Demography
Reza Nobakht; Ahmad Dorahaki; Ali Ghasemi Ardahaee
Abstract
It is not correct to generalize the total fertility rate required for the level of replacement for all countries and regions, especially when the compared regions and countries show considerable differences in terms of the level of development. Using the method of Preston et al. 2003 and utilizing ...
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It is not correct to generalize the total fertility rate required for the level of replacement for all countries and regions, especially when the compared regions and countries show considerable differences in terms of the level of development. Using the method of Preston et al. 2003 and utilizing the country's registration and census data from 1385 to 1394, the present study estimated the total fertility rate required for replacement level in Iran and its various provinces. The findings indicate that the total fertility rate required for replacement level is 1.2 children for the years 1390 and 1394. The results also show that the total fertility rate required for replacement level is not the same in different provinces of Iran. For 1390, this index for Sistan and Baluchistan province was 2.3, for the provinces of South Khorasan, Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari, Hormozgan, Kahkiloyeh and Boyer Ahmad, East Azerbaijan, Ilam, Kermanshah, and Kurdistan it was 2.2 and for the other provinces, 2.1 children were calculated for each woman. Paying attention to these differences and the importance of sex ratio at birth and the probability of survival of female children from birth to average childbearing age are among the issues that should be considered in achieving the replacement level of fertility in the country.
Keywords: Replacement Level Fertility, Age-Specific Fertility Rate, Survival Probability of Female Children, Average Maternal Age, Fertility of Iranian Provinces.
Introduction
Several studies have been conducted in Iran in recent years in the field of methods of estimation and evaluation of fertility indicators. However, the methods used do not state that if the fertility of a region or province is at a certain level, according to the factors of survival probability, the number of women in each age group, the average maternal age, and the fertility of the replacement level in that province or region. How much will it be and will it be the same at 1/2 the replacement level at the same rate? What determines the level of difference between different regions in relation to replacement level fertility is the health status and in general, the level of development of the regions, which affects the rates and patterns of mortality, the probability of survival, and the average maternal age. Therefore, considering the difference in the level of development of regions and provinces of the country, this issue is raised as to whether this difference determines the fertility of different succession levels for different provinces. In this study, it will be pointed out which of the provinces' fertility has a greater distance from the normal fertility rate of the replacement level. One of the important points that the results of this study can provide, especially in the field of policymaking, is that despite the difference in the rate of succession in different provinces, the type of policymaking and its intensity and amount will also be different in different regions, and for each region and province will be planned based on the fertility of the replacement level and the distance from which the total fertility is calculated by a different method.
Literature Review
In their studies, some researchers have investigated the changes in the country's population at different times between censuses and estimated fertility rates (Aghajanian, 1991, 1995; Aghajanian & Mehryar, 1999, Mirzaee, 2005, Amani, 1997, 1999). Mirzaei, Sorahi and Naseri (1375) also compared the fertility indices for the years 1365 and 1370 using the indirect method and evaluated the results. Abbasi Shawazi et al. (2013) and Hosseini Chavoshi et al. (2013) also conducted various studies using the method of their children, the level, trend and pattern of fertility at the provincial and national levels, and using the consecutive censuses of 1365; 1375, 1385 and 1390 have been measured and analyzed. In these studies, the level and trend of fertility in Iran in recent decades from 1375 to 1390 have been investigated and the similarities and differences of the fertility pattern in the provinces have been depicted. The main point that remains in the empirical vacuum in all these studies is the issue of fertility below the replacement level for the country and the separation of different provinces. What was important in these studies was how much the changes in total fertility are and how the total fertility has changed in Iran, and this trend has occurred in most regions and provinces of the country.
Materials and Methods
In this research, the approach of Preston et al. (2003: 115) has been used to estimate replacement level fertility. The net reproduction rate is one of the basic concepts in the discussion of replacement-level fertility. By definition, this rate is the average number of live female births from a woman until the age of 50 if she is exposed to age-specific fertility rates and age-specific mortality rates in a given year. Preston et al. (2003) provide the following formula regarding the relationship between the net reproduction rate and the total fertility rate.
)1(
In this study, the female population of age groups from the population and housing census of 1385, 1390, and 1395 and the birth and death statistics from the registration data were used.
Conclusion
The provincial results obtained from this study indicate that in provinces with high fertility, the total fertility required for the replacement level is also high. For example, in Sistan and Baluchistan province, where the total fertility rate in 2013 was 3.5 children, the total fertility rate required for the replacement level is 2.34 children. On the other hand, in Tehran province, where the total fertility rate is 1.40, the total fertility rate required for the replacement level is 1.2. Therefore, it seems that there is a significant and strong statistical correlation between the total fertility rate and the total fertility rate required for replacement. In adopting population policies, policymakers should pay attention to both the categories of development and replacement level fertility. It was observed that the fertility level of the succession of the provinces was different, so the type of policies and population planning should be different and variable based on each province.
