سازه انگاري رسانه و رفتار اتخاباتي در ايران

Investigating Peopleʹs Attitudes towards Political Parties in Iran

Political development, i.e. expanding and deepening public participation in political systems ʹ fate, despite the diversity and multiplicity of its implementationʹs modes, is a common goal of all dev elopmental schools. General elections as the most evident mode and manifestation of such participation, has always been addressed by social and political scientists, particularly politicians. One ofthe issues significantfor both ofthese groups is explaining public electoral behavior. In Iran, in the recent decade, studying peopleʹs electoral behavior has been seriously focused on by the researchers in the relevant field. The present articleʹs main question is that based on what criteria public participation in the elections, as one ofthe key political developmentʹs indicators, could be done ? Reviewing the main theories of the field, the present article proposes a theory adopted from the constructivism school to analyze electoral behaviors in Iran. Since the concept of "identity " forms the essence of the constructivism theory, and given the distinguished role of media in shaping four-folded layers of identity, the authors have substantiated the relationship between media ʹs identity-making initiatives, media ownership and electoral behavior.