A Study of Individual Cultural Identity Differences from National Cultural Identity

Today, different aspects of cultural identity have been elaborated on by social intellectuals and theories. The present conditions of global communication, development of different technologies, and incessant cultural contact have converted the cultural identity issue into a central issue in social studies in different individual and national dimensions. Therefore, the researchers have dealt with the following issues, aiming at identifying the differences between individual cultural identity and national cultural identity. National identity refers to a set of tendencies and positive attitudes toward coordinating and identity-giving factors and elements in a country as a political unit. National identity has different constitutive elements such as national, religious, cultural, social and humanitarian values in cultural, social, historical, geographical, political, and linguistic dimensions. Iranian national identity also has the above-mentioned dimensions and elements in different ways. However, the most important issues of Iranian national identity are two elements of Islam and Iran. In Iranian temporary history, many of the challenges and crises in Iranian national identity elements have been in these two basic components and their relation with the western culture. The research method is theoretical and the researchers have identified and evaluated the issue from the religious angle by using the viewpoints of the religious intellectuals, prioritized religion from among the elements that have formed the Iranian identity, and put such factors as geography, race, culture and other identity elements in the second degree of importance. As a result, the Iranians’ identity factor is their tendency to Islam, as this religion has endowed the Iranians a new identity and given the Iranian nation a new meaning due to its spiritual properties.