The Impact of Awareness of Citizenship Rights and Social Justice on Social Satisfaction with Urban and Municipal Services in the Metropolis of Ahvaz

Document Type : Article extracted From phd dissertation

Authors
1 PhD Student, Department of Sociology, Bu. C., Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran.
2 Department of Sociology, Bu. C., Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran.
Abstract
Today in the metropolis of Ahvaz, spatial inequality in the distribution of urban services, along with intensified environmental crises (drought and dust storms), has reinforced a vicious cycle of deprivation–distrust–dissatisfaction, thereby weakening social cohesion. In the multi ethnic context of Ahvaz, this issue has become even more complex, deepening the gap between citizens’ expectations and the realities of service provision. Accordingly, examining citizenship rights (including civil, political, and social rights) and social justice (with dimensions of economic individualism, equality, equity, and need) simultaneously within the multi ethnic context of Ahvaz contributes to filling a knowledge gap in urban theories.

The research method is descriptive–survey. The statistical population consists of all citizens aged 18 and above residing in the metropolis of Ahvaz. The sample size was determined using Cochran’s formula with a 0.05 margin of error, yielding 384 respondents selected through simple random sampling. Data were collected using the Urban and Municipal Services Satisfaction Questionnaire by Ebrahimzadeh and Kazemizadeh (2015), the Citizenship Rights Questionnaire by Sharifi and Eslamiyeh (2012), and the Social Justice Questionnaire by Rasinski (1987). Data analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that in the metropolis of Ahvaz, citizenship rights, with a path coefficient of 0.586 (t = 6.207, p < 0.001), are the strongest predictor of social satisfaction, while social justice, with a coefficient of 0.277 (t = 2.435, p = 0.015), has a significant but weaker effect.

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