Interdisciplinary
S. Tahmasebi; M.J. Zahedi Mazandarani; S. Salehi
Abstract
As an interdisciplinary subject, the study of the environment requires an integrated approach. As a matter of fact, a number of thinkers in this field have used the constructivist approach to study the environmental issues because this emphasizes the role of social factors along with technical and ecological ...
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As an interdisciplinary subject, the study of the environment requires an integrated approach. As a matter of fact, a number of thinkers in this field have used the constructivist approach to study the environmental issues because this emphasizes the role of social factors along with technical and ecological ones in explaining them. With a transtheroretical approach, the aim of the present article is to study the constructivist-interpretative paradigm and determine its cognitive aspects as well as provide a model to study the environmental issues. The paper uses Ritzer's meta-theorizing as a tool to achieve the aforementioned goals. The findings of the study of the intellectual evolution of the constructivism paradigm in classical and contemporary thoughts show that the philosophical foundation of this paradigm is intertwined in the thought of philosophers who emphasize the study of interactions between objects and subjects. This school of sociology is based on the theories of Schutz, Weber, Heidegger, Berger and Luckmann, who studied interactions and social contexts. In the sociological domain, for social issues, specifically environment, thinkers such as Spector and Kitsuse, Loseke, Hannigan, and Yearley used the constructivist perspective to study the discovery, emergence and success of these issues. With the formation of absolute and textual schools in constructivism, this approach turns from pure subjectivism to simply objective and subjective factors. As such, many other thinkers with an integrated insight pointed to multiple levels of social realities as mentioned by Ritzer. The results show that the connection and interaction of environmental issues at principal levels of the paradigmatic model of environmental realities in the constructivist-interpretive theory.
Environment
M. Rafatipanah Mehrabadi
Abstract
Researches that have been conducted over the past three decades on environmental non-governmental organizations in Iran, it is found that there has been a significant gap between the people and these organizations. In other words, these organizations have been weak not only in informing the people about ...
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Researches that have been conducted over the past three decades on environmental non-governmental organizations in Iran, it is found that there has been a significant gap between the people and these organizations. In other words, these organizations have been weak not only in informing the people about the environmental activities but increasing the knowledge, attitude and skills of the people, as well. Although various reasons can be cited but the state, as the most general institution of the country plays an irreplaceable role in making these organizations efficient or inefficient. The way the government looks at environmental organizations and make policies about them, especially in terms of legislation, can lead to the prosperity of these organizations and increase their productivity, or it can simply be vice versa. This research, using the historical research method and referring to the laws and regulations related to non-governmental organizations and also by using some program documents, seeks to investigate how the government deals with these organizations and its results. The findings show that the Iranian government, due to its tendency for centralism and authoritarianism in laws and regulations, limited the scope of non-governmental organizations’ activities, and made it possible for the government to interfere in their affairs and deprive them of their independence. This led to increase in the weakness of these institutions, their efficiency, lack of motivation on and their inability to communicate effectively with the people and promote the culture of environmental protection.
Interdisciplinary
E. Abizadeh; S. Ghadimzadeh
Abstract
Historical-cultural places carry a significance that extends beyond their physical attributes; they embody social relationships and values that are important in defining their meaning. Considering this, they require conservation alongside attention to interdisciplinary approaches. Meanwhile, a major ...
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Historical-cultural places carry a significance that extends beyond their physical attributes; they embody social relationships and values that are important in defining their meaning. Considering this, they require conservation alongside attention to interdisciplinary approaches. Meanwhile, a major obstacle to meaning-based conservation is the communication gap and the conflict of interest among various beneficiaries, indicating a lack of social capital regarding conservation. This article aims to shed light on the process of utilizing social capital as an interdisciplinary phenomenon that can effectively preserve historical and cultural places. The study was done using a descriptive-analytical approach based on library and documentary sources. The findings reveal that the untapped communicative potential of historical and cultural places can be utilized to enhance social structures and reinforce social capital for the purpose of conservation. This method is achievable in urban neighborhoods and when interdisciplinary techniques are applied. In line with the proposed framework, improving the cognitive component of social capital and the network of shared environmental meanings, which includes emotional, cultural, social, and functional categories, result in the development and progression of social values. These include a sense of belonging, commitment, cooperation, and influence, all of which have the potential to stimulate social capital for conservation and cyclically enhance the place-based communication context. In this respect, actions such as promoting cultural awareness, preserving the sensory appeal and memorable aspects of the environment, upholding traditions, enhancing the quality of spaces for social interaction, and supporting local businesses are compulsory.
Management
M.R. Mohamadyioun; H. Vahdati; S.N. Mousavi; A.H. Nazarpouri
Abstract
The duality of agency-structure regarding collective hypocritical behavior among Iranians has long been the subject of debate and controversy. In the meantime, some agency and others have considered the existing structure in the society as the main cause of this misbehavior. The current research aims ...
