فصلنامه جامعه شناسی کاربردی
سال سی و یکم شماره 4 (پیاپی 80، زمستان 1399)

Nowadays entering a university is known as the most important way by which individuals could place themselves in a higher social position. Thus, who can enjoy these situations and how the higher education chances are divided among people can be studied as an index of education justice which is an important issue of social justice. One of the major findings of social stratification research is that there is a significantly positive association between the social origin and status attainment in modern societies and that this is mostly mediated by the educational attainment. According to a vast competition for entering a university, this issue is not thought seriously among students. Large expenses of classes, educational books and pamphlets, specialized courses and educational counseling along with various facilities, the ability of upper class strata in registering their children in high quality and nonprofit schools, the capability of these strata in employing private teachers and some other issues have influenced the individual position in the stratification of higher education as well. It has also been observed that privileged families, even after their children’s graduation, help them find suitable careers and positions through their own social capital. If the intensity of this issue is high in a society, it can have negative individual and social outcomes. Therefore, in this study, the authors have examined the issue of whether a higher education degree represents a kind of liberation from social background or, on the contrary, whether the resources associated with social origin have impacts both on the type of people’s education and even having a relevant position after the graduation.

The research method was a quantitative and survey type and the data were collected through a questionnaire. The population of this study included all educated employees who have graduated from universities across the country since 2006 and are working in various sectors of the labor market in Isfahan. The sample size was 530 individuals according to the assumptions of the confidence level, test power, and the number of variables involved in the analysis using Sample Power SPSS. According to the dispersion of participants of this study, the sampling method was in such a way that different economic parts were determined. Then, various economic centers were randomly selected, and by going to these centers, the graduates of the universities were randomly sampled.

The results of the research showed that there is a relationship between the individual status in the higher education system, and those who possessed a higher status in the higher education system have a higher position. It might imply that the education system, as functionalists claim, leads to meritocracy which prepares worthy people for careers and special roles in a society. But, another result of this study makes us think and review more the viewpoints of functionalists. It showed that there is a direct and positive relationship between social capital and individual position in the higher education system (i.e. those who possess a higher social capital have a better position in the higher education system as well). However, in the structural equation modelling phase, the direct and indirect effects of social capital on career position were not significant, but the role of social capital in finding careers has been very effective. About 37.3 percent of the respondents have claimed that they have been informed of the careers through official channels including advertisements, employment offices, or scholarships and then they have proceeded. While 62.7 percent of respondents have been informed through informal channels (i.e. families, friends and relatives) and then they have proceeded. This is of high importance in such conditions that the country has faced vast unemployment of university graduates. Considering the spread of higher education centers in the country, due to the limitation in accepting in special fields and special universities, the competition between participants in Konkoor (national university entrance exam) is high. This causes families to invest a large amount of financial resources on the success of their children. Thus, poor families show less risky capacity for investment in education of their children, so the children of wealthy families in competing with children of families with lower levels of income have more chances in ascending this phase. In this study, those families with higher economic capital have possessed a better status in the higher education system and a higher career position as well, which the entire effect of economic capital on career position is performed through the mediation of individual position in the higher education system. This finding is in the direction of theoretical foundations associated with the reproduction of social inequalities through education.According to Bourdieu theory, the children of the average class families are possibly more successful in getting educational certificates because of having cultural capital. In his mind, the presupposition of the education system is founded in the principle that cultural capital is at the disposal of the education system and the distribution of cultural capital is performed by such a system while only a small number of students obtain cultural capital; therefore, it is evident that there is much malfunctioning in education transferring. The findings of the study in the direction of theoretical principles showed that those who possess a higher cultural capital have a better position in the higher education system and a higher career position as well.The results of this study also indicated that the social background, whether directly or indirectly, affects the career position, and social inequalities are reproduced through the education system. So, the meritocracy society which Durkhiem expected has not been accomplished in such a society in which the role of heredity in careers is reduced and inequality is not the result of external forces, but it reflects the difference in individual competencies, capacities, and individual efforts in giving service to the society.

The inflation is a structural and economic phenomenon that had considerable outcomes at social and action levels. This economic phenomenon can affect persons, emotions, interactions and subjectivity in everyday life, and accordingly, social actors have particular strategies for dealing with these consequences. Our aim in this qualitative study was to explicate the meaning and interpretations of the inflation by low class youths. The research questions were: what is the meaning of inflation for our participants as low class youth? How do they experience and interpret the inflation phenomenon? What is the inflation outcomes from their view of points? And how do they deal with inflation outcomes in their everyday life?

