INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES AND RESEARCH

 

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES AND RESEARCH (MOʾASSESA-ye MOṬĀLEʿĀT WA TAḤQIQĀT-e EJTEMĀʿI), an academic body established in 1958 at the University of Tehran with the following main objectives: research, counseling, education, and publication. Research activities of the Institute were conducted in the following groups: urban studies, rural studies, tribal studies, demographic studies, socio-psychological studies, and other related areas. The Institute also offered a master’s degree in social sciences. The Institute’s history is divided into three distinct periods: (1) the period of formation and rapid growth, 1958-72, when the Institute was relatively independent and active in research, education, and publication; (2) 1972-79, when it was incorporated into the newly formed Faculty of Social Sciences and Cooperative Studies; and (3) the post-revolution period from 1979 to the present. This entry will primarily deal with the first period of Institute’s activities, when it was a multifunctional academic body, instrumental in the introduction of anthropology, sociology, demography, social psychology, and applied statistics, and served as a pioneering institution in fieldwork and regional surveys in Iran. The latter two periods are not dealt with in this entry, as the Institute had by then lost its independent status and had become part of the Faculty of Social Sciences, which will be treated separately.

FOUNDATION OF THE INSTITUTE

The idea for a Social Science Institute was first conceived in 1956 by Moṣṭafā Meṣbāḥzādeh, law professor at the University and the founding publisher of the daily Kayhān, when he submitted a proposal to Manučehr Eqbāl (q.v.), the chancellor of the University, for the establishment of the institute at the Faculty of Law (q.v.) for offering social science courses. Meanwhile, on a visit to Paris, Eqbāl discussed the idea with Eḥsān Narāqi, a young, resourceful sociologist and demographer and a former political activist who had graduated from the universities of Geneva and Paris and served as an intern at the Insti-tut Nationale d’Etudes Demographiques. Following this meeting, Narāqi prepared a new proposal for the foundation of a multifunctional Institute of Social Studies and Research (with fieldwork as its main function) and presented it to the Faculty of Letters and Humanities (q.v.). He also secured the patronage of Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Ṣadiqi, distinguished professor of sociology and former minister of interior and deputy prime minister in Moḥammad Moṣaddeq’s cabinet (1951-53), and Yaḥyā Mahdawi, the prominent professor of philosophy and the author of the first Persian textbook in sociology, Jāmeʿa-šenāsi yā ʿelm al-ejtemāʿ (Tehran, 1944, 1953, 1958). With Ṣadiqi and Mahdawi as patrons of the Institute, ʿAli-Akbar Siāsi, the powerful dean of the Faculty and former minister and chancellor of the University, supported the cause. The Institute was formed in 1958 at the former campus of the Faculty of Letters with Ṣadiqi as the head (raʾis) and Narāqi as the director (modir). Meanwhile, the foundation of the Institute also served as an impetus for the formation of the Department of Social Sciences (Goruh-e āmuzeši-e ʿolum-e ejtemāʾi) with Ṣadiqi as its chair. Ṣa-diqi, who served as the head of the Institute 1958-72 was mainly concerned with the Institute’s Master of Social Sciences program, a joint program of the Department and the Institute, and research activities of the Institute were the responsibility of its energetic, well connected director, who directed the Institute 1958-69.

Naraqi’s own background and, more specifically, a survey he conducted prior to the establishment of the Institute for the National Iranian Oil Company on social and socio-psychological problems of the Iranian employees of the company in Ābādān (q.v.), and similar surveys conducted for other government agencies, helped draw the attention of the governing elite to the significant role of social surveys in the planning of public projects and their implementation. In addition, connections that Naraqi had established with influential members of various agencies in Iran as well as with French research institutes, UNESCO, and the UN were instrumental in attracting visiting scholars from the above institutions and in securing research funds from national and international agencies (“Interview with Meṣbāḥzādeh,” in Āyati, pp. 202-3; Behnām, p. 177; Narāqi and Āyati, pp. 37-197; see also Ašraf, p. 536, n. 4). Firuz Tawfiq, a Swiss-educated sociologist, succeeded Narāqi in 1969 when he became Director of the Department of Youth at UNESCO. Tawfiq served as the director until 1972, when the Institute was incorporated into the newly founded School of Social Sciences and Cooperative Studies. The following faculty members served as director of the Institute 1972-80: Nāder Afšār Nāderi (1972-73), Mehdi Amāni (1973-75), Mortażā Kotobi (1975-77), ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Nikgowhar (1977-78), Siāvoš Amini (1978-79), and Kāẓem Izadi (1979-80).