Sociology
Ali Ayar; Moosa Anbari
Abstract
Using the critical ethnography method, this research examines the effect of developmental interventions on the social space and economic activity of local communities in the Middle Zagros site (Ilam and Lorestan provinces). The findings indicate that the development has put the pre-intervention ...
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Using the critical ethnography method, this research examines the effect of developmental interventions on the social space and economic activity of local communities in the Middle Zagros site (Ilam and Lorestan provinces). The findings indicate that the development has put the pre-intervention life world, which was dominated by social issues, under the attack of economic issues. In the process of developmental intervention, the cultural capacities and traditions that connect and help local economic activities have been neglected. Instead, official and capital-oriented government programs have been expanded in objective and subjective dimensions. The result of the weakening of popular traditions is the rise of new pseudo-technocratic groups that consider local cultural values such as hard work, contentment, cooperation, and generosity as symbols of backwardness. In fact, native activists, as new self-directed productive managers, have become those who are caught in the trap of donations, loans, and hires to market their labor force and provide their livelihood. In order to show this reduction, the metaphor of the walnut tree as a symbol of a hardworking, connected, and diligent nature-oriented society, and the eucalyptus tree as a symbol of borrowed intervention, a consuming, pretentious, and discrete society have been used. With the deterioration of the local community, cooperative economic actions, hard work, and contentment have been limited, and consumer-oriented, discrete, and completely profitable economic competitions have taken their place.
Keywords: Critical Ethnography, Intervention, Developers, Local Community, Economic Action, Social Existence.
Introduction
Developmental interventions have been associated with positive achievements and improvement of some welfare and social indicators. However, in cases where these interventions have been implemented disproportionately with the social existence, they have also had a negative side. Local communities in Iran have experienced various interventions and authoritarian changes in the name of development since the beginning of the Pahlavi period. This research is an attempt to explain how, with developmental interventions, the whole existence in collectivist and ethical communities was reduced to an economic matter, and altruistic, cooperative, tolerant, altruistic, and hospitable people turned into relatively selfish and profit-seeking people. How, in a paradoxical situation, despite the dominance of the economy, need and poverty have spread?
Conceptual Framework
In order to create theoretical sensitivity in understanding and interpreting developmental interventions, the following theoretical concepts have been used. According to Durkheim, society is an independent reality that moves and evolves according to the coordinates of its existence, which cannot be changed from the outside or by force. Therefore, the forced division of labor is considered to be the cause of social disorder. By presenting an understanding of society as a system, Nolan and Lenski provide us with the insight that interventions by changing some components of a system provide the context for changing other components. Habermas' system- life-word conceptual system relies on the proposition that with the separation between the life-world and the system, the life-world is colonized by the system.
Materials and Methods
The present research has used the multi-sited ethnography method by adopting a qualitative approach. Critical ethnography goes behind the scenes and disrupts neutral and certain-considered assumptions. To collect data, observation, in-depth interviews, group discussions, situational conversations, and site notes have been used. The analysis has been done by repeatedly reviewing different data, going back and forth to the site in order to saturate the theory and extract the main themes. The studied site is generally Middle Zagros, i.e., Lorestan and Ilam provinces, but six places, including two cities and four villages in Ilam and Lorestan provinces, have been selected. According to the multi-sited ethnographic approach, the researcher has explored one event, which is developmental interventions in several sites. To check the ability to confirm and transfer research or qualitative validity, on the one hand, organized themes with experts. On the other hand, propositions extracted from qualitative data have been shared with participants. Furthermore, the long-term presence of the researcher, multi-dimensionalization of data, rich description, and triangulation have been used for validation.
Findings
In this research, in order to understand the effect of developmental interventions in the local communities of Iran, a multi-site critical ethnography method in the Ilam and Lorestan provinces has been used. After analyzing the data, the authors were able to extract six comprehensive concepts to understand the effect of these interventions. These themes are: from accompanying the social matter to the dominance of the economic matter, from cultural capacities to cultural programs, the arrival of developmentalists, draining the social life-world, and the emergence of snobbism: from work as an identity to work as a disgrace, from the traditions of helping charity and being hired, and from the connected society to rival communities.