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The duality of agency-structure regarding collective hypocritical behavior among Iranians has long been the subject of debate and controversy. In the meantime, some agency and others have considered the existing structure in the society as the main cause of this misbehavior. The current research aims to deeply investigate the causes of hypocritical behavior and provide a model to rectify it by focusing on the institution of education. The approach of qualitative and interdisciplinary research has been using data from sociology, psychology, law, literature, political science, international relations, etc. Data coding continued until theoretical saturation using the theme analysis method. The main categories are identified in the section on the cause of hypocritical behavior under the domination of the Giddens structure-action meta-theory. This theory considers the social norm as the result of agency-structure action. Doing so, oversimplification of hypocritical behavior, the negation of individuality, and historical determinism for the category of agency and state (organizational) monopoly, authoritarianism, the use of religion as a tool, and the autocracy of some managers, placing tradition against modernity and a sense of social despair against existing injustices emerged for the category of structure. Based on the requirements and limitations of the education proposal, meanwhile observing the theory of boundary actors, the categories of implementing the principle of meritocracy, and allocating competent resources, inserting the courses of moral philosophy and human rights in the curriculum, creating space for expert psychologists, trying to restore social capital, using every opportunity to create the context of modernity, implementing knowledge management, and consensus building in carrying out efficient civil action was also emerged as alternatives.
Futures Studies
A. Omidvar; M. Niazi; E. Mazroui Nasrabadi; N. Khodakaramian Gilan
Abstract
Humanities graduates have serious concerns about their employment status in the society. The increase in graduates in this field, especially due to the growing number of higher educational institutes in the country, requires policymakers to adopt more logical and practical measures to deal with the problem. ...
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Humanities graduates have serious concerns about their employment status in the society. The increase in graduates in this field, especially due to the growing number of higher educational institutes in the country, requires policymakers to adopt more logical and practical measures to deal with the problem. Using future research, the current paper aims to draw a picture of the employment status of humanities graduates. The research method is qualitative, with the statistical population being professors and experts in the field of humanities. There is purposeful sampling method where the data collection tool was a semi-structured interview. After implementing the interviews, its components were identified at the level of litany, social causes, discourse/worldview and myth/metaphor. At the litany level, categories of "unemployment crisis", "abandoned and marginalized humanities", "inefficient/unskilled humanities" and "lack of independent identity" were created. At the level of systematic causes, a set of cultural-social and economic factors are marked as fundamental ones. At the level of discourse/worldview, product-oriented, post-modern, Islamic humanities and problem-oriented discourses were used. At the level of metaphor/myth, metaphorical interpretations of the boy of engineer, Professor Balthazar, the Achilles heel of national development and advanced/regressive sciences were used. Finally, with a literature review and referring to the interviews and going back and forth and asking the opinion of experts and specialists, the two driving forces of an engineering-like and top-down view against the provision of open intellectual and academic space and the policy of unifying sciences were found. In contrast to the development of interdisciplinary studies approach, four scenarios were identified and developed.
Philosophy
S.B. Seyednejad; P. Amini
Abstract
The theory of conventions (I’tibariat) in Islamic philosophy and constructivism theory in social sciences and international relations are both considered to be modern and almost contemporaneous in terms of new formation which, with different origins, natures and fate, has distinct implications ...
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The theory of conventions (I’tibariat) in Islamic philosophy and constructivism theory in social sciences and international relations are both considered to be modern and almost contemporaneous in terms of new formation which, with different origins, natures and fate, has distinct implications and functions in the epistemic and social spheres. This study explicates the two theories and has, for the first time, regards the epistemological and ontological problematic caused by the incompatibility of “realism and constructivism” in the orthodox narratives of the theories in international relations -considered one of the most important philosophical, non-constructivist and interdisciplinary issues- as an entry into contemplation over the philosophical reconstruction of constructivism. In the course of exposition and categorization of the old and new perceptions of the theory of conventions (I’tibariat), the study contends that under an interactive approach, the two concepts could be compatible in a way that its referent is not “relativism” and “social determination of knowledge” or “denial of any subsistence or determination in the outer world”. Ultimately, the study moves away from both “raw realism” and “pure constructivism” approaches, and takes into account a consequent definition in the theory of constructivism that is not anti-realistic alhtough it “denies the external equivalent of conventions”. At the same time, cognitivism would not lose its true meaning either. The outcomes are considered more significant because in parallel with the decline of philosophical and political realism in recent decades and the epistemological confusion resulting from “the incommensurable bipolar epistemological views in international relations, namely the positivist majority on the one hand and a remarkable minority of post-positivists on the other”, the contemporary theorists of international relations have been guided to constructivist theories that the “social theory of international politics” indicates its conventional and social approach, during which and with efforts to reduce the epistemological importance of constructivism, the proposed solution is to resort to positivism and ontological aspects of constructivism.
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