The Position of Educational and Social Development in the Fourth and Fifth Development Plans of the Islamic Republic of Iran

At the beginning of the third millennium, global politics has a greater focus on social dimensions and components. In the same vein, the upstream documents of the Islamic Republic of Iran, such as the 1404 Prospectus Document and the Five-Year Development Plans, have paid more attention to the concepts of social development and the improvement of its position. The purpose of this study is “to identify the position of social development in the fourth and fifth development plans of the Islamic Republic of Iran". This research is of descriptive and content analysis type. The statistical population of the study is the text of the fourth and fifth plans of economic, social, and cultural-political development of the Islamic Republic of Iran presented in 31 provinces of the country. The unit of observation is the articles, sections, and clauses of the plans, whose contents are inferred. In this research, content analysis forms are categorized into seven categories that are extracted from the relevant data in the context of the plans, including seven main categories and 44 sub categories: economic justice (4components), social justice (4components), social capital (5components), social welfare (19components), sustainability (3components), social development ethics (4components), and social security (5components). The findings of the research show that the number of social development components in the fifth plan has decreased by 8% compared to the fourth plan. Therefore, based on the findings, it can be stated that in the fourth plan, more attention has been paid to the components of social development than the fifth plan. Therefore, the dimensions and components of family health and stability, youth status, literacy of the general population, promotion of mental health, prevention of addiction, and social capital in the five development plans of the country have not been adequately adapted to the needs, requirements, vulnerabilities and necessities of Iranian society.