Qualitative analysis of economic and cultural consequences of industrialization (the study of Mahabad Petrochemical project)

The present study aims to identify and analyze the economic and cultural consequences of the petrochemical industry in Mahabad. The main question of the research is, how the industrial development policy in Mahabad influenced the economy and culture of local communities? The research method is qualitative and thematic analysis is used to analyze and interpret the data. Data were collected using semi-structured interview and observation techniques and theoretical sampling method was used to answer the research aims, so that 21 of the key informants directly exposed to the phenomenon were interviewed. All interviews analyzed in two stages of open (primary and focused) and axial coding. In the economic sphere, there are 36 initial concepts in the subcategory of 12 major categories (economic inequality, income reduction, land ownership change, non-use of local workforces, livelihood challenge, unknown and unpredictable of petrochemical for people, disproportionate change in local people’s livelihood, work rent in petrochemicals, Lack of profit for local peoples, Gender discrimination in employing, Increasing incomes, experience and skills of some people). In the cultural sphere, the first 20 concepts were filed in six major categories (cultural heterogeneity, inactivity of petrochemicals in the cultural sphere, the lack of appropriate infrastructures for petrochemical, changes in people's cultural morale, familiarity with new cultures, cultural inspiration). The results show that the effects in the economic sphere have isolated, even in some cases, local people in the field of employment and labor power, rather than helping people livelihoods.