http://www.jicr.ir/ Journal of Iranian Cultural Research en daily 1 Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0330 Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0330 http://www.jicr.ir/article_579.html The rapid expansion of digital technologies and social platforms has made the design of age-appropriate online environments for children and adolescents a global concern. While many approaches emphasize digital risks and potential harms, this study adopts a multidimensional, opportunity-oriented, and risk-mitigating perspective to examine age-appropriate design. Using a qualitative methodology based on interviews and participant observation, the study explores the beliefs, behaviors, views, and preferences of twelve Iranian child and adolescent users. It also categorizes prominent global and local models of age-appropriate design, focusing on the experiences of the United Kingdom and Russia. The analysis identified five key themes: “Accelerated Accessibility,” “Digital Negligence,” “Overestimated Online Safety,” “Anthropomorphizing Technology: The Trusted Omniscient,” and “Childhood Foundations, Mature Preferences.” These themes highlight the need to redesign digital environments according to children’s developmental needs and lived experiences. The study further identifies three major models of age-appropriate design: “Designing Dedicated Platforms,” “Optimizing Local Platforms,” and “Developing Strict Regulations and Regulatory Policies.” The findings suggest that child-centered digital governance requires integrating protection, innovation, and design strategies responsive to young users’ experiences. http://www.jicr.ir/article_571.html Cinema, as an art–media form, can contribute to the consolidation, elimination, or reproduction of social discourses and stereotypes related to diseases, including cancer. Therefore, analyzing the ways cancer is portrayed in films—understood as a communicative phenomenon—is important and can illuminate how collective perceptions of stereotypes, patterns of illness experience, and modes of coping are shaped. This study aimed to identify and compare cancer-related discourses in cinema. Using multimodal critical discourse analysis and complete sampling, it analyzed eight Iranian films addressing cancer produced during the 2000s and 2010s. The findings show that the shared discourses across the two decades include “escape from illness,” and “treatment signs as illness signs”. Distinct discourses of the 2000s include “medical diagnosis,” “spiritual healing,” and “nuclear-family support,” while the distinct discourses of the 2010s include “deteriorating relationships,” “fatalism,” and “loneliness.”. Based on the findings, Iranian cinema in both decades demonstrates cancer in a negative and stereotypical manner, characterized by overgeneralization and the othering of patients through confining them to specific spaces and depicting them as passive subjects. Drawing on the EPPM Model, the categories of “disease without identity” and “incurability” can be extracted. Iranian cinema presents a fearful image of cancer in which no recommended responses grounded in self-efficacy or response efficacy are offered to viewers. This, in turn, leads audiences to maintain distance from cancer risk. Overall, Iran’s health system is treatment-oriented, and Iranian cinema likewise appears to adopt the same orientation in its portrayal of cancer. http://www.jicr.ir/article_563.html Political action is behavior, whether by individuals or groups, sometimes in protest, as a result of decisions or actions from the government or political institutions. Political action in Iran has significant value; it is possible for political action to stand both domestically and internationally to change policy-making, civil rights and civil liberties, and affect social and economic progressive development. In this regard, the main purpose of the present study is to explain the mechanism of the impact of social trust and social networks on citizens' political action, with an emphasis on the mediating role of cultural values. The current study wants to explore the direct and indirect effects of these two dimensions through the mediating influence of secular and emancipative cultural values. The seventh wave of data from the World Values Survey, with a sample of 1,499 Iranian citizens, was used for this purpose. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling using Smart PLS software. The study showed that social trust has a significant negative effect on political action, while social networks had a significant positive effect. An examination of the indirect paths showed that social trust has a significant negative effect on political action which suggests political action can be created through social trust and networks. http://www.jicr.ir/article_569.html This article examines the role of consumption in the everyday life of residents of the 22-Bahman neighbourhood in the metropolis of Kermanshah. The study’s theoretical approach is grounded in Henri Lefebvre’s ideas on everyday life and consumption. The research method is ethnographic, with data collected through direct observation and in-depth interviews. Twenty-five residents were selected through theoretical sampling and interviewed in depth. The findings show that the 22-Bahman was first developed in the early 1960s in the north of Kermanshah and is now one of the city’s most affluent areas. From the mid-1970s onward, earlier consumer spaces located in the old city were gradually relocated here, turning 22-Bahman into the city’s most vibrant consumption hub. Of the 565 shops lining its main streets, 560 are consumption-oriented. In addition, Bargh Street has become an evening showcase for luxury cars that cruise from 7 p.m. until well past midnight. In this context, the food, fashion, automobile, tourism and advertising sub-systems create an ideal environment for consumerism, embedding instability into commodities through planned old-fashion and make-belive. Residents constantly search for ever-new goods, driven by a perpetual compulsion to align with an idealised consumer standard that they regard as social mobility. These sub-systems and their internal mechanisms target the individual’s creative and self-reliant capacities, locating happiness not in self-determination, social solidarity or human interaction but in acquiring commodities that are forever going out of style. Consequently, most consumers remain indifferent to the fate of the city’s poor and marginalised populations. http://www.jicr.ir/article_573.html This study, adopting an interpretive phenomenological approach, seeks to investigate the issue of companion animals in Tehran (with an emphasis on the phenomenon of dog walking). In this study, in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 Tehrani citizens through snowball sampling. The formulation of the research findings was carried out in three coding stages; in the first stage, 184 codes were extracted from the interview texts, and in the second stage, by aggregating and categorizing them, 21 themes and finally 6 concepts were identified: "dramatic consumption and self-location: action for identity location", "emergence of new forms of family", "deep attachment and mutual emotional actions", "social confrontation and conflict", "identity and value transformation", and "non-inhibitory