Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities

Abstract This Article was conducted with an interdisciplinary approach, aiming to conceptualize the idea of hope for the future. The study used a qualitative methodology based on data-driven theory-building, employing in-depth interviews and theoretical sampling with 13 professors and experts in the fields of political sociology, social psychology, and social policy from Allameh Tabatabai University and the University of Tehran. After theoretical saturation, the interview texts were analyzed using MAXQDA10 qualitative data analysis software, employing open, axial, and selective coding methods. The results from open and axial coding led to the identification of 87 concepts and 15 core categories. Additionally, the selective coding revealed that the core category of the concept of Feelings of social instability and uncertain prospects is influenced by causal conditions (Disappointment with policies and social institutions; comparison and lack of hope in the political system’s achievements; public anger towards injustice; fragmentation of public opinion), as well as contextual conditions (Negative collective experiences of economic crises; age) and intervening conditions (individual, value, and social identity changes; identity formation through new media) leading to consequences such as: reevaluation of the meaning of life and the emergence of protest behavior. Strategies and measures to address these consequences, such as (adjusting expectations and demands with the capacities of the existing government; planning to manage public opinion; representation of unity between officials and the masses; representation of a faithful lifestyle; maintaining balance in domestic and foreign policies), are proposed from the perspective of academic elites.

Abstract Social criticism is considered one of the most fundamental concepts in modern social sciences, which has played a pivotal role in the analysis of power structures, dominant ideologies, and social representations since the Enlightenment. The present study, relying on the documentary method and a qualitative approach, analyzes and compares four prominent schools of thought - the Frankfurt School, feminism, post-colonial studies, and post-modernism - that have been more loyal to the social critical movement than other schools of thought, in relation to social criticism. The data were collected through a systematic review of theoretical texts and previous studies and examined with an analytical approach. The results of this analysis show that although these schools differ in terms of epistemological foundations, methodology, and historical origins, they all consider criticism to be a political, revealing, and liberating act that aims to deconstruct dominant discourses and challenge the status quo.Based on these analyses, the present study extracts five key components of social criticism—politicalness, exposure, liberation, focus on the underdog, and social construction of reality—that are considered in all four schools of thought, and provides a theoretical framework for analyzing and evaluating critical discourses. The present study has attempted to present a structured picture of the nature and function of social criticism in the theoretical context of contemporary schools of thought through case analyses.
 

Abstract The theory of social understanding of texts was first introduced by Mohammad-Javad Mughniyah in his book Fiqh of Imam Sadiq (AS) as a novel approach to deriving rulings from juristic evidence, and Martyr Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad-Baqer Sadr, by providing a rigorous formulation of it, considered this approach a turning point in the history of Islamic jurisprudence. The subject of discourse analysis, meanwhile, involves examining any semiotic phenomenon, including texts, speech, communicative events, and so on. The most significant common ground between discourse analysis and the theory of social understanding of texts can be considered the domain of “language.” According to linguists, meanings do not exist independently in the mind; rather, meaning resides in language, and to access meaning, one must understand the structure of language. In the social understanding of texts, it is also emphasized that the emergence of speech is not fully realized through literal, situational denotation alone; rather, the social implications of speech—that is, the rational presuppositions within the context in which the text is issued—must be considered, and a final interpretation is achieved through the combination of situational and social denotation. In this article, using an interdisciplinary approach and descriptive-comparative method, the social understanding of texts from the perspective of Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad-Baqer Sadr is examined alongside discourse analysis from the perspectives of Foucault, van Dijk, and Fairclough. Subsequently, the role of employing discourse analysis and the development of interpretive tools in jurisprudential cases is discussed.

Abstract Deceptive social behavior undermines interpersonal trust and threatens healthy social interactions at various levels. Academic deceit is also among the common unethical behaviors in educational institutions, which has significantly increased with the technological development. In this article, taking an applied approach, deception in a linguistic sociological context is analyzed as an interdisciplinary subject. The analysis of phenomena from an interdisciplinary perspective allows for a better understanding and conditions for problem-solving. The study conducted in a social context within the second-grade girls' high schools in Tehran aims to achieve two main goals: 1- Identify the reasons for academic deception. 2- Examine the role of influential factors in shaping the discourse of deception and find ways to overcome it. A total of 233 students aged 15 to 17, who had experienced being in a deceptive situation, were selected. The samples had similar characteristics such as gender, occupation, educational level, and specific residential area. The research tool is a 30-item questionnaire constructed by the researcher about academic deception, validated based on the seven-point Likert scale and the Academic Deception Questionnaire by Fornes and colleagues (2011). Data analysis was performed using the SPSS statistical software. The research focuses on online classes, assignment submissions, and examinations. The research tools include two scales of academic duty-ethics and academic deception in the virtual space. The results analysis based on the Pearson correlation coefficient indicates a significant negative relationship between academic duty-ethics and academic deception. Considering this result, intervention and educational efforts to increase the ethical commitment of learners seem to be effective in reducing deceptive behaviors. These findings provide valuable information for educational stakeholders whose goal is to reduce deception in academic environments and offer important implications for the ethical education of learners.

