Date of Award

4-1984

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Dr. James C. Petersen

Second Advisor

Dr. David M. Lewis

Third Advisor

Dr. Edsel L. Erickson

Abstract

The relationship between Iranian students' alienation from the Iranian politics and society and their social and political activism is examined at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Western Michigan University. The major goals of the study are to determine if there is a significant difference in the alienation levels of students who are politically and socially active and those who are not prone to participate in social and political activities, and to compare and contrast activists and non-activists by testing several propositions about characteristics of alienated students. The analysis of the data shows strong support for all six hypotheses on which this study is based. The findings reveal a significant relationship between alienation and activism. Although activism and alienation appear to be significantly related, the student activists tend to differ markedly from non-activists in certain respects. Activists hold higher Socio Economic Status (SES), have higher degree of media connectedness, have higher organization membership, possess a coherent political ideology of radical reform, and seek more vocational and non-academic fields of study as their basic value committments than do the non-activists.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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