As stated in its charter (“Āʾin-nāma,” 1958, p. 100), the Institute was set up with the following objectives in mind: research, counseling, education, and publication.

RESEARCH AND COUNSELING

Research activities of the Institute were conducted in the following groups: urban studies, rural studies, tribal studies, demographic studies, socio-psychological studies, and other related areas.

Urban studies (Baḵš-e taḥqiqāt-e šahri). This group began its activities in 1959 with Šāpur Rāseḵ as the director and Paul Vieille, a grantee of the French government, as technical manager, while the Iranian National Oil Company agreed to fund a social survey of the city of Ābādān. Vieille, who served as manager of this group for over seven years, played an important role in training a number of researchers in the course of their fieldwork. Meanwhile, this group organized seminars on the “Development of Sistān and Baluchistan” in April 1959 and on “Social Change and Development in Iran” in October 1959 in cooperation with UNESCO (Ṣadiqi, 1959, p. 93). A turning point in the activities of this group was the seminar on “Social Problems of the City of Tehran” (Masāʾel-e ejtemāʿi-e šahr-e Tehrān), held in April 1962. This seminar received considerable attention and served as an impetus for the government adopting a policy of preparing comprehensive master plans for major urban centers in the mid-1960s (Āyati, pp. 217-30). The main surveys conducted by this group 1959-79 included: a survey on the value of urban land and its social and economic consequences; a sample survey of merchants of the Tehran bazaar and the economic role of the bazaar; a sample survey of social and economic problems of Tehran’s industrial establishments; a survey of the Ahvāz industrial complex; a survey of socio-psychological problems of fertility in Iran (a joint project with the demography group); participating in preparation of the social, demographic, and economic aspects of the comprehensive master plan of Tehran in cooperation with the Tehran Municipality; a survey of income and expenditure of the Tehran municipality; a social survey of the city of Rašt; a survey of functional literacy and anti-illiteracy campaigns in the cities of Isfahan and Dezful (a UNESCO project); a survey of the value of urban land in Tehran; a survey of social and demographic aspects of the city of Shiraz for the preparation of its master plan; the Atlas of Tehran; the status of women in Iran; the causes of discontent in the urban middle class. A valuable project conducted by this group was the regional survey of the carpet industry in Azerbaijan, Kermān, Kāšān, Hamadān, and Khorasan, under the supervision of Firuz Tawfiq, who succeeded Vieille as director of urban studies in 1966. Another noted project conducted under Tawfiq’s supervision was a survey of the social and economic characteristics of urban marginal settlements (Ḥašia nešinān-e šahri) in Bandar ʿAbbās and Bušehr (1972), and in Tehran, Ahvāz, and Kermānšāh (1973; Moʾassesa, 1979, pp. 1-14; Āyati, pp. 217-32; Narāqi with Āyati, pp. 246-49, 404-6).

Researchers of the urban studies group who contributed to its publications 1959-79 included Ḥosayn Adibi, Simin Afqahi, Abu’l-Ḥasan Baniṣadr, Ḥasan Ḥabibi, Manučehr Hezārḵāni, Kāẓem Izadi, Meḥdi Haṟqšenow, ʿAbbās Ḵā-qāni, Mortażā Kotobi, Moṣṭafā Nirumand, Bāqer Parhām, and Ḡolām-ʿAbbās Tawassoli.

