An Analysis of Rural Studies in Iran

Introduction The history of studying the rural community in social sciences, especially in sociology, is simultaneous with the establishment of this discipline in the field of education and research. The academic circles and research institutes, including the Research Institute for Social Researches and Studies, Economical Research Institute, and the Cooperative Research Institute of Tehran University and the research centers that are involved in rural issues play a more fundamental role in this regard. Based on the history of these centers, we can claim that the scientific review and the study of rural communities in Iran date back to almost 50 years ago. Any kind of scientific recognition of social conditions of rural communities requires considerable information regarding the historical process of development of this section, especially in recent decades, because such changes have themselves turned into foundations for newer reviews. The debates in social sciences, relations with the foreign scientific and research circles, utilizing modern sciences, and introduction of different theoretical approaches have resulted in identification of newer topics. The works on rural section are dividable into three groups: The first group includes monographs and writings which studied the rural society in general. These studies don't have theoretical orientation to rural society and can be divided into two categories as general and special. The first group includes monographs and writings which studied the rural society generally. These studies don't have theoretical orientation to rural society and can be divided into two categories as general and special. The third group of studies has educational orientation. They discussed rural issues in the form of social science academic courses such as rural sociology and rural development

Changing Attitudes Among Women in Rural Iran

Description and assessment of attitudes among young women--all living in villages near Shiraz, Iran--toward family, education, employment, marriage, gender relations, religion, politics, and US-Iran relations. Data derived from author's interviews in period 2001-2005

Decoding Ahmadinejad's rhetoric on Israel

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze three persistent charges that Israeli and Western officials persistently leveled against Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad since 2006: 1) that he has threaded to 'wipe Israel off the map the map'; 2) that he is a Holocaust denier; and 3) that he is developing nuclear weapons, presumedly to use against Israel. Although Iran repeatedly has denied all 3 charges, they have assumed the status of interrogated 'facts' in the international media. Is there actual substance to these charges or are they being reiterated as part of a campaign of moral justification for a military attach on Iran's nuclear development program