مهدی محمدزاده راوندی

A study of political participation of any society makes the political behavior of its people known while specifying not only the ways the political participation of citizens changes in different social contexts but also the factors influence it. This research tries to answer the following question: which spatial pattern does the relationship between political participation and political socialization as well as social capital follow in cities of Kashan, Aran and Bidgol? Considering the main indicators and components affecting political participation, a questionnaire was prepared and distributed among 870 citizens of these two cities. The independent variables in this research are political socialization and social capital, and the dependent variable is political participation. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics and SPSS software were used to analyze the data. The precision in the amount of high political participation among citizens indicates that as political socialization and social capital increase, the low political participation of citizens decreases while high participation of citizens illustrates an increasing trend and political sociability from 7.2 to 26.9 and social capital from 13.4% at the minimum to 23% at the maximum. The findings of research show that there is a meaningful and confirmed correlation between the variables of social capital and political participation, based on the Pearson correlation coefficient, (r=0.195 and sig=0.000) as well as between political socialization and political participation, based on the Pearson correlation coefficient (r=0.344 and sig=0.000). A comparative study of research findings regarding cities of Kashan as well as Aran and Bidgol depicts that the citizens of Aran and Bidgol have higher political participation.

The legitimacy of political systems relies heavily on citizen participation, with elections serving as a crucial means of achieving political involvement and promoting democracy. Political participation is deeply intertwined with key issues in political science and sociology, including parties, pressure groups, the relationship between citizens and government, civil society, demographic characteristics, and more. Despite the abundance of texts and articles on political-electoral participation and its underlying causes and motivations, no comprehensive view has yet been taken on this topic. This research employs a mixed approach to provide a broad and inclusive perspective, identifying the key indicators and components that impact participation in elections. Specifically, the study seeks to investigate the factors which affect political participation in Iran. After reviewing 228 articles, 126 effective factors were identified, which were classified into 10 general categories.

In recent decades, citizens' political participation has been considered by thinkers as a key component of socio-political development. Citizen participation brings legitimacy to the political system. Political participation is deeply and inextricably linked to the most important issues in political science and sociology, such as parties, pressure groups, the relationship between people and government, civil society, demographic characteristics, and the like. In this regard, elections are the most important tool for achieving political participation and the emergence of democracy. The main purpose of this article is a comparative study of the spatial pattern of political participation between Kashan, Aran and Bidgol. This study is a survey and a questionnaire technique has been used to collect research data. The statistical population of the study is citizens over 21 years of age in Kashan, Aran and Bidgol in 1399. 870 questionnaires were distributed and out of this number, 834 questionnaires were selected and studied as a research sample. The validity of the research variables has been confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The findings of the study, while confirming the differences in personality traits, level of trust in the political system, social capital and political awareness and political sociability among the citizens of the two cities, show that the political participation of Aran and Bidgol citizens is higher than Kashan.