policies". The findings are organized around the main category of "multiple intersections of attachment, differentiation, and social conflict". In a way, social realities are evidence that the social reaction of individuals to the phenomenon of companion animals is not only not the same and uniform; Rather, in some respects they are at two distinct ends of the spectrum and have formed a controversial social field. On the one hand, there is a growing group that interprets the phenomenon of companion animals as part of individual rights and a modern lifestyle and moves towards keeping and keeping animals in public spaces. On the other hand, a group considers its spread and expansion to be a violation of civil rights and animal rights and even a threat to public health, social security and cultural norms, and calls for legal restrictions on it. This confrontation has transformed the issue of companion animals from a personal issue into a public and political issue that requires comprehensive regulation and social dialogue based on the participation of all stakeholders in order to secure civil rights and animal rights in order to resolve this controversial situation. http://www.jicr.ir/article_570.html This article has evaluated the cultural provisions of development program laws in terms of legislative and planning criteria. For this purpose, first, thematic analysis of cultural policies and materials was used to measure their compliance, and then their evaluation and pathology were used by referring to experts. In this study, a model was designed and used to evaluate legislative texts and documents, and with its help, the cultural provisions of the five-year development plans, including the fourth, fifth, and sixth development plans, as well as the law on permanent provisions of development plans, were analyzed, and their weaknesses and shortcomings were examined in terms of legislative and planning criteria. For this purpose, 30 cultural planning and policymaking experts were consulted, and in two stages.The main results of this study were the formal compliance of 67 percent of cultural provisions of development programs with general superior policies and the lower than average compliance (54 percent) of cultural provisions with legislative criteria. Also, the percentage of realization of these provisions was evaluated as about 30 percent in total, which was 30 percent for the sixth program and about 37 percent for the fourth program. The reasons for this can be attributed to the tautology and repetition of cultural policies in development laws in an impractical and vague manner, lack of realism, and changes in the cultural discourse of the implementers after the approval of development laws, resulting in their failure to be realized in practice and implementation. http://www.jicr.ir/article_574.html The academic–career guidance program in the education system, by directing students toward selecting a field of study and future occupation, can lead to undeniable positive and negative consequences at both individual and social levels. A review of the history of Iran’s education system in designing and implementing this program indicates unsatisfactory experiences and outcomes. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the challenges of the academic–career guidance program in Iran’s education system.This research was conducted using a qualitative approach and a descriptive phenomenological method to examine the experiences of experts. The research field consisted of faculty members of higher education, school administrators, experts and counselors in the education system, as well as specialists in the labor market. Among them, 22 participants were selected using purposive, snowball, and convenience sampling techniques. Data were collected through semi‑structured interviews and analyzed using a coding method.The findings revealed two major categories of challenges: internal and external. Internal challenges refer to issues within the education system that hinder the full realization of the goals of the academic–career guidance program. These challenges were identified in 35 open codes and categorized into five axial codes: systemic, approach‑related, human resources, educational, and procedural challenges. External challenges refer to issues rooted in the broader environment surrounding Iran’s education system that negatively affect academic–career guidance and its objectives. These challenges were identified in 39 open codes and classified into five axial categories: labor market challenges, the role of parents, socio‑cultural factors, economic factors, and policy‑making.The results indicate that various internal and external factors have reduced the effectiveness of the academic–career guidance program for its stakeholders. Therefore, addressing these challenges is an unavoidable necessity and an important step toward moving the education system toward a more desirable situation. http://www.jicr.ir/article_562.html This article examines the emergence of a Developmental Character-Based Discourse  in post-revolutionary Iran (1989–2001). The dominant revolutionary discourse initially emphasized “innate guidance” and a “divine human being,” rendering early character narratives unrelated to developmentalism. The war’s end and practical necessities revived character-based discourse. The core question is how this shift from “revolutionary essentialism” to a “Developmental Character-Based Discourse” occurred and was reconfigured in cultural and social policymaking. The shift emerged through a realignment of official discourse that redefined “backwardness” as a threat to Islamic values and promoted “civilization-building.” Developmentalist social and political scientists, stressing the measurement and management of Iranian “attitudes” and “character traits,” played a pivotal role. Alongside state institutions—especially IRIB and the Supreme Council of Cultural Policy—they constructed a new character-driven subjectivity aligned with state developmental objectives. This project crystallized in initiatives like the “Survey of Iranian Values and Attitudes,” which aimed not to empower society but to control and harmonize behaviors to establish a desirable “social order” and support economic development. Thus, the discourse moderated public expectations and legitimized state economic and cultural policies. Without analyzing such surveys directly, this study explores the historical context that made them relevant. http://www.jicr.ir/article_575.html This article undertakes a philosophical examination of the conceptualization of money and property within Persian proverbial discourse, employing the theoretical framework advanced by Georg Simmel in his seminal work, The Philosophy of Money. Adopting a descriptive-qualitative methodology, the study probes the manifold ways in which popular culture—and proverbs in particular—articulate the dialectical character of money as both an emancipatory instrument and a source of social constraint within modernity. The analysis demonstrates that the majority of Persian proverbs resonate with core Simmelian themes, including the reduction of qualitative values to quantitative metrics, the inherent paradox of monetary freedom coupled with systemic limitation, the processes of reification and alienation, the ascendancy of instrumental rationality, and