Iranian Journal of Sociology

Abstract  
urban social policy and social exclusion can open a window to narrate the excluding of body and poverty from urban spaces in the city. The mainstream of Sociology does not offer a critical articulation about excluded social groups from the urban live. It usually adopts a pathological approach to the urban poor and a normative and clinical insight about the "body" throughout the moment of constructing the urban spaces. Critical reading, however, focuses on urban social policies that cause social exclusion of citizens, and for this reason, a new formulation of urban problem as well as exclusion from the city would be possible, which at the same time recognizes the moral anger of the excluded, and shows the constructing mechanisms of the criteria of "non- disabled bodies" and how "bodies" are heterogeneous to this norm and the urban poor are also excluded from the urban policy agenda. Therefore, despite the environmental and socio-economic barriers in the city, the excluded from the city become angry and rebellious activists who adopt a kind of devastating/deconstructing hermeneutics toward urban life.
Method of the research is qualitative by gathering data through interview, observation, previous researches, lived experiences of researcher and a novel. Organization of data occurred by sociological reconstructed narrations in the form of “social novels”. And in order to obtain the objectivity of the narratives, the opinions of people involved in similar situations described in the narratives or researchers in this field were taken, and the feedback was also included in the final narratives.
 Finally, the city is built for the privileged classes and non-disabled bodies, and the urban excluded groups, in accordance with the inferior hermeneutic position assigned to them in urban life, generally experience various obstacles through their daily practices and by being in urban spaces, and the city and the achievements of urban life for them, will become more "unattainable" and will creates a moral anger toward the society and leads to adoption of a destructive hermeneutic by them. Results captured that the urban excluded groups, attack the urban life ultimately because of the perceived urban injustices and inequalities therefore they achieve a deconstructing hermeneutic abbot the urban.
 

Abstract
The dominant aspect of researches of religiosity in the world and Iran has been focused on the measurement of religiosity and also the important issue of secularization. These two areas of study are closely related and both seek to show the status of religion and religiosity in a society. Therefore, it is not possible to find a wide-ranging tradition of research on the topic of religiosity, and this topic has not been pursued except in a random way and according to personal interests. In this article, the author has first tried to provide a local typology of religiosity and then, based on this typology, examine the transformation of religiosity in Iran based on the research done so far. The researcher has concluded that religiosity is transforming towards becoming non-shariah-based, and ritualistic and emotional types of religiosity are increasing.

Abstract  
Despite some claims about the death of class, It is still an essential issue in sociological studies of the medium range and especially in determining religious preferences in such a way that religious activists tend to religious styles related and appropriate to their socio-economic situation. In other words, people with different socio-economic situations have different religious tastes. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the religious taste of the urban lower class. This research was conducted with a qualitative approach and grounded theory method. The participants in this research are religious activists from the urban lower class in Shahrekord, who were selected through purposeful criterion-based sampling. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with eighteen people of this class. In order to analyze the data, open, central ,and selective coding methods were used, and Guba and Lincoln criteria were used to ensure validity and reliability. The findings show eighteen selected categories in the form of a paradigmatic model with a main category (ritualization of religion), causal conditions (collectivism, traditionalism, fatalism ,and being emotional), contextual conditions (ritual-oriented religious socialization), intervention conditions (low social-economic status), strategies (ritual religiosity, emotional religiosity, mediated religiosity, obligatory religiosity, hereditary religiosity ,and fatalistic religiosity) and consequences (religious reductionism, religious formalism, carnivalization of rituals, maddah-oriented, religious embodiment) is organized. The results show that rituals have a prominent, important ,and influential place in the religious taste of the urban lower class ,and it is not possible to determine this place without understanding the logic of popular religion and understanding the logic of rituals in popular religion.

