The Generation Gap in Iran's Villages

This paper has drawn on the experimental data produced by interviews with 526 inhabitants in 64 villages of the West Azarbaijan, Esfahan, Khouzestan, and Golestan provinces; and the study was conducted in a multi stage cluster sampling method. As research results indicate, the rural youth are different from the other rural age groups in their willings to consume materialistically¬ (using modern living facilities), migrate, and enjoy leisure pursuits by means of the mass media, and make use of television, video, and the press. However, it turned out to be no difference among the various age groups of the villages as far as life satisfaction, vision of urban and rural lives, leisure pursuits in traditional manners, and listening to radio broadcasts are concerned. Admittedly, given both their potentials in rural development and their relative differences from the other rural age groups, it is of a particular importance to focus on the rural youth in research, rural development plannings as well as the media programming.