Download Of sociological factors and the tendency to

Sociological Survey of Factors Affecting Tendency to Social
Apathy Among Executive Organizations in the Province of
Zanjan (Iran- Zanjan)
Authors:
Karim Hanafi Niri
lecturer of sociology at the Institute of Higher Education abdolrahman -e- Sofi.
[email protected]
Dr. Mehdi Ghadimi
Assistant professor, Director department of sociology, Faculty member of Islamic Azad University
of Zanjan.
[email protected]
Dr. Mozafaroldin Shahbazi
Assistant professor, Faculty member of Islamic Azad University of Zanjan.
Mshahbazii99@ yahoo.com
Abstract
The term apathy, in different sciences, is synonymous with lack of participation, reluctance, lack of
incentive, and isolation. Sociologists and political scholars have considered, in their expected
manner, the meaning of apathy as detachment and lack of social and political participation. In this
paper, apathy has been researched in an interdisciplinary manner, so as not to be impinged by
oversimplification. By reviewing almost all scientific productions on the subject of apathy in Iran
(consisting of three theses, three papers, a telephone survey, and a roundtable), the purpose and
necessity of researching on this subject is justified. The approach conducted in this survey has been
descriptive and the collection of was accomplished using library and field methods. Statistical
population has been 27,989 persons of male and female employees, employed in the public sector
and statistical sample based on Cochran’s sample estimation has been 379 persons, randomly
chosen. Finding results indicate that independent variables: social alienation, social trust, social
effectiveness, and social satisfaction have a significance of relation with the dependent variable
(apathy).
Keywords: Social apathy, political apathy, social alienation, social effectiveness, social trust, social
satisfaction, social and political participation
* This paper has been extracted from theses: Hanafi Niri, Karim (2010). "Sociological Survey of
Factors Affecting Tendencies towards Social Apathy among Executive Organizations in the Province
of Zanjan”.
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Introduction
Please take notice of the following points:
- You work in your working place with all your effort and use your total energy to increase
productivity.
- If a there is call for taking part in a demonstration by the government, you will certainly
participate.
- You are not interested in participating in elections at all and do not like to vote.
- You take joy helping an elderly crossing the street.
- When you see a colleague of yours not getting to work on time, you feel if you are on time,
you have been taken in.
- It does not matter to you in what situation other people are.
- The performance of officials matters to you and you feel you have right to criticize their poor
performance.
- It does not matter to you if because of poverty your neighbor sleeps with hunger at nights.
Noticing the above facts reveals two points:
- Whether you are altruist or carefree;
- Whether you are apathetic or considerate;
The words altruism, empathy and, apathy, are considered as the summation of points that can be
extracted from the above points. What do these words mean and what advantages or disadvantages
can the presence or absence of each one of them bring to the social life of individuals? Whether an
altruism or apathy of an individual, makes no difference to the well-being of the society? Whether
detachment from social issues, will not bring irreparable losses and damages to the body of society?
Whether the legitimacy of a political system, does not have any relation with the level of people’s
participation in elections?
Understanding and making distinctions between collaboration, participation, altruism, apathy,
and in total, social behavior, favorable or unfavorable, can be only possible by understanding the
individuals’ purposeful inner behavior, existing within themselves.
Among these types of behavior, there are clear and obvious differences. Once we are able to
classify these different forms of behavior in a purposeful, scientific, rational system, we can be
hopeful of their future benefits for the society.
The social behavior that an individual learns from society is controlled by three incentives: 1.
Direct incentives such as rewards; 2. Alternative incentives such as position promotion, and; 3.
Motivations that one particularly creates within oneself, such as individual satisfaction and selfassessment of one’s performance;
In this way, we can evaluate one’s desirable or undesirable behavior with regard to the abovementioned patterns. It seems that apathy is something which cannot be considered as one of the
above motivations.
Self-assessment and satisfaction of oneself, not only stimulate the individual to acquire selfish,
or otherwise, sacrificing behavior, but also provide him/her with the ability to understand whether
one is acting according to one’s inner laws and principles or not?