Abstract Rites of passage consist of three stages: the beginning, the middle, and the end. These rites involve the roles of a mentor and spectators, and the inability to complete them leads to frustration and social stigma. There is no return to the previous stage in rites of passage. A similar situation can be observed in migration, where a specific decision marks the start of the rite of passage. Individuals go through hard stages like legal and regulatory preparations and soft stages like changing habits and lifestyles. Preparing for migration can be seen as a kind of rite of passage, where the mentors, rituals, and rules gradually become defined and recognized. Entering the rites of migration involves a suspension of life that can be brief or prolonged. Migration without any changes in lifestyle is rare

Abstract This article has been done with a qualitative methodological approach and with the method of narrative analysis. The participant sample is acute religious conversion in Tehran who have been selected by purposive sampling by a snowball method. In this؛ narrative interviews were conducted with 20 of these modifiers؛ 19 of whom provided accurate information about their conversion؛ and the research was saturated with this number. The findings showed that in the set of causes؛ the causes of socio-political؛ social-psychological؛ social-relationship were the most common causes of religious conversion among modifiers. This study showed that the stages of conversion in Tehran are different from what is stated in the theories of the scholars such as Rambo؛ Lofland؛ and Stark. The bottom line is that socio-political instability and insecurity and psychological turmoil are the most important explanatory causes for religious conversion

Abstract This study explored the political activism of women during the 2022 protests in Iran through a phenomenological approach, based on in-depth interviews with 21 female participants in Tehran. The analysis identified ten key themes: resistance to gendered domination, digital mobilization, diverse civil resistance strategies, protest discourse construction, communicative cohesion, resource mobilization, street-centered activism, rejection of religious authority, familial solidarity in the civic sphere, and emergency support networks. These were integrated into the overarching theme of a “networked movement of resistance,” characterized by the fusion of creative organization and physical presence. The findings reveal that the intersection of digital and on-the-ground activism, tactical creativity, and the use of social capital underpin the continuity and effectiveness of women’s political engagement. This form of activism reflects a shift toward everyday, decentralized action that challenges dominant power structures. Enhancing multilayered support systems can further sustain and empower this evolving mode of collective action.

Abstract Focusing on the representation of "the people" in key cinematic works of the second Pahlavi period, this article investigates how the populace was represented in Iranian New Wave cinema during the 1940s and 1950s [the 1340s and 1350s SH decades]. Grounded in the dual theoretical framework of representation/reflection and shaping within the sociology of art, and employing a qualitative content analysis of fifteen landmark films by five defining directors of the Iranian New Wave, the paper examines a wide spectrum of theoretical readings regarding Iranian people's agency through these cinematic representations. Regardless of the breadth of these representations—spanning a continuum from "self-conscious and creative people" to "alienated and passive people"—the study demonstrates that the reflection of the populace in these cinematic works has been constructed primarily around two central identities of class and religion. Most films depict the people as alienated, unawakened, and passive.

Abstract The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence has exposed Generation Z to risks, yet their representation in Iranian policy documents remains unclear. This study examined patterns of policy coverage of AI-related risks to Generation Z and identified policy gaps. Using a qualitative design, the study applied documentary research and directed qualitative content analysis to nine policy documents adopted or issued between 2020 and 2026. Data were analyzed through deductive and inductive coding and within-document and cross-document comparisons. Findings showed that policy coverage was selective, uneven, largely indirect, and insufficiently differentiated by age. Information-related, security, and privacy risks received greater attention than algorithmic bias, cognitive dependency, mental health, academic integrity, employment transition, youth participation, and mechanisms for appeal and redress. A development-oriented approach predominated over risk-based governance, while Generation Z was not recognized as a distinct policy constituency. The gap concerned translating normative risk recognition into coherent, generation-sensitive, measurable, and accountable policies.