Conclusion
Although developmental interventions have had undeniable achievements for local communities, in many cases, due to the lack of fit with the environment, they have ultimately harmed the social entity because it has placed the society in which the social matter was dominant and its economic actions were managed and understood with altruistic and communal social logic in the onslaught of the economic matter. Developers with subjective and objective interventions, including symbolic violence centered on media and education, first introduced and humiliated the huge cultural reserves, institutions, and systems that help economic action as a hindrance and obstacle to development and then provided the ground for their destruction. Due to their interventions in different aspects of life in local communities, the opportunities for native economic activity were reduced day by day. As a result of these interventions, activists are experiencing forms of poverty by destroying the social context in the absence and collapse of supporting institutions and systems. The metaphor from walnut to eucalyptus is employed to show the change of direction from an industrious, interconnected, and belonging society to one's fellows and the environment to a discrete, consuming, and indifferent society to one's fellows and the environment.
Acknowledgments
This article is extracted from the corresponding author's postdoctoral research project. Therefore, the authors consider it their duty to acknowledge and thank the honorable heads and respected staff of the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) and the Institute of Social Studies and Research of the University of Tehran, as well as all the participants in the research.
Sociology
Tahereh Khazaei
Abstract
The expansion of the virtual space and communication networks has changed Iranian society by providing a sphere for constructing personalized narratives of the social lifeworld. Physicians are a social class with a dubious presence in the virtual space, especially on X. The genealogy of medicine ...
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The expansion of the virtual space and communication networks has changed Iranian society by providing a sphere for constructing personalized narratives of the social lifeworld. Physicians are a social class with a dubious presence in the virtual space, especially on X. The genealogy of medicine is known as an institution professionally entwined with ambiguity, authority, and authenticity. On the other hand, the modern world is characterized by deconsecrating and demystification. The current research is a netnography that relies on verstehen to understand the physicians’ twits on the X social medium in 2023. The four dominant conceptual patterns extracted in our thematic analysis include the emergence of the patient subject and the interpellation of the doctor, fearfulness about the emergence of traditional medicine that de-monopolizes health, the physician’s constructs from mafia to the martyr of health, and the unactualized alienation of the physician. Overall, the expansion of virtual social media has accelerated the physicians’ disempowerment and demystification as a result of which the sacred, ambiguous aura around the physician has encountered a call to the center, providing the reflexive narration of the physician, his lifeworld, and his problems.Keywords: Reflexivity, Virtual Space, Physician’s Lifeworld, X (Twitter), Iranian Society. IntroductionToday, social media and the virtual space compete with the physical world as one of the main spheres of modern life. Providing people with shared interests to gather around each other via the possibility of visual and written dialogue, the virtual space has introduced new experiences of constructing and narrating the self. Despite their widespread filtering, Telegram, Instagram, and X are among the most popular social media in Iran. Among other social classes in Iran, physicians have a distinct presence in X as an elite social medium.As an expert institution, medicine is of high status, authenticity, authority, and income. In cosmologic worldviews, disease and medicine are connected to mythical and metaphysical beliefs as well as concepts such as destiny, magic, and enchantment, while in the theological worldview, they pertain to God’s wrath and atonement of sins, and in popular culture, they are connected to healing and miracle (Salehi, Zokai & Ekhlasi, 2019; Adam, Herzlich, 2006; Masoudnia, 2010; Svenaeus, 2021). In Islamic beliefs, the physician is revered as God’s hand that heals (Mohaghegh Damad, 2016; Sadr, 2011; Kiyani, 2012). With such a genealogy that rivals bordering professions such as Traditional medicine, medicine finds mysterious, latent characteristics that distinguish it from the non-physician others while even the emergence of modern medicine has not removed the sacred, metaphysical, mysterious aura that it is traditionally endowed with. Following widespread social changes, medicine and physicians have faced a call to the center and to self-narration in the communicative sphere that social media provides. Though the process is global in scope, it pertains to specific Iranian particularities that go back to the simultaneous paradoxical claim of traditional medicine to scientific and Islamic originality and the duality of the science/medicine vis-à-vis culture and politics in the Iranian polemic society.Research Question(s)In this research, we answer two questions: what is the physicians’ narrative of medicine and their lifeworld in the X (Twitter) social media? How is this narrative framed and in what conceptual pattern is it interpreted?Literature ReviewFollowing the deinstitutionalization and detraditionalization of all