دانشگاه اصفهان جامعه شناسی کاربردی 2008-5745 37 4 2026 12 22 Formative Fluidity: A Contextual Exploration of Ekīp Identity among Youth in the City of Yazd سیالیت تکوینی، مطالعه‌ای کیفی از هویت اکیپی در میان جوانان شهر یزد 49 72 30405 10.22108/jas.2026.147847.2752 FA بهار امینی لاری دانشجوی دکتری جامعه‌شناسی اقتصادی و توسعه، دانشکده علوم‌اجتماعی، دانشگاه یزد، یزد ایران علی روحانی دانشیار، گروه جامعه‌شناسی دانشکدۀ علوم‌اجتماعی، دانشگاه یزد، یزد، ایران فریبا صدیقی استادیار، گروه جمعیت‌شناسی-مردم شناسی، دانشکدۀ علوم‌اجتماعی، دانشگاه یزد، یزد، ایران Journal Article 2025 12 21 <strong>Introduction</strong> The present study focused on the phenomenon of "ekip life" among young people in the city of Yazd and sought to understand how ekip identity was formed, as well as how it shaped the individual and collective experiences of youth. Although friendship groups have always existed in human societies, in recent years—particularly within the context of cultural, social, generational, and communicative transformations—a new form of friendship has emerged among young people, which this article referred to as "ekip". An ekip is not merely a simple circle of friends; rather, it is a dynamic, fluid, and multilayered social field, in which young people experience, redefine, and reconstruct their relationships, values, identities, roles, and lifestyles. The central problem of this article was to examine how ekip identity was formed among young people in Yazd and identify the factors contributing to its formation, transformation, continuity, or collapse. The authors demonstrated that while ekips provide opportunities for belonging, intimacy, support, interaction, and shared experiences, they are also characterized by internal instability. Ekip relationships are often not based on fixed boundaries, stable commitments, or formal structures. Instead, they are shaped through flexible, elective, emotional, and sometimes fragile bonds. Consequently, ekip identity is not a fixed or predetermined identity; rather, it is gradually constructed through everyday interactions, cultural encounters, collective goals, class differences, gender relations, and shared experiences. The significance of this study lay in the fact that the existing literature had mostly focused on friendship, the quality of friendship relations, or peer groups, while paying limited attention to ekip as an independent social phenomenon. Accordingly, this article attempted to examine ekip not merely as a form of friendship, but as an emerging mode of youth life, communicative action, everyday resistance, and a field of identity formation.   <strong> </strong> <strong>Materials & Methods</strong> This study was conducted using a qualitative approach within an interpretive paradigm. Since the aim of the research was to gain an in-depth understanding of the meanings, experiences, and interpretations of young people regarding ekip life, the authors employed the systematic grounded theory method. This approach allowed theory to emerge not from pre-existing assumptions, but from field data and the lived experiences of participants. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Participants included 25 young people from the city of Yazd, who had experience of membership in friendship ekips. They were selected through purposive and theoretical sampling in order to capture a diverse range of ekip experiences. The inclusion criteria consisted of having at least one year of experience in ekip life, membership in a group with at least 4 members, and awareness of one's position as an ekip member. Participants were between 20 and 30 years old and varied in terms of gender, occupation, educational background, and length of ekip membership. The interview process continued until theoretical saturation was reached—that is, until new interviews no longer generated additional concepts or categories. Interviews were conducted in settings, such as universities, cafés, co-working spaces, and green areas, with each interview lasting between 30 minutes and 2 and a half hours. Data analysis was carried out simultaneously with data collection; in other words, the findings from each interview helped guide the focus of subsequent interviews. Data were analyzed through 3 stages of coding: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. In the open coding stage, interview texts were examined line by line, and initial concepts were extracted. In the axial coding stage, similar concepts were organized into subcategories and main categories. Finally, in the selective coding stage, the main categories were integrated around a core category. This analytical process resulted in the extraction of 698 concepts, 47 subcategories, and 14 main categories, which ultimately led to the identification of the core category: "ekip identity: formative fluidity".   <strong>Discussion of Results & Conclusion</strong> The findings of the study indicated that ekip life among young people was a multidimensional, unstable, transformative, and yet meaningful experience. The most important conclusion of the research was that ekip identity was not a fixed identity, but rather an identity in the process of becoming. This identity was shaped over time through members' interactions, evolving goals, the entry and exit of individuals, value encounters, gender and class differences, and shared experiences. One of the major categories identified in the study was "relational fluidity". Ekips often began with a group of friends, but their membership composition changed over time. Some individuals left, new members entered, and sometimes the ekip split into smaller groups. This fluidity, on the one hand, provided young people with freedom and the possibility of choice; on the other hand, it might create a sense of instability, lack of belonging, and identity uncertainty. Another important category was the "emergent phenomenon" of the ekip. The article showed that the ekip was still a phenomenon in the process of being normalized within Iranian society and, for this reason, faced misunderstandings, cultural judgments, and social resistance. From the perspective of young people, ekips were spaces for friendship, experience, support, and self‑expression. However, from the perspective of some segments of society, they might be perceived as unstable, informal, or even threatening. The findings also showed that ekips were formed through specific "processes of formation". These processes included the development of common goals, gradual transformation of those goals, merging of ekips, creation of subgroups, and even fragmentation caused by differences in objectives. Therefore, an ekip was not a complete and pre‑existing structure; rather, it was constructed and reconstructed over time. Another significant finding concerned the tension between individual life and ekip life. While young people were interested in participating in ekips, they had to balance their personal, family, educational, or occupational responsibilities with their ekip relationships. This balance was inherently unstable and might be disrupted by personal problems or changing life priorities. The article further demonstrated that ekips provided a context for value and behavioral convergence. Through everyday interaction, shared language, common experiences, and generational proximity, members developed mutual understanding. At the same time, ekips might also produce conformity, suppress certain individual thoughts, and encourage obedience to reference figures. Some members gained a central position due to charisma, experience, appearance, social status, or symbolic power, thereby influencing group decisions and lifestyles. Another important finding was the role of ekips in identity encounters. The ekip was a space in which individuals navigated between their real self, performative self, and ideal self. Some individuals felt more comfortable expressing their real selves within the ekip, while others attempted to present a more desirable image of themselves. For this reason, the ekip could function both as a site of self‑knowledge and personal growth and as a space of pressure to conform to group expectations. The results also pointed to the de‑gendering and stereotype‑disrupting functions of ekips. Participation in diverse ekips exposed young people to individuals from different genders, classes, cultures, and lifestyles, encouraging them to reconsider some of their prior assumptions. In this sense, the ekip could serve as a space for reducing stereotypes, increasing flexibility, and expanding social experience. In conclusion, the study argued that the ekip was not a fixed group, but rather a fluid field for redefining identity, relationships, and belonging. Ekip identity was formed through instability, interaction, difference, resistance, and everyday experiences. Therefore, the concept of "formative fluidity" effectively captured the idea that the ekip is always in the process of formation, and that young people's identities within it are constructed gradually, relationally, and in unstable ways.   گروه‌های دوستی از دیرباز در جوامع وجود داشته‌اند؛ اما در بستر تحولات فرهنگی و اجتماعی، امروزه زندگی اکیپی به‌عنوان یکی از اشکال دوستی و به‌مثابه یکی از پدیده‌های نوظهور در زیست جوانان مطرح شده است. مسئلۀ اصلی پژوهش حاضر فهم چگونگی شکل‌گیری هویت اکیپی در میان جوانان یزدی است؛ بر این اساس مطالعۀ حاضر با استفاده از پارادایم تفسیری، رویکرد کیفی و با روش نظریۀ زمینه‌ای سیستماتیک انجام شده است. داده‌های این مطالعه ازطریق مصاحبه‌های عمیق گردآوری شده است؛ به این منظور، 25 نفر از جوانان عضو اکیپ‌‎ها در شهر یزد با نمونه‌گیری نظری و هدفمند انتخاب شده و در این زمینه با آنها مصاحبه‌های عمیق صورت گرفته است. فرایند نمونه‌گیری تا مرحلۀ اشباع داده‌ها ادامه پیدا کرده و داده‌های گردآوری‌شده با استفاده از کدگذاری باز، محوری و گزینشی تحلیل شده‌ است. در این مسیر یافته‌های مطالعۀ حاضر در قالب 14 مقولۀ اصلی ازجمله 1. سیالیت روابط، 2. پدیدۀ نوظهور، 3. فرایندهای تکوین اکیپ، 4. تعادل ناپایدار بین زندگی فردی و اکیپ، 5. همگرایی ارزشی _ رفتاری، و 6. کارکردهای جنسیت‌زدایانه پدیدار شده‌اند. مقوله‌های ذکرشده درنهایت مقولۀ هستۀ «هویت اکیپی: سیالیت تکوینی» را ساختند؛ درنهایت باتوجه‌به یافته‌ها و مقولات برساخت‌شده، مدل پارادایمی و نظریۀ تجربی مطالعه تدوین و ارائه شد. یافته‌های این پژوهش روشن ساخت که تجربۀ زندگی اکیپی با فراز و نشیب‌های زیادی همراه است. درواقع فرایند هویت‌یابی جوانان در اکیپ‌ها، فرایندی سیال است که در بستر برخوردهای فرهنگی، اهداف جمعی، تعاملات گروهی، روابط کلیشه‌زدا و تکامل تدریجی اکیپ‌ها شکل می‌گیرد؛ ازاین‌رو برایند این مقولات نشان داد که اکیپ نه ساختاری ثابت، میدانی سیال است که در آن جوانان هویت خود و روابط با دیگران را بازتعریف می‌کنند. https://jas.ui.ac.ir/article_30405_4f670445638e565f33d26d50924dd37b.pdf