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Here the individual, as an observer of one’s own behavior, acts on one’s assessment and
selection to choose to be apathetic and carefree, or otherwise, social and contributor (Hinde,
2001:27).
Making efforts to coordinate one’s actions with one’s standards and inner principles depends on
the output and efficiency of the individual’s hopes and expectations, and relates to how he/she can
access those standards. If the outcomes and outputs of individual’s actions are positive and
satisfactory, the process of making efforts to coordinate oneself with his/her standards will
continue. If the expectations outcomes are discouraging, the individual will give them up and gets
apathetic towards them.
Statement of Problem
The word ‘apathy’ whose origin comes from the Greek word ‘apathia’. Kaplan & Sadock have
reviewed apathy from psychological perspective and have defined it as a state of lacking inner
feeling and emotion, lack of interest and emotional involvement with one’s environment (Kaplan,
1991: 29).
Political scholars have used apathy with the meaning of reluctance and lack of incentive by
individuals in connection with participation and activate in political affairs such as elections.
Social scholars have used the term apathy with a meaning opposite to social, psychological, and
political interest, involvement, and participation, and have considered it synonymous with isolation,
lack of interest in participation, in their expected manner (Van Deth & Elff, 2000:2).
With regard to the above definitions, in different sciences, the term apathy comprising
psychology, sociology, political science and..., is synonymous with reluctance, lack of effort and
participation and in a sense, has been used as being isolated.
In this survey, we have tried to study the term apathy in an interdisciplinary manner with
scrutiny. The benefit of this kind of approach is that this survey wouldn't suffer reductionism
because attention towards this phenomenon and studying it without considering its various
dimensions, isn't possible.
Apathy in all its dimensions (social, political, cultural, and...) does not result in anything but the
individuals’ underdevelopment, isolation, lack of participation and pessimism. This matter
gradually ends in disorder, lack of legitimacy of the political and social system, social alienation,
sense of inefficacy, dissatisfaction, and lack of confidence towards oneself and others. these factors
gradually destroy the social network and make the society suffer from illness of pessimism and
hopelessness, in such conditions, individuals lose the energy of relation with others and become
isolated over time.
Apathy, lack of altruism and lack of empathy among individuals in a society is an important
social issue that has engaged the minds and thoughts of many scholars and authorities who are
seriously concerned about its dangerous consequences. The reason being, the prevalence of apathy
in the society, is questioning the political and social legitimacy, which will consequently end up in
its disintegration.
Importance and necessity of studying and researching on the phenomenon of apathy in the
Iranian society is considered seriously, only when we take a look at the number of scientific
productions made in this specific field. The total scientific productions include: two theses, two
papers, a telephonic research and a roundtable, which was held in an effort made by a monthly
periodical. With regard to this issue, isn’t it mandatory for authorities and researchers to take a
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special look at this issue once again? The reason being that apathy and lack of participation in social
and political issues constitutes questioning the legitimacy of a political and social system.
Review of Background and Theoretical Framework
- Some determinants of political apathy.
Rosenberg (1954), in his study, using qualitative method has reviewed the issue of alienation,
absurdity, vanity, and lack of sufficient incentive for participation in the democratic process and its
relation with political apathy. The results indicated that there is relation between the political and
social alienation with tendency to political apathy (Rosenberg, 1954: 349-350, 363-366).
- Political involvement and apathy in Europe 1973 – 1998.
This survey was conducted in 18 European countries, using electoral data, collected between
1973 and 1998 by the European Center for Social Studies. In this survey, the effect of variables and
social and demographic characteristics of individuals, such as: education, gender, age and date of
birth, on the participation rate or political apathy has been measured and assessed. The results
indicate that there is a more or less stable level of participation and political interests against a
reduction of political apathy among the studied population (Van Deth & Elff, 2000: 1-2, 23-24, 2947).
