Journal of Iranian Social Studies

Abstract Background and aim: Despite the prominent place of sweets in the culture and everyday life of the people of Yazd, the cultural dimensions of their continued consumption have received relatively little independent attention. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine the cultural and social contexts underlying the continued consumption of sweets in the city of Yazd Data and method: This study was conducted using a qualitative approach and an ethnographic method. Data were collected through participant observation, sustained engagement in confectioneries, sweet-making workshops, households, and ritual occasions, along with field notes. To complement the data, semi-structured interviews were subsequently conducted with seven confectioners and seven consumers. The data were analyzed using Spradley’s three-stage method. Findings: The continued consumption of sweets in Yazd results from the interplay of culture, economy, climate, social status, collective memory, and emotional relationships, and cannot be explained solely in terms of taste preferences or nutritional needs. In different contexts, including gatherings, celebrations, mourning ceremonies, visits to the sick, travel, Ramadan, and Nowruz, sweets serve various functions, such as expressing respect, hospitality, strengthening social ties, displaying social status, preserving memories, and transmitting cultural values. In addition, concepts that emerged from the field, including “installment sweets,” “junk sweets,” “sweets as symbolic capital,” “the ceremonial display of sweets,” and “sweets as a cultural response,” reveal less explored dimensions of the culture of sweet consumption. Conclusion: This study shows that sweets in Yazd serve as a cultural medium through which identity, social relations, and collective memory are reproduced.

Abstract Background and Objective: Tattooing has become widespread across various social groups, and displaying tattoos in public has become common. Tattoo is perceived with heightened sensitivity, particularly in contexts characterized by a blend of traditional and modern elements. Shiraz, as Iran’s third religious capital, provides an ideal setting for studying tattoo. Thus, this research aims to study tattooing in the social context of Shiraz to gain insight into the lives of tattooed people.
Methods and Data: This study employed a qualitative approach based on Grounded Theory. Seventeen tattooed individuals were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding.
Findings: Data coding led to the identification of six categories. Physical-psychological benefits, and aesthetic sensibilities, constitute the causal conditions for tattooing. Normalization as the contextual condition. Significant others as the intervening condition. Struggle and argumentation are the strategies. Finally, contradictory outcomes as the consequences of tattoo.
Discussion and Conclusion: The findings gave rise to a core: Tattooing as a tool for identity and resistance. Within the social context of Shiraz—individuals draw on the structures of metropolitan life to assert themselves and engage in self-repair, deriving a sense of empowerment from their tattoos. However, because of the city’s traditional fabric, they simultaneously encounter numerous social restrictions when dealing with institutional structures and official discourses, thereby experiencing this contradiction more intensely.

Abstract Background and aim: Understanding social Stratification and women’s status helps explain patterns of inequality and power relations in society. This study examines how The Hekayat-e Baloch, a seven-volume work by Mahmoud Zand-Moqaddam, represents and positions Baloch women within social stratification relations. Data and method: This qualitative study employs Norman Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis. The data consist of narratives, descriptions, and dialogues concerning women in the seven volumes of The Hekayat-e Baloch. The data were analyzed at three levels: description, interpretation, and explanation. Findings: The findings indicate that women are represented in a substantial portion of the narratives in relation to livelihood activities, family affairs, care for family members, and the production and reproduction of everyday life. Women’s social positions vary according to their familial and tribal status, economic circumstances, and access to resources. Narratives concerning lower-status women and female slaves reveal the intersection of gender and social inequalities. At the same time, some narratives depict women’s presence and agency in social relations and interactions among different groups. Conclusion: The analysis shows that women’s positions in The Hekayat-e Baloch are intertwined with social status, kinship relations, economic circumstances, and tribal affiliation. Thus, the work does not present a homogeneous image of Baloch women; rather, it represents differences in their positions within the social structure and relations of power. These findings concern the representation of women in The Hekayat-e Baloch and cannot be directly generalized to the situation of all Baloch women in contemporary society.

Abstract Oocyte donation forms a part of so called "Assisted Reproduction Technology" (ART) that assists infertile women with ovarian problems or other medical factors to achieve their dream of having a child. Understanding the experience of infertile women in a difficult decision-making period for oocyte donation and selecting it over other alternatives (adoption or to live without children) is significant. Little is known about the lived experience of recipient women though, especially in Iran, due to the cultural, social, and religious conditions of the society. The present article describes the experience of those infertile women. This study was conducted using qualitative method and phenomenological approach with the aim of recognizing and describing the experiences of the women recipients of donated oocyte. Eleven participants were selected by purposive sampling method from women who had turned to Royan Infertility Institute in Tehran, Iran. The data were generated from transcription of taped Semi-structured in-depth interviews. Data analysis was in accordance with the procedure introduced by Colaizzi. Six main themes emerged from the women’s descriptions of their experiences:(1) the possibility of maintaining the confidentiality in egg donation; (2) the opportunity of having the experience of pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding ;(3) the chance of genetic transition from husband ;(4) the impact of time factor in choosing oocyte donation ;(5) oocyte donation being permissible from a religious point of view; and (6) emotional and social burden of infertility.