Abstract This study is based on the premise that a problem in contemporary social science research is the inversion of its logical architecture and, consequently, a shift in the roles and relationships among paradigm, problem formulation, theory, and methodology. The theoretical framework draws on the philosophy of science and the philosophy of social science, with emphasis on Kuhn’s concept of paradigm and Lakatos’s notion of the research programme. This study uses documentary research, conceptual analysis, theoretical reconstruction, and critical analysis to formulate the concept of "methodological dominance" and reconstruct the relationship among paradigm, theory, problem formulation, and methodology. Methodological dominance refers to a condition in which methodology moves beyond its subordinate role within research design and becomes a reference point for designing, conducting, and evaluating research. The study argues that the primacy of methodology, and consequently of methods and techniques, weakens sociology’s capacity for problem formulation, conceptualization, and theory building

Abstract Cyberspace has now become a part of the daily lives of more than 67 Iranian users; this study aims to gain a better understanding of the impact of Web 2 technologies on society and the actions of Iranian users in cyberspace. Methodologically, this research is of secondary analysis type, and the studied sample is 732 articles published in social sciences in the period of 2002 to 2021. The findings of this study show that Web 2 technologies weaken the religious and national identities and family values of Iranian users. These technologies also increase social relations, social capital and political participation of Iranian users. On the other hand, "emergent social problems and phenomena" have arisen in cyberspace, such as Internet addiction, cyber crime, virtual mourning, virtual pilgrimage, etc.

Abstract Citizenship is a bilateral and social idea, and it is not just a set of rights that free an individual from the commitment to others. Also avoidance of citizenship responsibility is to circumvent the tasks such as the civic affairs and participation. For Ztumka, moral community deals with trust, sense of responsibility and obligation towards others with whom it has common values, interests and goals. To Parsons considers, trust is the factor that creates social unity, cohesion, and order. Therefore, the present study attempted to investigate the relationship between the level of social mistrust and the avoidance of citizenship responsibility among Tehrani citizens in 2019. We did a survey and to collect the data we used the structured questionnaire and cluster sampling amongst Tehrani citizens over 18. Also, 384 respondents were selected as our sample using Cochran's sampling formula. Due to the corona virus pandemic, 356 respondents were interviewed and the data were analysed using Mplus8 and SPSS software. Descriptive findings showed that citizenship irresponsibility among the respondents is higher than the average. Besides, the amount of social mistrust, particularly the organizational mistrust, was higher than the average. Inferential results revealed that social mistrust (.0.72), citizenship rights (./29), and education level (./16) had a significant relationship with citizenship.

Abstract The main object of the article is to study the problem of alienation from the law in Iranian culture. We thus study the state of the law in the university as one of the most important institutes for educating the legitimate citizen. Then, we have done two types of research about the culture of the university. First, we have researched students’ transgressions in the fields of politics, morality, and education. Second, we did research the professors’ confrontation with the surveillance laws on their process of scientific quality. Consequently, Iranian universities, as one of the most important institutes to educate professional subjects and legitimate citizens are producing alien subjects to university laws. Therefore, if in modern western culture, based on the consumer culture, the law is to defend individualism, in Iran the transgression against the law is to defend the self and it has ended in a reverse individualism.

Abstract It is possible for adverse situations to occur in any society, but what is important is the quality of the society's response to these difficult situations; Among such cases, we can mention the state of hope in the society; whether there is hope for improvement or not. Citizens' point of view regarding comparing the present with the past, evaluating the present and the level of hope for the future in various fields is very important and significant due to its many effects and consequences. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to present a picture of the state of hope and attitude towards the present and the future in Iranian society and the process of its changes based on the views of respondents in national surveys. In this regard, by using the secondary analysis method to the reports of the national surveys measuring "values and attitudes of Iranians", three waves of which have been implemented so far in the years 2000, 2003 and 2015, and the national surveys of the "Nationwide Social Capital Survey" (2005, 2014 and 2017) in which there was an item to measure hope or attitude towards the present and evaluation of the future.
Our findings showed that in general, regarding the evaluation of the current situation, more than 85% of the respondents were not satisfied with the current situation and indicated their need for reform. Also, the examination of the process of hope chenges, i.e. the indicators of comparing the current state of society with the past, as well as the attitude towards the future of society and their indicators (such as class gap, economic status and welfare status, vitality, prevalence of positive moral characteristics) showed that the assessment of the situation. Also, examining the process of changes in hope in terms of comparing the current state of society with the past, as well as the attitude towards the future of society and their indicators (such as class gap, economic status and welfare status, vitality, prevalence of positive moral characteristics) showed that the assessment of the situation. The current and future of the society was not favorable in the examined indicators because a significant percentage of the respondents have always been placed in desperate options (worsening the situation) and monitoring the change process showed that with the passage of time, there has been an erosion process in some indicators and a relative improvement in others.
 