the gradual transformation of money from a mere medium of exchange into an ultimate end in itself. While certain proverbs exhibit a critical or resistive stance toward the hegemony of monetary logic, others appear to endorse and naturalize it, thereby exposing a persistent cultural tension between inherited ethical frameworks and the imperatives of an emergent economic order. The study further attends to the formal and rhetorical features of proverbs—their concision, rhythmic structure, and logical persuasion—which render them potent vehicles for the sedimentation of collective beliefs and the modulation of individual and social agency. In so doing, this research addresses a notable lacuna in the interdisciplinary scholarship that intersects Simmel's cultural philosophy with Persian folk literature, and it argues that proverbs function as crucial cultural thresholds through which deeper ontological conflicts and ethical ambivalences within Iran's transitional society are both reflected and negotiated. http://www.jicr.ir/article_565.html In the present era, media has attracted researchers' attention as one of the most important elements influencing identity. The research conducted in this domain, which has gained significant momentum in recent years, has been thematically scattered. Consequently, there was a need to synthesize and analyze the results of the conducted research in order to apply a multidimensional, comprehensive, and analytical perspective to the existing body of work. This study, while reviewing some theories in the field of identity and utilizing the systematic review method, examined 53 scientific studies published between 2004 and 2024 and concluded that the majority of the research has been conducted either qualitatively or quantitatively, with combined-methods research receiving considerably less attention. Furthermore, through the analysis of the results, five main themes were identified, which are as follows: First, the types of interaction between adolescent identity and media in cyberspace; Second, the impact of media on dimensions of identity, including the weakening of national and religious identity when confronted with global media, gender identity disorder, and the reinforcement of individualism; Third, factors affecting identity crisis, such as duration of use, the role of family, and the type of media; Fourth, the identity-forming function of media in creating subcultures; and Fifth, the unbalanced research focus on specific types of identity. The methodological gaps in these studies also include a shortage of longitudinal studies, geographical limitations of the samples, and the dominance of Western theories. http://www.jicr.ir/article_576.html This study examines social media’s role in expanding intercultural communication during the Arbaeen pilgrimage, identifying opportunities and threats through the frameworks of communicative action, co-cultural theory, and intercultural competence. Adopting a qualitative approach, data from 13 in-depth interviews with experts were analyzed using thematic analysis, yielding 280 initial codes and 19 sub-themes. The findings reveal that social media fosters empathy through personal narratives, with Ashura serving as a powerful symbol of unity for intercultural dialogue; however, challenges such as information distortion, cultural misunderstandings, and malicious strategic actions persist. Ultimately, the research concludes that the opportunities offered by social media significantly outweigh the threats, making strategic utilization of these platforms essential for globalizing the Arbaeen message. To counter Western media hegemony and prevent the distortion of this major cultural event, the study emphasizes enhancing media literacy and developing indigenous platforms. By doing so, this work acts as a bridge between lived religious experience and the digital architectures shaping global perception, sitting at the vital intersection of faith, media power, and intercultural negotiation. http://www.jicr.ir/article_572.html In recent years, sexual cosmetic surgeries have become a growing trend among Iranian women. This study aims to investigate the social and cultural factors influencing women's desire to undergo such surgeries in Iran and Mashhad. Using a qualitative method and grounded theory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 women who had undergone these types of surgeries. The findings indicate that various factors such as family experiences, social comparison, the influence of reference groups (husbands, doctors, and friends), and media play a role in women's decision-making to undergo these surgeries. Secondary family experiences and experiences related to marital relationships are the primary contexts that create a sense of emptiness in sexual relationships. Women’s comparisons with others, especially with idealized images presented in the media, lead to reduced self-confidence and an increased desire for cosmetic surgery. Physicians, as reference groups, also play a significant role in these decisions, particularly through marketing and the use of advertisements in virtual spaces. Finally, the positive outcomes of sexual cosmetic surgeries include improved sexual relationship quality, increased marital satisfaction, and enhanced women's self-confidence. Overall, this study demonstrates that sexual cosmetic surgeries in Iranian society are influenced by a wide range of social and cultural factors that affect women's decisions to undergo these procedures. http://www.jicr.ir/article_577.html نسخه فشرده و تخصصی چکیده انگلیسی (حدود ۲۱۰ کلمه) که برای مجلات علمی استانداردسازی شده است: Abstract Cultural governance in Iran has faced a significant gap between macro-policies and practical realization, stemming primarily from the inefficiency of executive instruments—specifically cultural regulation. This inefficiency is manifest at institutional (jurisdictional conflicts), instrumental (prohibitive approaches), and normative (threat-oriented) levels. This research seeks to rearrange Iran's cultural regulatory system toward a "progressive" model that facilitates innovation and remains sensitive to risk and actor behavior. Using a qualitative theoretical-analytical method and documentary analysis, the study draws on theories of responsive and networked regulation alongside the indigenous literature on "Progress" (Pishraft). Findings indicate that current regulation is incompatible with the dynamic, value-oriented logic of progress, opting for reactive containment over proactive management. The proposed "Progressive Regulatory Model" rests on three axes: 1) instrument diversification and intelligence, 2) process redesigning focused on institutional learning, and 3) redefining goals toward civilizational progress. By emphasizing functional role separation, networked regulation, and proportionality, this framework reconstructs the link between cultural governance and progress. This study fills the gap between regulatory theory and indigenous challenges, providing a framework for cultural policy-making that preserves Islamic-Iranian values while ensuring the dynamism necessary to address emerging issues. http://www.jicr.ir/article_578.html Diplomacy, which means the art of communicating between countries, can be implemented in various ways; In this regard, the use of cultural resources is highly emphasized