Sociological Analysis of Stereotypes and Prejudices among Iranian Ethnics

The current research is an exploration of the sociological analysis of stereotypical and prejudiced attitudes among Iranian ethnic groups. The study method is qualitative content analysis based on Grounded Theory. In-depth interviews through a semi-structured questionnaire held with eleven  people from Kurd, Lor, Turk and Fars tribes upto  theoretical saturation. Data analysis was done based on open coding and  content  analysis based on Strauss and Corbin's approach. The concepts  affecting  the formation of stereotypical and mediating attitudes about Iranian ethnic groups were categorized into three groups of contextual, interventional, and mediating, and a paradigm  model was extracted.  Emergence of stereotype and prejudice among ethnic groups are influenced by the following factors: feeling need  to  authority, creating or maintaining power against the hegemony of governments, competition between ethnic groups to gain power and dignity, conflict between intra-ethnic interests  against the interests of other ethnic groups, retention of belongings  to culture and ethnicity and gaining social identity through intra-group marriage. Among the minority ethnic groups, confronting the cultural and linguistic hegemony of the dominant ethnic group in the Capital, and among the Persian ethnic groups, maintaining the superiority and formality of the Persian language were identified as the causal conditions of stereotypical ideas and prejudices. Social systems, including formal and informal education, media, political and religious systems produce and reproduce stereotypes and prejudices in Iran.