Socio-Cultural Strategy
Year:2019 | Volume:8 | Issue:30 |Papers Count:11

This study has been conducted with the aim of investigating the attitude on status and occupational future of post-graduate students in social sciences. The author has used documentary research method and open interview with post-graduate students of the science and research branch of the Islamic Azad University in all sub-disciplines of sociology. This study seeks to find an answer to the question of examining the attitudes on the future employment status of post-graduate students in social sciences, with the consideration of sociological and psychological theories associated with the main concepts of research. The findings show that post-graduate students in sociology have a relatively positive view of their position and abilities in their future career, and of motivating factors to find the right job with respect to their field of study; these factors consist in acquiring the experience through passing relevant courses and doing occasional projects at the university during study, obtaining expertise through apprenticeship in the specialized and related organizations, as well as the appropriate income. They have also a negative view of the government's performance regarding the provision of appropriate job opportunities, low incomes, and also a disproportionate increase in the students' admission to universities without envisaging their job prospects after graduating.

Public policies are considered solutions to solve the country's public problems; these issues have multiple dimensions, but often many of their dimensions, including cultural and religious ones are mostly neglected. The aim of this research is to determine that to obtain a holistic and inner harmony between the different aspects of the knowledge of a problem, is there any need for identifying and designating a common ground for their integration. This common ground could be thematic, operational, procedural, etc. This is an applied research which has been conducted as a survey by using a quantitative method to collect and analyze data. The statistical population consists of PhD candidates in public policy or other disciplines as well as PhD graduates who have cooperated with the country's policy-making institutions. The authors used purposive sampling method. Their sample size consisted of 30 persons and to measure respondents' opinion, the Likert scale questionnaire was used. The obtained data were tested by single-sample tests, and then they were ranked by Friedman test. Test results indicate a serious need to understand the common ground between knowledge for use in public policy-making, and finally, the authors propose several strategies for policy-makers and scholars.

With the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979, cultural and social challenges between Iran and the West were transferred to the level of the established political system. Accordingly, the Islamic Republic of Iran, through the activation of its non-alignment strategy towards colonial powers in international politics, and the denial of any kind of dominance and submission shaped a new foreign policy. Global developments, especially after the collapse of the Eastern Block and the end of the Cold War, led to the creation of a new world order. The main problem is that, in the new world order, the costs of pursuing the ideals of the Islamic Revolution and its resulting system gradually increased. Since there are different analyses about the future of the world order, each of which has its theoretical foundations and its strategic implications, the main question of this article is which analysis of the world order, while loyal to the goals and ideals of the Islamic Revolution, can lead us to a relative mutual understanding with the West and to reduce the costs of current conflict and confrontation. The hypothesis of this article is that the explanation of the world order based on the theoretical approach of critical hermeneutics provides the appropriate strategic means to reduce the cost of the system while preserving the ideal values of the Islamic revolution. The findings of this descriptive-analytical research show that the adoption of an epistemological approach to emancipatory hermeneutics makes it possible to formulate coordinated strategic policies in different aspects of challenges between Iran and the West.

The main objective of this research is the sociological explanation of the impact of the use of the global Internet network on the social trust of residents of Tehran's 2nd District. The present study is a descriptive survey in terms of data collection. The statistical population of this study is all residents of Tehran's 2nd district, which according to the general population and housing census in 2016 amounts to 314112 people. To determine the sample size, a Cochran sampling formula was used which resulted in the selection of 385 people. To do this, the author used a simple random sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose reliability was confirmed by using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and data analysis was done by using SPSS 22 software. The results of the research showed that there is a significant relationship between age and social trust. The gender of men and women has a positive impact on social trust. There is a significant relationship between socioeconomic status and social trust. There is a meaningful relationship between the extent of Internet use and the level of social trust. The regression model shows that, in the adjusted state, 0. 496% of the variance of the variables of the level of social trust is predicted by variables such as usage time, usage rate, information model and websites diversity.

