Iranian Journal of Sociology

Abstract After the Islamic revolution, a religious discipline became dominant. This question appeared whether in postrevolutionary society people are more religious. In previous researches, it is mentioned that there is a gap in religiosity data. The gap is between religious believes, experiences, and emotions on one side and collective rituals on the other side. Also, the gap is between individual religious behaviors on one hand and collective rituals on the other hand. It is rarely discussed the gap inside the collective rituals. However, it is an important gap that enables us to analyze the religiosity in contemporary Iran through concepts other than secularization and privatization of religiosity. According to secondary analysis of data from two national surveys in 1390 and 1395, secondary rituals like pilgrimage were considerably popular. People turn to these rituals relying on their emotions. Besides, self-referential religiosity that is based on emotions has become important. Based on this, religious crowds have been formed which could be an important base to reproduce the dominant ideological apparatus. The duality of religious crowds and formal religiosity does not give us a realistic depiction. Nor does the duality of formal and individual religiosity. Furthermore, although the centrality of emotions and desires can lead to the formation of creative subject- as Alain Touraine said- but looking at the policies of government on secondary collective rituals, it is more probable that it will lead to the merge of the individual into the crowd. In this way, the ideological apparatus of the state will be reproduced and authoritarianism will be strengthened. The study of religious literature in Iran indicates a change in the ideological apparatus of the state from emphasizing individual worship such as prayer and fasting to collective rituals and sacred spaces.
 

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 Research conducted in Iran on the relationship between religiosity and suicide has been more at the survey level and with a small sample size among specific groups and less has been done at the provincial level. This article tries to investigate the relationship between religiosity and suicide at the provincial level. Research method This research is an in-country comparative method. The results showed that in 1379, the only significant relationship is the relationship between individual religious practices and the rate of suicide. Research has shown that we can claim that religion does not directly affect suicide; Rather, it influences suicide by creating moral values ​​about social and religious inconsistencies. The analysis of 1394, 1395 and 1396 showed that the most important influential factor among the components of religiosity is individual religiosity, especially the rate of fasting, which has a reducing and significant effect on suicide.

Abstract This paper attempted to explore the meaning of religiosity amongst Shiite Students of Shiraz University. To do this, we selected 20 subjects aged 18 to 20 and conducted semi-structured interviews. Research findings demonstrated that the concept of ‘construction of a modifiable belief’ was prevail amongst the students. In addition to this core category, we extracted some main categories such as the quality of tendency to materialistic desire, the quality of experiences of traditional-modern procedures, the quality of dealing with the value of institutionalized religion, the quality of dealing with transcendental tools and values incompatible with institutionalized religion, redefining belief bases, human-centered religiosity, God-centered religiosity, and the fallacy of religiosity. In addition to the aforementioned findings, this article has a methodological innovation called the quasi-proses thematic analysis.    

Abstract The increasing trend of female labor force participation and women’s employment has been identified as one of the most significant characteristics of contemporary societies, which reflect the revolution in gender roles. Historically and globally, a positive attitude towards women’s employment has played a crucial role in a substantial increase in female labor force participation. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the patterns and determinants associated with attitudes towards women’s employment. The research sample includes 5200 males and females aged 15 years old and over residing in the selected urban and rural areas of Iran. Generally speaking, the results of this analysis indicate that although the importance and priority of women’s employment remain behind education and marriage for women, the majority of the respondents have positive attitudes towards women’s employment. However, this general pattern is significantly affected by religiosity and demographic determinants such as age, gender, rural-urban places of residence, marital status, and education.
 
 

Abstract In the sociology of religion, the study of types of religious experiences is of significant importance. Accordingly, the typology of pilgrimage experiences was the main focus of this qualitative empirical study. For this purpose, interview techniques and field observations were used and 28 interviews were done with respondents. We used a combination of indigenous religiosity models,  William James's theory as our conceptual framework and focused on the dimensions of attitudes, behaviors, and emotions. The research findings showed various religious experiences in all three dimensions of the pilgrimage experience. Accordingly, the five types of "traditional -habitual pilgrimage", "ritualistic-Sharia pilgrimage", "emotional-spiritual pilgrimage", "functionalist pilgrimage" and "rationalist pilgrimage" were identified.

