Sociology
Hasan Saraie; Morteza Khoshamadi
Abstract
Each form of religiousness grows at the heart of a “religious society”, and a “religious” society is always to some extent organized. In the “sociology of religion”, the study of social dynamics related to the religious society is defined under the concept of “religious ...
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Each form of religiousness grows at the heart of a “religious society”, and a “religious” society is always to some extent organized. In the “sociology of religion”, the study of social dynamics related to the religious society is defined under the concept of “religious organization”. From long ago, one of the concerns of sociology of religion has been to study and understand the various methods of organization in religious societies. Through an analytical-descriptive study of different approaches and the transformations in this field, the present paper aims to extract “the main criteria” of these typologies. Extracting “the main criteria” would familiarize us with the logic of these typologies, and it shall contribute to presenting alternative, domestic typologies in the framework of Islamic tradition. Therefore, the method of research is documentary, and the main purpose of the study is to understand the fundamental dynamics of the typologies of mystical organizations in theoretical literature. With this purpose in mind, we have examined the available literature through two general approaches: a) a formal approach to the typology of religious organizations; and b) a quantitative approach to the typology of religious organizations. The formal approach is mainly based on Weber’s theories, however, the quantitative approach has been put forth in critique of the formal approach. By studying various typologies and their theoretical principles, we see that the two criteria of a) the extent of organization and b) the extent of tension against the host culture enjoy central importance in the typology of religious organizations.
Peyman Mahmoudi; Abolfazl Zolfaghari
Abstract
In a time when Mohammad Mosaddegh and Hossein Fatemi were involved with the movement of nationalizing the oil industry, during the years 1949-1950, in the Lur-dominated region of southwestern Iran, from Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad to Chaharmahal and Bakhtiyari and also the eastern area of Khuzestan province ...
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In a time when Mohammad Mosaddegh and Hossein Fatemi were involved with the movement of nationalizing the oil industry, during the years 1949-1950, in the Lur-dominated region of southwestern Iran, from Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad to Chaharmahal and Bakhtiyari and also the eastern area of Khuzestan province including Dehdez, Malmir (Izeh) and Masjed Soleyman, an event took place which is known as the Toloui Year by locals. The matter which is a group called Toloui or Soroushi, resembles a sect or semi-sect which has its own rituals regarding lifestyle, such as a special way of eating and performing their own special ceremony which is accompanied by certain spells. The rituals and way of living of this movement was in a way that encouraged individuals to abandon and disregard the world. The research was conducted through a qualitative and a grounded theory strategy, which the main research question was turned into a paradigm model using the grounded theory, and some of the supporting questions were posed through documentary and library research. Using the snowball sampling technique, 23 people participated in a semi-structured interview, and the interviews were coded in the way of the concepts and categories which the participants themselves expressed. Findings show that this sect was contrived and did not last very long. Furthermore, lack of knowledge, illiteracy and absence of clergies can be named as contextual factors, and fear, pre-eminence, conformity, attractiveness and mystery can be named as motivations for joining the sect. Moreover, the consequences of the movement can be said to be Dunyaphobia, traditionalistic piety, poverty, defamation, division and conflict among tribes, creating deception and superstitions, decrease in social crimes, and committing acts against the religious law.