Social Problems of Iran
Year:2019 | Volume:10 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:12

The fear of crime is one of the most important subjects of sociology, urban studies, and criminology, because of its devastating effects on the lives of citizens. The present study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the fear of crime among Iranian citizens using meta-analysis method. For this purpose, the present study examined the articles on the fear of crime in Iran. After omitting the documentary and review research studies, 19 articles were selected as the statistical sample. To analyze the data collected from the research, after coding, comprehensive meta-analysis software (CMA2) was employed for statistical meta-analysis. The research findings showed that social organization with an effect size of 0. 44, experience of victimization with an effect size of 0. 40, police presence with an effect size of-0. 34, social trust with an effect size of 0. 23, social control with an effect size of-0. 20, and neighborhood attitudes and belongingness with an effect size of-0. 17 are the most important factors affecting the fear of crime in the research studies. Very little attention is given to the subjects of urban studies, geography, law, and psychology affecting the issue of fear of crime; domination of the survey method, lack of any hypothesis, lack of reports on creditworthiness of research in about 45% of the articles, and the general and impracticable strategies presented in the studies on fear of crime were the most important weaknesses of the research studies.

The present study aims to use the interpretive approach to investigate “ social hope” from an emic point of view among Isfahan city residents. The research method is qualitative which uses grounded theory strategy. Based on the purposeful sampling method (Successive Theoretical Sampling) 20 people up to 15 years old participated in the present study and their interpretations of social hope were investigated, using the semi-structured interview. Research findings based on using grounded theory method includes seven main categories: Targeting (means identifying a point as an aim and existing a will to reach the goal), having wishes (desire, interest, and passion for reaching the goal), Responsibility (acting as one’ s ability and taking the responsibility of achieving the goal), Desire to progress (the desire to improve conditions and promoting current situation), endeavor (stepping toward the goal and finding new ways in case of failure) and planning (having a plan and a practical map and a plan to reach the identified goal). Core category is the “ desire to change” which encompasses other sub-categories. Final grounded theory model is presented in a paradigmatic model including situation, interactions, and consequences.

Social interaction is the most basic element of social life and its characteristics determine the characteristics of the society. Interactive problems are the fundamental factors of different types of social disequilibriums. This article reflects the state of social interaction in Iran as perceived and reported by sociologists. For this purpose, the book of "Articles on Social Situations of the Country" was selected as the main text after long consideration. This book contains 44 articles with new and comprehensive data from academic researchers and scholars. Directed content-analysis method was used to extract themes regarding social interaction state in Iran. Findings are categorized into three sections. The first section contains: “ existence and increase of egoistic individualism” , “ the existence of immoral interactions” , “ existence and increase of criminal interactions” and “ existence and increase of administrative corruption” . These results indicate the predominance of cold interactions in Iran. The second section entails: “ decrease of family interactions” , “ cold interactions in the family (violence)” , “ withholding from family interactions (solo living)” , and “ breakdown of spouse’ s relationships in the family (divorce)” . The thirst and last section consists of: “ withholding from interactions” , “ weakness of interactions” , “ limited radius interactions” , “ cross-sectional interactions” , “ collapse of cooperation” , “ the weakness of NGOs” and “ weakness of positive emotions and social belongingness” , which show “ the weakness of positive interactions and emotions. ” In sum, the findings indicate the weakness of positive interactions and emotions and increase of cold interactions in Iran.

Corruption as one of the realities of today's society has had unprecedented growth in the administrative, political and economic systems of the world and according to the International Transparency Institute, no region or country in the world is immune to corruption. In this article, with theoretical speculations, we are looking for a comparative study of the necessary and sufficient conditions for the necessary outcome: the control of macroeconomic corruption. Based on the theoretical framework, we have identified three dimensions or three constraints for corruption control: the rule of law, political development, and economic development. The methodology of this research is qualitative and comparative. The data of 14 countries have been analyzed using a fuzzy approach and include positive and negative cases. Research findings suggest that the rule of law, political development, and economic development are each a necessary condition for the outcome of corruption control. In causal and hybrid causalities, only one causal route was necessary based on adequacy and the index of compatibility and cover index. In this causal direction, the rule of law, political development, and economic development combined provided the necessary causality to produce the desired result. Compatibility index of the remaining rout is 0. 97 and it covers 84% of the changes in the variable which is of acceptable theoretical and empirical importance. Therefore, generally, these causes have significant explanatory power in the analysis of the countries under investigation.

