Social Sciences

Abstract In the early approaches regarding social isolation the focus has been mainly on the transformation in social relations caused by modernity, which increases the potential for isolation. With the formation of the Chicago school, Louise Wirth studies isolation as a style of urban living. With Park’s emphasis on the natural areas of cities, and then the neo-Marxist approaches to urban poverty, isolation is defined as a kind of deprivation related to the economic and spatial inequalities in cities. The present research has studied surveys collected from 400 citizens in districts 1 and 3 as developed regions, and in districts 17 and 19 as less developed regions. The findings show that the citizens are suffering from social isolation to a medium extent. This is while the objective dimension of social isolation is more than the medium. The testing of research hypotheses shows that there is a relationship between the level of development in a region and social isolation, so that the less developed a region, the more its inhabitants’ experience of social isolation. Especially, there is a distinct difference regarding the objective dimension of social isolation. Furthermore, there is a relationship between social isolation and the socioeconomic status of people, their age, social trust, and their sense of belonging to the neighborhood and the city.

Abstract From 40’s on, Iran has earned most of its revenue from oil. Oil prices have seen multiplying increases in certain periods. During the time of these increases, contrary to the expectation that this increased revenue be spent on development, the policies employed by the state have created more issues and problems for the country. The state policies during oil booms have a direct effect on social institutions and the institutional framework. In this study, the effect of state policies on social institutions of economy and politics during the years 1973-1977 and 2005-2010 shall be investigated. The main question of the study is the reason for the similarities in state policies for social institutions during these two periods. The purpose is to recognize the reasons regarding why these two governments, despite their ideological, structural and historical differences, have taken similar decisions during oil price shocks, and that these policies produce similar results. In order to investigate the issue at hand, Terry Lynn Karl’s Weak State theory has been used, and the Rentier State theory has been employed as an essential reason but not a sufficient one. The method of study is comparative-historical. The path-dependency technique has been used for the historical study of the weak state, and to compare the findings a contingency table has been created. The findings show that through the historical study of the issue, the weak state presents itself as the main reason, and the rentier state and the multiplication of oil prices serve as essential reasons but not sufficient ones regarding the issue.

Abstract ABSTRACT

This study is considered the effect of Iran Oil revenues on people life quality during years 1971-2007 based on documented historical. It also examines the effect of government on development process by using oil development theories. Approach "structurative of choice" has been selected as a chosen framework. This approach in a general framework of institutionalized has taken attention in to culture, history and society aspects. Life quality model as an index for social development has been used for effect of society. Four mean components of this model include: safety, make power, correlation and social mixture. This concept contains Two elements of stability and equality. After explanation of economical and political conditions of governments [oil revenues status], indexes quantitative analysis of life quality and their proportion to prosperity and oil stagnancy in development process has been examined. Findings show that Four features have been created in Iran policies after and before revolution. Hurry and lack of opportunity for fundamental reforms, inattention to native structure, unilateralism and inattention to stability. This shows some issues in Iran structures is hidden that reproduces problems in all fields like welfare and life quality field. This effect on life quality and people welfare has been reflexd as follows: some indexes of these fields particularly in civil and physical affairs has benefited from oil revenues. But some indexes has damaged except for slump periods in time of prosperity. While civil and political rights are considered in life quality structure, there are no positive changes in indexes.

Abstract Globalization of culture is one of the aspects of globalization. It is a dynamic process to which more complexity and concision is added every day. The aim of the current study is to examine the effect of the globalization of culture on the national identity of the students of Yasouj University. The method of research was done through conducting a survey, and the sample size of the study was calculated to be 400 female and male students through the Lin formula, and was done with a random stratified sampling method. The questionnaire included researcher-made and normalized questions. Its validity was measured through face validity, and its reliability through Cronbach’s alpha. The findings showed that the national identity of the people studied was relatively strong. Nevertheless, globalization of culture has an effect on it, in a way that from the 5 hypotheses related to the effect of globalization of culture on national identity, 4 were confirmed. Using the regression of a few variables, the most important independent variables affecting national identity were found to be reading non-domestic texts, consumerism, pluralism and gender. The final result is that about 38% of national identity’s variance was derived from the above variables.

