Ethnic Distance and Its Driving Factors: A Study of the Eastern Regions of Golestan Province

Social proximity and acceptance among Iranian ethnic groups in general and Fars and Turkmen in specific is one of the safest ways to achieve solidarity and social unity in Iran. With a sociological approach, this paper examines the social distance between the residents of eastern regions of Golestan Province (who are either Turkmen or Fars) and the factors that influence it. Social distance refers to the tendency of one ethnic group to accept or reject the people of another ethnic group. This tendency consists of cognitive, affective, and interactive dimensions. Interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data. Interview with a sample of 399 residents of Eastern Golestan showed that the respondents had the least social distance from Fars people and the most social distance from Turkmen people. In the overall hierarchy of ethnic preferences among the respondents, Fars, Turkmen, Baloch, and Turk people come respectively. The results suggest the inadequacy of micro-sociological approaches to the study of ethnic distance in Iran. Since ethnic distance and the interaction of different ethnic groups in Iran is affected by the cultural, social, political, and economic conditions of the country and its historical developments, it is imperative to employ macro-level theories such as Hechter’s internal colonialism that focus on exclusion, discrimination, and inequality between different regions of a country. The present findings show that ethnic distance exists in Iranian peoples and a proper ethnic policy must be developed to reduce such distance.