Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Assistant Professor, Asian Cultural Documentation Center, The Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
3
M.A Student in International Relations, International University of Imam Khomeini, Qazvin, Iran
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
In today’s world which is rife with civil wars, terrorist activities and other different forms of violence, peace is complex in nature affected by different social, economic, cultural, political and also psychological factors. One of the states of the society which may pave the way for conflict or other forms of violence is anomie. Jamieson considered this issue and argued that in social contexts where anomie is present, important objective factors such as threat of war, long histories of war, or emergence of terrorist activities might exist.
The Research Method
This research is applied in terms of its goal and is a descriptive and case study in terms of the nature and method. The data gathering procedure is based on library and field findings. The number of the statistical sample is N= 515 and SPSS software is used to analysis the data. Beside of field findings, library findings are also used to expand anomie measurement tool. Also, qualitative and quantitative methods are used to analysis the data. Finally, the data are used to suggest some policies to decrease in anomie and institutionalize peace in Iran.
Results
The results of the analysis in terms of measuring anomie in Iran showed that all of the Iranian ethnicities witness high level of anomie (PAS= 3.74). The study two showed that there is an association between economic and social indexes and anomie among different ethnicities. The most important factors in this relation are: life expectancy, access to facilities, access to media and age. These factors have predictive value and can forecast anomie among different ethnicities. These association is used to propose some policies to decrease in anomie and institutionalize peace in Iran. The study three also showed that anomie perception threatens peace, and in particular, internal peace. Societies which are in anomic situation and in decay are more prone to violence and breach of peace. We found that higher level of PAS will trigger violence and threat of war and conflict. Also, the regression results show that, after controlling the effect of breakdown in leadership, breakdown in social fabric has a significant direct impact on peace index as well as its components, i.e., internal and external peace (p-value <0.05).
Conclusions
As one of the consequences of anomie on the societal scale, we intended to investigate peace. As argued earlier, anomie is related to a reduced level of peace and an increased level of violence and terrorism. After developing a theatrical framework to measure anomie, we conducted three studies. Study one showed that Iran has witnessed a high level of anomie; study two showed that factors including life expectancy, access to facilities, access to media and age have an association with anomie in Iran. Study three showed that higher level of PAS will trigger violence and threat of war and conflict.
Using the results of study two, some policies are suggested to decrease in anomie and institutionalize peace in Iran as follows: 1) using peace education to create trust in society and promote moral standards; 2) re-distribution of rare resources to meet the needs of all citizens, development based foreign policy and reconsideration of sustainable economic development. These three facets can promote the state’s legitimacy and efficiency; 3) considering factors affecting life expectancy like meeting the needs of citizens; 4) educating and informing citizens about media and the published content; 5) promotion of civil society, culture and organizations.
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