- Political apathy and alienation in Chilean.
In this survey, the data related to the elections within 10 years in Chile, was collected and
analyzed. The results of this survey indicated severe apathy and lack of interest among people especially the youth - towards participation in the elections. In this survey, people's political
alienation and distrust towards the major governmental institutions and parallel with that social
apathy was observed. Moreover, this factor was not ineffective in the level of political apathy of
people and their lack of political participation in elections (Epstein, 2000: 1, 16-17).
- Mass political interest (or apathy) in urban china.
This survey was conducted in Beijing, using public opinion data, collected in 1995 poll, among
700 people between 18 to 84-year age groups. In this study, the effect of variables, such as age,
gender, level of education, rate of income, political effectiveness, and the level of satisfaction from
government were assessed and measured, in order to evaluate people’s interest in participation, or
otherwise, their political apathy. As part of this survey, Chinese unique variables, such as being a
farmer society, having a spirit of entrepreneurship, and the level of interest in keeping one’s
position in the Communist Party was taken into consideration. However, results indicated a
significant significance of relation between independent variables over dependent ones, i.e. apathy
or political interest (Chen & Zhong, 1999: 300-301).
In sociology texts, often apathy is considered as a pathological a phenomenon in the way of
social and political participation, and an obstacle in the way of national development; also a sideeffect of urbanization in the modern era. It seems that industry and technology growth, development
of social interactions, increased uncontrollable population, large population movements,
urbanization growth, proximity of different cultures and sub cultures, growth of mosaic
communications, rationality of human behavior, development of tedious logic of being economical,
individualism, weakness in institutions and religious beliefs, secularism, loss of group and local
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identities, and... all have led to modern societies leaving behind a period of crisis in human
relations.
If we consider the extensive participation of citizens in various realms of social life an important
condition for social, economic, and political development, naturally lack of citizens’ participation
and the prevalence of apathy can be considered as a strong factor in underdevelopment.
Apathy can be explained through different approaches. Sociologists have pointed to social
factors affecting apathy. They know of factors such as values, norms, institutions, roles, or in
general, social construct, stratification, socio-economic status, ethnicity, and..., effective to the
occurrence of this phenomenon. Psychologists consider individual factors such as motives, personal
capabilities, self-esteem, interest, sense of confident, sense of effectiveness, sense of efficiency,
and.…
Economists take notice of economic conditions and capacities of the society and individual (at
macro and micro levels), as well as the economic behavior of the individuals. Political scholars
usually pay attention to the form of government, power distribution, power construct, presence or
lack of features such as democracy, freedom of speech and press, oppositions, parties, political
groups, and … (Naderi Abbas Abadi, 2004).
An individual facing abnormal and maladaptive situations, loses his/her ability to adjust his/her
behavior to desirable social behaviors. Such an individual becomes apathetic, carefree and
disincentive towards the issues in his/her surroundings. The individual has no incentive for
participation, altruism, and empathy and suffer from some kind of social isolation.
Anomie refers to a social situation whose obvious attribute is disintegration of standards and
rules governing social interactions. Durkheim has stated that: Anomie is a situation that social or
ethical norms are upset and faced with uncertainty, or do not exist at all.
A person who is suffering from Anomie, his/her actions are pushed towards undesirable
deviated behaviors. At this stage, the person suffers from apathy and practically shows behaviors in
which there is no sign of participation, empathy, or altruism (Delaney, 2003: 155).
Lazarsfeld refers to the role of education in relation to the understanding of political knowledge,
and believes: people with higher level of education show more interest in following up political
issues. These people have the highest participation in elections.
Therefore, he suggests, governments in order to legitimize their political system must provide
the society with grounds for the promotion of knowledge in the field provide the society, since
higher level of knowledge is followed by higher political participation, and in parallel, the reduction
of political apathy (Lazarsfeld, 1948: 43).
Wilensky refers to apathy as a function of aging process, because morality and psychological
dispositions change with age, so that they bring a sense of alienation and apathy with them.
