Iranian Journal of Sociology

Abstract Democracy is one of the main topics of interest in contemporary sociology. In this regard, the present study attempts to analyze the sociological tendency amongst Tehrani citizens to democracy. The tendency for democracy has been examined in socio-political opportunities, socio-political freedoms, and secularism terms. We did a survey and conducted a multi-stage cluster sampling to draw a sample. The sample consisted of 604 Tehrani citizens over 20 years old. The results indicated that these citizens have a positive or relatively positive tendency toward democracy. Moreover, the study of social factors affecting the tendency to democracy showed that there is a significant relationship between independent variables of age, cultural capital and economic capital and the dependent variable of the tendency to democracy. The regression results showed that the research regression model consisting of 3 independent variables and one dependent variable is a suitable model and can predict the changes in the tendency for democracy.

Abstract This interdisciplinary and analytical article attempted to provide an interpretation for Ahmad Shamlou’s poems from a sociological point of view. For this purpose, we used two different fields: sociology and Persian literature. The theoretical framework was a combination of various approaches to structuralism. In addition, we employed  Foucault's discourse analysis and Laclau's critical discourse analysis as our research method. The findings revealed that Shamlou’s works have an ideological, semantic and linear determination. As a result, his works are structuralistic and therefore, it is impossible to read them differently. The results also showed that Persian literature has a high capacity to address and interpret human and social issues. Plus, the present paper underlines the importance of interdisciplinary studies.