The research was conducted using the basic (generic) qualitative research method (Caelli et al., 2003; Merriam, 2009). This is an interpretative and constructive approach. The authors sought to understand youth constructions about the inflation. Participants included 30 youths (18-29 years old) who were selected by the purposeful sampling method. They lived in a low urban area of Isfahan city in families with poor incomes. The authors conducted interviews and gathered data through semi-structured interviews. Data saturation criteria were used for deciding about the sample size, and the sampling continued until the answers became repetitive and no new concept could be created. Before starting the interviews, the authors collected youth participants’ consent forms. Participants became familiar with the research procedure through the explanation of the research purposes, questions and methods. After each interview, the authors transcribed the interview talks and data analysis started from the first interview. For data analysis, the theoretical coding (Strause & Corbin, 1998) was utilized by three coding levels including open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. During the open coding, interview texts were reviewed and encoded line by line and a concept was assigned for the meaningful phrase of the interviewee talks. In the second level of coding, axial coding, the constructed concepts were put together and were transformed into categories that were more abstract in comparison to primary concepts. At third level of coding, categories were linked together and a core category was emerged as the final category.  The authors tried to achieve a level of credibility in research findings by continues comparisons of participants’ statements and paying attention to their feedbacks regarding the analysis. Additionally, the authors checked the final concepts by the participants that confirmed the constructed concepts and findings.

As mentioned above, interview transcripts were analyzed by the theoretical coding and 7 main categories were constructed. Youths’ experience and interpretation of the inflation was defined in 7 categories including: motivation crisis, early adulthood, the thirst for money, ambiguity and from day to day living, being accustomed, being contented, and interactional anomie. Finally, ‘anomie and ambiguity’ was emerged as the final category. This concepts reflected a strong sense of ambiguity and an anomic mind in the participants’ everyday life. They perceived their life to be unpredictable, and normless with considerable falls of motivations. The inflation and poverty of sources created a money-oriented subjectivity for low class youths. In these situations, money and seeking it came at the center of the life. This is the social condition that some sociologists mentioned as the anomie. The anomie is emerged through crisis and pressures of the inflation. Another dimension of the construction of the inflation was the culture of poverty. The process that was increased by the economic poverty under inflation pressures. The inflation pressed everyday sources and thoroughly suppressed planning about the future as explained by Oscar Lewis. The inflation and expensiveness of goods and services affected mental, social, and cultural life of our youth participants. This can affect developmental values during time periods. Social policy-makers should pay attention to these situations especially by designing a social care system. The strong social security and social care system can reduce some negative consequences of the inflation for youth people.

As a global widespread issue, corruption has deep roots in history of human being and human institutions and organizations. The World Bank states that corruption plays a cancer-like role that could kill the entire community. Understanding the importance and necessity of research about corruption would be made clearer by taking into account its effects, since corruption has adverse economic, social, political, and environmental consequences in all aspects of human life (e.g. political, economic, and social, to name a few). There are different indices to measure corruption: The Corruption Perceptions Index is one of several ways in which the International Transparency Organization systematizes corruption-related information. This index has been the most popular and applicable tool for measuring corruption. In this study, corruption perceptions index was used to measure the corruption in Sarpol-e-Zahab City.

This article was conducted using the quantitative method. The purpose of the research was descriptive-analytic and the method used in this article was survey. The statistical population used in this study was people of Sarpol-e-Zahabcity. The sample size was 400 people and cluster sampling was used in this regard. The data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the research were assessed using formal and structural validation, and Cronbach's alpha test, respectively. The dependent variable in this study was the perception of corruption, which was measured in three dimensions: attitude to corruption, trend of corruption over time, and prevalence of corruption in offices. Independent variables were: media consumption, political awareness, value orientation, and economic base. In addition, in this study, gender was examined as a contextual variable.