and paid attention to by governments due to its greater impact and the main focus of exercising soft power. The Holy Quran, as a unifying cultural source and common axis of Muslims, plays a significant role in advancing relations between Muslim countries, and for this reason, Quranic diplomacy is considered a leading diplomacy in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The data in this study were collected through interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. In order to achieve the research objectives, twenty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted among experts in this field, including those responsible for sending reciters, international reciters, and cultural advisors from the Iranian Academy of Sciences, and the data collection process continued until the theoretical adequacy of the research was achieved. Then, the data obtained from the research on the opportunities and challenges of Quranic diplomacy were coded in three stages: open, organizing, and comprehensive coding, and finally, the most important opportunities and challenges of Quranic diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in other Muslim countries were explained. After achieving the research objectives, the opportunities for Quranic diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran include: the advantages of Quranic diplomacy, the capacities for implementing Quranic diplomacy and the results of Quranic diplomacy. Also, the challenges of this field include: political considerations and weaknesses of the actors. http://www.jicr.ir/article_580.html This qualitative study, employing a critical ethnographic approach, explores the strategies of collective memory and identity formation among Afghan migrants residing in Qom. This research pursues three main objectives: identifying patterns of collective memory reconstruction, analyzing the impact of Iran's migration policies on fragmented identity, and examining strategies of cultural resistance against assimilation pressures. Data were collected through three months of participatory observation and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 22 participants, selected via purposive and snowball sampling, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that migrants, confronting a "structural politics of oblivion" stemming from residency, employment, and educational restrictions, as well as everyday discrimination, utilize collective memory as a resource for cultural resistance and identity re-creation. This resistance manifests not through overt actions but via an "aesthetics of resistance" in daily life. Six narrative archetypes were identified: "narrative of wound," "abandonment," "passage through limbo," "elective estrangement," "persistence," and "imaginary homeland-making," which constitute the map of this community's collective memory. Resistance strategies were observed in domains such as preserving language in private spaces, cooking as sensory memory practice, holding rituals, oral historiography, creating third spaces (e.g., restaurants), and using digital spaces for identity representation. In conclusion, the study argues that for migrants, memory functions not only as a tool of remembrance but also as an existential system and a "hopeful practice" for building a meaningful future on the margins. The research underscores the necessity for migration policies to shift from denial to recognition, rethinking educational systems to include polyvocal narratives. http://www.jicr.ir/article_581.html The increase in the average age of marriage has become one of the most significant demographic and social issues in recent years. This study aims to analyze the sociological and demographic factors influencing the delay in the age of marriage among youth in Kashan. This study employed a cross-sectional survey design conducted in the autumn of 2024. The statistical population of the study comprised never-married females aged 24–44 and males aged 28–49 residing in Kashan. The sample size was estimated to be 373 participants using Cochran’s formula. Multivariate analysis revealed that the preference for singlehood, premarital relationships, social network interactions, marriage costs, trust in the opposite sex, individualism, employment status, age, and years of education are, in that order, the strongest predictors of marriage delay, collectively explaining approximately 43% of the variance in the dependent variable (marriage delay). Finally, path analysis of direct and indirect effects indicated that premarital relationships, individualism, social network interactions, preference for singlehood, marriage costs, trust in the opposite sex, employment status, age, and years of education, in that order, are the strongest predictors of marriage delay. Based on the findings, it is recommended to integrate analytical and scientific education regarding the consequences of relationships outside the framework of marriage into high school curricula, alongside efforts to remove barriers and encourage marriage as a healthy relational model. This approach can help mitigate this issue and positively impact fertility through stable family formation. Additionally, a focus on media literacy education and the economic empowerment of youth is recommended. http://www.jicr.ir/article_582.html The meaning of religion in daily life is a complex and multifaceted issue that has profound and widespread effects on human thoughts, behavior, and social relationships. The aim of the present study is to explore the meaning of religion in students’ daily life. This study was conducted using a qualitative method and a phenomenological approach. The participants in this study were eighteen students (male and female) from the Faculty of Literature and Humanities of Payam Noor University in the center of Shahrekord, who were selected through purposive sampling based on criteria and theoretical saturation. The data were collected through semi-structured and in-depth interviews. The collage method was used to analyze the data, and two strategies, peer feedback and member control, were used to validate the research. After compiling a list of students’ important statements about the meaning of religion in everyday life, the main themes of the research – “Religion as an identity support in the storm of life’s changes”, “Religion as a meaning-giving element to the suffering and ambiguities of life”, “Religion as a comforting arm and a haven of existential relief”, “Religion as a moral compass in everyday desires”, “Religion as a personal and direct relationship with God” – were extracted and described. The results indicate that the experience manifested in this context represents religion as an interpretive system through which the student transforms the challenges arising from structural pressures and existential suffering of everyday life into a meaningful and bearable whole. http://www.jicr.ir/article_585.html This study examines the representation of ideology and resistance in three films directed by Reza Mirkarimi: Dokhtar, Ghasr-e Shirin, and The Night Guardian. Drawing on Teun A. van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach to Critical Discourse Analysis, the article investigates how power relations, patriarchal authority, institutional control, and the crisis of social trust are constructed and challenged