ارزش ها: شبكه روابط و مشاركت در سازمان هاي غيردولتي

Values, Network Relationships, and Participation in Non-Governmental Organiztion (An Empirical Study Among the Tehranʹs Youths)

Non-governmental organizations are considered new phenomena in social life of human societies. The accelerated pace of their development began in the second half of the twentieth century, following the problems arising from globalization and the crisis of the welfare state. Non-governmental organizations mainly seek to achieve the following: Mass and voluntary mobilization of peopleʹs forces The improvement of the conditions of the society To remedy the shortcomings Development and creation of new perspectives Reaching sustainable development This paper is an attempt to examine social factors affecting youthʹs participation in non-governmental organizations. In so doing, the paper ventures at presenting a theoretical statement of the research question it has adopted. It reviews different theories as expounded by the classical sociologists, as well as social solidarity theories, the New Social Movements, and the social capital theory. In this research, non-governmental organizations are though of as manifestations of the New Social Movements. Considering the meta-theoretical model of Coleman, post-material values and individualsʹ social capital are assumed to be affecting individualsʹ participation in these organizations. The survey method is utilized here to examine the hypotheses. The statistical society includes youths 14-30 years of age residing in Tehranʹs various city districts. Sample size is 375 persons. The data were gathered by the questionnaire and SPSS was used for data analysis. The findings show that the more prevalent post-material values among the youth, the more social capital and participation in non-governmental organizations. Those youths who enjoy higher socioeconomic positions and those who are better educated tend to he more inclined to participate in these organizations. Girlsʹ participation is lower than that of boys. Higher socioeconomic position is accompanied by more post-material and social capital. University and high school students possess post-material values and social capital, and hence more active participation in non-governmental organizations.