Abstract This article analyzes the pre-modern state of Iran in the Qajar period by describing and using historical data. Its method is descriptive-analytical with the approach of historical sociology, which has used the technique of document review. The findings show: 1. Taxes and customs duties were the only sources of government revenue; Weak taxation and widespread corruption put the government in incurable financial straits. 2. The inability to pay the troops and maintain them permanently made it impossible to form military forces independent of the tribes, and the government was incapable of defending its borders and internal control. 3. The judicial system did not have a  unified procedure for passing and enforcing a law. These matters were left to influential people and local authorities outside capital and regional centres. 4. Power of bureacracy was almost limited to Tehran and it was not able to defend national borders. 5 On the other hand, the society was powerful. With different modes of production, military power and great solidarity, the tribes were  power centers independent  of established government. The above characteristics show that pre-modern government of Iran is inconsistent with the claim of the Asian mode of production theory that the state is powerful and has a comprehensive and centralized bureaucracy.Iranian society was also a strong and decentralized. Therefore, in order to understand Iranian society better, we should search for other more explainig theories and avoid orientalist perspective. 

Abstract The current research aims to analyze the mechanisms of capital preservation by non-institutional actors and how to deal with Kolbary through the description of Kolbary field. In order to achieve this goal, the Structuration theory of Anthony Giddens was used to formulate concepts. The research method is critical ethnography with Karspeakan approach and the study field of Baneh border region, 25 informed and involved people were selected for semi-structured interview by purposeful and snowball sampling method. Based on the results, Kolbari field has the characteristics of authoritarian-exploitative relations, one-sided planning of the Kolbary process, absence of collective agency, unfair distribution of profit and risk, and the priority of goods over Kolbar. Actors beyond the appropriate and natural channels of situation, invisibility, breaking camouflage; The creeping advance is trying to stabilize the position and continuity of Kolbary.Through the mediation of Kolbary, as the main survival tactic, in various ways, by rebuilding a kind of moral life, and through mechanisms such as compromising acceptance, accepting the dangers of Kolbary, justification, and negative struggle, they accept and perpetuate Kolbary. In the end, the existing inequalities in the field of border trade between the inferior groups and other groups should be evaluated in their weakness in mobilizing resources and non-participation in the dialectic of control, in other words, the lack of agency.
 

Abstract How do students play in student organizations? How do the games that students play in student organizations help them to transend the situation? In addition, how do students take advantage of this transcendence to achieve, differentiate, and produce a distinctive culture? These are the questions that have been answered in this article after a phenomenological conceptualization of the concept of play and conducting research using observation techniques and focus groups on students active in student organizations at the University of Tehran. The main purpose of this article is to interpret the mechanisms of differentiation and production of a specific student culture in student organizations. It seems that the most important strategy to differentiate student organizations is to play games that in this article are interpreted as Ludic games. The distinction is made by playing such games on two levels: one between students active in student organizations and other students, and the other between student organizations themselves. This article tries to explain how to differentiate between these two levels. In the first level, students differentiate themselves by creating play organizations with others, and in the second level, by creating playful competition and producing distinctive symbols.