traditional and premodern institutions, and the limiting and threatening of the validity and authority of meaning and images constructed by them (Martuccelli, 2002; Martuccelli and de Singly, 2012), the physician and medicine as the legacy of both tradition and modernity that carry an aura of ambiguity, magic, and sanctity are no exempt from rethinking and reconstructing their images and narratives. The process of disempowering medicine found momentum with the initial attempts at understanding it as a science with material, earthly, and learned skills around the body (Salehi, 2019) that in the late 20th century faced uncertainties about the novel medicalization methods (Starr, 1982), critics of the pathogenicity of modern medicine (Illich, 1976 and 1975) and the capability of modern medicine in healing in contemporary society. With medicine’s authority under challenge, the subject of medicine was interpellated in the sense that the physician was summoned to give an account of himself as an opportunity open to the once impossible experience of realizing the individual self as the reflexive self (Martuccelli de Singly, 2012). With the physician called to the center to self-narrate, social media turned into a major context for the narration of the physician’s social lifeworld.Materials and MethodsThe theoretical approach of this research is verstehen, the field and object of the research are chosen using netnography (Kozinets, 2006), and classic thematic analysis is used for the analysis of findings. The field includes the twits of 50 Iranian general practitioners and professional doctors (male and female) in 2023 in the X social media that center on narrating their experiences and analyses relevant to medicine in Iran.ResultsThe emergence of the patient and the interpellation of the physician (the increased medical knowledge of the patient, state’s intervention in providing cheap medical services, insurance agents and the evaluation of the physicians’ merits), fearfulness of the emergence of traditional discourse and the demonopolization of medicine (criticizing the university for legitimating traditional medicine, criticizing the state for defining policies in favor of Islamic medicine, delegitimizing the outdated methods of traditional medicine as the instance of fraud), the construction of the physician’s image in the two extremes of mafia and health martyr (the profit-making nature of medicine and its desanctifiication, self-interested medicine as against the historical and cultural genealogy) and the physician’s unactualized self (the experience of medicine in the cleavage between reality and the constructed image, boredom in the experience of medicine, the lack of context for practicing the learnt knowledge and the resulting alienation in the personal experience of physicians) are the dominant meaning patterns in the analysis of twits. Information Table of Doctors and their Pages in X Communication NetworkMedical Verification/ Medical NumberMedical ExpertiseGenderX AccountNumberFollowers - content of tweetsNeurosurgeonMale @kazemo_sarp1Followers - content of tweetsSurgeonMale @pedipayam2n.m.: 134915General Physician Male @RLaripour3n.m.: 21194NeurologistMale @drbabakzamani4n.m.: 22513Vascular and Trauma SurgeonMale @MrZafarghandi5n.m.: 91913OncologistMale @OmidrezaieDr6Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Male @k_md_297Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Female@Drshahrzad808Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Male @drcitalopram9Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Male @sheykholtabib10Followers - content of tweetsOrthopedistMale @Mahmouddream111Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Male @khodesheh12n.m.: 149053General Physician Male @smmirkhani13Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Male @Azimut140014n.m.: 77415General Physician Male @SMoattar15Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Female@thecatloverrr16Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Male @MahdiR8638832417Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Female@negarmr9618Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Male @litt_lebowski19Followers - content of tweetsKnee SurgeonMale @rasulghm20Followers - content of tweetsInternistMale @Dr_reza_safaei21Followers - content of tweetsGeneral Physician Female@faryadbseda22n.m.: 104691AnesthesiologistMale @e_bastan23Followers - content of tweetsGeneral SurgeonMale @RPORED4/ RPO24Followers - content of tweetsNeurologistMale @Naseh Mohi25Followers - content of tweetsGeneral PhysicianMale @rhamed3226Followers - content of tweetsNeurosurgeonMale @sm_sinuhe27Followers - content of tweetsSurgeonMale @Mahmouddeream128n.m.: 31395NeurologistMale @JavadAmeliMD29n.m.: 108208Breast SurgeonMale @drhamidahmadi30Followers - content of tweetsRadiologistMale @legendoffall_31Followers - content of tweetsCardiologistMale @rezaaa198632Followers - content of tweetsGeneral PhysicianMale @NimaValiollah33n.m.: 129155AnesthesiologistMale @Amirhos1009613434Followers - content of tweetsGeneral PhysicianMale @poetofdoctors35Followers - content of tweetsGeneral PhysicianMale @ehsan7j36n.m.: 140597InternistMale @dfereydoonzadeh37Followers - content of tweetsInternistMale @cinnora6038Followers - content of tweetsGeneral PhysicianMale @CardiacTabib39Followers - content of tweetsRenal SurgeonMale @father6469902940Followers - content of tweetsGeneral PhysicianMale @abolfazl_hm41n.m.: 55904Renal SurgeonMale @aliboskabady42Followers - content of tweetsEye SurgeonMale @mojtaba8130551743Followers - content of tweetsEndocrinologistFemale@Drabandokht44Followers - content of tweetsGeneral PhysicianMale @sarmadnou45n.m.: 129153OphthalmologistMale @abdulrahimami1146Followers - content of