In this article, we seek to understand the common identity of Iranians and try to find out what cultural changes have embraced the popular mood of Iranian identity. In this study, the qualitative research method is based on the documentary analysis. The statistical population consists of existing documents selected via purposeful sampling method. The sample size has been more than 250 pages in cyberspace published by experts in the field of cultural identity in Iran in different years from 1345 to 1397. Data analysis was continuously carried out through a continuously repeated strategy to achieve saturation of concepts. Iranians are known for the characteristics which in most cases are not based on scientific studies. According to the findings of this study, it is impossible to discuss a constant identity for Iranian people. People and intellectuals do not agree on a specific cultural identity in Iran. The findings of this study show that modern Iranians are more fatalist and isolated from before, and at the same time, they dislike laziness and judgment without thought. Given Iran's 20-year vision document and the high visibility of Iranians in the international sphere, isolation in Iranian identity is likely to cause more independence in the future.

This paper investigates the potential for ethnic conflict in Sistan and Balouchistan province with an emphasis on social inequality using document analysis method. Combination of three basic theories of ethnic conflict, namely "security theory", "opportunity theory" and the theory of "oppression" were used simultaneously. The findings show that Sistan and Baluchistan province suffers from more inequality in comparison to other provinces and within the province itself; there is a huge gap between Baluches and Sistanis in terms of access to facilities. Existing inequalities reinforce religious strife, and sometimes anti-Shiite feelings in the region. In other words, the radical attitude of the Shi'a central government to the removal of facilities (political, welfare, social. . . ) has led to the reproduction of a radical view of the Balouch people under the influence of Talibanism. Therefore, the simultaneous effect of ethnic relations (inequalities) with the state (exacerbating inequality) and the international environment has provided the ground for conflict in this region.

Currently, Cyberstalking victimization is a problem all over the world which has been increasing in Iran as well. The present study, based on routine activities theory, examines the causes of the Cyberstalking victimization among Mazandaran University students. The research method of the study is survey using a questionnaire as a data collection tool. A total of 374 students of Mazandaran University in the academic year of 1963-97 were selected through stratified sampling method. The findings indicate that there is a significant difference between girls and boys in rates of Cyberstalking victimization. Boys are more likely to be victims of Cyberstalking victimization than girls, while girls are more likely to be victims of financial and sexual Cyberstalking victimization. The results of the regression analysis showed that the variables of this study were able to explain 26 percent of the Cyberstalking Victimization changes among students. Of all the variables entered in the regression, three variables of “ online offender’ s lifestyle” and “ direct online protection” and “ online proximity to offenders” have a significant effect on Cyberstalking victimization.

The present study primarily aims to examine and identify the major patterns and determinants associated with religious attitude from a socio-demographic perspective. Theoretically, it is based on religious socialization theory, modernism and fundamental changes in social values theories that explain socio-cultural changes of the contemporary societies including the changes in religious attitude. The results of this article is based on a survey conducted in rural and urban areas of Ahvaz, Babolsar, Bojnord, Esfarayen, Gonbad-e-Kavos, Hamadan, Kamyaran, Khoramabad, Mahmoudabad, and Saghez. The survey includes 4267 males and females aged 15 years old and over. According to the preliminary results of this analysis, a sizeable proportion of people hold a relatively high level of religiosity. However, more detailed analyses indicate that religious attitude is significantly affected by a wide range of determinants. It includes such demographic determinants as age, gender, urban-rural areas of residence, marital status, education as well as attitudes towards gender roles. In sum, the key results of this analysis tend to sit well with the theory of modernization and changing values, suggesting that religious attitude is substantially associated with modern and liberal perspectives: the stronger the latter, the weaker the former.