According to this argument, with the rise of aging population, the amount of apathy rises as well
(Kahn, 1987: 167).
Hibbs, based on the findings of Gallup in the years 1973 to 1963, in order to determine the
amount of apathy and participation, came to the conclusion that most of the respondents
emphasized in economic issues. This means that no matter the individuals are interested in social or
political participation or not, the result will be a function of their economic status. The better the
economic status of individuals, the higher is their participation, and the lower their apathy, and vice
versa (Ibid).
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In the study done by Van Deth & Elff, they assessed the effectiveness of variables of education,
gender, age and date of birth on the level of political participation and political apathy. Results
indicated that from among these factors, educational level has had the most effectiveness in the rise
or fall of political participation, as well as political apathy (Van Deth & Elff, 2000: 30).
According to David Solmitz there are other terms being synonymous with the concept of apathy:
terms such as passivity, numbness, and Submissiveness. He describes symptoms and signs of
apathy as lack of awareness, anxiety, and denial of social responsibilities (Solmitz, 2000: 1-4).
Armstrong believes that proper understanding of democracy and the nature of political apathy is
only possible through deep cultural studies. He argues that maintaining true democracy and the
eradication of apathy in the society depends on the eradication of form and type of social and
political messages presented by the cultural and political media. The task of these media is to
present news and messages with cultural values in whose shadow, people in the society acquire the
proper political and cultural awareness and in this way get a deeper sense of cultural and political
activities and participations. This understanding and knowledge of various civil participations is the
beginning of the eradication beginning of apathy in the society (Armstrong, 1998: 7-12).
Robert Marin, from the point of view, points to some psychological characteristics of apathetic
people: such people suffer from anxiety, inappropriate feeling, incentive, and enthusiasm towards
undesirable activities, sense of fear, general fatigue, and in some cases, taking refuge in drugs, such
as heroin (Marin, 2010: 1).
It seems when people in the society, during the course of life, lose their pride and faith, they
suffer from social apathy and inevitably resort to dangerous behaviors. The solution to the recovery
of a society, whose people suffer from apathy, is trying to aware apathetic individuals about the
events stemming from their apathy. In such circumstances, once individuals’ behavior blends with
feelings and attention towards social issues, not only themselves, but also the whole public will
benefit from positive effects of their behavior (Gribble, 2008: 1).
Hypotheses
1. There is relation between social alienation and Tendency to social apathy.
2. There is relation between social trust and Tendency to social apathy.
3. There is relation between social effectiveness and Tendency to social apathy.
4. There is relation between social satisfaction and Tendency to social apathy.
Research Methodology
The present survey is of a descriptive type. For collecting the data, we have used documents
(documentary), library, and field methods, using questionnaire.
Statistical population of this survey consists of all employees (both men and women) with
formal employment, experimental, and contractual, employed in one of the organizations, banks,
public companies or institutions, with a number 27,989 employees, based on the 2010 census taken
in Zanjan province. Sampling was done on the basis of stratified random method. For the sample
size, Cochran sample estimation formula was used, with the estimated number of 379 employees.
Validity: to assess the formal or subjective validity of the present questionnaire, the researcher
has tried to use standard questionnaires, which have been repeatedly used and evaluated by other
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researchers; also by deeply studying previous records conducted in this field, previously mentioned,
their experiences were used in the preparation of this questionnaire.
Reliability: to assess the reliability of the data collection method, Cronbach’s Alpha method
was used, whose results are as follows:
Table 1: Reliability Statistics
Variable Name
Alpha Coefficient
Social Alienation
%95
Social Trust
%94
Social Effectiveness
%88
Social Satisfaction
%97
Social Apathy
%82
Result
Descriptive statistics of social alienation
Social alienation construct was assessed and measured out of six indexes (sense of powerlessness,
sense of anomie, social isolation, sense of meaninglessness, self-estrangement and cultural
estrangement), which in total comprise of 19 questions, In this scale, scoring 19 represents the
lowest and 95 the highest level of social alienation.
