فصلنامه جامعه شناسی کاربردی
سال سی و یکم شماره 2 (پیاپی 78، تابستان 1399)

Water crisis is the major threat to food security in the world. On a global scale, however, freshwater resources are not scarce. But, their uneven distribution across continents, countries, and social groups makes remarkable divisions in terms of access to water. The consequence of such contradictions leads to a divergence between ‘water for nature’ and ‘water for human activity’ approaches. While many experts aim to restore the right of water for nature, others give the priority to the right of access to water to produce food for human being. Urmia Lake is one of the most critical cases of environmental drought crisis during recent 50 years. This lake is located in the middle of Urmia Basin surrounded by more than 60 permanent and seasonal rivers and an important agriculture spot in Iran. Agriculture is also known as the major cause of water scarcity in this area. Many studies have addressed the factors affecting the UL crisis. They often focused on the responsibility of the agriculture sector and the farmers’ water abuse. In this study, using the interpretive approach and GT method, the understanding of the farmers regarding UL Basin, and the causes of persistent water crisis in this area, and farmers’ exposure to this phenomenon were discussed. Therefore, the main question is: how do farmers living or working in three provinces of East and West Azarbaijan, and Kurdistan understand and interpret the phenomenon of water crisis?

Grounded Theory was selected as the research approach to obtain a paradigmatic model explaining the farmers’ perception of the water crisis in the UL. Data were collected through semi-structured interview with 28 farmers lived or worked in the UL Basin. The data analysis was based on the GT coding practice of systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin (1991). In this regard, three basic types of coding including open, axial, and selective coding were applied to every single word came from interviews. In the final integration, we related categories and subcategories to one another in terms of the basic paradigm features, conditions, context, actions/interactions (including strategies) and consequences. To test the validity of the collected data, triangulation and member control methods were applied.

An in-depth look at the narratives of the farmers in this study shows that a change from water shortage to water crisis is a process caused by breaking the discipline of structures that have been around for hundreds of years and were capable of managing and solving natural and human crises. Thus, the core issue that emerges in this research is the ‘collapse of the configuration of the former order’. What is at the forefront of the respondents’ narratives is the disturbance, disorder, and disruption of the order existed in their past, albeit with different defects. Also, the government weakness in exercising its sovereignty and being replaced with local governors in addition to the lack of transparency in defining and controlling new situation have made the competition for the share of existing waters a disaster. Farmers in the UL basin find the government's responsibility for any disruption and shortages to be the only reliable factor. Because they think that the government's exclusive decision- and policy-making in all aspects of their material and spiritual life and its full control over natural resources have restricted their individual activities. In other words, because of its dominance over the resources of the society, the government is the first and most powerful decision-maker and actor in social and economic structures, and therefore is responsible for the Urmia Lake crisis due to its inability to coordinate the quality and quantity of farmers’ water rights, lack of seriousness along with a corrupted, unreliable, and populist bureaucracy. As a result, farmers imagine their roles in the crisis as the ‘victims’ of the situation, not as the agents, facilitators, or even actors. From the farmers’ point of view, with the disruption of traditional irrigation systems and the loss of local sovereignty, water resources have not only been disappeared, but also they have penetrated into social capital and the deepest moralities, causing distrust in interpersonal and social relations. A path that seeks to maximize individual profits irrespective of resource conservation for the future severely undermines local governance. Ultimately, the result of all these conditions has triggered a water crisis over the last few decades. Indeed, farmers’ sense of powerlessness over decision-making structures, their obedience to government systems on the type of crop, the guarantee of crop sales, the amount of water resources consumed, etc., are signs of structured passivity among them. This is why despite seeing the decline in their available water resources, they are making the most of it. Distrust of political institutions, lack of confidence in government support in times of crisis, distrust of each other, and the ambiguous future of agriculture are blocking any personal intervention and burying morals under personal interests. Ethics that can only prove their meaning to activists if they are followed collectively.  

The increasing impact of cyberspace and social networks in different areas necessitates the need for more and more accurate attention by the scientific institutions. Focus on ‘the impact of social networks on a specific cultural context’ is one area of ​study. Isfahan, as one of the civilizational areas with a long history in the cultural and social fields, is one of the cultural contexts that has a special role in the social and cultural changes for our country. Nearly two decades after the advent of the Internet and mobile phones in Iran, it may be a good opportunity to examine the works produced by academics and researchers in the context of scientific articles in this field. Certainly, one of the appropriate methods for this purpose is the systematic review method in which the statistical population is the existing research in the field under study. In this article, we seek to answer the following questions: What are the strengths and weaknesses of scientific articles written on the subject of social networks and cyberspace in Isfahan's field problematically, theoretically, and methodologically? And, on the other hand, what is the position of Isfahan`s cultural context in this research area? Finally, on the way forward, what are some suggestions for better policy making in this field of study?

