NAMEH-YE OLUM-E EJTEMAI
Year:2008 | Volume:16 | Issue:34|Papers Count:9

This article studies social characteristics of the Iranian filmmakers. The theoretical field is derived from that of sociology of art, and Janet Wolff’s theory is used as the framework. The research method is content analysis. The main hypothesis states that social factors along with innate ones, such as creativity and genius affect the entry into and success of people in filmmaking. The general factors include the demographic traits such as sex, birthplace and level of education. Among the social factors one may point to opportunities such as enjoying private or public support. In terms of innate factors the results show that although creativity affects an artist's success, it is not a determining factor. Rather, positive social factors should also be available in order to allow one entering the field of art. It is only under such conditions that creativity would contribute to person's success in doing art work.

Despite the emphasis on justice in the society and the necessity of realizing it, little efforts have been made to find out the exact perception of the citizens and intellectuals about justice and to determine the similarities and differences among the subjects thus viewed. The present article aims to reach such understanding. Subsequent to reviewing various definitions of justice, an attempt was made to analyze citizens' perception of justice. The data show that citizens' perception of justice bears no resemblance to the previous patterns and definitions, as reviewed, and that justice seems to have a multi-dimensional structure. This suggests that justice has not been achieved, that is, citizens feel that throughout the contemporary era justice has not been realized for the majority in society.

In recent centuries, ideas pertinent to development, progress, and modernity have been widely accepted around the world. Such acceptance has had great influence on many dimensions of social, economic and familial life of various societies. This study examines the diffusion of development ideals and attitudes among ordinary people with special focus on those related to family attitudes and behaviors in Iran. Data for the study come from a survey conducted among women 15-54 of age in the city of Yazd, Iran, aiming to investigate the changes in the family attitudes and behaviors. The results of the study confirm the hypothesis that the models and ideals of development have broadly spread out affecting people's beliefs and thoughts. The study also shows that most respondents are well aware of ideas and models of development, and employ these ideas and models for the evaluation of familial and demographic attitudes and behaviors. Further investigations and analyses are required to explain how options for family change are redefined in the interaction between Western ideals of development and long-standing religious, cultural and historical elements of the Iranian society.

The present article is based on an empirical study on relative deprivation feeling as an attitude, that is, consisting of cognitive and emotional (feeling) as two component parts. The basic research approach of this study, therefore, falls within the realm of social psychology. Theoretical studies on relative deprivation show that shaping of social comparison process is the unique factor in differentiating relative deprivation from other forms of deprivation. The starting point of theoretical approach in this research is the explanation of this process in terms of both feeling and perceptive category of relative deprivation. Based on these explanations, we have developed measurements for their empirical study.The research population consists of residents of the city of Tehran who are 18-30 years old. A sample of 860 men and women was selected, using cluster sampling method. The results indicate that the feeling of relative deprivation among youth is relatively low. Men's deprivation feeling, however, is more than women's. The rate of perceived relative deprivation in the sample is also low, and the men's mean score is more than that of women. On the whole the conclusion is that single men of 18 to 25 years old who hold high school diploma or less, employed or unemployed, with less than four million Rials monthly income, and without private housing feel more deprived than other categories of youth. Moreover, this research shows that 9.9% of youth in the sample have the 'highest' rate of relative deprivation feeling. The estimated rate for the population falls between 6.6% and 13.2%.The results of this research have clear policy implications for the Iranian society of which a significant portion of population is young. The feeling of relative deprivation is important to be investigated further as it is rooted in the social and economic conditions of a society, and it directly influences the political system.

Housing cooperatives in Iran have proven not to be very successful. The lack of success could be attributed to a combination of socio-economic, political, and cultural factors in micro, intermediate and macro levels. This article draws on instances of the research that have studied complications of housing coops. It also elaborates further the social issues pertaining to housing coops as a significant, but largely ignored subject. We describe the relevant social issues, explain their respective dimensions, and try to identify the influential factors and explore their shares in the degree of success housing coops experience. The authors offer a theoretical analysis of housing coops as social systems. The arguments are based on Talcott Parsons' theory of sub-systems of action and his views are employed to identify and define research variables, collect the required data for statistical analysis, and to test the hypotheses. The data are collected from a national population sample of 1000 people who are members of a variety of housing coops. Some coops have restricted memberships, by profession and are, for instance for white collar employees, laborers, or teachers; while there are coops with unrestricted membership. Following the data collection, the specific situations of the housing coops were analyzed.On this basis, the lack of internal cohesion of coops, members' weak social participation, lack of cooperation by related organizations and feeble attitudes of coop members are among the most important factors affecting the degree of success of each coop. A comparative study of different coops according to membership and analysis of the special issues of these coops, seen as consequences of their membership, social make-up, and the level of their socio-economic status, has also been preformed. Finally, some recommendations are offered that may help to improve the social aspects of housing coops.

Individualism is among concepts and constructs that became especially prevalent in the 19th century. The ambiguity inherent in this concept has led to controversies and various misunderstandings. Individualism was applied to most branches of humanities and was conceived as a fundamental concept. On the whole, two aspects; negative and positive, can be considered for individualism. Positive aspect includes characteristics such as self-reliance, and responsibility that can be found in ethical responsibility of Durkheim and institutionalized individualism of Parsons. Negative aspects aspect includes characteristics such as isolation, narcissism, and egoism that can be found in egoistic individualism which disturbs social development and order. This article attempts to clarify conceptual approach to synonyms of individualism, as reflected in its aspects.