Rural studies (Baḵš-e taḥqiqāt-e rustāʾi). The active involvement of this group began in 1962 when the government launched the land reform program, and the group was assigned by Plan Organization to conduct six survey projects in various rural areas in the 1960s. First, a survey of the social and economic characteristics of rural areas of 17 sub-provinces of Mašhad, Arāk, Sabzavār, Ḵalḵāl, Nišābur, Bandar ʿAbbās, Darragaz, Qučān, Bojnurd, Birjand, Ṭabas, Ferdows, Torbat-e Jām, Torbat-e Ḥaydariya, Gonābād, and Kāšmar. The basic sample survey of households as well as preparation of monographs of selected villages for a deeper understanding of rural problems were used in this project. Second, a survey of the social and economic characteristics of agricultural credits before and after land reform in six rural areas of Isfahan, Gorgān, Marivān, Fuman, Lāhijān, and Šahsavār (Tonokābon). Third, a survey of rural cooperative societies in cooperation with Social Research Institute of the United Nations in Garmsār, Sāri, Sanandaj, Hamadān, Golpāyagān, and Qaṣreširin. Fourth, a survey of problems of the state-managed agricultural enterprises (šerkathā-ye sahāmi-e zerāʿi) in Garmsār, Sāri, Sanandaj, Hamadān, Golpāya-gān, and Qaṣreširin (the survey of the latter two regions was conducted in the tribal group under Hušang Kešā-varz). Fifth, evaluation of the impact of land reform in the above mentioned regions. Six, a survey of the use of pasturelands in the provinces of Fārs, Kohkiluya, and Boyoraḥmad, published in 10 volumes. These surveys, basically descriptive and problem oriented, provided a collection of useful information for the Agriculture Ministry and Plan Organization in their dealings with rural areas.

During 1962-79 the following faculty members and researchers served as the head of this group: Kāẓem Wadiʿi (1962-63), Moṣṭafā Moḥājerāni (1964-68), Nāder Afšār Nāderi (1968-71), and Ḵosrow Ḵosrovi (1972-79). Researchers of rural studies who contributed to its pub-lications 1959-79 included Esmāʿil ʿAjami, Sayyed Aḥmad ʿAlawi, Moṣṭafā Azkiā, ʿAli-Reżā Estifā, Moḥamamd-Reżā Kāzeruni, Dāwud Kiānimaneš, ʿAli-Akbar Nikḵolq, Masʿud Šafiq, and Manṣur Woṯuqi (Institute, 1979, pp. 18-42; Narāqi with Āyati, pp. 253-56).

Tribal studies (Baḵš-e taḥqiqāt-e ʿašāyeri). Tribal studies began in the Institute in 1959 when Pierre Bessaingnet, a French ethnologist, and C. Optland, a Dutch ethnologist, joined the Institute with an assignment from UNESCO, and the Ministry of Agriculture agreed to fund proposals for studying, among others, the Šāhsavan tribe and a project for the development of Sistān and Balučestān Province. With the arrival of Parviz Varjāvand in 1959, a small group was formed and conducted the first fieldwork in Baḵtīāri with Hušang Kešāvarz and ʿAziz Rakšò-e Ḵor-šid. The report of this work was published as Bāmedi, ṭāyefaʾi az Baktiāri, Tehran, 1964. In 1965 with the late Nāder Afšār Nāderi, a French-educated anthropologist, joining the tribal studies, the group was formally established and expanded. In the period 1959-79, this group carried out a number of surveys on various aspects of tribal and nomadic communities, including their migration, settlement, traditional technologies, socio-economic characteristics, etc. These surveys were conducted in the tribal areas of Šāhsavan in East Azerbaijan, Kohkiluya and Boyoraḥmad Province, Baḵtiāri region, and tribes of central region of Iran. Well-received and remembered among the group’s products, mostly unpublished monographs, were documentary films: Golāb (extracting rosewater in Qamṣar), Mašk, Baluṭ (The Oak), and one on the ruins of the ancient town of Dehdašt, which were directed by Afšār Nāderi.

Researchers of the tribal studies group who contributed to its publications 1959-79 included ʿAbbās Baḵšandeh Noṣrat, Vidā Ḥājebi, Moḥammad Reżā Kāzeruni, Amir Hušang Kešāvarz, Ḥasan Pārsā, ʿAli-Akbar Qadimi, ʿAziz Raḵš-e Ḵoršid, ʿAli N. Rażawi, Elvia Restrepo Afšār Naderi, Jawād Ṣafinežād, Farhād Varahrām, and Parviz Varjāvand (Moʾassesa, 1979, pp. 115-44).