within cinematic discourse. The analysis is conducted at three interrelated levels: text, cognition, and society. At the textual level, the study focuses on dialogue, silence, narrative organization, spatial arrangements, and visual signs. At the cognitive level, it explores the mental models, fears, moral conflicts, and gradual transformations of the characters. At the social level, it connects these elements to broader structures such as family, work relations, gendered authority, and social morality. The findings indicate that resistance in Mirkarimi’s cinema is not represented as direct confrontation or revolutionary rupture; rather, it emerges as an internal, ethical, and situated practice within existing social structures. The family functions as a central cultural arena in which authority is both reproduced and questioned. Across the three films, the intensity of critique develops from implicit familial tension to a deeper interrogation of moral responsibility and institutional distrust. The study argues that Mirkarimi’s cinema articulates a form of “internal-structural ethical resistance” grounded in everyday actions, silence, care, and moral choice. http://www.jicr.ir/article_583.html In recent years, Instagram has turned in to one of the most important communication platforms for showcasing lifestyle, taste, and individual identity. One of the common genres on this platform is the visual representation of food, which has simultaneously acquired an aesthetic, cultural, and social aspect, especially among Iranian users. This study, by a qualitative approach and based on the theory of "audience perception", analyzes how Iranian users perceive and read food images published on Instagram. The research data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 27 active Instagram users and analyzed using thematic analysis. The results show that users are not just passive recipients when faced with these images, but rather attribute different meanings to the visual content of food through the lens of their cultural capital, lived experience, and horizon of expectations. Users’ readings were categorized into three broad categories: “inspirational” (stimulating learning or ideation), “realistic” (exaggerated or fabricated), and “commercial” (aimed at advertising or branding). Concepts such as FOMO (fear of being missed out), social comparison, digital identity, and critique of consuming lifestyles were prominent in the users’ interpretation process. This study shows that users' reading of Instagram food content has cultural and social consequences in terms of their eating style, daily satisfaction, and even their social relationships. In this sense, reading turns in to an active and critical act that redefines the boundary between media and reality. http://www.jicr.ir/article_584.html Changing the lifestyle of young people is one of the most obvious aspects of social developments and perspectives, the mental aspect of these changes. Iranian society, mixed with tradition, religion and modernity, has organized various lifestyles. Sociological approaches have explained lifestyle mainly through the lens of consumption, differentiation, taste, fashion, identity and meaning, and social research has also addressed the descriptive and explanatory dimensions of this matter. The research was qualitative and conducted using the Strauss-Corbin data-based theory method with the participation of 22 young people aged 18 to 35 living in Mashhad. In contextual conditions, the functional role of religion in everyday life, unstable economy and policies affecting class perception and interaction of tradition, modernity and globalization, in causal conditions, the overshadowing of structures on mentalities, global ideas and self-redefinition, in interventional conditions, social judgment mechanisms, the challenge of collective norms and structural judgments in media fields, elitism and beliefs have played a role. Resistance to relations of domination, structural duality in cultural-political identity, independence in the field of religion and politics, reflective adaptation in facing the world, life based on traditions and multifaceted penetration of charismatic figures, the most important strategies and resistance to conventional models of success, ambiguity towards the future and blaming the political system, conventional and unconventional determinism and comfort seeking have been the main consequences. Conclusion: The objective and subjective life of young people is shaped by a mixture of action and reaction with complex and multi-layered conditions, which is the result of continuous efforts to harmonize the three elements of religion, tradition, and modernity. http://www.jicr.ir/article_586.html Abstract Research Aim: This study aimed to analyze the structural relations of parental power and examine children's experiences of violence and gender discrimination in the family to identify and explain the mechanisms of reproducing gender inequalities.Research Method: The study was conducted using a grounded theory approach based on 31 in-depth and semi-structured interviews with children who had taken legal action against their parents, withdrawn due to cultural, customary, or legal reasons, or taken no action due to the lack of criminalization of parental behavior. Data were analyzed conceptually and systematically, and relevant theoretical structures were extracted.Findings: The results showed that traditional beliefs, patriarchal dominance, children's financial dependence on parents, and experiences of violence facilitate the reproduction of gender inequality in the family. The hierarchical structure of the family, gendered division of labor, distrust in the judicial system, and high costs of legal pursuit limit improvements. Children either resist or submit to "gender-unequal structures," leading to psychological and identity consequences such as depression, anxiety, and reduced self-confidence.Conclusion: Gendered power relations in the family reinforce the reproduction of structural and cultural inequalities and leave profound psychological and social effects, highlighting the need to reform attitudes and create supportive and legal mechanisms. (220 words)Keywords: Gender Dominance, Family Violence, Parent-Child Relations, Power Structure, Lived Experience. http://www.jicr.ir/article_587.html Introduction: According to the global developments in higher education, internationalization has become a strategic necessity. This study tests and validates the dimensions of higher education internationalization in Iran and tests a policy implementation model with an emphasis on attracting international students. Methods: A quantitative research design using structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed. Data were collected through a researcher-developed questionnaire administered to the target population and analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS software. Findings Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated that the proposed model exhibited satisfactory model fit as well as acceptable validity and reliability. Furthermore, the three dimensions—planning and management of international student recruitment, development of infrastructure and international interactions, and enhancement of financial support and university capacity—were confirmed as the constituent