drawn from middle class backgrounds. The trend was particularly prominent in the urban areas with a full 70 percent of the leftist students being drawn from the middle income groups. / This study rejected the hypothesis that leftist youth would be drawn more heavily from minority backgrounds than from Farsi backgrounds. / Three agents of political socialization--family, mass media, and peer pressure--were examined in this study. We found that peer pressure was the most important agent in transferring leftist values to youth. Two additional hypotheses were formulated: (1) there is a link between political position of leftist organizations and groups and the attitudes of leftist students, and (2) leftist students are more inclined to become politically involved than other students. These hypotheses were accepted by this study. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2833. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74537 |
| Contributors | ABBASSI, SYROUS., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 215 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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