Abstract The study of the prevalence of divorce and the increase of single parent families, aside from structural and objective study, requires the study of the mentality of the agents with a focus on gender. Due to having children to care about, women as head of families experience special circumstances both regarding separation and also facing its consequences. Up until now the assumption has been that children play an important role in maintaining married relationships, but the current picture regarding the situation of the separation of women and men and the formation of single-headed families depicts a different notion. The current study has been conducted in search of the meaning of separation and its contextual-mental changes from the viewpoint of mothers with a focus on maternal identity. The phenomenological study has been done qualitatively, and the data collection method has been semi-structured interviews with twenty mothers who have experienced separation. Data analysis has been done using the Colaizzi method, and the results are that separation takes place following women’s change of mentality regarding family life, the increase of importance regarding human/feminine identity, and care regarding the children’s well-being. Unpleasant marriages unable to provide for the women’s needs propels them to break free from a chronic and painful situation. The core of women’s personalities being constantly threatened, and their trust and self-esteem being destroyed leads them in search of a way to exit this situation. In this path, children are still an important factor in the women’s lives, however, not as a maintaining factor, but as a factor of restoration of identity. The children’s well-being is a strong incentive to omit the father from family life and to form female-headed families.

Abstract In recent years and with the growth of the Internet and online social technologies, many questions have been raised regarding the type, quality and extent of social activities in the world based on social networks. Considering the influence of online social networks on recent elections from the year 2009 until now and its following incidents, the present study aims to evaluate the effect of the social capital present in online networks on the citizenship culture of the citizens of Sanandaj. The method of the study was that of a correlational descriptive research and it employed a survey method. The questionnaire was comprised of Dmitri Williams’ standard questions and a researcher-made questionnaire for citizenship culture which had appropriate validity and reliability and was distributed to 400 respondents with the method of multistage cluster sampling. Findings show a medium of the citizenship culture average, and the focus has more been on civic engagement. From the components of civic engagement, the dimensions of attitude and belief were more regarded by the citizens rather than the components of behavior or action. The inferential results also show that the most important dimension of social capital influencing the citizenship culture is the bridging social capital present in the online space.

Abstract This study has been conducted with the aim of undertaking theoretical research and carrying out a survey about the cultural immunity of youth in the city of Mashhad. The general index of immunity was made from four sub-indexes of psychological, social, communicative and mental immunity. The sample size was 512 young people between the ages 18-29 in which the ratio of men and women is approximately equal, and the average age of the respondents is 21 years old. The average cultural immunity of the sample is above the general average and totals 3.39. The people comprising the sample possessed the highest rate of immunity with regards to thoughts, which shows their high optimism and expressive approach. On the other hand, the lowest rate of immunity in the sample is with regards to social immunity. This means that they are exposed to the harm that they may be objectified in their interactions with others. The regression results showed that 26.4% of the current changes in cultural immunity is due to variables outside the area of the study. Lack of motivation for development, violence and conflict in family, weak religious instruction and education have the most effect on cultural immunity. Therefore, lack of motivation for development, violence and conflict in the family, and weak religious instruction have negative effects on cultural immunity, and expose the individuals to harm in this regard. However, education has a positive effect on the individuals’ cultural immunity.

Abstract The present study has been conducted with the aim of offering a sociological examination and explanation of the discourse of political identity in Iran after the revolution. Therefore, the concept of political identity has been the focus of the investigation, and its semantic transformations has first been studied in the macro semantic spectrum of the Islamic Revolution, and then in the two discourses of reformist and conservative parties in the framework of intra and inter-textual analysis according to discourse theory and using critical discourse analysis in six historically important and influential junctures during these years. Subsequently, as a way of extra-textual analysis, the historical, economic, political and cultural context of each period has been examined. Finally, this analysis and explanation have depicted a series of final typologies regarding the topic, mainly being: The desired political identity of the legal positivist liberal subject, the democratic anti-tyranny subject, the religious justice-seeking subject, the revolutionary obligation-centered subject, the populist anti-abuse subject, the moderate, justice-oriented critic subject.

Abstract The ecological modernization theory is one of the most prevalent and pioneering theories in the field of environmental sociology. The main idea of the theory is that in the late era of modernization, industrialization, technical development, economic growth and capitalism are not only compatible with ecology, but are also the man stimulus for environmental reforms. The aim of the present study is the epistemological critique of this theory from different aspects. With this in mind and using the general standards of criticism in the field of social epistemology (including the internal and external cohesion of the theory) and the specific standards of criticism (including administrability, dogma, and theoretical alienation), the ecological modernization theory has been reviewed. The main research question of the current study is that considering the social contexts of the formation of ecological modernization theory, what strengths and weaknesses can be considered? The results of the investigation show that in the ecological modernization theory, the maintenance of the ecosystem has mainly been assigned to technical development, and the social and political aspects of environmental preservation have been neglected. Through reviewing and criticizing the various aspects of the ecological modernization theory, it can be said that considering that the main focus of the theory is on the changing economy-ecology relations in industrial countries, it cannot properly claim environmental reform in other regions of the world.