dimensions of the higher education internationalization policy implementation construct. Among these dimensions, the development of infrastructure and international interactions made the greatest contribution to explaining the construct. Conclusion: By validating the proposed model, this study confirmed the dimensions, components, and indicators constituting the higher education internationalization policy implementation construct and provided a framework for understanding the implementation of this policy within Iran's higher education system. The findings highlight the importance of effective planning, stronger infrastructure, and financial support in promoting international student recruitment. The results can assist policymakers and higher education institutions in strengthening the global position of Iran's higher education system. http://www.jicr.ir/article_588.html Food in human societies is not merely a biological or nutritional act; it is a cultural, sensory, and meaning-laden phenomenon closely linked to memory, identity, and lived experience. This study adopts a neuroanthropological approach to examine how food choice perception emerges at the intersection of sensory memory, cultural habits, and embodied experience. The research field is Babolsar, Mazandaran, a context characterized by the persistence of local food traditions, the expansion of modern dietary patterns, and encounters with culinary tourism. Data were collected using a qualitative design through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 45 participants divided into three groups: (1) local–familial individuals involved in preparing and consuming traditional foods, (2) residents following modern dietary patterns and frequent fast-food consumers, and (3) tourists experiencing cultural and dietary displacement in Mazandaran. Participants were purposively sampled until theoretical saturation was reached. Data analysis was conducted thematically, drawing on grounded theory principles. Findings, organized into five main themes, reveal that food choice is not solely a rational or biological process but the outcome of complex interactions among sensory memory, embodied habits, emotions, and cultural meaning-making. Traditional foods function as carriers of intergenerational memory and identity stability, whereas modern foods are primarily associated with immediate pleasure and daily convenience. Tourists’ experiences highlight sensory disruption, which fosters reflection and reinterpretation of food meaning. This study, by bridging neuroscience, food anthropology, and cultural studies, provides a deeper understanding of food culture and lived experience in a local Iranian context. http://www.jicr.ir/article_589.html The soft power of higher education, grounded in institutional attractiveness, scholarly authority, and the capacity to shape international preferences, plays a pivotal role in the evolving architecture of science diplomacy and foreign policy. This study aims to provide a systematic explanation of how this can be operationalized in response to transnational challenges, addressing the theoretical gap between higher education and science diplomacy. The framework synthesizes five core components: Nye's soft power, AAAS's tripartite model (2010), Gluckman et al.'s interest-driven approach (2017), Flink and Schreiterer's strategic trinity (2010), and McClory and Raimzhanova's independent role of higher education in soft power. Using a qualitative design with directed content analysis of 92 library-based sources published between 1990 and 2025, findings reveal that: (1) soft power of higher education manifests most in the "Science for Diplomacy" dimension; (2) the three strategic goals of Access, Advancement, and Influence form a cumulative logical hierarchy that paves the operational pathway for this power; (3) countries under sanctions can leverage the scholarly authority of specialized institutions (exemplified by Iran's Royan Institute) to mitigate political constraints; and (4) science diplomacy simultaneously serves as a sphere for cooperation, competition, and influence. The primary innovation lies in proposing a six-layer conceptual model with a positive feedback loop, explicating the precise mechanism through which academic capacities are converted into soft power and strategically directed within science diplomacy. This study implies that scientific expertise and institutional credibility can substantially moderate political limitations, transforming science diplomacy into an effective channel for managing transnational challenges. http://www.jicr.ir/article_590.html This study examines the lived experiences of vegetarians in the city of Yazd. Yazd, as a traditional city with an emphasis on family cohesion and meat-centered dietary patterns, is a context in which vegetarianism functions beyond a nutritional choice and becomes a social identity accompanied by cultural-familial tensions and negotiations. Given the limitations of qualitative studies on vegetarianism in Iran and traditional cities, this research was conducted with the aim of understanding the challenges, identity processes, and social consequences of vegetarianism. With a qualitative approach and thematic analysis method, purposive sampling was conducted and 21 vegetarians over 18 years of age with at least three months of sustained adherence were selected. The data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with informed consent and then analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings are summarized in five main themes: 1) Representation of the vegetarian body as an insufficient body (protein deficiency, severe thinness, reduced fertility); 2) Multilayered nature of lived experience (family pressure, social mockery, practical limitations, and occasional acceptance by educated groups); 3) Imposition of identity through negative labeling (“grass-eater,” “affected”) and psychological pressure; 4) Becoming vegetarian (transition from ethical doubt to identity stabilization and relationship improvement); 5) Lifestyle management strategies (stability of beliefs, situational flexibility, awareness-raising, plant-based cooking skills, and concealment). Finally, vegetarianism in Yazd is a dynamic and in-between experience that faces cultural resistance but simultaneously provides an opportunity for personal growth, ethical-environmental commitment, and relationship reconstruction. Participants consider it a philosophical and identity-based choice. http://www.jicr.ir/article_591.html Science diplomacy is often portrayed as a neutral and universal tool for peace and international cooperation; however, this optimistic narrative fails to explain the deep structural inequalities in the production and distribution of knowledge. This study aims to deconstruct this narrative and propose a critical model by examining the nature of science diplomacy as a “circuit of culture” imbued with power relations. Using a systematic review and interpretive synthesis of 20 selected studies (2000–2025), and drawing on Stuart Hall’s “Circuit of Culture” theoretical framework and post-colonial approaches, the findings reveal that inequality is reproduced at three levels. At the macro level (encoding), policies are influenced by geopolitical interests and “Global North” hegemony, which views the South merely as a consumer. At the