Iranian Journal of Sociology

Abstract According to various statistics, researches, and polls, the rate of law-breaking in Iran is high. In this study, we seek to identify the factors affecting the violation of the law among the provinces of Iran. The theoretical framework of the research is based on theories of deviance and social development. Also, the explanatory factors of law-breaking were divided into two categories: attitudinal factors and structural factors. Then, Chalabi's theory of behavior function has been used to identify and explain combinations of factors affecting the law-breaking among the Iranians. Our research approach was the comparative-fuzzy analysis and due to the thematic and theoretical scope of the study, we used the secondary data analysis technique. The data were analyzed with the use of SPSS and FSQCA software. Based on the results, by examining the causal conditions affecting lawlessness in all provinces of the country, two paths (combination) leading to a tendency towards law-breaking were observed. In the first path, four conditions of the tendency to low order, social confusion, literacy, and unemployment rate combined led to a tendency towards breaking the law. However, in the second path, we had the five conditions of feeling justice, the tendency to low order, social confusion, literacy, and urbanization. Also, the total compatibility coefficient in these two causal paths was equal to 0.95. This compatibility with a coverage index of 0.59 indicates the theoretical and experimental importance of these two paths.
 
 

Abstract The main purpose of this study was to analyze women's fear and feeling of insecurity in Mashhad city's urban spaces and recognize the effects of spatial, situational and personal factors on this feeling. To create the theoretical framework of the research, we combined the theories of urban spaces and feeling of security. We did a survey and gathered the data using a questionnaire. By the use of the multi-stage cluster sampling, we selected 4025 women from Mashhadi women community, aged 15 and above in 13 districts. The findings showed that 42 per cent of Mashhadi women felt this insecurity "less", while 33 per cent of them felt it "the most".
Plus, the regression analysis revealed the influential variables on women's feeling insecurity in Mashhad's urban spaces. These factors are listed in the order of importance: abnormal behaviors in the neighborhood, the existence of unsafe urban spaces, household's average income, violence experience in the neighborhood, not the wearing veil, place of residence, the existence of deviant spaces in the neighborhood, and light of alleys and streets. Furthermore, we might say that the performance of independent variables could be different in various women's age groups.