The Awareness of the Civic Rights and Duties and Its Related Factors (Case Study Mashhad City)

In recent decades, citizenship rights and duties have become one of the most complex political and social issues and attracted the attention of many social thinkers and politicians. Mashhad, as the spiritual capital of Iran, is a showcase of Iranian society that attracts millions of pilgrims and tourists annually. Also, the economic attractions of the city have caused extensive immigration from inside and outside the province. This situation has made Mashhad's management complex and difficult. Certainly, without constructive interaction between the citizens and the municipal authorities, management will be very difficult and costly. Of course, the creation of this interaction requires the observance of urban rights and duties by residents of Mashhad and urban managers and the basic prerequisite for respecting urban rights and duties is to be aware of these rights and duties. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the level of awareness of the civic rights and duties of residents of Mashhad and its related factors.
For identifying the most important variables, some theories such as Marshall, Parsons, Habermas, Turner, and previous studies, were studied and analyzed. The present research is quantitative and has been done using a researcher-made questionnaire and interviews for gathering data. The statistical population was Citizens over 15 years in Mashhad in year 2016, 1200 residents were selected as samples. The Sampling method was multi-stage stratified cluster sampling. In this research dependent variable is the level awareness of civic rights and civic duties and independent variables are Religiosity level, social participation, media and socialization. Findings show that 51.4% of respondents were men and 48.6% were women. The average age of the respondents is 39 years old and most respondents are married. 40% of the respondents were employed and 60% were non-employed. 35 % belonged to the low social class, 53 % to the middle class, and the rest to the high socioeconomic class. The average of the use of oversea media is low, the average use of inner media is moderate, the average participation rate is moderately upward, and the mean of socialization and religiosity variables were high.
The results of the research show that the average awareness of civic rights is 24.48 and for civic duties is 23.4. Independent variables predicted about 58% and 14% of the variance of awareness of urban rights and duties. The strongest predictors of the awareness of civic rights are variables, religiosity (beta = 0.744), family socialization (beta = 0.121), social participation (beta = 0.060), use of oversea media (beta = 0.058) and use of inner media (beta = 0.053). However, family socialization (beta = 0.182), religiosity (beta = 0.154), use of inner media (beta = 0.093), and use of oversea media (beta = 0.089) have the greatest impact on the variables of awareness of civic duties.
Based on the obtained results, the following strategies are proposed to increase the awareness of the civic rights and duties. Urban managers should provide more citizen participation in urban projects. The transfer of some urban affairs to the citizens contributes to the development of their participation in the development of the city, thereby increasing the awareness of their rights and duties towards the city and other residents. The introduction of associations, NGOs and their activities to citizens can lead to more active citizen participation in urban issues. Increasing community-based programs is another action that will make people more involved in urban affairs.
Emphasizing the religious teachings that confirm the responsibilities and rights of individuals towards the community and the place of life. Simplifying religious teachings, and expressing them by religious advisers on different times and ceremonies.
Today, with the growth of modern communication and information technologies, media is one of the most important means of raising awareness among people in different areas. City managers should use massive media capacities, especially modern media, such as the Internet and virtual networks to teach urban rights and duties. Updating the sites of various city organizations, using billboards, producing interesting programs on radio and television, producing clips, messages and short stories in this area will be very effective.