The Socialization Sources of the Iranian Youth

Since the beginning of human history, socialization or the process through which values, norms, customs and practices are transmitted to the next generation, has been considered as the most important mission among the social activities that various human institutions perform. In primitive societies these activities were administered by institution of the family on the children. But in the today’s modern world in addition to the family, the school, the media, and the culture industries (the arts, books, the internet and the like) play a part in realization of these socializing activities, too. Therefore, the cultural identity of the today’s youth is impacted by various formal andinformal institutions. On the other hand, in the communications age with its electronic information, the use of educational technologies and the attention which such technologies afford to pay to individuals’ psychology, especially that of the youth, has resulted in the fact that the matter of socialization of the youngsters, in many societies including the Iranian one, is carried out less by the family, educational institutions, and the regional mass media. Theinterviews conducted with 44 youngsters of both sexes which were selected quite randomly from the north and south districts of Tehran (in educational year of 2004 and 2005) indicate that in socialization of the youth the Western culture industries have succeeded in overwhelming the domestic culture industries. This fact is reflected in different activities and elements such as watching the satellite television, use of the internet, the manner in which studying is conducted, the arts, music, sports, views on religion, politics and so on. This research which is carried out through qualitative approach conducts content analysis on interviews taken place with the youth.