Priority and superiority made by individuals for the behaviors and ways of life shapes a very important series of qualitative distinctions that its measures are independent of our demands, desires and personal preferences. These evaluation frameworks play a significant role in determining the cultural policies of various countries including the Islamic Republic of Iran. The aim of this study is to identify these frameworks in the cultural policies of the Islamic Republic, and thereby exploring the possibility of improving the quality of cultural planning and making more effective solutions for the specific cultural problems of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thus, the main question of this article is that by relying on the higher documents of the Islamic Republic, what are the effective evaluation frameworks in the cultural policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran? The research is descriptive survey, in terms of methodology and documentary in terms of data gathering. The studied materials are a series of the higher documents of the Islamic Republic relating to the cultural policies of the Islamic Republic, including the Constitution, general policies, twenty-year Vision Plan of the Islamic Republic and five-year development plans. The findings of this study indicate that cultural policy-making in the Islamic Republic seeks historical identity and society's moral stability through governance. Along with this, we witness, to a lesser extent, planning for promoting univocal social identity and morality drawing upon society-state oriented model. However, moving towards identity's self-fulfillment and social interlocutory morality relying upon the centrality of society is still in a stagnant state.

Reducing crime is one of the most important issues that policy-makers have always been concerned about. Reintegrative shaming theory which emphasizes on criminals' reintegration, refers to the role of social and cultural relations in provoking a sense of shame and has been applied in the eastern communities such as Japan and China and it has the potential to be used in countries such as Iran, the cultural characteristics of which is having a more or less community-based society. Despite the appropriateness of the theory to the cultural characteristics of Iranian society and the necessity of applying it, the scope of internal studies in this field is very limited. Therefore, the present study has used the library and documentary method of international studies and has elaborated their concepts and implications. By using this theory and stating that the prevention of crime and its control depend on cultural characteristics and the quality of interactions, the present article intends to investigate the mentioned theory and depicts the application of its different policy implications in preventing university students’ deviant behavior by examining and presenting the good practices of its implementation throughout the world. Furthermore, it aims to demonstrate the efficiency of the policy implications of the aforementioned theory to create a cornerstone to replace actions made by the criminal justice system with it. According to the results, this theory provides implications for substituting punitive measures of judicial system. Restorative justice has been identified as an appropriate alternative to traditional deterrence. This implication focuses on the process in which offenders accept and repair the harm, blocks the way to recidivism, and reduces crime rates by reintegration of the offenders in a larger society and supporting them.

Cultural development, aimed at the systematic progress and dynamism of society, through cultural and social planning, and given special priority accorded to native and national values, provides the spiritual and material needs of the individuals in the community and can be used to promote the level of factors affecting the growth of society. On the other hand, there is a bilateral relationship between cultural development and participation. Therefore, in order to explain the subcultures of participation and especially political participation, cultural developments are needed to provide the context for the participation of members of a community in political affairs. On the other hand, a significant part of political behavior, especially political participation, requires cultural beliefs that are appropriate to and consistent with political development. The present study is conducted using descriptive-analytic research methodology, SWOT technique, library resources, open and semi-structured interviews, and statistics published by official authorities, through deductive and inductive reasoning, etc. In this way, the author has collected, evaluated and analyzed data and has identified and investigated the effective factors in the political participation of the residents of Sistan and Baluchistan province. The results of this study indicate that the parameters of ethnicity, religiosity, political currents, education and elites are influenced by political participation. Also, three conservative strategies, namely, linking people's daily needs with social activities, trust building of reference groups and paying attention to the role of people as social capital in the elections in order to increase the level of political participation by using the features of political culture in the long run, have been provided.