tweetsUrologistMale @monsoeursepehr47n.m.: 118864General PhysicianMale @mahdiarSaeedian48Followers - content of tweetsGeneral SurgeonMale @usiriss49n.m.: 161611General PhysicianFemale@Kamranifaeze150 ConclusionWith the expansion of the virtual space, the presence of doctors for protecting their authority, constructing meaning, and maintaining change in social intersubjectivity is inevitable. This presence is a shift from a monologue communication, neglecting and not listening, to dialogue with oneself, threatening others, and limiting the power of medicine. In a metaphoric sense, the physicians were, in their cultural and historical genealogy, the inhabitants of impenetrable fortresses whose doors were closed to outsiders. The hegemony of medicine entwined with myth, magic, and metaphysical matter had made the physician needless to speak out himself. With the advent of social changes and the demystification and desanctification of medicine and the physician, however, the foundations of the fortress trembled, and the physician was summoned to the center. He should have come down from his castle to an equal footing with others to narrate his medical lifeworld and himself. The expansion of the virtual space has led to the formation of the network society which is an accessible, non-hierarchical, intimate, and equal space against the traditional society. Talking of himself in the virtual space and criticizing medicine in the intersubjectivity of Iranian society, the physician attempts to preserve his authority while at the same time presenting a more real image of himself to give a diverse, varied image of medicine that dismantles the traditional homogenized image.
Sociology
Somayeh Rahmani; aboutorab talebi; Mohammadsaeed Zokaei
Abstract
Subjectivity is the reflexive experience of awareness and individual agency in interaction with oneself and with others in the real, symbolic, and institutional realms. This study aims to comprehend the social and semantic complexities of the subjectivity of Kurdish women. The research employed ...
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Subjectivity is the reflexive experience of awareness and individual agency in interaction with oneself and with others in the real, symbolic, and institutional realms. This study aims to comprehend the social and semantic complexities of the subjectivity of Kurdish women. The research employed theoretical sampling and in-depth individual interviews with 43 Kurdish women, supplemented by the formation of a focus group consisting of six individuals, within the interpretive-constructivist approach and grounded theory method framework. The findings reveal that the subjectivity of Kurdish women can be grasped through the central phenomenon of suspension. This experience was categorized into four concepts: suspension of cognition and agency, suspension of lived experience, conscious suspension of fear, and suspension as a strategy. Contextual conditions and institutional relations encompass normative institutions, regulatory institutions, minority status, and economic status while intervening conditions include experiences of subjugation, social connections, and available resources. Three types of strategies emerged: protection strategy, resistance strategy, and negotiation. Ultimately, this study demonstrates the intricate nature of subjectivity in Kurdish women's experiences, depicting it as fluid, mixed, and multifaceted, and existing within three categories of female subjectivity, passive-unembodied-internal subjectivity vs. embodied/active subjectivity, and delocalized subjectivity.
Keywords: Subjectivity, Suspension Experience, Power Relations, Lived Experience, Gender.
Introduction
This study focuses on the subjectivity of Kurdish women in Iran This study focuses on the subjectivity of Kurdish women in Iran. There has been a noticeable shift in attitudes, roles, and gender relations within Iranian society, with women now taking a more prominent role in the public sphere and challenging traditional gender norms. The increasing utilization of transnational communication and social networks has reduced governmental control over social relations, leading to the emergence of new power dynamics and associated conflicts. The intricate intersection of gender, ethnicity, and politics poses a significant challenge in exploring the subjectivity of Kurdish women in Iran. This research aims to investigate how to comprehend, interpret, and transform the subjectivity of Kurdish women within a specific social context characterized by institutionalized social powers.
Theoretical Framework
This study relies theoretically and conceptually on social constructionism and interpretation. According to this perspective, subjectivity is socially constructed, dependent on time, text, and social context, and it continually evolves. It is intersubjective and closely linked to power dynamics and resistance to domination. Individuals actively interpret phenomena, assign meaning to them, and subsequently act based on this understanding. Concepts such as reflexive awareness, practical awareness, and rethinking in Anthony Giddens' theory, as well as concepts of capital, habitus, and social field in Pierre Bourdieu's theory, are instrumental in framing the concept of subjectivity. Additionally, from a perspective theory standpoint, women's subjectivity is constructed by their social and historical position. Those occupying marginal positions in society may offer unique insights into power relations and social structures. Finally, intersectionality theory offers valuable insights into the intricate dynamics of gender, power, and resistance within society. It underscores that women's experiences of hegemony and resistance are diverse and not uniform.