Abstract Urban development goes beyond understanding the city as a physical and economic product. Lefebvre's theory of the right to the city is a call to understand the city beyond a material product and believes that urban development requires socio-spatial transformations of the city that both belong to and are the result of its inhabitants. This research has a fundamental-developmental purpose and a qualitative content analysis type, which is adopted to expand the theoretical framework of the right to the city. In this research, the theoretical lens of the right to the city has been used as an analytical framework to explain urban development. Urban development from the point of view of  Lefebvre space production consists of three objective, mental and social spaces, which have three fundamental rights with dialectical orientations, including: the right to appropriation (possession in production and consumption), the right to participation (transformative and reproductive participation) and it forms the right to difference (social and spatial). The right to the city includes the three principles of spatial justice, democracy, and urban vitality, which in urban development, they form content, procedural and diagnostic dimension. Urban development based on the right to the city is an objectively, subjectively and sensibly integrated thing that simultaneously refers to the condemnation of exchange value and prioritizing the value of using urban space. This theoretical framework enables us to dialectically identify the constituents of each city realm and work towards "cities for people, not for profit" and this is a start. A point to change ourselves by changing the city.
 

Abstract This research tries to answer these questions that who is an addict? And what makes addicts stay in recovery? The data of this research has been collected by documentary and qualitative methods. Samples in the direct observation method were the recovering addicts-sessions at NA, travelers of Congress60, group therapy sessions at Samen, addicts' family-sessions at, Nar-Anon, Cmanon, and co-travelers. Samples in the depth interview method were clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers at specialized addiction treatment clinics, and Chitgar,Neday-Aramesh,Verdij camps. The results of research show that the addicted had the"mental illness of addiction" before addiction. In other words, he is "lazy" of Levinas. Based on the research results, we present the theory of Network of Social Relations in Addiction. Based on this theory, the addict has acquired the "mental illness of addiction" from his defective his/her social relations network, and in order to recover and stay in recovery, he must be placed in a network of new relationships with improved addicts.

Abstract This study examines the positive and negative consequences of the migration of specialists in three fields—technical and engineering, healthcare, and the humanities—across three specific organizations in the city of Mashhad. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that the migration of specialists has led to decreased productivity and effectiveness, increased labor replacement costs, disruptions in knowledge transfer, reduced job satisfaction, and a growing desire to migrate among the remaining workforce. In addition, the perception of migration as a marker of success, declining organizational commitment, and the emergence of unstable work relations represent key cultural and institutional consequences of this phenomenon. However, in some cases, organizations have developed a degree of resilience by improving documentation practices and knowledge transfer systems. Overall, the results highlight the need to reassess human resource policies and strengthen intra-organizational capacities to address the consequences of migration.

Abstract The widespread and sudden emergence of Generation Z in recent protests and movements in Iran, particularly in the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, has drawn the attention of policymakers and researchers to this generation. The characteristics and distinctions of Generation Z compared to other generations in Iran have become a key question for scholars, intellectuals, and even politicians.
Using the meta-synthesis method, this study examines, analyzes, and integrates various findings from credible scientific articles on Generation Z published over the past decade (2011–2024) to present a clear and well-founded picture of the differences and similarities of this generation in terms of values and perspectives.
The study’s findings, based on categorization and extraction of codes and concepts, identify distinct characteristics of Generation Z in four areas: family, religion, workplace, and politics. These findings form the central theme of this study: Decline of Compliance / Reduction of Submission, referring to the diminishing respect for authority across all four domains—family, religion, politics, and professional environments.
In the family domain, the decline in respect for authority is reflected in critiques of patriarchy and a stronger sense of identity independence. In politics and the workplace, it manifests as distrust of institutions. In the religious sphere, disenchantment and rejection of tradition are the key concepts that best describe the characteristics and distinctions of Generation Z in contemporary Iran.
Based on the analysis of existing research on Generation Z’s generational relations with preceding generations, two perspectives—continuity and disillusionment—can be considered. This suggests a relationship with parents that is both conciliatory and distinct, while tensions exist with the ideological and revolutionary generation that shaped the dominant discourse.
 

