Evaluation and analysis of economic model of families with an Islamic approach (results of a survey in Tehran)

Recognition of socio-economic characteristics and decision-making and behavior of different families is one of the important tools for evaluating the social policies. So far, family economics have been evaluated based on family welfare criteria in the West and have never been viewed from the perspective of Islamic economic indicators. In this study, based on the gradational family model and the scale designed for it, the researcher has conducted a survey on 387 households in Tehran. In analyzing the results, use was made of not only the descriptive statistics, but also of such inferential statistical methods as the linear regression analysis. Use was also made of the fuzzy C-means clustering method to divide families into different clusters based on the advancement and decline components. Results have shown that the absolute income and assets are not good predictors of the family status and its variations; in contrast, the feeling of economic adequacy and satisfaction can, as a mental and cognitive component, explain a higher percentage of families’ changes and diversities. Although families are relatively well-off in terms of the growth criteria (cooperation, kindness, and transcendence), a high percentage of them experience average naturalness and moderate to high exploitation. Hence, it can be concluded that, while paying attention to transcendent values, families in Tehran have serious weaknesses in some components.