Abstract Clothing is an important topic in social studies, but structural approaches have received little attention due to a lack of frameworks for formulating meanings of clothes. The purpose of this study was to pore over on the linguistic effects of clothes. The main question is, to what extent can the meaning of clothes be explained within the framework of a linguistic system? For this purpose, the structural analysis method of Ferdinand de Saussure was used. Results showed this method can recognize elements and relations of the clothing system but not explain historical trends. The clothing system is governed by the logic of signifier and signified and is an arena of contentious semiotics. Discussing the origins and implications of signs requires case studies of synchrony and diachrony of clothes. Regardless of history, studying clothing is inconclusive; it is both a system and history. Confrontation between dress rules and individual dressing represents social dynamics. Clothing has linguistic logic with codes but no vocabulary or grammar to convey alphabetical messages. The structure of clothing in society has extensive intertextual relations and cannot be considered a true language, only a pseudo-language.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to provide a sociological analysis of abortion occurrences with the aim of investigating factors cited by insurance companies about pregnant women. A qualitative research method has been used to gather field information and its tools are based on documents and files of interviews conducted with a number of women swindlers and their accomplices as well as experts and traffic police. The statistical population is 138 files of related documents, of which 15 were selected by a simple random sampling. There are also 58 women swindlers, gang associates, experts and traffic police officers who were purposefully selected to saturate the data and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with them. Validity and reliability were obtained based on the views of Marshall and Rasuman (1998). Due to the quality of the work, the analysis method was performed simultaneously with data collection, open and axial coding and compression by designing basic and mediating themes and then the main themes by using Max Qioda software. The results showed that individual, family, social, economic, political and cultural aspects are influential and motivating factors for criminals, but the most important can be economic and poverty. Also, fraudsters, by knowing and exploiting the weaknesses and legal gaps and sometimes using non-Iranians (Afghans), poor families, forged and prepared identity cards and obtained them through responsible people and infiltrating government agencies and insurance companies.

Abstract Justice is one of the most important issues in Iranian society. The main issue of the present study is epistemic justice and the gap between its definitions in everyday life and policy making domains. For that matter, we purposefully selected the pages of young users on social media networks of Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Telegram and then conducted their virtual ethnographic, thematic and semiotic analyses. Thereafter, policymaking texts were thematically analyzed, as well. While the findings of cyberspace confirmed the existence of hermeneutical (epistemic) injustice; we saw two types of otherization in space where the first is elitist and the second is based on reading of the dominant discourse of being the criterion that people are trying to confront with. The consequences of these otherizations include the contrast between official rulings and opinions of the people, the polarization of the society, being voiceless and probelmatization of difference. Epistemic justice at both national and transnational levels that are connected to each other manifested itself in the data. A review of relevant policy documents confirms the lack of opportunities for youth participation in macro decision-making, inattention to different lifestyles, otherization, pathological attitudes and policing and judicialization of issues. It seems that by eliminating the shortcomings of existing programs and operationalizing them, taking advantage of the academic capacity of universities and moving from abyssal thinking through radical plurality and de-linking, we can see the elimination of epistemic injustice, especially among the youth.

Abstract The status of handicrafts has always been controversial throughout history. In this regard, three periods can be distinguished: the first, in which, handicrafts are classified as poor cousins of fine arts, under the dual high/low, the second with the emergence of arts and crafts movement, where we see the position of artists and craftsmen, and finally, in the third period, we see the emergence of creative industries, which on the one hand is associated with the concept of self-improvement (amateur) and on the other with the reproduction of the discourse hegemony of sublime arts. Many academic writings have focused on the emergence of these new models of creative economics in the shadow of Web 2 culture. Research has shown that Etsy, as an e-commerce market, blurs the line between professional and amateur works and complicates the debate. The question that arises here is whether in today's world, with the movement of handicrafts towards the ‘“post-professional” era’, have the concepts of "amateur" and "professional" lost their application? The starting point of this article is here and it intends to answer this through qualitative-exploratory studies, also in order to address the position of modern handicrafts in Iran. For this purpose, two types of builders are separated from each other: professionals and amateurs. Each brigade has its own unique characteristics. Professionals are art graduates who describe their work in terms of specific concepts. Amateurs, on the other hand, are self-taught artists.