Abstract Social and political participation as essential feature of modernism is very important in modern societies. So participation (in all form of it including political, social, economic and cultural) is one of the main concepts of sociology and political science. The present study is a quantitative one which aims at examining the social factors affecting socio-political participation. The survey was conducted with a sample of 400 residents of Karaj in 2012. Data was collected through self-constructed questionnaire. The data were analyzed using multivariate liner regression, T. test, multiple regression and path analysis. Results of multiple regression analysis show that among independent variables the political satisfaction (beta = 0.33), the newspaper reading (beta = 0.25), the religiosity (beta = 0.19), and watching satellite (beta = 0.15), have significant effects on participation rate. Totally, independent variables of this study explain 0.41 of the variation of sociopolitical participation. In general, the results of study support the theoretical framework the study was based on.

Abstract The concept of social health, along with other aspects of health (physical, mental, spiritual), is a significant component and is influenced by many factors. Security, particularly social security is one of the most important factors related to social health.. Due to this importance, this study aimed at identifying the relationship between social security and social health of youth (15-29) years in Ghaen. The study relies on social health theory of Keyes and modern approach to social security.  ترجمه از: فارسیThe study is a survey with sample size of 376 which were randomly selected. Findings from the analyses of the data indicate significant and direct relationship between social security and social health. In addition, relationship between social security and social integration, acceptance, participation and social prosperity is positive and significant. Social acceptance has the highest and social integration has the lowest correlation with social security. At the same time, there is no significant relationship between social security and social cohesion.

Abstract This article examines effective factors on social responsibility which are necessary actions or personal reactions in different situations .Theories of mutual humanism, Bandora’s social learning and social roles theory are used. We conducted a survey and used a questionnaire to collect the data. The questioner was distributed among 404 male and female students of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in the year 2011, who are selected by random systematic sampling. The results show that the sense of self esteem, responsive and intimate parenting, formal and informal social participation, interpersonal social trust ,generalized institutional trust, gender and socio-economic position are effective variables on the youths’ social responsibility.

Abstract Combined research methods are called the third movement in research methodology. It means that in conducting the social research, seeking combined research methods is needed for improving the methodology of research that started with qualitative and quantitative approaches. In conducting humanistic and social research, the main approaches have developed in different methodological directions. What is known as the first wave of methodological change, initiated the application of empiricism and quantification. After a period of exerting dominance, it was recognized that quantification was not successful in showing individuals’ thoughts and ideas on complex as well as specific issues and events. The second wave of methodology known as qualitative research developed in 1970-1980. It emphasized perception processes that led to consequences of issues under study. In the last decade, limitations of qualitative approaches in generalizing results, combination of research results with researcher specific values, and the problem of validity and reliability of data have been considered as important challenges in qualitative researches. Thus, it is important to consider combined approach as the third movement of methodology. The main purpose of combined method known as multi-characteristic approach is to combine qualitative and quantitative approaches for giving a more inclusive perception of research issues. In this approach limitations of each of qualitative and quantitative researches are compensated. In addition, this method offers more reliable evidence and proof for research that will help the researcher to answer the questions that are unanswered by each of the qualitative and quantitative approaches alone. The other purpose of this research is to study qualitative and quantitative methodology comparatively, in a manner so that to recognize methodological limitations of each of these two approaches and to offer combined methods as a basic type of approach in the humanities and social research.

Abstract Many linguists and anthropologists believe that language is the base of identity, because the concept of language and identity have an inseparable connection. Even some of them believe that the first sign of identity, like a person’s name, is stuff of language. In this research by the use of field data, language and its connection to other variables like age, sex, ethnicity and nationality among Afghan immigrants was studied and the connection of these elements with identity was investigated. After a quarter century of their widespread presence in Iran, now the second and third generation of immigrants are experiencing the new conditions and achieving a new identity. This process that inevitably passes through an identity disorder will come across immigrant society. The new identity is formed through the language. It seems forming this identity can effectively act as a basis for the official presence of a new minority called the »Iranian - Afghan«. So it seems that the Persian dialogue of Afghan is more or less threatened not only among the immigrants in Iran, but also back in Afghanistan.

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