Therefore, considering the achieved score (mean 43.1), the level of social alienation among
employees is assessed almost as being low. The summary of achieved results, by their index
breakdown is shown in the table below:
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics, Related to the Construct of Social Alienation, by Index Breakdown
Statistics
Acquired
Level
No of
Items
Range
Maximum
Minimum
Std.
Deviation
Variance
Mean
Approx. Low
5
20
25
5
6.6
8.9
12
Sense of
Powerlessness
Low
2
12
15
3
3.5
4.1
6.1
Sense of Anomie
Approx. Low
4
16
20
4
5.2
6.8
9
Social Isolation
Low to
moderate
3
12
15
3
4.3
6.2
7.8
Sense of
Meaninglessness
Low
2
8
10
2
2.5
3.3
4
Estrangement
towards oneself
Low
2
8
10
2
2.8
3.7
4.2
Cultural
Estrangement
Approx. Low
19
76
95
19
24.9
33
43.1
Total Sum
Variable
Social Alienation
Very High
Social Alienation
High
Social Alienation
Moderate
Social Alienation
Low
Social Alienation
Very Low
95
76
57
38
19
43.1
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Descriptive Statistics of Social trust
In this survey, social trust construct, was assessed and measured out of three indexes (interpersonal
trust, public trust (generalized), and fundamental trust), which in total include 11 questions, using
five-score Likert scale. In this scale, scoring 11 represents the lowest and 55 represents the highest
level of social trust. Therefore, concerning the achieved scores (mean 27.9), the level of social trust
among employees is assessed low to moderate. The summary of achieved results, by their index
breakdown is shown in the table below:
Table 3: Descriptive Statistics of the Variable of Social Trust, by Index Breakdown
Acquired
Level
No of
Items
Range
Maximum
Minimum
Std.
Deviation
Variance
Mean
Approx.
Low
5
20
25
5
6.2
7.7
11.3
Moderate
2
8
10
2
3
4.6
5.9
Low to
moderate
4
16
20
4
5.8
8.2
10.7
Low to
moderate
11
44
55
11
15
20.5
27.9
Statistics
Variable
Interpersonal Trust
Public Trust
Fundamental trust
Total Sum
Social Trust
Very High
Social Trust
High
Social Trust
Moderate
Social Trust
Low
Social Trust
Very Low
55
44
33
22
11
27
Descriptive Statistics of Social Effectiveness
Social effectiveness construct was assessed and measured out of two indexes (external effectiveness
and internal effectiveness), which in total include 10 questions, using five-score Likert scale. In this
scale, scoring 10 represents the lowest and 50 represents the highest level of social trust. Therefore,
concerning the achieved scores (mean 25), the level of social effectiveness among employees is
assessed low to moderate. The summary of achieved results, by their index breakdown is shown in
the table below:
Table 4: Descriptive Statistics of the Variable of Social Effectiveness, by Index Breakdown
Statistics
Acquired
Level
No of
Items
Range
Maximum
Minimum
Std.
Deviation
Variance
Mean
Approx.
Low
6
24
30
6
8.1
11.2
14.5
External
Effectiveness
Low to
moderate
4
16
20
4
5.7
8.3
10.5
External
Effectiveness
Low to
moderate
10
40
50
10
13.8
19.5
25
Total Sum
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Variable
Social Effectiveness
Very High
Social Effectiveness
High
Social Effectiveness
Moderate
Social Effectiveness
Low
Social Effectiveness
Very Low
50
40
30
20
10
25
Descriptive Statistics of Social Satisfaction
Social satisfaction variable was assessed and measured out of three indexes (satisfaction with
personal status, satisfaction with social status, and satisfaction with the administrative status), which
in total include 9 questions, using five-score Likert scale. In this scale, scoring 9 represents the
lowest and 45 the highest level of social satisfaction. Therefore, according to the achieved scores
(mean 21.4), the level of social effectiveness among employees is assessed low to moderate. The
summary of achieved results, by their index breakdown is shown in the table below:
Table 5: Descriptive Statistics of the Variable of Social Satisfaction, by Index Breakdown
Statistics
Acquired
Level
No of
Items
Range
Maximum
Minimum
Std.