The method used in this research is systematic review. The systematic review of the texts is a scientific method to systematically identify some research results and to synthesize them in a standardized and systematic way to answer a related question. A systematic review of the texts has four essential steps: 1) deciding on the type of texts to review, 2) studying and understanding what the authors have brought to their work, 3) evaluating the ideas, research methods and results of each texts, and 4) summarizing the content of the texts or documents or evidence reviewed. The population of this study is scientific articles indexed in internal scientific databases. This research has carried out on 30 scientific articles on the subject of cyberspace whose field of study was Isfahan. The articles have been evaluated by an inverse questionnaire and its results are presented in descriptive and analytical formats.

 Based on the results of the research, it seems that the most important factor in selecting the research field was its availability. Most studies are in the field of sociology and political science. The year of publication of articles indicates an increasing trend in the publication of articles on the subject of cyberspace. In most of the papers, the researchers have not pay attention to the context and field of study, since 86% of the articles were survey, but few with qualitative and mix methods. Statistical population in most of the articles were students. Almost one-third of the papers had a clear theoretical framework, among which a few had used media and communication theories in their theoretical model. In summing up the articles, very few articles have focused on providing a strategy based on research results in our systematic review. After reviewing the descriptive dimensions of the articles, the following critiques have presented: cognitive (lack of attention to study context), methodological (lack of methodological diversity, overcoming positivist approach, disregard for interpretive and critical approaches, and generalization). The uncertainty of these studies (theoretical underpinnings, lack of theories related to the subject of research) has also been expressed. Then, appropriate suggestions have been made in three levels of approach (changing attitudes towards 'cultural and social context', 'social networks' in Humanities research), methodology (making more use of qualitative and synthetic methods, as well as using diverse statistical population) and appropriate structure for future research policy and planning.

Work ethic is a fundamentally set of values based on moral virtues of hard work and diligence. Work ethic generally is associated with attendance and punctuality, character (honesty, reliability, self-discipline, self-responsibility), teamwork (respecting the rights of others, being a team worker, being cooperative, being assertive), good appearance, positive attitude and self-confidence, productivity, organizational skills, clear verbal and nonverbal communication, cooperation and good relationships, and respect for oneself and for other people. Work ethic is considered as an important need for every country because human labor with a strong work ethic can play a key role in realizing the national goals. But, many managers and employers believe that it is becoming increasingly difficult to hire workers who have a strong work ethic. Therefore, work ethic and the strategies to improve it have been highly considered. Regarding the cross-cultural studies, Muslim, developing and collectivistic societies have a stronger work ethic than Protestant or Catholic, developed and individualistic cultures. Work ethic obviously influences different aspects of human life, and it is, in turn, affected by micro, meso, and macro factors. While macro level puts emphasis on some wide-ranging causes like economic conditions, cultural values, and religion, meso levels refer to some organizational attributes. And micro levels put more value on individuals and personal attributes like locus of control. There are two indicators to assess work ethic; working hours per week, and national productivity of labor force. Although human labor in Iran with working 44 hours per week is considered as an appropriate work ethic, labor national productivity as another indicator of work ethic is not desirable in this country. The cross-cultural study of work ethic has not received any attention in Iran, and there is no research comparing work ethic between Muslim and Catholics. This research has tried to compare Iran as a Muslim, developing, and collectivistic culture with Italy as a Catholic, developed, and individualistic one. Thus, this research is trying to respond the following questions; 1) is there any significant difference between Iranian and Italian employees in work ethic? 2) Is there any significant relationship between locus of control and work ethic among the Iranian and Italian employees?

This cross-cultural survey was conducted on 306 administrative employees working at two state universities in Iran and Italy. They were chosen by using the systematic sampling method. For assessing work ethic, the short form of Multidimensional Work Ethic Profile (MWEP) developed by Meriac et al. (2013) was used. The MWEP consists of 28 items measuring seven dimensions; (1) centrality of work, a belief that work is important in its own rights, (2) self-reliance, representing a drive toward independence in task accomplishment, (3) hard work, the belief that an increased level of effort is the key to effective task accomplishment, (4) leisure, a value on downtime/non-work activities, (5) morality/ethics, a proclivity to engage in just/moral behavior, (6) delay of gratification, the capacity to postpone rewards until a later date, and (7) wasted time, a value regarding the productive use of time. The MWEP is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale and the range is between 28 and 140. On the other hand, for estimation of locus of control, the Rotter’s (1966) internal external scale was applied. This scale comprises a single bipolar dimension or continuum; high internals are located at one end, and high externals are located at the other. The scale consists of 29 forced-choice items; six of them are filler items and 23 are scoring items. Each item is made up of a pair of statements, one for the internal locus of control dimension, the other for the external locus of control one. The respondents were asked to choose one statement (a) or (b) from each sentence. Every item is interchangeably scored zero or one and generally, the scale score ranged from zero to 23. The higher scores were indicative of an external locus of control, and lower scores were representative of an internal locus of control.

