Constructing Citizenship Through Law: A Grounded Theory of Legal Identity Formation

Abstract

This study aims to develop a grounded theoretical understanding of how individuals construct their legal identity and experience citizenship through interactions with legal systems in Tehran, Iran. A qualitative grounded theory approach was employed, involving 24 purposively selected participants from diverse legal backgrounds including undocumented residents, naturalized citizens, stateless individuals, and legal professionals. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews until theoretical saturation was reached. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding with the assistance of NVivo software to inductively generate themes and construct a theoretical model of legal identity formation. Four main themes emerged: (1) Legal Recognition and Status, highlighting the centrality of documentation and bureaucratic navigation; (2) Law as a Symbolic Boundary, illustrating how legal frameworks signify belonging or exclusion; (3) Lived Experience of Legal Encounters, revealing fear, anxiety, and reliance on mediating institutions; and (4) Identity Negotiation and Agency, showing participants’ strategies of resistance, compliance, and collective identity formation. The findings underscore citizenship as a dynamic process constructed through ongoing interactions with the state’s legal apparatus, marked by both empowerment and marginalization. Legal identity is not a fixed status but a fluid and contested process shaped by institutional practices, social narratives, and individual agency. In contexts of legal ambiguity such as Iran, citizenship emerges through complex negotiations that reflect broader socio-political power relations. Policy reforms must address procedural barriers, discrimination, and the lived realities of marginalized populations to transform legal identity from a site of exclusion into one of genuine inclusion.