A general belief among people is that intelligence agencies are responsible for ensuring the security of the society, and if they do not succeed, they will not fulfill their mission. From the perspective of intelligence agencies, this view, while being correct, can constitute a part of reality. Prevalent belief in the intelligence agencies is that because the Islamic Republic of Iran is a system based on the support of people, ensuring security would not be possible without the participation of people, and they must play an active role in achieving sustainable security. In government's view (as stipulated in various laws), both people and intelligence agencies have a special role in providing security, the latter in a direct and institutional form, and the former, in an indirect and non-institutional form. Relationship between intelligence and people has always been fluctuating over the last forty years. The main question of this article is: "What is the ideal model of the relationship between intelligence and people in the Islamic Republic of Iran? " To respond this question, the authors use interviews, library and documentary research to collect data and, given the quality of data, they use analyses based on Ijtihad to process the data, and to discover and deduce the facts. The results of the research show that the reduction of the relationship between intelligence and people to the security issue is a reductionist approach depriving the system of the benefits of people's capacities. By analyzing the gap between the status quo and the desired situation and deduction from the statements, the components of the relationship between intelligence and people have been extracted and finally, an ideal model for relationship between intelligence and people has been presented with a focus on intelligence justice.

This article is going to discuss the challenges facing neo-patriarchy in the institutionalization of the rule of law. These patriarchal systems confront several conflicts in the traditional society which has been superficially modernized through authoritarian modernization. These are well manifested in political legitimacy and the institutionalization of the rule of law. This article by using a descriptive-analytical method, addresses the issue that authoritarian modernization and neo-patriarchal structure in Pahlavi era led that nation-state was not shaped on the basis of social contract and a general will envisaging the interests of all people in the society was not created. A gap between the policies pursued by the political system and public interests resulted in the fact that social forces tended to preserve their own class, guild and individual interests and general will was replaced by particular wills and thereby the rule of law faced with a fundamental challenge in the Iranian society. The lack of a social contract based on the general will is followed by interest conflict between the government, social classes and public. Following the challenge of the legitimacy of the neo-patriarchal system, the mass of people resist directly and indirectly against the imposed rules lacking the popular support. Today, this theoretical foundation as a strategic insight can be brought into the attention of the political system in order that it continues its reliance on the general will and prioritize public interests to take steps in the way of establishing a rule-based government entailing the least challenges in terms of legitimacy and legality.

One of the causes of the under-development of Iran during Qajar period was the conflict between rationality and superstition in the Iranian society. In fact, the superstition was so ingrained in the political and social life of Iran that the collective culture and political decisions of that era had been affected to the point that under the Qajar Kings, especially Naser ad-Din Shah, Muzaffar-ad Din Shah and Mohammad Ali Shah, they had resorted to all kinds of superstitions for solving the problems instead of taking into consideration the wisdom, thought and science. This article discusses the impact of the superstition as an irrational phenomenon on the under-development of Iran during the aforementioned period with a qualitative and causal methodology as well as descriptive and analytical method and through collecting the library data in order to answer to the question that "what was the role of superstitious culture on the political under-development of Iran during the Qajar period? " The authors test the hypothesis that through superstitious culture which opposed rationality but coexisted with it in the Qajar period, led to the "intellectual despotism" and thereby the "political tyranny". The discourse status resulted from this intellectual and practical confrontation led to the reproduction of a cycle containing superstitious culture and political tyranny which each of them was producing/reproducing and reinforcing another in this cycle leading to under-development in Qajar era.

The aim of this article is to investigate the content of elementary school textbooks in terms of the degree of attention paid to right to education components. The method employed in the present study is the content analysis technique. After extracting the right to education components from theoretical foundations by using purposive sampling, and consistent with the purpose of the research, the authors selected and studied Social Studies and Persian Literature textbooks. The coefficient of significance of each component was investigated by the Shannon entropy method. The results indicated that the most important factor in the social studies textbooks related to the component of the right to access education was 0. 605, and the lowest coefficient of significance related to that of the right of respect in the learning environment was 0. 33. In addition, the highest coefficient of significance in Persian Literature textbooks (Let's Read) was related to the right of access to education with a coefficient as 0. 712, and the lowest coefficient of significance was related to the right of respect in the learning environment with a coefficient as 0. 533. According to the results, not enough attention has been paid to children right to education in regulating and organizing the content of the textbooks of Social Studies and Persian Literature according to the law of continuity.