Relationship between Ethnic and National Identities in Iran’s Multiethnic Society: Study and Comparison of Three Theoretical Approaches

Ethnic identities and their relation to the national identity is an important issue in multiethnic countries. The quality of the relationship between these two kinds of social identity can affect national solidarity and unity in countries. The present study is the result of the existing concerns about cultural and ethnic diversity in the Iranian society and its consequences. It studies the relationship between ethnic and national identities by taking advantage of the social identity theory, cultural acceptance theory as well as integrative social identity and consolidated multiple identity models. The results of the secondary analysis show that both ethnic and national identities are prominent among Iranian ethnicities. The correlation between the sense of belonging to an ethnicity and attachment to nationality is also positive throughout the cohort. However, the strength of the relationship and its direction is different among various ethnic groups. In addition, findings show that there are various forms of identity among Iranian ethnicities which are of different importance. While consolidated (combined) identity has the highest frequency, other identity situations are found less frequently. Finally, grouping the respondents on the basis of ethnic and national identities sorted by six ethnic groups shows that although consolidated identity is the dominant identity among all ethnic groups, its share differs among various ethnic groups.