Deviation
Variance
Mean
Low
4
16
20
4
4.8
5.9
8.8
Personal
Situation
Low to
moderate
3
12
15
3
4.2
6.2
7.5
Social
Situation
Low to
moderate
2
8
10
2
2.8
4
5.1
Administrative
situation
Low to
moderate
9
36
45
9
11.8
16.1
21.4
Total Sum
Variable
Social Satisfaction
Very High
Social Satisfaction
High
Social Satisfaction
Moderate
Social Satisfaction
Low
Social Satisfaction
Very Low
45
36
27
18
9
22.5
Descriptive Statistics of Tendency to Apathy
The variable of tendency to apathy was assessed and measured out of three indexes (apathy toward
public life and political apathy towards administrative activities), which in total include 10
questions, using five-score Likert scale. In this scale, scoring 10 represents the lowest and 50 the
highest level of social satisfaction. Therefore, according to the achieved scores (mean 20), the level
of tendency to apathy among employees is assessed almost low. The summary of achieved results,
by their index breakdown is shown in the table below:
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Table 6: Descriptive Statistics of the Variable of Tendency to Apathy, by Index Breakdown
Statistics
Acquired
Level
No of
Items
Range
Maximum
Minimum
Std.
Deviation
Variance
Mean
Low
6
24
30
6
7.9
10.3
12
Tendency to Apathy
toward Social and
Political Life
Low
4
16
20
4
5.3
7.3
8
Tendency to Apathy
toward Working and
Administrative Life
Low
10
40
50
10
13.2
17.6
20
Total Sum
Tendency to Apathy
Very High
Tendency to Apathy
High
50
40
Tendency to Apathy
Moderate
30
Variable Name
Tendency to Apathy
Low
Tendency to Apathy
Very Low
20
10
25
Hypotheses Analysis
Statistical method used to test the relation between social alienation variables (hypothesis 1), social
trust (hypothesis 2), social effectiveness (hypothesis 3), and social satisfaction (hypothesis 4), with
a tendency to apathy, considering that all variables are of the Interval Scale level, is the Pearson
correlation test. The output results of this test for hypotheses 1 to 4, are shown with each other in
the following table:
Table 7: Correlation Test between Variables of Social Alienation, Social Trust, Social Effectiveness, and
Social Satisfaction and Tendency to social Apathy
Independent Variable
Social Satisfaction
(Hypothesis 4)
- 0.15
0.000
379
Pearson
Correlation
Sig.
N
Social Effectiveness
(Hypothesis 3)
- 0.33
0.000
379
Pearson
Correlation
Sig.
N.
Social Trust
(Hypothesis 2)
- 0.37
0.000
379
Pearson
Correlation
Sig.
N.
Social Alienation
(Hypothesis 1)
0.50
0.000
379
Pearson
Correlation
Sig.
N.
Dependent
Variable
Tendency Towards
Social Apathy
Hypothesis 1. There is relation between social alienation and Tendency to social apathy.
Correlation coefficient obtained for the two variables of 0.50 and the significance level is 0.000. So,
there is a significant relation, as well as, a positive and direct correlation between the two variables,
whose intensity is strong. Therefore, concurrent with the rise of social alienation feeling, tendency
to apathy also rises. This hypothesis is accepted.
Hypothesis 2. There is relation between social trust and Tendency to social apathy.
Correlation coefficient obtained for the two variables of - 0.37 and the significance level is 0.000.
thus there is significant relation between the two variables and the direction of this correlation is
negative and reverse. This hypothesis is accepted.
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Hypothesis 3. There is relation between social effectiveness and Tendency to social
apathy.
