Cultural Studies
Masoumeh Talebidalir; Fardin Alikhah; Sayyed Hashem Mousavi
Abstract
These days, unlike the past, the celebration of weddings in major cities has become less participatory, and various stages of it are mostly entrusted to commercial institutions from start to the end. These conditions indicate that in today's society, an industry called the wedding industry is ...
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These days, unlike the past, the celebration of weddings in major cities has become less participatory, and various stages of it are mostly entrusted to commercial institutions from start to the end. These conditions indicate that in today's society, an industry called the wedding industry is emerging, and weddings are increasingly becoming commercialized. The aim of this article is to understand the characteristics of this emerging industry in the city of Hamedan and study its various aspects. Regarding the wedding industry, there are various theories, research, and perspectives that generally emphasize the women’s agency, consumerism, and the commodification of the capitalist system. These perspectives are reviewed in the article. This article utilizes a qualitative research method, and its data is collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 16 individuals working in the wedding industry in the city of Hamedan. The fundamental concepts of the interviews are then extracted using thematic analysis technique, and the analyses are finally structured based on nine core themes. The results of this research indicate that the expansion of the wedding industry, with its prominent feature of "commercialization," encompasses "feminine subjectivity" and reinforces the culture of "individualism" and "commodification," leading to the weakening of local wedding ceremonies.
Keywords: Wedding Celebration, Commercialization, Consumerism, Commodification, Cultural Changes.
Introduction
The wedding industry is a complex combination of commercial and cultural activities, goods, and services, fundamentally reflecting the cultural attitude towards marriage ceremonies in a consumer society. Modern wedding celebrations, as a standardized and prevalent pattern, have been normalized in many societies and appear natural. Over time, this industry has diversified and evolved to the extent that it has now created a significant consumer market for wedding ceremonies. Wedding celebrations in the city of Hamedan have gradually come under the influence of this consumer market. The central objective of this article is to understand and analyze the elements of the wedding industry in this city. Accordingly, the research questions are:
1) What characteristics and features do workers in the wedding industry in Hamedan attribute to this industry?
2) What social and cultural mechanisms does the commercialization trend of wedding celebrations in Hamedan encompass, and which social trends is it potentially susceptible to?
Literature Review
Commercial wedding celebrations have been examined by various researchers from various perspectives, and this article focuses on their concepts and approaches. In summarizing the theoretical literature, the review of these studies reveals that in Western studies on wedding celebrations, concepts of "consumerism" and "individual choice" are frequently emphasized, and this consumer culture is primarily directed towards women in the first place. Additionally, non-Western researchers in their studies have delved into the discussion of imitation and harmony with global wedding patterns and focused on the cultural and social mechanisms of this industry in non-Western societies.
Methodology
This article employs a qualitative methodology, utilizing narrative interviews. Researchers conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 16 individuals in the wedding industry, focusing on their lived experiences to identify the characteristics and capabilities of the wedding industry in Hamedan. The choice of interviewing individuals in the wedding industry was driven by their deep connection to the industry and their profound understanding of the governing mechanisms in this field. The research field was Hamedan, and the sampling method was purposeful and chain-referral. Interviews continued until the data started to repeat. To ensure not to lose information and narratives and with the participants' consent, the interviews were recorded and transcribed after the interviews. Each interview lasted between 15 to 60 minutes. Furthermore, data analysis in this article follows the thematic analysis method, considering the individual as the unit of observation and analysis, with a focus on fine-grained levels of analysis.
Results & Discussion
In this article, the focus is on the study of Hamedan, one of the western cities of Iran. Similar to many geographical regions in Iran, this city has been influenced by the expanding wedding industry, leading to transformations in local wedding ceremonies. Hamedan is a relatively large city with a socio-cultural structure that combines both modern and traditional elements. Additionally, globalization and the culture of global capital consumption have spread in this city, transforming its market and business environment.
In this article, narratives from 16 individuals working in the wedding industry in Hamedan were explored to understand the characteristics of this industry. Participants identified 9 features based on their lived experiences in the business environment of Hamedan. These features include "Significant and Inevitable Celebration", "Transformation of Collective-Collaborative Rituals", "Commercial and Commodity Complex", "Feminine Consumerism", "Subjectivity, Selectivity, and Choice," "Specialization in Commercialized Weddings", "Risk Mitigation Management", "Aesthetic Recognition of Wedding Ceremonies and Representation of the Best Text", and "Globalization and Cultural Homogenization of Wedding Celebrations".
Conclusion
Commercializing wedding celebrations in Hamedan provides opportunities for creating unique social and cultural interactions and poses both opportunities and threats. The wedding industry in Hamedan allows couples, especially brides, to engage in subjectivity, shaping and managing their wedding celebrations according to their desires with the help of industry professionals. The wedding celebration emerges as a social construct, where Hamedani brides assert their agency and organize their identity as the "ideal bride." This industry empowers young Hamedani women, granting them more freedom of choice and agency.
Moreover, in the past decades, Hamedan's wedding celebrations were based on simplicity, fostering collaborative teamwork and strengthening collective spirit. However, today, the commercialization of these celebrations in Hamedan, in sync with the expansion of consumer culture, reflects more prominently the role of wedding service providers in the community, ultimately imposing exorbitant costs on couples and their families. Furthermore, the commercialization of wedding celebrations in the modern consumer culture of Hamedan has the potential to deepen social divides, increase social comparison, amplify relative deprivation, and ultimately intensify the sense of social inequality.