Population studies (Baḵš-e taḥqiqāt-e jamʿiyat-šenāsi). Following the appointment in 1959 of Jamšid Behnām, a French-educated economist and demographer, who translated the first introduction to demography (Alfred Sauvy, Moqaddema bar ʿelm-e jamʿiyat, Tehran, 1961) and a book on general demography (Jamʿiyat-šenāsi-e ʿomumi, Tehran, 1962), the ground was prepared for population studies. Demographic surveys began in 1963, when Jean-Claude Chasteland, a French demographer, was commissioned by the United Nations to join the Institute. The first activity of Chasteland was a critical survey of the 1956 census of population with the assistance of Mehdi Amāni, a French-trained demographer, and Audil Puech, a French intern. Also helping the advancement of demographic surveys was the publication of a book on analytical methods of demography (Ravešhā-ye taḥlili-e jamʿiyat-šenāsi, Tehran, 1964) and a handbook on sources of population statistics (Manābeʿ-e āmārhā-ye jamʿiyati dar Irān, Tehran, 1966) both by Mehdi Amāni. A variety of demographic issues were dealt with in surveys carried out by this group, as shown in the following projects. First, a re-examination of the first census taken in Tehran by ʿAbd-al-Ḡaffār Najm-al-Dawla in 1301/1884. Second, a historical survey of Iran’s population and its changes during the period of 1891-1961 (a UNESCO project). Third, a sample survey of fertility in rural areas of Kāzerun, Torbat-e Ḥaydariya, Haštrud, and Šahsavār (Tonokābon). Fourth, a sample survey of fertility in Tehran and Isfahan (known as K. P. A. project). Fifth, projection of Tehran’s population. Sixth, trends of urbanization in Iran. Seventh, a survey of age structure in 24 sub-provinces of Iran. Eighth, a series of analyses of various results of the censuses of population and housing in 1956, 1966, and 1976. The following demographers served as the head of this section: Behnām (1959–62), Amāni (1962–73), and Ḥabib-Allah Zanjāni (1973–79).

Researchers of this group who contributed to its publications 1959-79 included ʿAliqoli Kayarsalān, Šahlā Kāẓemipur, Esmāʿil Majdābādi Farāhāni, Moḥammad Mirzāʾi, Asad-Allāh Moʿezzi, Peymān, Ma-sʿud Sotudeh Zand, and Zanjāni (Institute, 1979, pp. 144-156; Āyati, “Az saršemāri tā taḥqiqāt-e jamʿiyat-šenāsi wa goftogu bā Jean-Claude Chasteland,” in Narāqi with Āyati, pp. 322-54).

Socio-psychological studies (Baḵš-e taḥqiqāt-e ravān-šenāsi-e ejtemāʿi). Headed intermittently by the faculty, this group conducted a number of surveys covering such issues as the views of the participants in the nationwide college entrance examination, leisure time, the Iranians expelled from Iraq, youth welfare organizations, and women after divorce in Tehran. Researchers of this group who contributed to its publications 1959-79 included Aḥmad Āqāzādeh, Mortażā Kotobi, Ḥosayn Lājevardi, Vida Nāṣeḥi Behnām, ʿAli Purṭāʾi, and Bāqer Sāruḵāni (Institute, 1979, pp. 157-61).

Other studies. One of the research groups that were active in the early years of the Institute was formed in 1960 by Šāpur Rāseḵ, professor of sociology, focusing on social stratification and social groups in Iran. A valuable survey that began under Rāseḵ’s supervision was a survey of the social background of the deputies of the Majles (the parliament) and cabinet members since the Constitutional Revolution (q.v.) by Zahrā Šajiʿi. The final results of these surveys were published in four volumes as Noḵbegān-e siāsi-e Irān az mašruṭiyat tā enqelāb-e Eslāmi, Tehran, 1993. Other surveys conducted in this group included A. Ašraf, Qešrhā-ye darāmad dar Irān wa melāk-e darāmad dar taʿyin-e ṭabaqāt-e ejtemāʿi (Income strata in Iran and income criterion in social class formation), mimeograph, 1961; Afšān Ḥesām Waziri on relations between education and occupation in various groups, including university graduates and workers in Tehran and Pažum Šariʿati on social background of Western-educated elites.