Abstract According to the traditional definition, motherhood is the most important role of a woman. It also says that rearing a child makes women perfect. But a growing consciousness among women as well as the gap between traditional definitions and real experiences of motherhood have made people pay more attention to motherhood experiences and redefine this role.  In this article, we compared women’s prior conceptions of motherhood with their present experiences using the qualitative method. The study group was selected from the young unemployed mothers in Dowlat Abad neighborhood. Since our sampling method was conceptual, we put aside the two factors of education and tendency towards religion. Moreover, to gather the data, we used in-depth and semi-structured interview techniques. Findings showed that tendency towards to be a mother and learning the motherhood role was common to the study group. Furthermore,  educated mothers, regardless of their religious attitude, were openly critical of the current meaning of motherhood; and they also were active in following their personal interests. The religiously educated mothers felt a smaller gap between their conceptions and their motherhood experiences, compared to the educated mothers with a low tendency towards religion. In addition, the majority of mothers believed that the motherhood role is a tough, rewardless and complicated role which includes the least privileges and the most responsibilities. And they also maintained that the society, government, and fathers should help them do their duties.
 
 

Abstract Tendency towards New Religious Movements (NRMs) among young university students in Iran, in spite of sovereignty of religious state, is a new phenomenon which deserves an exact study. The present study seeks to describe the tendency rate towards NRMs among university students, as well as to explore some social correlates of it. Survey method is used for conducting the study. By means of multi-stage sampling procedure, 400 students of all state universities located in the Tehran city have been selected randomly, to fill up the self-administered questionnaire which consists of some scales regarding tendency towards NMRs, religiosity, and ethnic identity. The results of the study show that 9/4 percent of university students reported high tendency towards NRMs, as compared with 41/7 percent of them who had declared low tendency. The analyses of data indicate that the highest tendency towards NMRs has reported by those students who were unmarried, were studying in the faculties of Fine Arts and Humanities, belonged to Lor, Turk, and Kurd ethnic groups, engaged in a part-time job, and their parents were originated from higher social class. Furthermore, a non-significant gender difference in tendency towards NMRs is found, namely; female as compared with male students, had reported higher tendency towards NMRs. Finally, results of correlation coefficients showed that there were significant, reverse correlations between tendency towards NMRs with the degree of religiosity as well as tendency of students towards ethnic identity. These findings emphasize on more attention to NRMs and its dimensions in Iran, particularly by scholars, researchers, and policy makers.

Abstract The present article aimed at analyzing and evaluating the relationship between religiosity national identities of the students of Yasouj University. To do this, we combined Giddens’ identity theory, Cooley’s looking- glass self-theory and Stryker’s identity theory to create the theoretical framework. Besides, 400 students were selected from Yasouj University students as our sample using the multi-stage random sampling method. To gather the data, we applied a self-constructed questionnaire consisting 48 questions. The questionnaire’s validity was assessed by some experts and its reliability was measured by Cronbach’s alpha. The degree of reliability of national identity and religiosity were 0/888 and 0/939 respectively . The findings demonstrated that there was a significant direct relationship between students’ national identity and their religiosity; but there was not any significant difference between the level of respondents’ religiosity and their age, education, and place residence. It is important to note that the independent variables could explain 27 percent of the
variance the dependent variable. In addition, there was no conflict between their religiosity and national identity.

Abstract The present article aimed at analyzing and evaluating the relationship between religiosity national identities of the students of Yasouj University. To do this, we combined Giddens’ identity theory, Cooley’s looking- glass self-theory and Stryker’s identity theory to create the theoretical framework. Besides, 400 students were selected from Yasouj University students as our sample using the multi-stage random sampling method. To gather the data, we applied a self-constructed questionnaire consisting 48 questions. The questionnaire’s validity was assessed by some experts and its reliability was measured by Cronbach’s alpha. The degree of reliability of national identity and religiosity were 0/888 and 0/939 respectively. The findings demonstrated that there was a significant direct relationship between students’ national identity and their religiosity; but there was not any significant difference between the level of respondents’ religiosity and their age, education, and place residence. It is important to note that the independent variables could explain 27 percent of the variance the dependent variable. In addition, there was no conflict between their religiosity and national identity.