 The results showed that corruption has mostly occurred in the municipalities. However, the least corruption was seen in universities. According to results, the embezzlement increased in the community over the past ten years, while there has been little change in the level of bribery and gambling. In addition, men's perception of corruption was significantly higher than women. The results showed that perceptions of corruption differed between the two existing political trends in the country; in fact, the perception of reformist corruption was greater than the perception of fundamentalist corruption. The results of Pearson correlation test showed that Corruption Perceptions Index had a positive and significant relationship with the variables of political awareness, media consumption and modern value orientation, but corruption perception was not significantly correlated with socioeconomic status. Finally, based on the results obtained through path analysis, it was recognized that the variable of political awareness had the highest role in explaining the perception index of corruption.According to the results, the prevalence of corruption in all organizations was not equal; in fact, there was less corruption in cultural organizations. In addition, there was the highest corruption in organizations dealing with economic activities. An important point to note is the respondents' awareness of the state of the corruption process in the last ten years. This level of awareness seems to be influenced by the expansion of access to the mass media, a matter that was confirmed in this study. According to theoretical literature, there is a strong relationship between the perception of corruption and the actual rate of corruption in society. Looking at the statistics obtained in this study, it can be seen that in the last few years there has been a great deal of embezzlement. The mechanism of the link between political awareness and the perception of corruption is that individuals are better able to respond to the functioning of government by becoming aware of the political process. But, more importantly, there was the perception of corruption in political tendencies. Reformists are usually critical of the political system, but in contrast, the fundamentalists are in line with the political system. This is why, according to the reformists, corruption is high in the country. In explaining the relationship between the modern value orientation and the perception of corruption, it can be said that the tendency to modernize increases the tendency for transparency and rationality. Thus, with the increase in the level of modernization, people are becoming more sensitive to corruption and administrative transparency. Explaining the difference between men and women in their perceptions of corruption requires further investigation. However, in any case, gender still seems to play an important and influential role in the society. Another important and noteworthy point is that the socio-economic bases have no relation with the perception of corruption. However, the results of previous research contradict this finding. So, there is a need for more research to better understand this matter.

People have different sets of capital and use them in their everyday lives to achieve their interests. There is a competition in society on the achievement of social advantages. One of the forms of capital, which is recently discussed in the literature, is the erotic capital. This kind of capital includes any aesthetic attractions used in interactions with other members of the society. To have the erotic capital and to try to increase it and paying time and money for it by social agents can open a new horizon for people who do not have high levels of other forms of capital. Besides, indices of this kind of capital are different among men and women. Of course, women have a long tradition of cultivating in using this kind of capital in comparison to men. This study aimed to formulate the constructed concept of erotic capital among young women in Mashhad. To achieve this goal, we tried to answer these questions based on the agents’ experiences: What is erotic capital? What are its properties?

We took a qualitative approach and used empirical phenomenology. Participants in this study aged from 20 to 35; they have had an experience of interfering in their bodies, from soft to hard levels. The participants were selected based on the intended (purposeful) sampling method. Interviews were semi-structured and were 15 in sum. The scripts of interviews have been coded through 7 steps of the descriptive phenomenology.

Erotic capital is an important asset for women, which helps them to achieve their goals. This is the reason that they pay different kinds of costs to attain a level of erotic capital. The interviews in the present study showed that erotic capital has common characteristics with other kinds of capital.The findings of this research showed that the erotic capital in the inter-subjectivity of the social agents has had the following characteristics. The first characteristic is the erotic attraction as the basis for evaluation so that any interference in the body is for increasing the attractiveness, whether intended or unintended. This property is not individual and it is a social reception that gets meaning in social interactions. The second characteristic is the attachment of the erotic capital to the body. This means that all inferences, from limited to extended ones, are based on the body.   The third characteristic is its transformability to other forms of capital. This means that erotic capital is interchangeable to other types of capital. This is a significant factor in achieving goals successfully among young women.The other property is that it is quickly dividable and accumulative. This means that people can invest in the erotic capital step-by-step. The other point is that this kind of capital can run different qualities on the body. The relative standardization is another characteristic of erotic capital. It means that in any society there are different definitions and criteria for beauty. Even inside a society, the descriptions and criteria may change. The main point is that members of a society at any time try to attain the beauty of the time. Interchangeability means that people who do not possess other forms of capital or are disadvantaged in this respect, can employ their erotic capital and transform it into other forms of capital.Differences in social agents’ experiences of formation, accumulation, and interchange of the erotic capital are the product of different levels of these properties. Finally, it can be said that erotic capital has the role of a facilitator in interactions and can be changed to other forms of capital easily. This capital helps women and young people to achieve their goals specifically.

