نشریه علوم اجتماعی
سال دوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 5، بهار 1384)

Due to the complex nature of deviation, delinquency and crime, Criminology and Sociology of Deviations have used, in their studies of social deviations, not only different theoretical frameworks but different methods commonly used in qualitative and quantitative approaches. This diversity of methods has provided great opportunities for the evaluation of the methods and eclectic use of methods, data and theories. This, in turn, has increased the validity of the findings of the research on social deviations. From the viewpoint of qualitative methodology, delinquency and crime should be studied as acts of social actors. Thus, in the study of social deviations, qualitative methods seek the meaning systems of actors, and their interpretations of their acts. Among the qualitative methods commonly used in the studies of social deviations are participant observation, in-depth interview, focus group and ethnography.

In the present century, which is the age of rapid growth of technology and knowledge, in addition to the development of formal teaching, increasing attention has been paid to distant education by various organizations and societies. This paper is a report of a research entitled “a study of the success and obstacles of distant education services project of Khorassan Province Literacy Organization.” The statistical universe of the project included a total of 24655 people, with the sample group being 341. In the first stage, 9 towns were elected using a cluster method. In the second stage, the sample was selected randomly. The results of the statistical tests showed the project is found useful basically by those living in deprived regions, women, youth and the single (81.9% of the respondents, while referring to its shortcomings, found the project useful.) They found its most important advantages as follows: boosting knowledge level (73.7%); increasing the ability to read and write (35%); solving the educational problems of the parents (22.3%); saves time, increases the interest in reading. Fills the leisure time, helps planning for life. The most important shortcoming were announced to be the following: problems related to sending the material (57.22%); content of the books (41.6%); laws and regulations (41.64); human resources (37.48%) budget supply (58.22%) and the problems related to learners (47.2%). The suggestions made to make the project more efficient are the following: giving more variety to the material, including more hilarious staff, satisfying the needs of youth and the single; paying attention to local needs and teaching vocations, holding contests, offering certificates, etc.

The purpose of this study is to provide answers to two questions: attitude of the population of Mashhad aged 18 to 65 towards divorce in 2004 and the factors affecting this attitude. The hypotheses of this study have been formed using the views of Durkheim and the theoretical frameworks of functionalism. The study is based on the idea that higher education, conflict at home, attitude towards divorce among family members and relatives, contact with the western culture and society, high expectations of marriage and married life are positively related to divorce and that loyalty to religion and tradition, marriage with relatives, satisfaction with married life, social status and avoidance of illegal sexual relations are negatively related with divorce. The information for the research has been collected using a questionnaire, and a multi-stage cluster sampling method from various areas of the city of Mashhad. In the analysis of data, regression analysis method has been mainly used and the relation between each variable and the dependent variable has been explored. Finally, using multi-variable regression analysis method, the effects of variable son each other and with the attitude towards divorce have been evaluated.

The fact that the Prophet did not achieve much success in Mecca in converting the people to Islam after 13 years of missionary work and that the people of Medina turned to Islam although the Prophet was not physically present is one of the little understood questions in the history of Islam. The present paper seeks to study, from a sociological point of view, the reason why the people of Mecca, mostly the prophet’s countrymen and relatives, showed resistance and the people of Medina welcomed the new religion. To answer this question, the writer draws on the geographical conditions of Arabia and its effect on the life and culture of the people of Mecca and Medina. The writer also considers the class structure and the political, economic and social relationships between the people in the two cities. To these the writer adds the teachings of the new religion in an attempt to find different reactions showed by the people of the two cities. The results of this analysis are expressed in the form of the following hypotheses: The reason why Islam did not flourish in Mecca was that the teachings of Islam were against the traditions and beliefs, against the political, economic and social order dominating the society and against the interests of aristocracy. The reason why Islam flourished in Medina was the fact that Arabs lived in proximity to Jews and the defeat of Ows tribe from Khazraj and lack of a powerful alliance of aristocrats to fight Islam.

Generation gap is now taken for granted especially in a society with a young population. Many believe that the transfer of values and culture from the former generation to the new generation is now facing serious problems, so much so that the new generation is no longer committed to the values of the former generation. This paper is concerned with the attitude of mothers and daughters towards their sexual identity. The theoretical foundation of the study is a blend of the theories of Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Gideons, Karl Manheim and Ingleheart. The study has been carried out using the survey method and a questionnaire. The statistical universe of the study includes all the female students of state universities of Tehran, aged 20 to 25, residing in Tehran, and their mothers. The sample group consists of 344 students selected using a multi-stage clustering method. In the analysis of the data at the explanation level,? ?????? test and Pearson Correlation have been used. The results obtained show a difference between mothers and daughters in their attitude toward their sexual identity. Mothers have a traditional attitude while daughters have a modern attitude. With respect to domestic chores, daughters believe that house chores should be equally shared by women and men. However, as mothers receive higher degrees, they tend to assume a more modern attitude. And as daughters get married, they tend to assume a more traditional attitude.

Among the intellectual figures of France in the 20th century, Pierre Bourdieu has left the greatest influence on sociological studies. In this respect he may only be compared with Levi Strauss, except for the fact that Strauss’ influence outside France has been much less and that the foundations of Strauss’ thought; that is, the structural theory of social science, has long lost its power while most sociologists believe that Bourdieu’s views are there to stay, already influencing scholars from such diverse disciplines as literary criticism, art, sports sciences, etc. He was so prolific, writing over 30 books and 400 articles; it takes years before a complete understanding of his views is achieved and his views be applied in social sciences and humanities. Perhaps he is best compared with two other imminent sociologist of the 20th century; that is, Emil Durkheim and Max Weber, who left long-lasting influence on sociological thinking. In this paper, the writer first presents s definition of intellectualism. This is followed by a brief introduction of Bourdieu's thoughts and an analysis of his relation as a social scientist with the intellectual circle in France.

The purpose of this research is to study domestic violence against women in the city of Tehran, the results of which may be generalized to all cities in Iran due to Tehran’s population diversity. Having defined certain terms and theories, the writers have presented hypotheses, which have been tested in a field study on a statistical universe of 100 housewives, selected randomly from various areas of the city. And the data obtained was analyzed using statistical methods. In the analysis of the data, one-dimensional and two-dimensional tables were used. One-dimensional tables revealed that the families under study were populated families with low formal education, most of them having a low income, (an average of 1000000 to 1500000 Rials), who spent their leisure time mostly at home watching TV or listening to radio, sometimes treated with violence by their husbands who accuse them not of moral wrongs but of negligence in doing house chores and taking care of children. The woman’s financial need has also been a factor for men’s resorting to violence. This shows that Iranian men resort to domestic violence in certain occasions. As for the multi-dimensional tables, the results of the study show that there are significant relationships between violence against women and the following variables: lack of the understanding between the couple, not doing house chores, not caring about children’s homework and the family’s material problems.

With the establishment of modern bureaucracy in Iran, it was expected that the administrative system would find a logical order based on legal rationality. This not only proved to be far from the case, but the administrative system showed an unfortunate return to its previous status as well. The efforts made to improve the system have only aggravated the situation. The first question addressed by this study concerns why this is the case. To find a theoretically sound answer to this question, the writer first conducted a study of documents. The result of the study was the recognition of patrimonial structure as the structure dominating the cultural and social systems of Iran. As a social institution affected by this system, the Iranian administrative system is responsible for behaviors which explain its present inefficiency. The main purpose of the present paper is to explore the question to what extent the need is felt to change the patrimonial structure as the structure dominating the inner and outer actions of the administrative system as an attempt to achieve power balance.