Abstract The utopia promised by the modern age has not arrived, man, as a response to his failure in realizing modernism's ideals, attempted to create a parallel virtual world. Living in this virtual parallel world resulted in creation of billions of digital footprints in a fraction of a second and the emergence of Big Data. Following the transformation in human social life and social researchers' better access to complex social realities in the presence of Big Data, a fundamental shift in the current social research landscape is required. One of the biggest concerns of today's scientific community is revolving around this shift, they wonder to what degree the traditional scientific method might still be relevant in the era of Big Data. Are we on the verge of a paradigm shift in social science? Has theory, as the building block of the modern science, reached its end? This study seeks to answer these two fundamental questions with an interdisciplinary approach in mind, through systematic review of scientific documents published in the period of 2009-2021, several relevant studies across the philosophy of science and data and social science disciplines have been identified and reviewed. After critically reviewing the ongoing scholarly debate, this study argues against the claim that Big Data is the end of theory in science and conclude that Big Data inherently transforms social science research and a transition to a new paradigm is under way.

Abstract The present article aims at determining the mediating role of hope for the future in the relationship between mental health and academic socialization. The research method is survey and analysis using Structural Equations Modeling (SEM). The statistical population of the study includes all the students of National, Payam Noor and Islamic Azad universities of Ilam in the academic year 2018-2019, approximately 9132 students. Using Cochran's formula, the sample size is 384 students and was selected by Stratified Random Sampling. The research instrument is a researcher-designed questionnaire. The questionnaire is in the form of 5 dimensions of academic socialization concepts and 61 items, mental health by 11 items and hope for the future by 6 items. Its formal and content validity are obtained by counseling with professionals, and its reliability by Cronbach’s alpha. Findings indicate that mental health has a significant relationship with academic socialization. The relationship between hope for the future with mental health and also academic socialization was also significant. The mediating role of hope for the future has also been minor in the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. It can be concluded that having hope for the future among students can increase their socialization by strengthening the role of mental health.

Abstract The Zayandeh-Rood river basin is the only permanent and water-rich river in the central plateau in a densely populated area with a dry and semi-arid climate. Due to precise historical management and supervision, the social problems of water distribution rarely happened. However, since the mid-1980s, the river has steadily lost its natural flow and has become seasonal river. Therefore, there have been many protests by stakeholder in the provinces. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reason for the water crisis in the Zayandeh-Rood river basin has occurred over the last two decades. The knowledge of water management is beyond the technical understanding of the subject, and it is an interdisciplinary science, so it should be considered in different fields. Thus, this article focuses on recognizing the water governance gap in the Zayandeh-Rood river basin in various sectors. The method used for this purpose, is analysis of documents, based on a comparative content analysis. Also we conducted interviews with 30 water experts in different districts and provinces (Isfahan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari). The results showed that water governance in the Zayandeh-Rood River basin resulted in various gaps, including executive gaps, targeting gaps, policy gaps, information gaps, capacity gaps, investment gaps, and responsibility gaps.

Abstract Like philosophy of natural sciences, philosophy of social sciences begins with questioning of the meaning of science and the criterion of scientific explanation. Although in the former, just similar to the latter, the epistemological abstractive discussions are divergent, the practice of science is not. But in the sphere of social sciences the practice also lakes convergence and the community of scientists does not share the same scientific criteria of scientificity. The problematic of this article is that, in the realm of social sciences, what exactly scientists are pursuing and searching for when they are producing science. Usually, there are, at least, three responses to that question: cause, reason, and meaning. Describing, analyzing, and criticizing those epistemological positions, each of which is a well-known school in philosophy of social sciences, I will try to demonstrate that none of these criteria is able to pretend an absolute dominance in scientific explanation. However, this does not mean that they have all the same value and weight. The hypothesis is that, in theoretical analysis as well as in scientific practice, causal explanation, investigation of reason, and inquiry concerning meaning, are respectively more important and functional in scientific explanation in the area of social sciences. In many works of the most prominent social scientists, we can find some sort of combination of these different points of view that reflect this hierarchy of criteria.

Abstract Today, identity politics is one of the most important analytic tools of social scientists. With this approach, they focus on political attitudes and interests of social groups who are mainly concerned with gender, race, ethnicity or religion. Attitude towards the female sexuality is one of the most important spectrums in their study. The epistemological development is rooted in the fundamental social changes and its understanding requires a careful study of some  aspects in contemporary political literature of Iran. The main question of this study is the focus on gender in the contemporary political literature that may lead to the realm of identity politics in Iran. Any focus on identity and gender discourses will involve a critical analysis and application of the Fairclough’s model on Shamlou’s poems. Thus, a social scientist may tend   to answer the questions of identity politics and gender issues. Our hypothesis is that Iranian society has gradually moved towards a new understanding of the concept of gender since the Constitutional Movement and it has helped the articulation of identity politics in Iran. The main manifestation of this politics should be sought in political literature which has always been an area for thinking due to the lack of civil society in the body polity of Iran.