Violence, the external symbol of misuse of power, misuse and unlawful use of it against public rights, laws and universal freedoms have been integral parts of human society and have occurred in various forms throughout the history. We do not have a society free of violence in the history. As many as 5.3 million people are estimated to be victims of violence worldwide each year. But, despite the fact that violence is a problem in most parts of the world, not all communities have experienced this social reality alike. In some societies, this has become a pervasive issue, while in others, the contradictions in a society have been largely regulated and managed. The purpose of this study is to explain the sociological factors influencing the occurrence of violent crimes at the macro level. In this regard, this paper seeks to understand the causal mechanism of violence by presenting a combined theory. In this study, the author attempts, as far as possible, to provide a model for explaining violence that feeds on the middle and macro analytical levels.

The study method was a qualitative comparative approach used from fuzzy logic. One of the advantages of this method is that it provides the necessary and sufficient conditions for the event to occur and the desired outcome and evaluates the effect of the sum of the causal conditions on the outcome variable. In this study, possible combinations of causal conditions were obtained using fuzzy set software (FS / QCA). The study was conducted in 89 countries. The present study was a cross-sectional and covered data for the period 2010-2016. Data on variables composed of multiple reagent combinations obtained from the column of values calculated by factor analysis of a data column for each single agent. The unit and level of analysis in this study were the country and macro, respectively.           

   In this analysis, in explaining the causal explanation of violence, ten main conditions were considered that out of the multiple causal paths, two causal paths were of theoretical and empirical importance. From the results we can conclude that the combination of economic opportunity conditions, relational capital, democracy, government accountability, government efficiency, rule of law, and cultural opportunity have high explanatory power over the outcome. This claim holds true for both positive and negative aspects (i.e., countries where violence is low and countries where violence is high). In other words, countries where violence is low have a combination of these conditions. Also, in countries where there is a high level of violence, these conditions are not present. A country can be safe from the extensive experience of violent crimes that have causal conditions. The important point to note is that economic equality is not necessarily associated with the outcome in all cases. Probably, with an effective structural adjustment, economic inequality does not necessarily lead to violent crimes. Therefore, the result largely depends on the combination of factors. Overall, this study suggests that the role of structural adjustment and the power of government regulation at the macro level should be emphasized. This is prominent in the rule of law, accountability, and government efficiency. Needless to say, these variables are related to the balanced distribution of the opportunities and give the desired outcome. The results of this study can help us to understand the cause of violent crime in macro level. With the results obtained, practitioners can succeed in policymaking in this area with a greater theoretical and empirical knowledge. Undoubtedly, the results of this study provide us with insights that can be programmed to reduce violent crime.

In the new form of social relations, Habermasian’s ‘public sphere’ has been embedded in ‘cyberspace’. Online social platforms have created an alternative to the public sphere that has led to the recognition of individuals, the definition of social interactions, and even the creation of love among members of the society. The impact of the internet on the social and personal life of users is important in several ways. Media consumption at home has significantly changed in recent years. New forms of media and media-related devices such as iPads, tablets, laptops, and smart phones have become common among families. Internet, digital cables, Wifi, Wimax, application software, and portable devices have created a world in which users’ contents are accessible wherever and whenever they want. With respect to the above discussion, it is clear that, since the introduction of cyber communication in 2008 as well as the installation and use of recently-released applications such as Telegram, WhatsApp and Instagram, which have provided the bases for the formation of a revolution in modern communications, it can be argued that the present study can be one of the newest researches in this area. In addition, Iran ranks the first among telegram users among 57 Islamic countries. Despite the increasing use of Iranian users, few studies have been done on this issue.

The current study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the semantic implications of married men who were active in the cyberspace to find a spouse through the grounded theory approach. To this end, 11 users were selected through theoretical sampling. The data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews and MAX Q DA 12. Two main sampling strategies in this study were purposive and theoretical samplings. The former was used to select participants with diverse characteristics. Theoretical sampling as one of the most common methods of sampling in the Grounded Theory was used for directing the general process of sampling via the sampling of the concepts during collecting and analyzing the data. The situation, people, time, and place were considered during theoretical sampling. Making comparisons in this process helped to diversify the categories and improve the theory. According to the logic of theoretical changes and the maximum sampling, the criteria for the entry of participants were as follows:•The participant must be a married man.
• Their activities in the cyberspace are devoted to romantic conversations with men.
• The participant must be older than 20 years of age.
• The participant must be online in virtual marriage forums during the last 6 months.
The participants remained in the study until they had been inclined to cooperate with the researcher, in case of the absence of any of these conditions, the participants were excluded from the study.

