Evaluation of the youth national Identity as the most vital, the most legitimate and
the most common type of collective identity, and the study of the factors influencing
it, is one of the issues that have been the constant concern of sociologists and
political thinkers. The main concern in this respect is to preserve and enhance the
citizens’, especially the youth, sense of belonging and commitment to concepts such
as history, culture, state and the political system. One of the things that have come
scarcely into theoretical and empirical examination is the impact of social
networking on a National Identity. Networks intensely touch the intra-group and
inter-group interactions and communications of people and seem to influence
national identity and national consolidation.
This study aims to investigate the issue of whether social networks can affect
students’ national identity and how much they do so. The method used is survey
and data were collected using questionnaires distributed among a sample of 294
university students in 2013-2014. Their reliability was calculated in formal
methods, and their validity was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and finally,
they were analyzed by 22SPSS software.
The findings of this study suggest that there is strong and significant
relationship between inter-group networks and four dimensions of national
identity, namely, the socio-cultural, historical, political and territorial identity.
The abovementioned networks have more impact on the socio-cultural, political,
historical, and territorial identity, respectively. Also, despite the impact of intragroup
social networks on political and socio-cultural identity, the total value did
not confirm any correlation between students’ national identity and intra-group
networks.