The Relationship Between Social Welfare and The Political Participation of Teachers (A Case Study of Teachers in Marivan)

One of the main indicators of social and political development is political participation. Teachers are an important part of the human capitals of any society and through their political participation they can have a decisive role in political socialization. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between social welfare and the political participation of teachers. In this study, based on sociological theories, one of the effective factors in political participation is shown to be the feeling of having welfare on the part of people. The survey method is employed in this research, and the statistical population comprises all teachers in Marivan in the academic year 2012-2013. The sample size was 300 people, selected through stratified random sampling. The results show that the rate of political participation among 60 percent of respondents is low, while in 6 percent of the respondents it is high, and among 34percent of them the rate of political participation is moderate. The social welfare among the respondents is as follows: among 45percent it is low, among 13percent it is high and for 42percent of the respondents it is at a moderate level. The findings show that the variables of happiness, supply, needs, relative comparisons and education have a positive impact (direct) on political participation among teachers. The variable of preferences with a coefficient of – 0.34 has a lowering effect on political participation. However, the association between the variables of age, sex, marital status and political participation was not significant. Multivariate regression analysis showed that five variables (happiness, supply, needs, preferences, relative comparisons), in total, accounted for 39 percent of the changes in the dependent variable (i.e. political participation). The results of the present study show that in general, social welfare has a direct and significant impact on political participation.