Abstract Lefebvre considers space as a fundamental component in the functioning and organization of society within the framework of historical models of production. In his point of view, capitalism has produced a kind of abstract space that is a reflection of the trading world. In the current research, an attempt has been made to study the formation of abstract space in Tehran and its conditions of the possibility. In Iran, the encounter with the abstract space of capitalism has occured during the Naseri Era, but due to the absence of mediators such as Law and the State, the conditions for the formation of an abstract space have not provided. Due to the Constitutional Revolution and the resulting law, as well as the formation of the modern government, these conditions have been provided, the city has dominated the rural, and capitalism begins to create its own space.
 

Abstract Domesticity quarantine is a complex and boring matter that is imposed on families as a boundary situation. The main purpose of this article is to study the coincidence between the boundary situation, boredom, and domesticity quarantine experience in the first peak of the corona. This study is based on a qualitative approach and thematic analysis method and semi-structured interviews. The conceptual framework of the article is based on the perspectives of Jaspers and Svendsen. The research results show the relationship between types of boundary situations (problems, distance, revolt, and existential anxiety) and types of boredom (domesticity, satiety, active and aggressive) in Guilan province. According to interviewees, families with low economic and cultural capital had more resistance to health protocols, and passive and aggressive boredom, in families of the upper classes of society, there is less resistance to health rules, but more loving struggle and creative boredom have been observed.

Abstract In recent decades, Iranian society has experienced the formation and growth of new spiritual groups. Given the obvious differences that most of these groups have with the traditional culture of the society and the official institution of religion, their proliferation has created problems for the society in general. Maintaining social order in the face of this social reality is based on recognizing it scientifically. Globalization and the similarity between new spirituality in Iran and religious transformation in other parts of the world lead researchers to pursue the identification of religious transformation from a global perspective. One dimension of this identification is the recognition of macro-social trends and facilitating factors that provide a suitable basis for the emergence of these developments in the world, including Iran. Accordingly, the aim of this research paper is providing a sociological explanation of the growth of new religious groups from a global perspective and evaluating the current encounter with it. Here, using logical analysis and inference from research and findings in the field of sociology of religion, the relevant explanations are categorized and explained, and, then, some suggestions are made about the common and appropriate encounter with spiritual groups.
 

Abstract Justice is an important social subject and the justice research is a necessary action of humanities. Justice research is a scientific and methodical study of justice for social change and applicability or theoretical and non-applicable research that is carried out in the fields of the basics and methodology of justice research and theorizing and implementing justice. In this research, the theses of sociology of the top universities of Iran have been analyzed with a systematic review method. The findings indicate the sixth rank of social sciences and social justice among disciplines and subjects of humanities. The quantity of justice research by formulating a system of problems, analyzing the problem position of justice research in sociology and the role of governments and discourses of justice and its quality by strengthening methodological dimensions, balance of research strategies, applied research, the balance of the aspects of justice research and the harmony of ontology and epistemology of theses will increase. The most important opportunity for the justice research for sociology is organizing the concepts related to justice, but the lack of sociologically attention to the justice research is a threat that its solution is the semantic research of justice and the return of the normative view of sociology to justice.
 
 

Abstract The texts of the founders of sociology are intertextual, created in dialogue and debate with other texts. Classical and neoclassical economics texts are one of the most important texts that played role in the formation of sociology. The discussion of sociological texts with economic texts has sometimes been in the form of adaptation and sometimes critical, but this view of textually has been discussed inadequately after classical sociologists. Using the intertextuality method, this article shows how the classic sociology have faced the economics texts in terms of the two components of anthropology and analysis style. Sometimes the textually and dialogue of the texts is explicit and clear and sometimes it is hidden and not announced. The adaptive and critical dialogue of the founders of sociology with the founders of classical and neoclassical economics also shows the differences in the way of looking at human beings and the style of analysis.