meso level (circulation), linguistic imperialism of English and the gatekeeping of prestigious journals hinder the dissemination of indigenous and non-Western voices. At the micro level (decoding), scientists face identity challenges, stigma, and the emotional costs of mobility, forcing them to negotiate within a “Third Space” between indigenous identity and imposed standards. The conceptual model of the study demonstrates that current science diplomacy, rather than being an equal dialogue, is a process of systematic exclusion and epistemic violence. Realizing the true potential of this field requires a shift from the “soft power” paradigm to “epistemic justice” and the recognition of pluralism in the global scientific system. http://www.jicr.ir/article_592.html Objective: This study aimed to explore the lived experience and analyze the complex mechanisms of construction, presentation, and redefinition of social identity among rural women at the intersection of digital agency and local structural constraints. Method: This qualitative study employed a descriptive phenomenological approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 women residing in Khurchan Village, Isfahan Province, who possessed active public Instagram accounts and published content related to rural life. Participants were selected using purposive sampling with maximum variation (considering age, education, marital status, socio-economic status, and type of activity), and interviews continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Findings: Data analysis led to the emergence of one overarching theme, "Multi-layered Lifeworld between Tradition and the Digital, " organized into seven main themes: 1) The Digital Lifeworld as an Arena of Agency and Self-Actualization; 2) Emotional and Psychological Tensions in the Comparative Space; 3) Boundary-setting, Privacy Protection, and Ethics in Digital Space; 4) Networking, Activism, and Seeking Social Connection; 5) The Confrontation between Individual Agency and Technological Determinism; 6) Tensions in Parental and Gender Roles in the Digital Age; and 7) Instagram as a Realm of Escape and Comfort. Conclusion: The findings reveal that women from Khurchan Village, situated within the field of opposing forces between localized traditional structures and the globalized logic of the digital realm, are creating a paradoxical "multi-layered lifeworld." By employing practical wisdom and digital agency through complex processes of reflexive identity construction (Giddens), dramaturgical self-management (Goffman), and livelihood strategies, http://www.jicr.ir/article_593.html Introduction and Objective: Funeral and mourning ceremonies are collective rituals that alleviate grief and reinforce social solidarity. However, field observations reveal that participants do not exhibit uniform behaviors; rather, a spectrum of actions—from deep empathy to indifference and self-interest—can be observed within a single ceremony. This study aimed to investigate and categorize this behavioral diversity and explain its psychosocial mechanisms. Method: This qualitative, exploratory study employed an ethnographic approach. Data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 21 participants across 125 ceremonies in nine provinces of Iran over two years. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis and ATLAS.ti software. Findings: Analysis revealed two overarching levels—"importance-givers" and "reluctant individuals"—and six components: sympathizers, empathizers, altruists, indifferent spectators, exchangers, and selfish individuals. This categorization was strongly dependent on family relationship and closeness to the deceased. Conclusion: Participation in mourning ceremonies is a multifaceted phenomenon shaped by unconscious factors, observational learning, social exchange, and rational choice. This diversity reflects the tension between collectivist and individualist values in contemporary Iranian society and can inform experts in designing supportive policies. The main limitation was the scarcity of prior directly related research. http://www.jicr.ir/article_594.html This article examines the methodological and sociological challenges of measuring public opinion in Iranian universities during wartime emergency conditions. While conventional public opinion research typically treats crisis situations as technical problems related to sampling bias, fear effects, non-response, and data reliability, this article argues that wartime emergencies create a deeper crisis concerning the interpretation and representation of public opinion itself. In conditions shaped by uncertainty, political pressure, emotional intensification, and platform-mediated communication, public opinion is no longer available as a stable, transparent object for direct measurement. Instead, communicative behavior is structured by self-monitoring, symbolic adaptation, emotional contagion, strategic silence, and fluctuating collective moods. This article conceptualizes Iranian universities as a distinct sociological case because they simultaneously function as elite intellectual spaces, politically sensitive institutions, platform-mediated communication environments, and sites for the production of emotional solidarity. These overlapping characteristics generate unusually dense and emotionally charged communication data while simultaneously undermining their interpretive stability. University actors are highly reactive to the symbolic consequences of expression, particularly under conditions of war-related emergency, national insecurity, and heightened political sensitivity. Drawing on the sociology of public opinion, the sociology of emotions, platform studies, and theories of symbolic power, this article argues that wartime public opinion research must move beyond the narrow positivist assumptions of measurement accuracy. The main methodological problem is not merely data scarcity or distortion, but the instability of meaning under emergency conditions. http://www.jicr.ir/article_595.html War not only causes physical destruction but also profoundly reshapes the deeper layers of civilians’ social lives. One dimension that has received relatively little attention in the social study of war is the impact of military violence on residential space and the boundaries of everyday life. In human experience, the home is not merely a physical structure; it is a place where feelings of security, identity, continuity of everyday life, and social relations are formed. Therefore, attacks on residential spaces may produce consequences that extend beyond material damage, fundamentally altering residents’ lived experiences of security, place, and everyday life. This study examines the lived experiences of residents of a residential complex following a military attack during the Twelve-Day War and analyzes its social and symbolic consequences for the boundaries of everyday life and the experience of dwelling. The research adopts a qualitative approach using interpretive phenomenology. Data were collected through semi‑structured interviews with 15 residents and analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings indicate that attacks on civilian residential spaces are not limited to physical destruction; they also involve the violation of life’s private boundaries, the weakening of the sense of security, and