Research findings clearly showed that while the Iranian employees put more value on hard work and leisure, the Italian employees placed more value on self-reliance, morality/ethics, and wasted time. Moreover, the two groups were the same in terms of the delay of gratification, and centrality of work. However, the Italian employees achieved higher scores in MWEP. Based on the research findings, there was a statistically significant difference between the Iranian and Italian employees in terms of work ethic so that the mean work ethic of the Italian staffs was higher than the Iranian counterparts. On the other hand, there was a positive significant relationship between locus of control and work ethic in the both groups (Iranian and Italian employees). It indicated that, the participants with high internal locus of control get more score in work ethic. This research finding was empirically well-matched with the results of Furnham (1987) demonstrating people with high internal locus of control were more likely to endorse the Protestant work ethic. Theoretically, this research result was logical because people who believed the world is ordered based on the personal effort and ability (internal LOC), were more likely motivated to do their job ethically compared to people who believed the world is unordered based on fate and chance (external LOC). In other words, a person with an external locus of control was less likely to take responsibility for the consequences of ethical/unethical behavior and was more likely to rely on external forces. But, a person with an internal locus of control was more likely to take responsibility for consequences and rely on his/her internal determination of right and wrong to guide his/her behavior.

These days the importance of art and culture as necessary capitals for growth and development has been highly recognized and the need for the economy to find new areas of investment for generating income, creating jobs and etc. has made many developing and developed countries to strive to make full use of their resources available for reaching sustainable development. Regarding this, by investing on their cultural resources, different countries try to promote the economic, social, and political development. On the path to national development, addressing cities and taking advantage of the city's opportunities to achieve urban development is a critical need. Optimal utilization of cultural resources to develop cities requires careful planning. Cultural planning, as the interconnected chapter of the three disciplines of cultural economics, urban economics, and urban planning, is considered to be a required tool for utilizing cultural resources for development. In order to design an optimal development plan, we need to have a complete and exact understanding of the current situation. In this regard, evaluating our performance in utilizing the cultural resources is the first step for any cultural development plan. Among the many existing criteria for cultural development trends of regions, cultural vitality is the most comprehensive one, which uses a combination of three indicators including: 1) the presence of opportunities for cultural participation; 2) cultural participation; and 3) support for culture, and 54 variables. Cultural vitality reflects the situation of a community in the production, dissemination and support for art and culture as bases of cultural capital as well as cultural, economic, and social development. Cultural vitality can provide a detailed picture of the possibility for growth and exploitation of cultural resources because of the use of multiple variables. It also measures the study areas potential to exploit existing cultural potentials.

The present study aims to determine cultural vitality in the metropolitan cities of Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashhad. Furthermore, a comparison is made regarding the indicators and their sub-indicators for the aforementioned metropolitan cities. According to this, the study is a practical and a descriptive-analytical research in terms of the purpose and method. The required data for evaluating cultural vitality and its three indicators were directly obtained from the relevant organizations and statistical calendars. Each of the three indicators of cultural vitality include several sub-indicators as following; Opportunities for cultural participation include: 1) nonprofit, public, and commercial arts-related organizations, 2) retail arts venues, 3) non-arts venues with arts and cultural programming, 4) festivals and parades, 5) arts-focused media outlets, 6) art schools. Cultural participation includes: 1) audience participation, 2) discourse about arts and culture in the media. Finally, Support for culture comprises public expenditures in support for the arts in all sectors. In line with the goal of this investigation, the data were standardized using statistical procedures including averages and standard deviation in order to obtain the same unit of different variables and data and to prevent data bias. Finally, using simple average of the variables, the main sub-indicators were calculated and, using the average of the main three sub-indicators, cultural vitality was measured for the three mentioned metropolitan cities through the years 1392-1395 (March 21, 2013 - March 21, 2016).