Acknowledgments
This article is derived from a doctoral thesis in cultural sociology at the University of Guilan. The authors express their gratitude to all individuals who participated in and supported this research.
Cultural Studies
Zekrollah Mohammadi; Mohsen Parvish
Abstract
The Iranian identity has been the focus of historians and writers throughout Iran's history as a considerably important topic. The Iranian identity means an emotional attachment and commitment to Iran’s cultural heritage, political heritage, and common ancestry. In the present study, it is attempted ...
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The Iranian identity has been the focus of historians and writers throughout Iran's history as a considerably important topic. The Iranian identity means an emotional attachment and commitment to Iran’s cultural heritage, political heritage, and common ancestry. In the present study, it is attempted to study and investigate the Iranian identity based on the aforementioned definition in the ideas and thoughts of Abū ʿAlī Miskawayh in his historiography. The way he adopts his historiography has greatly influenced the development of the horizons of Iranian historiography. Thus, by studying and exploring Masqawi's works one can identify concepts about Iran, Iranian thought, appropriate models of the political system, etc. The present paper, using a descriptive-analytic method, seeks to answer the question: what are the ideas of Iranian identity in the writings of Miskawayh? The results of the research show that in Miskawayh’s thoughts, history and historical past have played the most important role in the revival and reconstruction of the Iranian identity in the Islamic era. By highlighting the Iranian identity, Miskawayh aims to use the institution of Iranian monarchy instead of the caliphate. Indeed, this would give credence to both the Buyid dynasty and the political unity of Iran.
Cultural Studies
Reza Safarishali
Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between social body acceptance and cultural capital and the tendency towards cosmetic surgery. The study was conducted through a survey, and the population included all the 15-54-year-old women living in Malayer in 2016. The sample size estimated ...
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The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between social body acceptance and cultural capital and the tendency towards cosmetic surgery. The study was conducted through a survey, and the population included all the 15-54-year-old women living in Malayer in 2016. The sample size estimated through the Cochran formula was 656, and the sample was selected by simple random and multiphase cluster sampling method. The descriptive results showed that women had a high tendency towards cosmetic surgery (46.5). At the medium level, they posessed cultural capital (37.63), and on the average to upward level (39.7), they desired to be accepted. The regression results showed that from among the independent variables, the dimensions of cultural capital (i.e., objectified, embodied, and institutionalized) and social body acceptance (i.e., general, organizational, and peer), objectified capital (B= 0.51), general social acceptance (B= 0.49), institutionalized cultural capital (B= 0.26), and peer acceptance (B= 0.22) had the highest share in explaining the dependent variable. Furthermore, the prediction equation of the degree of women’s tendency towards cosmetic surgery could explain 58.1% of the variance of the dependent variable. The results also showed that the most common reasons for cosmetic surgery included manifested consumption, objective well-being, and social acceptance.
Cultural Studies
Mohammad Hoseein Panahi; AliAhmad RafieiRad; Marzieh Mohammadi
Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the reception of rural women of Eastern Miankouh of Pol-e-Dokhtar in Iran from the TV series Gozar Az Ranjha (Passing through Sufferings), which was broadcasted from channel one of the Iranian National TV (IRIB TV1) during the winter of 2014. A sample of 21 women ...
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This study was conducted to investigate the reception of rural women of Eastern Miankouh of Pol-e-Dokhtar in Iran from the TV series Gozar Az Ranjha (Passing through Sufferings), which was broadcasted from channel one of the Iranian National TV (IRIB TV1) during the winter of 2014. A sample of 21 women were selected purposively, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the data. The criterion for determining the sample size was theoretical saturation. To analyze the data, thematic analysis was used. The findings indicate that the women, in various social situations, actively received the dominant discourse of the film series. In fact, the type of decryption was in a spectrum that we categorized as oppositional, hegemonic and negotiated positions. The results showed that the rural women made modifications based on their own discourse access in the values and ideals of the text, discussed by them based on their own social and cultural milieu. They modified the meanings of the dominant discourse, including dual contrasts, ideal type of womanhood and psychological orientation based on their position, and they expanded and developed new meanings, such as “the decisive role of men” and “escape from sufferings”. The series attracted the rural audience for entertainment, earning pleasure, participating in group discussions, identification with the roles, etc. Overall, the findings support the theory of ‘active audience’ even for the case of the studied rural women.
Cultural Studies
Yaghoub Ahmadi
Abstract
The present study is essentially a research in the field of social psychology and studies the status of youth value orientations in Sanandaj (18-29), which reflects the transcendental and desirable goals and their priorities and beliefs in relation to identity styles. The research method is descriptive-analytic, ...
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The present study is essentially a research in the field of social psychology and studies the status of youth value orientations in Sanandaj (18-29), which reflects the transcendental and desirable goals and their priorities and beliefs in relation to identity styles. The research method is descriptive-analytic, correlative, applied, survey and cross-sectional (second half 2018). The sample size was 345 and sampling was done by multi-stage cluster sampling. The empirical findings indicated a significant and positive relationship between the style of information identification with the dimensions of oppenness to change and the index of success in the self-enhancing dimension of cultural values; a normative style with a conservative dimension and finally, the style of diffused identification with cultural values in relation to emphasis on individual interests such as values related to self-improvement. Theoretically, it can be pointed out that, despite the focus on distinct aspects, there is a kind of theoretical and content integrity and overlapping hypotheses, especially in relation to human motivations in these two typologies (identity styles and cultural values) and theoretical discussion in direction of the self, identity and culture. Such a situation can most often be construed as Weberian debate as "selective relationship" (Saboori, 2009) between identity styles and cultural values.