Based on the data analysis, three causal conditions including the crisis of meaning, diversity, and pleasure along with three contextual conditions including differentiation, separation of values, and preservation of independence have created a particular type of interaction. The interactive conditions of users had two main aspects including resistance to the ethical system of the society and the agreed economy in the family relationship system. The results of this study showed that the goal of a significant number of users to sign up and join these sites was to find an alternative structure for the predominant form of marriage in Kerman.In this study, the existence of the empty lives, a monotonous atmosphere at home, and routine relationships have led unemployed men to become more familiar with online dating than other groups. The majority of the participants referred to the disagreement of their wives with online gaming and entertainment because of their potentially addictive nature and online infidelities. Thus, anonymity was used as a very important strategy to facilitate online sexual activities among committed partners in committed relationships. According to the reports of the participants, ‘secret cyber entertainment’ has much more excitement and variety. They often want to hide their real identity to be safe from family and cyberspaces have become an alternative public arena for interaction, courtship, and love.

Unethical behaviors lead to ethical failure of the organization in such a way that it creates turbulent conditions for the organization, especially in educational organizations that have an important mission to train human resources as a social capital and a generator of economics and social change. Universities have both the pole of thought and the environment for teaching and learning but can only achieve their goals and missions when they have dedicated staff with appropriate behaviors and an understanding of ethics and ethical policies. With the widespread and prevalent organizational misconduct that results in reduced respect for the constitution and ethical charter, undermining good governance and democracy, diminishing the healthy opportunities of organizations, time and energy are devoted to gaps in the system rather than being spent on achieving goals. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to ethics in the charts of managers and employees. The prevalence and diversity of ethical dilemmas and negative political behaviors in organizations, especially in universities, has spread to many disciplines and has infected all organizations. With the increase in these organizational damages and the diminishing of ethical values ​​in organizations, this research has been a major concern for the researchers. Therefore, the present study aimed to awaken the political and ethical perceptions of organizations with the aim of arising the managers of today’s organizations who each face these problems. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the role of Kant’s task norms and ethical strategies in reducing negative political behaviors by mediating the role of employees’ political perceptions of ethics.

 The method was applied in terms of the purpose with the descriptive-correlational method of data collection. The statistical population included the staff of Payame Noor University of Hamadan, Iran. The sample size was 98 individuals selected based on Krejcie and Morgan’s table. The research tools were Kant’s Morality Questionnaire, ethical strategies, negative political behaviors, and employees' political perceptions of ethics. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by management experts. The reliability of the instruments was 0.89, 0.84, 0.89, and 0.88, respectively. Data were analyzed using two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics.
 

 The results showed that Kant’s ethics has had an effect on reducing political negative behaviors (0.22), ethical strategy on reducing political negative behaviors (0.25), employees’ political perceptions on negative political behaviors (0.25), Kant’s ethics on political perceptions, and ethical strategy on political perceptions of employees (0.45). Adherence to ethical principles and the strategies of any organization affected all individuals, groups, and organizational dimensions so that all the processes, activities and tasks, and strategies of the organization were morally colored. This can be so effective that it has a positive effect on employee perception and motivation. This can be fruitful in so far as it has the effect of stimulating the positive perception and motivation of employees. This factor leads to environmental, organizational, organizational culture, organizational behavior and human resource management based on ethical norms. In such an environment, organizational health is confronted with immoral behaviors, deviations, and organizational corruption, so it is possible to say that Kant's ethical vision identifies the duties of the organization according to ethical norms. Ethical strategies can reduce employees’ unethical perceptions and motivate them to perform their duties and tasks.It is suggested that at the time of recruitment, the dimension of personality should be taken into account as individuals’ perceptions and motivations are rooted in their personality and may have different organizational ethics policies that can be addressed through the process of education and socialization. Learning about positive and negative political behaviors in the organization is done through social modeling. Therefore, it is recommended to provide a model and ethical guidance for employees through ethical decisions, ethical behavior, attention to motivation and positive behavior, attention to their needs and interests, and alignment with the organization's goals.