Evaluating Cultural vitality in this study indicated that Isfahan ranked first among the three studied metropolitan cities, moving forward through improving its performance from 0.203 at the beginning of the period to 0.792 at the end. Tehran ranked as the second city among the three, making slight improvement in its cultural vitality score from -0.321 to -0.041, and Mashhad was the third metropolitan city in terms of cultural vitality with a score of -0.069 at the end of the period comparing to its original level of -0.530 at the beginning.Furthermore, regarding the three major sub-indicators of cultural vitality, Isfahan has the first rank in terms of opportunities for cultural participation, Tehran has the second rank and Mashhad is the last one with negative scores during the period. Regarding cultural participation, however, Tehran ranked first with the highest score in comparison with the other two metropolises and was the only metropolis with positive values for this indicator. After Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad ranked as the second and third ones. Finally, according to the support for culture, Isfahan was first among the three metropolises studied during the research period. Mashhad ranked second and Tehran had the lowest value in this indicator gaining negative scores during the period.

The organization forms are a major part of the life of the employed people. When the individuals’ workplace is full of tensions, their mental and social health are threatened and this may involve them in job burnout. Teachers’ jobs at a university include jobs that may lead to burnout, and university professors who experience burnout usually do not have enough motivation to attend the class. This may lower the quality of education in the university. Working hours of university professors are completely different from other government employees. That is, after completing office time, staffs are concerned about their daily lives, while university professors spend the day and night researching and attending in classes. This can lead to job burnout if professors involve in workplace problems. With increasing job burnout of faculty members, the scientific level of the university will reduce, in these circumstances, the university cannot achieve its core mission of scientific, social, cultural, economic and technical development. Accordingly, the present study tries to investigate the degree of job burnout among faculty members of Tabriz University and its related social factors and then to develop strategies for controlling and preventing it.

The type of research is quantitative via using the survey technique. The study population includes approximately 800 faculty members of Tabriz University in the year 1396 (2017). Out of them, 121 individuals have been selected for study by Cochran formula and stratified random sampling method. The data collection tool was a standardized questionnaires. In this research, job burnout theories including that of Lambert et.al, Maslach et.al, Moorhead and Griffin, San Juan, Freudenberg, Poreek, Ojedokun and Idemudia were used along with the research results of study. Also, the present study tested the hypotheses such as: ‘the organizational climate of the university affects job burnout of faculty members’, ‘social capital has direct and indirect impacts on job burnout’, ‘Psychological capital has direct and indirect effects on job burnout’, ‘job experience has direct and indirect impacts on job burnout, and ‘the structural model of the research is an appropriate model for explaining changes in burnout among faculty members’. Also, the reliability results of variables show that items designed to measure the variables are acceptable and have appropriate reliability levels. The research hypotheses has been tested by Structural Equation Modeling in version 8.8 of the LISREL software. For descriptive analysis, SPSS version 22 was used.

The results of descriptive analysis showed that the average job burnout among faculty members was 21.41%. Accordingly, it can be said that the rate of job burnout at Tabriz University is low. The results of the structural equation modeling of job burnout also indicate that social capital, psychological capital and organizational climate factors affect job burnout. In other words, if the social capital and psychological capital of the faculty members are at the appropriate level and the organizational climate rate is suitable, the degree of job burnout will decrease significantly. Among the variables in the research, job experience is the only variable that does not have a significant effect (direct and indirect) on job burnout.According to the results of the study, it is recommended that strategies such as creating interdisciplinary educational trends, establishing a committee for the promotion of social and psychological capital at the university, developing a social capital charter at the university, and monitoring and evaluating social capital and psychological status in the University of Tabriz will promote social and psychological capital and organizational climate in the university, its faculties and departments to cope with  job burnout.

Professional development is mainly related to how it is is influenced by job status and the balanced effect of job triangle-work, communication with colleagues, and personal development.The imbalance of this triangle for any unpleasant cause may lead to a number of negative attitudes toward work. Career plateau is one of them, meaning lack of promotion, lack of diversity and challenge in the job, it is an objective-subjective situation whose degree and type differ among different groups within a society and is influenced by individual abilities, organizational characteristics, privileges and opportunities available to individuals and their perceptions of these opportunities. "In this situation, the first question that comes to mind is whether this person wants to stay his remaining life in this organizational position?Many actors in the field of science and technology in science and politics and management in the field of higher education act as an activist. In this unfavorable situation, they only intend to protrude themselves and make abusive tactics and strategies, because the playground requires that they use these tactics. The name of this stream can be ‘time to drown people’. There are different views and perspectives regarding its areas and causes. Some sources of workplaces have been listed as two organizational and personal sources. The main objective of the present research is to analyze the sociological potential of the faculty members' potential in Iranian universities.

