Analysis of Socio-economic Factors Affecting Poverty and Health Inequalities During the Years 2011-2015

Currently social problems are among the most important issues in Iran that have been occupying the minds of experts and academics. The consequences of social problems would affect individuals and society and can even threaten social security. In this regard, in 2012 the Second National Conference of Social Problems was held by the Iranian Sociological Association. It had accepted 650 abstracts of articles, that 93 of them were published in 9-volumes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse these published articles in various dimensions.
The present study is systematic review and it is an analysis of the selected and published articles of the Second National Conference of Social Problems. The study population consisted of a collection of 9-volume articles published by the Iranian Sociological Association and Agah Publications. In this study all of the 93 articles were evaluated. Articles were categorized and analyzed in several aspects and the final analysis was presented through aggregation of information.
Findings: In this study all of the articles were analyzed accurately according to factors such as the contribution of female authors; academic degree; specialties and academic fields; organizational affiliation of authors; financial support of organizations and universities; research units; geographic distribution of the study population; research methods; studied problems; used dominant theories; the protective and risk factors of social problems and finally the presented solutions for each category of problems. For example, findings show that sociology and social pathology were the most frequent (more than one third) among the disciplines. Only three articles were from research projects supported by organizations or universities, and the majority of studies (more than one third) selected Tehran as their geographic region.
The results of this study, while confirming the presence of numerous experts, show the minimum participation of some experts such as physicians, social workers and welfare professionals. Considering the national level of the conference, it was expected to see a fair distribution of the geographical distribution of the study population. The significant presence of academics at the conference (more than two third) can be considered as a strong point of the conference. The methodology of studies can be criticized, the major part of the studies applied quantitative method (about three quarters). However, due to the nature of social problems, as well as the multiplicity and being multidimensional in this area, qualitative studies can reveal subjective and the deeper dimensions of the issues. Used theories are to a large extent repetition of the same classical views. Finally, many of the problems and social issues, such as the tendency to single life, common in law partner )white marriages( extramarital affair, youth issues, degree orientation, white collar offenses, street violence, the consequences of imprisonment, and so on were not considered in studies.