Abstract The present study aims to examine the effect of women’s access to money (as a power relation) in power relations in underprivileged families, and the initial research question is that based on access to money, how are the power relations between spouses in these families categorized? The study was conducted with the institutional ethnography method and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and through employing observational techniques (direct and indirect), in-depth unstructured interview, focused group discussion (FGD), and creating graphs of daily activities in two local communities of women, being Tekkieh Shohada (District 10) and Dastan Sabz (District 15) of Tehran. Findings show that money and power in family, even in a definite economic class, are deeply gendered concepts. Pocket money, allowance, visible money, invisible money, savings, inheritance and gifts from parents, informal loan funds and Mahr, are all funds to which women have access or which are resources for women. Women’s economic agency in the communities studied is defined as earning invisible money (through frugality) and managing male money. Female power is mostly close to influence and is persuasive and passive; meaning that it is formed through conformance to men and is of the executive dominance and less important in the general picture of things. Controlling the way of spending the money earned by women, refusing to give money or cash assistance, and preventing women or children’s basic needs such as food, medicine or other medical services from being provided, are all forms of economic abuse which women have experienced in the communities studied here. In return, emphatic tolerance can be imagined as a situation in which husbands, despite the difference in access to money, can adjust the power relations in an amicable way.

Abstract The primary aim of the present study is to examine and compare work culture in Iran from different aspects. The main question in this investigation is to find factors which have caused a downward trend in work culture in Iran. Using global statistics (from WVS), the effect of factors such as the individual, family, population, religion, occupation and social capital on the work culture of the countries of Iran, Japan, China, Malaysia and Turkey have been studied. The sample population of each country included an urban and rural, male and female population which were chosen through probability sampling. The factors affecting the dependent variable has been tested through different methods, including, factor analysis of the dependent variable, examination of the effect of the sub-indices of independent variables using linear and logistic regression, measuring the relationship between the five independent variables (population, individual, religion, social capital and type of occupation) and work culture, and path analysis of the variables. From the variables influencing work culture, creativity has had the most effect in all countries. The findings show that compared to that of the other four countries, Iran’s work culture is severely low.

Abstract The current study comprises the survey of comments and evaluations from students regarding the gender segregation plan which was done as a part of a comprehensive research about this topic. In the conceptual and theoretical framework of the research based on the works of Erving Goffman, Sandra Bem and others, and through criticizing the works, this study aims to examine gender segregation with an impartial approach. The statistical population of the research included students from Allameh Tabataba’i University, University of Tehran, and an all-female women’s university, from which 1350 students were chosen through a randomized and quota sampling based on gender, education, university and faculty. The results show that the majority of the students from Allameh Tabataba’i University and University of Tehran who were the most important recipient of this plan were resistant towards it. Only 13.7 percent of Allameh Tabataba’i students and about 13 percent of University of Tehran students has a positive attitude towards gender segregation in universities. This percentage reaches 31 percent in the all-female women’s university. 57.4 percent of Allameh Tabataba’i students have demanded for the plan to be terminated, and 59.1 percent of the students of University of Tehran are against the implementation of this plan at their university.

Abstract This paper studies the Intergenerational value preferences in Sanandaj and measures its effective social factors. Sanandaj city is one of the cities that because of some aspects like the center of Kurdistan province, extension of urbanism, irregular emigration, marginalization, youth population, ingredients of coexistence from the native and nonnative and modern and traditional culture, vicinity with border cities, the modernity of mass media, makes extent changes. To do so, appropriate framework was prepared based on Durkheim, Merton, Mannheim, Giddens, Inglehart, Bourdieu and Schwartz in which the basic assumptions are discussed and tested. The research was conducted based on multiple research methods (survey and documentation methods) and multiple clustered sampling on 367 people in three generation. Findings shows that there is no significant difference between young people and middle –aged , but there is a significant difference between old generation and young people and middle- aged and old generation regarding the value preference. Also The results showed there is a correlation between social capital and religious with value preference in two generations (young and middle-aged)and between the cultural capital and value preference in young generation and there is a no significant correlation between all generations on economic capital and value preference.

Abstract To understand government is one of the fundamental grounds of understanding Persia’s history. However, understanding Persia’s history requires examining the constituent parts of Persian society. This study is carried out with a critical approach, in historical individuality employing a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods and it investigates the proportion of forces in zones of Asir, Beyram, Alamarvdasht, Gallehdar, Gavbandi, Maleki and Tamimi of Fars state prior to the modern state. The findings of this study indicate that on the one hand, people in these regions had been generally armed and possessed the instrument of exerting coercion, on the other hand, the local governors needed the support of their subjects. This process causes the balance of forces between the people and the local governors, subsequently, bringing into existence cores of armed local power. Moreover, the existence of these armed communities in conjunction with data as to forces of central government and macro-level analysis of the country point out to the plural structure of government in Persia prior to its modern state.