Materials and Methods
The methodology employed in this research is grounded theory, drawing from the constructivist approach outlined by Charms (1995). The primary focus of the inquiry is Kurdish women in Iran. Sample selection follows a theoretical and purposeful sampling method. Data collection comprised individual and focused interviews, supplemented in some cases by participant observation. The interviews were conducted in-depth and followed a semi-structured format. The final sample selection was based on the centrality of the recurring and pivotal phenomenon identified in this research, termed the "suspension experience." Subsequent analysis utilized open, focused, and theoretical coding techniques. The research's validity was ensured through triangulation, facilitating multiple perspectives, documenting interviewees' reactions, and reflections on initial interpretations. Care was taken to offer comprehensive explanations, incorporate quotations, highlight diverse viewpoints on topics, and meticulously attend to detail.
Results
Based on the findings of this research, Kurdish women's subjectivity can be comprehended through the lens of the suspension experience, which emerges as a central phenomenon. This experience is elucidated through four key concepts: suspension of cognition and agency, suspension of lived experience, conscious suspension of fear, and suspension as a strategic approach.
Contextual conditions encompass categories such as normative institutions, regulatory institutions, minority status, and economic status. Intervening conditions are factors that accelerate, facilitate, maintain, or alter subjectivity through the experience of suspension, which serves as the central category in this research. Here, four main theoretical categories were identified: institutional relations (including family, educational, and governmental institutions), experiences of subjugation and oppression (with an emphasis on violence and discrimination), social connections (with a focus on non-family interactions), and available resources (with an emphasis on cultural, social, and economic capital).
Strategies refer to the methods that Kurdish women use to cope with their suspension experiences and optimize their conditions. The strategies of women activists are divided into three components: protection strategies, resistance strategies, and negotiation strategies. Social frustration, empowerment, and a reduced sense of social belonging emerge as consequences of the suspension experience.
The characteristics resulting from the suspension experience are multifaceted and intertwined. Kurdish women's subjectivity is divided into three areas: female subjectivity, passive-unembodied-internal subjectivity vs. embodied/active subjectivity, and delocalized subjectivity. Delocalized subjectivity requires the integration of pre-existing structural and identity elements with a rethought understanding by Kurdish women.
Conclusion
Given the prevailing social atmosphere in Iranian society and Kurdish women's self-awareness of their position, they undergo a form of suspension, which appears as a gap between action and reality, despite often clear boundaries. This gap, delineated by the women themselves in their narratives, seems to be widening over time. Centering on the experience of suspension is crucial for gaining insights into aspects of latent subjectivity or how it remains concealed before emerging. The properties stemming from the suspension experience are fluid and multifaceted, enabling individuals to navigate between various bases and social situations, offering opportunities for resistance at the intersection of constraints.
Sociology
Fatemeh Havasbeigi
Abstract
The purpose of the current research is to identify the components of national Solidarity for use in the content of textbooks. The research paradigm is interpretive, the approach is qualitative, the research strategy is qualitative content analysis (induction), and the field of study includes teachers ...
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The purpose of the current research is to identify the components of national Solidarity for use in the content of textbooks. The research paradigm is interpretive, the approach is qualitative, the research strategy is qualitative content analysis (induction), and the field of study includes teachers of ethnicities and experts. A semi-structured interview was used to collect data. The sampling method was purposeful and continued until the theoretical saturation stage, and interviews were conducted with 14 experts and 18 teachers. The data format was based on audio and for data analysis two steps of open and axial coding were used. In the first step of coding, 451 initial codes, and 87 subcategories were obtained. In the second stage of coding, 16 main categories were obtained after categorization. The extracted categories are language homogeneity, diversity in introducing celebrities, territorial symbols, legitimizing cultural pluralism, rethinking and writing women's texts, strengthening trust, distributive justice, merit-based, strengthening national identity, paying attention to the multicultural economy, introducing ancient artifacts, consolidation of political legitimacy, redefining educational policy, strengthening National-transnational compatibility, creating social security, and reforming media policy. Based on the findings, the necessity of a review and a more comprehensive look at the components of national cohesion is felt.Keywords: National Cohesion, National Solidarity, Education, Textbooks, Teachers, Ethnicities.IntroductionNational cohesion is not formed in a vacuum. It is a constructive category, and the type of programs, actions, and strategies that governments take can be the source or destroyer of national cohesion. Considering the heterogeneity of population composition in Iran and the existence of different cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious backgrounds, it is necessary to take a new look at the category of national cohesion and its components. Therefore, the research question is raised as follows: what are the components of national cohesion from the perspective of experts and teachers of Iranian ethnic groups for use in the content of textbooks?Literature