The research methodology was a mix method, in the qualitative phase, the method of grounded theory (systematic approach) was used. This research has been carried out using a theoretical methodology as a qualitative method with a semi-structured interview technique and an exploratory approach. For this purpose, a qualitative-targeted sampling method was conducted with 17 faculty members from the Department of Humanities and Basic Sciences of Tehran, Ahvaz and Yasouj universities. For data analysis, the coding method has been used.  The result of analyzing and encoding data in three stages of open, axial, and selective coding revealed the extraction of 135 concepts, 23 subcategories, 9 key issues of prominence of political-factual criterion of managerial posts, insecurity of university space, features and weaknesses in management,inappropriate university policies, scientific advancement of concerns, the feeling of universal discrimination, individual characteristics of members, financial and social concerns, and the lack of infrastructure facilities; along with the core category ‘structural-facilitative potential of the facade of faculty members’.

The findings of the qualitative research stage indicate the formation of the faculty member’s semantic system about the phenomenon of plateau on a number of major issues and a core category called ‘structural affordability of career plateau potential’, which covers other major issues. According to the research results, non-professional management and non-selection based on professional competencies can exacerbate the challenge of the effect of non-professional (bioscience) factors on occupational subjects, and all of the above points may lead to anxiety and flutter the faculty members. Based on the concept of agency, it can be said that despite the structural pressures mentioned, the faculty members are not in the same structure, but they have different concerns depending on the level of motivation, the skills and abilities, and other individual characteristics, or the submission of the structure.They have become passive, or are able to cope with structural problems and become even ‘stars’. In other words, it has the highest potential for people with disabilities, because of lack of skills, disability and frustrated feelings, and inability to upgrade their organization.

Fashion is considered as a part of consumer culture which its consumption demonstrates the social identification of a person. Hijab fashion is used in different styles by women in Islamic societies. Additionally, fashion consciousness is influenced by a variety of factors that can be different according to the conditions prevailing in each society. Today, the improvement of communication technologies and the phenomenon of globalization have accelerated the changes in hijab fashion patterns and fashion consciousness among the consumers of this fashion. The purpose of the present research is to study the factors affecting fashion consciousness and Hijab fashion consumption of women in Isfahan.

The method of this research is quantitative and in terms of purpose is applicable. The statistical population of the study was women who participated in the fifteenth exhibition of Quran and Etrat held in Isfahan in 2018. A sample of 384 people was selected by using available sampling method. Data collecting was done using a standard questionnaire.  Data analysis was done in descriptive section by suing SPSS software and in inferential section, for evaluating the research hypotheses, by using PLs software.

The present study attempts to answer the question of whether the sources of fashion knowledge, fashion motivation, dressing style and fashion uniqueness are effective in Hijab fashion consumption and fashion consciousness. The results of the research demonstrated that whether the sources of fashion knowledge (the catalogs, personal view, shop windows, friends, fashion magazines, internet and social networks, fashion exhibition, sellers, family members and other women) have influence on fashion consciousness and therefore can increase the awareness and knowledge of women about the modern process in hijab fashion. Meanwhile, the effect of the sources of fashion knowledge on hijab fashion consumption was not approved. Thus, the positive effect of the sources of fashion knowledge on hijab fashion consumption is transferred just through the fashion consciousness. According to the result of other studies, fashion motivation has positive effect on hijab fashion consumption.  On this basis, it can be interpreted that people with different motivation such as having personal pleasure, using in special situations, seasonal changes, matching with peers, coordination with personality, creating a distinction with others and convenient cover proceed to hijab fashion consumption. Among the mentioned motivational factors, convenience has shown more powerful positive relation with hijab fashion consumption. The effect of fashion motivation on fashion consciousness in this research was not approved. Based on the result of the previous studies, dressing style affects fashion consciousness and also hijab fashion consumption. This means that women who selected the dress with hijab and enjoy this style, attain more knowledge toward hijab fashion and consume hijab fashion more.  On the other hand, women with hijab are more likely to prefer the dresses which are compatible with their own religious beliefs.  This conclusion emphasizes the importance of incorporating Islamic dress criterion in hijab fashion. According to the results of previous studies, fashion uniqueness affects fashion consciousness.  This conclusion means that the women with hijab track the aspects of innovation in hijab fashion, and as a result, the innovations and diverse styles of hijab fashion can increase their awareness toward this fashion. The effect of fashion uniqueness on hijab fashion consumption in the present study was not approved. Based on the last conclusion of the research, fashion consciousness influences hijab fashion consumption. This conclusion suggests that women who have more awareness toward hijab fashion consume hijab fashion more. In fact, women with awareness of hijab fashion are more likely to prefer distinct themselves from others through hijab fashion consumption.