The main issue of this study is the analysis of the social factors that affect suicide in Iran. Emile Durkheim's suicide theory, Agnew's general strain theory, and Gibbs and Martin's status integration theory are the major ideas that have formed the theoretical framework of this research. After reviewing the main theoretical literature in this area, the independent variables of social solidarity, the relational strain, the presentation of negative stimuli and role conflict were used to explain the dependent variable of the suicide rate. This research was conducted using an analysis of available statistics. Available statistics have been collected from the statistical yearbook of the Statistical Center of Iran and Legal Medicine Organization. Data analysis has been done based on statistical methods using SPSS software. Using statistical tests of Pearson correlation and multivariate regression, reviews of the collinearity of the variables and factor analysis have been used to analyze the data. Based on the Factor analysis and regression test R2 (the amount of explained variance) equal to 0. 826. The standard beta coefficient of social solidarity and social strain equal to-0. 153 and 0. 904 respectively. The relationship between role conflict and women's suicide cannot be verified. The relationship between these two variables is not direct but inverse. Accordingly, it seems that social and economic participation is more important than role overload for women

White-collar crime is a controversial term about which there is no consensus. A comprehensive explanation of white-collar crime needs integrated theories that join various factors. White collar crime is an encompassing phrase which refers to a wide range of crimes. Corporate crime, organizational crime, state crime, and state-corporate crime are the most common types of white-collar crime. Essentially, this research used a qualitative case study as its research method. Nineteen cases of white-collar criminals who were convicted in Tehran criminal courts were selected for a case study. Most of these cases include crimes that occurred in private corporates. In the beginning, the intention was to have in-depth interviews with criminals in order to collect data but various difficulties forced researchers to utilize the document analysis method instead. Findings of this research are consistent with the other research findings, although the qualitative research findings are not generalizable. Majority of perpetrator's gender was male and most of them were middle-agers. Findings of this research reveal that white collar criminals usually work in financial organizations or in financial sectors of non-financial organizations. Correlation of "being in full strained society" and "material-based culture" will result in a cycle which is named as "victim and predator cycle". The variables such as abuse of delegated trust, week surveillance, opportunity and easy access to resources, the perception of not being caught and prosecuted, noncriminal self-image, deviant organizational subcultures can be regarded as important factors leading to white-collar crime.

The purpose of the present research is to examine the possibilities of intervene and change of the condition of social exclusion of Hawrami people from Souranis. In doing so we benefited from an approach embedded within the intellectual tradition of France (the relational) using Bourdieu's and Silver’ s concepts which are based on three paradigms (integration, specialization and the monopoly) to explain the exclusion. The methodology is critical ethnography which focuses on the current situation in society and supports the emancipation of marginalized people. The experience of Hawramis has been investigated in three contextual situations that result from the emigration of Hawramis to the city, leading to the emergence of three discourses in the urban social context. In the context of the first situation, which is characterized by the slow rate of migration and fall of Master-slave system, the problem of exclusion is not problematized yet. The changes after the Iran-Iraq war, expansion of the urbanization, the excess migration, and importance of market and domination of cultural hegemony resulted from relations with Iraqi Kurdistan is the second situation. This situational context is experienced by middle-aged people. The third situation, which focuses on the experience of young people, is characterized by merging in the cultural identity of the city, participation in associations, increased education. The present situation focuses on the homogenous urban-surani identity. Findings of the research show that Hawramis are excluded in the social and cultural spheres as well (as to maintain their distinctions) which is in the social field of their reaction through distinction from the association and intergroup activities (especially lingual-dialect distinction).

Theft is one of the crucial criminal practices that threaten the public and social security of the community, and its prevalence is a clear indication of social insecurity. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of the theft at its all levels and aspects by using systematic review and meta-analysis. The statistical population of this synthesizing study includes all of the research studies in the ground of theft in Iran in past two decades (1996-2016), retrieved from Magiran, Noormages, SID, Scientific Journals Database, Iranian Police Journals, Scholar Google and Irandoc using theft and sometimes relevant concepts such as robbery, bag, blackjack as keywords. For conducting this meta-analytical research, 668 relevant studies have been identified in the field of theft in the last two decades. After searching and screening phase, and qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the identified studies, the final synthesis was conducted for 19 studies that were analyzed using MEDCLAC15 and CMA3 software. The overall sample size of the included studies was 11, 814 people in the country with 19 meta-analytical unit, which shows the prevalence of theft to be 0. 3% (ranged from 1% to 4%) in the country for two decades. Besides, there was a high degree of heterogeneity (I2 = 92. 51%) between the included studies. In conclusion, the real prevalence of theft in the past two decades shows that policies to manage and prevent theft as a critical social problem have been promoted by 2014 and they started to downturn since that year in Iran. That means the intervention program on theft has declined after 2014.