ReviewThe review of the research done in the country shows that some research regarding national solidarity; the place of the national identity in the education system; and the role of textbooks in the formation of national identity have been conducted and the findings of these studies point to the lack of textbooks and the neglect of textbook designers and authors towards national identity and national solidarity. In 2022, a piece of research was carried out regarding the place of national cohesion in Iran's primary education textbooks by Havas Beigi and Sajjadi, and the findings of this research showed that in the textbooks, the only component on which national cohesion revolves is the component of religion and other components of national cohesion have received less and less attention. If it is necessary to pay attention to the various components of national unity, a state of balance and equilibrium should be established so that the ground of national harmony and national unity in Iran is provided more than before. But regarding the components of national cohesion, it can be said that experts have proposed components in the literature of sociology and political science, and in some cases, common components can be extracted between their opinions, which are from literature, poetry; cultural heritage; religion; flag and anthem; common land; language; customs; common history; National and religious holidays; music and art; and heroes and national pride. These cases are actually presented in a theoretical form from the point of view of experts, but still, considering the role and importance of education in national cohesion and maintaining solidarity, a comprehensive study on identifying the components of national cohesion to be included in textbooks from the point of view of experts and teachers of Iranian ethnic groups has not been done.Materials and MethodsThis research is placed in the category of constructive and interpretative paradigms, and accordingly, a qualitative approach has been used for inductive reasoning in order to solve the problem. The research strategy is qualitative content analysis (inductive), and the field of study includes ethnic teachers and experts in the fields of social sciences, political sciences, and education. The researcher has considered variables such as gender, ethnicity, and work experience for the group of teachers, ethnic groups, gender, specialized field, and academic rank for the group of experts. In this research, since national cohesion is one of the most important constructs of social sciences and political sciences, and on the other hand, it is one of the sources of determining needs and formulating goals in curricula, the opinions of experts and experts are related to that phenomenon, along with teachers. Different ethnicities, opinions, and views of experts in the fields of sociology, political science, and education were used in this research. The data collection tool is the semi-structured interview and the sampling method is purposeful. Sampling continued until the theoretical saturation stage and 14 experts and 18 teachers were interviewed. The data format of the research was audio-based. Two stages of open coding and axial coding were used for data analysis. To check the validity of the data obtained from the analysis of the interviews, the acceptability criteria including the review of external observers (at least 4 observers), long-term involvement, and continuous observation were used.ResultsIn the first step, the coding of 451 initial codes and 87 subcategories were obtained. In the second stage of coding, 16 main categories were obtained after categorization. The extracted categories are language homogeneity, diversity in introducing celebrities, territorial symbols, legitimizing cultural pluralism, rethinking and writing women's texts, strengthening trust, distributive justice, merit-based, strengthening national identity, paying attention to the multicultural economy, introducing ancient artifacts, political legitimacy, redefining educational policy, strengthening National-transnational compatibility, creating social security, and reforming media policy.ConclusionThe necessity of a review and a more comprehensive look at the components of national cohesion is felt because national cohesion is one of the most important issues of the countries of the past and present in the world, a very important and vital issue that has a very deep connection with the education system of each country and the preservation of the territorial integrity of the country. Moreover, the process of socialization of students depends on how the educational system reproduces and republishes the components of national identity and national cohesion. The educational system, as a carrier of cultural, religious, national, social, political, gender, ethnic values, etc., can play the most important role in this regard. Sixteen components that were discovered based on the opinions of ethnic teachers and experts in sociology, political science, and education can be used in the compilation of content related to the category of national cohesion in textbooks used by educational designers and planners. The results of the current research, if applied correctly, rationally and scientifically, both at the macro level and at the micro level (educational system), can provide the means to realize national cohesion as much as possible.AcknowledgmentsHere, it is necessary to thank and appreciate Dr. Seyed Mahdi Sajjadi, professor of the Department of Philosophy of Education, Tarbiat Modares University, Dr. Yar Mohammad Ghasemi, professor of the Department of Sociology and Cultural Studies, Ilam University, and Dr. Abdolrahim Navehebrahim, professor of the Department of Educational Management, Kharazmi University, who helped me in conducting this research. I am also very grateful for the financial support of the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF).
Women Studies
Somayeh Shafiei
Abstract
Women's activism in the light of the discourse of constitutionalism made them a committed and demanding group that entered the field of action for the ideals of constitutionalism and challenged the dominant gender order. Methodologically, this research explains the aspects of women's mobilization ...
