A Study of the lack of progress phenomenon in Sistan and Baluchistan province, from the perspective of economic culture

Based on the official statistics from the last census, the province of Sistan and Baluchistan has a lower rank than other provinces in lots of cases and even the lowest rank in indexes such as economic participation and literacy. The lack of progress in Sistan and Baluchistan" can be explored through different points of view, but one of the most prominent obstacles to progress in this province is its economic culture by which, despite having qualifications, it has remained unprogressed. This study aimed to identify economic cultural elements of Sistan and Baluchistan that have already brought a lack of progress. This research has been done, using the qualitative strategy of grounded theory (systematic approach) and its data collection method was semi-structured interviews that continued to get theoretical saturation. Based on the data analysis of 13 interviews, the core category of "ideal-less society" emerged. This category is affected by the causal conditions of "the sense of marginality; limited basic economic attitudes; constraints of the progress infrastructures; and lack of authentic economic guidance of the society" and strategies of "paying attention to immediate needs; lack of good economic management at the micro level; and swank behavior” are taken by actors of this province in response to this core category. These strategies are channelized by the contexts of "Failure to make proper use of the social capital of the province in the direction of progress and failure to make proper use of the value adherence of the society in the direction of progress” and the intervening conditions of "social arrogance and patriarchy" that lead to consequences of "feeling duality toward government and underground economy".