Journal of Iranian Cultural Research

Journal of Iranian Cultural Research

An empirical study of the influence of cultural values in the process of social capital's effect on political action in Iran

Document Type : Scientific Research Manuscript

Authors
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
Abstract
Political action is behavior, whether by individuals or groups, sometimes in protest, as a result of decisions or actions from the government or political institutions. Political action in Iran has significant value; it is possible for political action to stand both domestically and internationally to change policy-making, civil rights and civil liberties, and affect social and economic progressive development. In this regard, the main purpose of the present study is to explain the mechanism of the impact of social trust and social networks on citizens' political action, with an emphasis on the mediating role of cultural values. The current study wants to explore the direct and indirect effects of these two dimensions through the mediating influence of secular and emancipative cultural values. The seventh wave of data from the World Values Survey, with a sample of 1,499 Iranian citizens, was used for this purpose. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling using Smart PLS software. The study showed that social trust has a significant negative effect on political action, while social networks had a significant positive effect. An examination of the indirect paths showed that social trust has a significant negative effect on political action which suggests political action can be created through social trust and networks.
Keywords
Subjects

Acar, Y. G., & Uluğ, Ö. M. (2022). When and why does political trust predict well‐being in authoritarian contexts? Examining the role of political efficacy and collective action among opposition voters. British Journal of Social Psychology61(3), 861-881. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12505
Afrasiabi, H., Rezaei Sadrabadi, A. & Javaherchian, N. (2024). Materialistic Activism: A Qualitative Study on Youth Value Orientation. Journal of Applied Sociology, 35(2), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.22108/jas.2024.140145.2457 [In Persian]
Ahmadi, Y. (2019). The Impact of Types of Social Capital in Social Networks on Types of Political Participation (Case Study: Citizens Aged 18 to up in Sanandaj). Journal of Applied Sociology, 30(3), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.22108/jas.2019.110615.1366 [In Persian]
Arikan, G., & Bloom, P. B. N. (2019). Religion and political protest: A cross-country analysis. Comparative Political Studies52(2), 246-276. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414018774351
Benson, M., & Rochon, T. R. (2004). Interpersonal Trust and the Magnitude of Protest: A Micro and Macro Level Approach. Comparative Political Studies37(4), 435-457. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414003262900
Booth, J. A., & Seligson, M. A. (2005). Political legitimacy and participation in Costa Rica: Evidence of arena shopping. Political Research Quarterly58(4), 537-550. https://doi.org/10.1177/106591290505800402
Chae, K. (2023). Analyzing the Causal Relationship among Cultural Heritage Attitudes, Social Capital, Participation Activities, and Cultural Heritage Value Recognition. The Korean Society of Culture and Convergence. 45(4), 859-869. https://doi.org/10.33645/cnc.2023.04.45.04.859
Della Porta, D., Diani, M. (2009). Social Movements: An Introduction. Germany: Wiley.
Dewi, K. D., Gunawan, H., & Widiastuti, W. (2022). The influence of political trust on public participation in the regional head elections during the COVID-19 pandemic in Cijulang Village, Cineam district, Tasikmalaya regency. Journal of Research in Social Science and Humanities2(1), 15-20. https://doi.org/10.47679/jrssh.v2i1.21
Diani, M. (2003). Social Movements and Networks: Relational Approaches to Collective Action. Oxford University Press.
Douglas, N. (2024). The role of trust in Belarusian societal mobilization (2020–2021). International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 65(4), https://doi.org/10.1177/00207152241246746
Emamjomehzadeh, J., Mehrabikooshki, R., & Rahbarqazi, M. R., (2014). A Study on the Role of Structural and Communicational Dimensions of Social Capital in Political Participation Investigation (Case Study: Students of the University of Isfahan). (e124521). Strategy, 23(1), e124521. 20.1001.1.10283102.1393.23.1.7.3 [In Persian]
Feyzi, A, Ghasemisiani, A., & Moradi, S. (2025). A comparative study of the state of political trust in Iran in 1397 and 1402 based on the 1397 Social Capital Report and the National Survey of Iranian Values and Attitudes in 1402. (e10492). Sociological Cultural Studies, e10492 https://doi.org/10.30465/scs.2025.52079.3021 [In Persian]
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.2307/3151312
Granovetter, M. (1978). Threshold models of collective behavior. American journal of sociology, 83(6), 1420-1443. https://doi.org/10.1086/226707
Hooghe, M., & Dassonneville, R. (2018). A spiral of distrust: A panel study on the relation between political distrust and protest voting in Belgium. Government and Opposition, 53(1), 104-130. https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2016.18
Huntington, S. P. (2007). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. United States: Simon & Schuster.
Inglehart, R. (2015). The silent revolution: Changing values and political styles among Western publics. Princeton University Press.
Kayacı, M. (2023). The Effect of Satisfaction with Services and Trust in Public Organizations on Citizens’voice Orientation: The Role of Ethical Public Administration. Akademik Hassasiyetler, 10(23), 707-731. https://doi.org/10.58884/akademik-hassasiyetler.1341642
Khoshfar, G., Bagheriyan, M., Mirzakhani, S. & Jandaghi, F. (2019). The relationship between social capital and political participation of citizens (Case study: Gorgan). Contemporary Sociological Research, 8(14), 27-52. https://doi.org/10.22084/csr.2020.12339.1228 [In Persian]
