نقش رسانه هاي جمعي در جهت دهي فرهنگ سياسي دانشجويان مطالعه موردي :دانشجويان كارشناسي ارشد دانشگاه اصفهان

Role of Mass Media in the Orientation of Studentsʹ Political Culture Case Study: M.A. Students at the University of Esfahan

One of the most critical issues of transitional societies rests on alteration of parochial political culture towards participant political culture. Among different factors, the role of mass media is important and effective on the political culture alteration. Students as a part of new middle class are exposed more than other groups to the attitude alteration towards political culture. This paper concentrates on the role of mass media in the orientation of studentsʹ political culture. Methodology of the paper is based on survey, and through questionnaire data has been collected. Statistical population is M.A. students at the University of Esfahan. 120 students were selected through systematic random sampling for the study. We applied facial validity for the evaluation of questions, Cronbachʹs alpha for the reliability of questions, and Pearsonʹs correlation statistical method for examining the hypotheses. The results from coefficient of correlation show that there is a significant relation between printed media and evaluative (r=0.34) and cognitive (r= 0.28) orientations. Also, there is a strong and significant correlation between electronic media and affective orientation. It should be mentioned that there is also a significant correlation between electronic media and evaluative (r=0.37) and cognitive (r= .035) orientations. We may conclude that media can play a fundamental role in changing political attitudes of students and lead to increasing their cognitive and evaluative orientations towards political system. Furthermore, the results indicate that students are leaving parochial and almost subject political cultures, and gradually inclining towards participant political culture.