Sense of Deprivation and the Crisis of Identity Recognition in the Protest Actions of Youth: A Qualitative Study in Rasht-Iran (2022 Protests)

Political and social protests have always been a response to existing societal grievances.One of the most significant factors influencing the intensity and scope of these protests is the demographic structure of a country, particularly the prominent presence of youth.The younger generation, as a major segment of the population, plays a decisive role in the formation and expansion of protest movements, driven by demands for freedom, justice, and social change.In the past decade, Iran has witnessed numerous protests.However, the 2022 protests stand out due to their distinctive characteristics, including their scale, the depth of demands, and the high level of youth participation.This paper, grounded in the theoretical frameworks of Ted Robert Gurr and Axel Honneth, seeks to understand the experience of youth participation in recent protests in the city of Rasht.Employing a qualitative methodology, the study utilizes Grounded Theory and semi-structured interviews as its primary techniques.The participants consisted of 19 individuals, selected through purposive sampling based on theoretical saturation.The validity of the interview data was confirmed through peer review by social science researchers after analysis.From the collected data, 65 concepts, 15 subcategories, and 5 main categories were extracted.These include economic hardships, socio-political dissatisfaction, social media networks, the pursuit of social change, and the erosion of government legitimacy among the youth.The core category of the research was identified as a sense of deprivation and non-recognition of identity.The derived concepts and categories indicate that participants engaged in protest activities to construct identity and meaning, seeking to overcome the frustrations and failures they encounter in daily life