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Women's activism in the light of the discourse of constitutionalism made them a committed and demanding group that entered the field of action for the ideals of constitutionalism and challenged the dominant gender order. Methodologically, this research explains the aspects of women's mobilization in fundraising based on document analysis. The research problem is to clarify the agency of women in contemporary social history. The findings are presented and analyzed in five categories: practical goals, motivations, mechanisms, socio-economic base of participants, and strategies. Collecting donations to provide resources for the struggle of the constitutionalists in the era of Minor Tyranny, helping the families of the deceased fighters in Tabriz and Ardabil, as well as accumulating initial capital for the establishment of the National Bank, have all been based on patriotic motives of women in the struggle to achieve independence and support the citizens. In addition, it is indicative of the formulation of agency and identity politics of female activists who got fed up with discriminatory gender relations and sought an opportunity for social participation in women’s mobilization. In the absence of jobs and independent income, women used tactics to obtain resources for mobilization. Furthermore, the participation of women from different social origins has given a cross-class dimension to the mobilization.
Keywords: Nationalism, Women's Movement, Agency, Strategy, Social Movement.
Introduction
The issue of women's activism in the constitutional movement has been pointed out straggly. In fact, before that and in the pre-modern world, gender relations were defined in terms of the private/public sphere. The model of the breadwinner with the indescribable historical dominance of men and women belonging to the private sector and without independent income to achieve maximum subordination to the male head of the household had public legitimacy. In this model, women were considered as the margin of power and were weak. Therefore, the changes in constitutionalism were not only in the form of the form and creation of a parliament and democratic mechanism countering the ancient tradition of the kingdom, but more than that, the thought of Iranian people of their time, both men and women, uplifted.
The birth of women's press, associations, and schools is one of the most famous results of this progress, which was achieved through the efforts of patriotic women and men in the mid-term. And it was in such a way that the flow of women's demands continued as one of the consequences of the evolution of the discourse of power.
In this regard, the issue of women's participation in collecting donations has generally been raised in the form of a few general quotes in some cases, and its dimensions, their strategies to achieve the goal, how to act collectively, and the characteristics of activists have never been considered. This research tries to answer these questions.
Literature Review
A review of the background of the research shows that although the subject of the women's movement in the studies of Chamani, Hosni and Salim (1399), Chamani, Hosni and Salim (1400), Attarzadeh and Musfa (2004), Lorestani (2008) and the topic of the discourse evolution of women in the constitution in the studies Torabi (1395), Bastani et al. (1392), Omidi et al. (1392) and the issue of women in the constitutional movement have been discussed in the study of Mir (1372), none of them have considered the issue of women's participation in collecting national donations. Even the famous books passed over this issue.
Methodology
In terms of methodology, the current research is based on documentary analysis. To do so, all accessible texts and letters written by women, as the self-expression report of women, have been reviewed.
Results
Women's participation in fundraising has been done to achieve at least three goals: collecting donations with the aim of providing resources for the struggle of the constitutionalists, helping the families of the deceased fighters in Tabriz and Ardabil, as well as accumulating initial capital for the establishment of the National Bank.
Patriotism has been the most important motivation of women for this collective action. Furthermore, attention should be paid to the formulation and expression of identity politics through social activism as another main motivation. Regarding the mechanisms of women in collecting resources, it should be mentioned the cash and non-cash gifts for the national contribution as reflected in the press, in the form of cash and valuable items such as gold, jewelry, and watches. It should be mentioned that women from different socio-economic bases, including rich and poor, courtiers and deprived widows participated in this collective action.
Conclusion
Despite the importance of the issue of women's collective participation in fundraising, this issue is introduced in the male reading of history, small-scale, partial, and cross-sectional. It can be concluded that Men's historiography, by reducing, neglecting, and trivializing the scope of this action, neglects the importance of this vast social group and as a result, fails to pay attention to the power of these forces in the collective actions of later stages. This participation has a cross-class aspect. Women from the upper class (belonging to the court and families of statesmen), the modern middle class (school principals, teachers, and students), and the lower class (workers and widows of destitute women) were present in this movement. The deepening of the discussion shows that the tactics of women's collective action in itself have had important functions both as a part of a wider popular movement, as a movement in the direction of the historical movement of women, and as a movement to mobilize men for patriotic purposes. While women were historically limited to the private sphere, women's activism in mobilizing donations and their participation for this purpose in the public sphere was a challenge to the dominant gender order. Showcasing and highlighting women's potential to mobilize resources has been one of the most important functions of women's participation in the collective action of fundraising.