the transformation of the meaning of home. The results highlight how the intrusion of war into private living spaces profoundly reshapes residents’ experiences of home, security, and everyday life. http://www.jicr.ir/article_596.html War is one of the most significant social phenomena shaping the organization of time, space, and social relations. Yet, its relationship with social transformation cannot be understood solely in terms of destructive or progressive consequences. Adopting a temporal-spatial perspective, this article examines the transformative mechanisms of war under conditions of late modernity and its relationship with different forms of social transformation. It first compares three fundamental forms of modern social transformation—social planning, social reform, and revolution—in terms of their temporal-spatial organization, arguing that war, particularly in its episodicized forms, incorporates key temporal-spatial dynamics of all three. The concept of “episodic war” is proposed to describe a pattern of conflict characterized by speed, rupture, unstable continuity, and an indeterminate temporal horizon. “Frontline society,” meanwhile, refers to a condition in which the boundaries between the frontline and society, the military and civilian spheres, and war and everyday life become increasingly blurred through the integration of new technologies and communication networks. It argues that the relationship between episodic war and frontline society should be understood within the broader context of an “episodic world,” in which these two phenomena interact through a synergistic and mutually reinforcing relationship. Nevertheless, war-induced transformation is not inherently synonymous with progress and may lead either to reconstruction and innovation or to closure, militarization, authoritarianism, inequality, and repression. War is therefore conceptualized not as a predetermined pathway toward the future, but as a multidirectional field in which competing possibilities of social transformation emerge within an episodic world. http://www.jicr.ir/article_597.html The present study argues that higher education, although it usually has a very low priority in reconstruction, if strategically addressed, has the potential to act as a catalyst for effective and sustainable post-war recovery. This research has used a systematic mapping approach for the literature on higher education during and after war. Through systematic search in academic databases in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese languages, 85 eligible documents were selected and qualitatively analyzed. The findings show: First, the reasons for the lack of priority for higher education include neoliberal impositions, consensus on basic education, the view of low rate of return on investment, and the temporal sequence of reconstruction. Second, the trend of aid indicates a very small share of aid to local higher education, the priority of scholarships (more than 80 percent) by bilateral donors, and the selection of aid based on strategic interests. Third, the key challenges are categorized under four axes: physical destruction, population displacement, war-related conditions, and low resilience. Fourth, higher education can play a constructive role in four approaches: stabilization and securitization, reconstruction, state-building, and peacebuilding; from providing skills and institutional capacity building to promoting peace and mediating identities. In conclusion, the neglect of higher education has missed a great opportunity for investment in national capacities. This study calls for more critical research, support, advocacy, and a shift in priority from foreign scholarships to strengthening local systems so that higher education transforms from a luxury good to a catalyst for sustainable recovery. http://www.jicr.ir/article_598.html Purpose-This study aims to explain how collective memory of war is reproduced within social media, with a particular focus on Instagram. Given the transformation of memory in the digital age, the research seeks to demonstrate how war narratives are formed, reinterpreted, and transformed into collective memory through interactions among users, media, and platform structures. It also attempts to identify and analyze the role of social frameworks, as well as symbolic and emotional elements, in this process. Methodology- This research adopts a qualitative approach and employs the method of netnography (network ethnography). The field of study is Instagram, and the target population consists of Persian-speaking users actively engaged in producing and interacting with content related to narratives of the American–Israeli imposed war against Iran. Data were purposively collected from posts, comments, hashtags, and key accounts, comprising a total of 375 data units (60 posts, 300 comments, 15 accounts, and 20 hashtags). Findings-The findings indicate that the reproduction of collective memory on Instagram occurs through mechanisms such as repetition and reposting of narratives, reinterpretation of content, symbolization, and user interactions. Four major social frameworks were identified: ordinary users, media institutions, influential actors, and platform algorithms. In the symbolic and emotional dimension, visual elements, emotional language, cultural symbols, and narrative storytelling play a decisive role in stabilizing collective memory. The results also show that collective memory in digital spaces is fluid, multi-voiced, and strongly emotion-driven. http://www.jicr.ir/article_599.html This article employs an ethnographic approach to analyze the representation of trauma during the Ramadan War (March 2025 – September 2026) and examines the transformation of "wound" into "narrative" and "mourning" into "epic." The primary objective is to understand how collective trauma is converted into collective memory and historical self-awareness within the Iranian-Islamic cultural context. Data were collected through continuous presence in Tehran's squares and neighborhoods (over 200 nights), in-depth interviews with 76 participants, visual ethnography, and analysis of artistic and media documents. They were organized using thematic analysis through three stages of open, axial, and selective coding. The conceptual framework integrates Halbwachs' collective memory, Alexander's cultural trauma, Turner's ritual and liminality, and visual representation theories. Findings are presented in four interconnected levels: 1) physical trauma and personal mourning; 2) psychosocial trauma and the "invisible wound"; 3) ritual representation of trauma in public space (epic mourning, visual symbolization, sonic regime, the narrative of the nation's resurrection); and 4) artistic and media representation (photography, literature, cinema, music, the war of narratives). Findings indicate that in the absence of formal institutions, self-organized social infrastructures and nocturnal rituals transformed trauma into collective memory and historical self-awareness, creating an indigenous model of "epic mourning." This model is rooted in Shiite historical memory and turns "suffering" into "civilizational resistance." The article emphasizes the necessity of protecting hot social capital, recognizing popular agency in trauma representation, and designing supportive policies for the post-war era.