Kiess, J. (2022). Learning by doing: The impact of experiencing democracy in education on political trust and participation. Politics42(1), 75-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395721990287
Kim, H. H. S. (2014). Generalised trust, institutional trust and political participation: A cross-national study of fourteen Southeast and Central Asian countries. Asian Journal of Social Science42(6), 695-721. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685314-04206002
Larson, J. M., Nagler, J., Ronen, J., & Tucker, J. A. (2019). Social networks and protest participation: Evidence from 130 million Twitter users. American Journal of Political Science, 63(3), 690-705. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12436
Lee, A. R. (2010). The quality of social capital and political participation in South Korea. Journal of East Asian Studies, 10(3), 483-505. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1598240800003702
Lindvall, J. (2011). The political foundations of trust and distrust: Reforms and protests in France. West European Politics34(2), 296-316. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2011.546575
Mohammadzadeh, M., Mahkoui, H. & Saberi, H. (2023). An Elaboration on the Relationship between Political Participation and Political Socialization as well as Social Capital: A Case Study of Cities of Kashan, Aran and Bidgol. Kashan Shenasi, 15(2), 47-64. https://doi.org/10.22052/kashan.2023.246796.1053 [In Persian]
Najafi, M, J., Masoumi Rad, R., & Shahbazi, M., (2020). Study of the relationship between social capital and political participation among citizens of Kermanshah city. Political Sociology of Iran, 3(2), 131-155. https://doi.org/10.30510/psi.2020.117698 [In Persian]
Putnam, R. D. (2015). Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. In The city reader (pp. 188-196). New York: Routledge.
Rahbarqazi, M., & Baghban, S. M. N. (2020). The link between social capital and political participation and its impact on Iranian youth. Teorija in Praksa, 57(3), 909-962.
Rahbarqazi, M., Ebrahimi, M. and mahmoudoghli, R. (2025). Social Capital and Social Activism: The Mediating Role of Modern Cultural Values in Iran. Political Strategic Studies, 14(55), 51-84. https://doi.org/10.22054/qpss.2024.81209.3453 [In Persian]
Robert Jr, L. P. (2020). Behavior‒output control theory, trust and social loafing in virtual teams. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction4(3), 39. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti4030039
Rotberg, R. I. (1999). Social capital and political culture in Africa, America, Australasia, and Europe. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History29(3), 339-356. https://www.jstor.org/stable/207132
Saleh, D., & Vergil, H. (2022). Religiosity, personal values, and social capital in Middle East and North African (mena) countries. Beykent Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi15(2), 7-30. https://doi.org/10.18221/bujss.1190456
Schoene, M. (2019). Institutional Distrust, Institutional Participation, and Protest Behavior in the European Social Movement Sector. Contention7(2), 51-75. https://doi.org/10.3167/cont.2019.070204
Singh, M. K., & Moody, J. (2022). Do social capital and networks facilitate community participation? International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 42(5/6), 385-398. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-01-2021-0022
Swedlow, B., & Johnson, B. (2019). The Value-Added by Cultural Theories of Political Values: Comparing Ideology, Partisanship, and Two Cultural Value Explanations. Partisanship, and Two Cultural Value Explanations. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3426221 
Tajfel, H., Turner, J. C., Austin, W. G., & Worchel, S. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. Organizational Iidentity: A Reader56(65), 9780203505984-16.
Teney, C., & Hanquinet, L. (2012). High political participation, high social capital? A relational analysis of youth social capital and political participation. Social science research, 41(5), 1213-1226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.03.012
Teorell, J. (2003). Linking social capital to political Participation: Voluntary associations and networks of recruitment in Sweden 1. Scandinavian Political Studies26(1), 49-66. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9477.00079
Van Deth, J. W., & Scarbrough, E. (1998). The impact of values. Oxford University Press.
Vassallo, F. (2020). Social Capital. Oxford Research Encyclopedias. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.70
Wallerstein, I. M. (2004). World-systems Analysis: An Introduction. Duke University Press.
Welzel, C., & Deutsch, F. (2012). Emancipative values and non-violent protest: The importance of ‘ecological’effects. British Journal of Political Science42(2), 465-479. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123411000421
Williams, D. M. (2020). Relationships of horizontalism and hierarchy: exploring divergent forms of sociopolitical trust. Social Science Quarterly101(3), 1150-1164. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12784
Zhuang, M., Wang, Z., & Li, X. (2023). Social Embeddedness and Protest Avoidance: Evidence from China. Journal of Conflict Resolution67(9), 1704-1730. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220027221123320
Zlobina, A., & Gonzalez Vazquez, A. (2018). What is the right way to protest? On the process of justification of protest, and its relationship to the propensity to participate in different types of protest. Social Movement Studies, 17(2), 234-250. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2017.1393408
Zolfaghari, A., Ashayeri, T., Jahanparvar, T. & Bagheri Dinabadi, S. (2022). The Relationship between Social Capital Components and Political Participation: A Meta-Analysis of Studies from 2008 to 2020. Social Capital Management, 9(2), 233-260. https://doi.org/10.22059/jscm.2022.341925.2285 [In Persian]
Send comment about this article
Enter Name.
Enter a valid email address.
Enter a vaid affiliation.
Enter comments (At leaset 10 words)
CAPTCHA Image
Enter Security Code Correctly.

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 19 July 2026

  • Receive Date 11 November 2025
  • Revise Date 08 February 2026
  • Accept Date 17 March 2026