Correlation coefficient obtained for the two variables of - 0.33 and the significance level is 0.000.
thus there is significant relation between the two variables and the direction of this correlation is
negative and reverse. This hypothesis is accepted.
Hypothesis 4. There is relation between social satisfaction and Tendency to social apathy.
Correlation coefficient obtained for the two variables of - 0.15 and the significance level is 0.000.
thus there is significant relation between the two variables and the direction of this correlation is
negative and reverse. This hypothesis is accepted.
Path analysis (Path Analysis)
Results obtained from the path analysis for this survey are as follows:
- Social alienation construct contains an effectiveness of 0.840
- Social trust construct contains an effectiveness of – 0.008
- Social effectiveness construct contains an effectiveness of – 0.168
- Social satisfaction construct contains an effectiveness of – 0.120
Table 8: The Diagram of Path Analysis of Factors Affecting the Final Index of Tendency to social Apathy
Social Alienation
0.840
Social Trust
‫اجتماعي‬
- 0.008
Tendency to social Apathy
- 0.168
Social Effectiveness
- 0.120
Social Satisfaction
Discussion and Conclusion
Apathy and its thematic dimensions, such as social - political, interest, and behavioral apathy, in
voting, and..., is considered as a social phenomenon, which is culturally known and generalized in
most countries of the world, in the form of a social problem and issue. The isolation of individuals
and their indifference toward the environment, as well as, various levels of civil conflict among
individuals, their disappointments and alienation, their knowledge and awareness of social
processes, and their social commitment toward the issues set forth in different levels of society.
Furthermore, the individuals’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction as shaping elements of social construct
are of issues being in social and political circles, considered by many social science and political
thinkers. (Naderi Abbas Abadi, 2004: 1.)
Social and political researchers for indifference and apathy among individuals, have named
several factors, which directly or indirectly, are involved in the their tendency toward this
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phenomenon (apathy). Among these factors are: social alienation, sense of ineffectiveness, social
and political dissatisfaction, and sense of distrust toward themselves and others.
The present survey was planned and accomplished for the purpose of assessing and measuring
the level of tendency to apathy, among employees in the public organizations of Zanjan province.
Since, nowadays, people’s participation is considered as a tool for social and political legitimacy of
a system, the extensive involvement of people in social, political, cultural, and... activities, is felt
more than before.
As mentioned in the history section of this survey, in our country, Iran, we could find a
remarkable and practical research work in the field of tendency to apathy, Therefore, the need for
research and study in this regard is mostly felt.
Solutions and practical executive suggestions
1. Executive organizations to create a scientific and cultural environment for the creation of vitality
and happiness in the employees, must take action in establishing a library and a unit for cultural
activities. Since, due to the lack of these centers, government departments will turn into dull and
boring places.
2. Restoring the condition of welfare facilities in the offices: the authorities must carefully take
this issue into consideration, because the root of most dissatisfactions and ineffectiveness and
distrusts, gets back to dissatisfaction towards the government facilities, and the government should
make effort to provide it for this group.
3. Paying attention to the conditions of the governing administrative construct, because of
putting value to consultancy, encouraging exemplary employees, and creating recreational and
sports facilities, and ....
4. Paying attention to the opinions and criticisms expressed by employees about the
administrative and business rules and norms among directors and managers, since, in addition to the
constructiveness of the office, fair criticism will make grounds for the employees’ intellectual
growth and development of the office.
Research Suggestions
- According to the research history, there is a feeling that most studies and surveys have been
performed in the field of politics, and not much has been done in the area of social apathy and
issues related to it.
- Addressing this issue in Iran has never gained priority in the works of researchers.
- With regards to the results of studies and research history, the variables of alienation, trust,
effectiveness and satisfaction, are considered as the main variables affecting the phenomenon of
apathy.
- The weakness of theories in this area is highly significant, in such a way that the researchers
are forced to explain the issue of participation, which is opposite to apathy, in order to express this
very issue.
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