Interest in political sociology was revived after the establishment of the Faculty of Social Sciences in 1972, when a short-lived group of political sociology was created with M. Asʿad Neẓāmi, a U.S.-trained sociologist, as its director. Its major project, besides the study of the National Developmental Corps (Ordu-hā-ye ʿomrān-e melli), was the content analysis of the proceedings of the Majles over its entire history; that was interrupted by the 1979 revolutionary upheavals.

Finally, we should mention a series of surveys conducted by Jacqueline Rudolf Tuba, an American family sociologist who led a small survey group for compara-tive studies. With the assistance of Simin Afqahi, Qamar Pilevar, and Parvin Moṣṭafā Abyāneh, Tuba’s group produced 18 research reports, some in English, dealing with the problems of marriage and family in Iran, problems of women after divorce, problems of children and youth in Iranian family, leisure time of college-educated employees in four industrial centers of Iran, and the influence of women in Iran’s economic system (Institute, 1979, pp. 162-66).

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM

The master’s degree in social sciences (fawq-e lisāns-e ʿolum-e ejtemāʿi) was a program launched jointly by the Institute and the Department of Social Sciences. The program consisted mainly of some 15 courses of varying number of credits, of which students had to acquire a total of 22 credits to satisfy the degree’s requirements. Five of those courses, namely, sociology, economics, social psychology, methodology, and statistics, making a total of 17 credits, were required courses; and for the remaining 5 credits, the students were free to choose from among the 10 elective courses which were offered every year. Some of the required courses were offered for the first time at the University, including anthropology, demography, social psychology, history of sociology, sociological theory, research methods in social sciences, social problems of Iran, and specific topics in sociology.

The formation of the program brought a group of social scientists to the Institute and the Department. The faculty members, in addition to Ṣadiqi (history of sociology, sociological theory, and political sociology) and Narāqi (anthropology, and Iran’s social problems), included Jamšid Behnām (economics and demography), Moḥammad Ḥasan Ganji (human geography), ʿAbbāsqoli Ḵᵛājanuri (statistics), ʿAli-Moḥmmad Kārdān (social research methods and education), Yaḥyā Mahdawi (theory and philosophy), Maḥmud Ṣanāʾi (social psychology), Šāpur Rāseḵ (general sociology, research methods in sociology, urban sociology, industrial sociology), and Kāẓem Wadiʿi (human geography). The adjunct faculty included Ḵo-dādād Farmān-Farmāʾiān (economic development), Hosayn Kāẓemzādeh (administration), ʿAli Madani and Abu’l-Qāsem Qandahāriān (statistics), Hušang Nahāvandi (economic analysis). Visiting professors included Andre Antonowsky (cultural anthropology) and Kurt Martin (social and economic planning), both from the United States, and Pierre Bessaingnet (ethnology) from France (Narāqi and Āyati, pp. 210-15).

The master’s program aroused an unusual degree of public interest, as in the first year some 400 students were enrolled; 69 graduated in 1960 and among them were some of such subsequently well-known Iranian social scientists as Nāder Afšār Nāderi, Esmāʿil ʿAjami, Mehdi Amāni, Aḥmad Ašraf, Ḵosrow Ḵosrovi, Maḥmud Ruḥ-al-Amini, and Zahrā Šajiʿi. The heavy enrollment rate continued until 1961, when the requirement of passing a written and an oral entrance examination was adopted; as a result, admission was reduced to a small number of selected students per year (Āyati, pp. 201, 233-35).

Besides its regular master’s program, the Institute also offered ad hoc specialized non-degree training for various agencies and institutions which were willing to pay for the service (“Asās-nāma,” 1972, p. 1). An example was the collaborative project with the UN Asian Institute for Development Planning in Bangkok, in which 10 to 15 holders of bachelor’s degrees in social sciences were selected each year and trained as welfare specialists for various agencies (interview with Tawfiq, Summer 2002).

In 1972, the Department of Social Sciences plus the Institute and the hitherto less known Institute for Cooperative Studies and Rural Affairs (Moʾassesa-ye taḥqiqāt-e taʿāwoni wa omur-e rustāʾi) were combined, and a new Faculty of Social Sciences and Cooperative Studies (Daneškada-ye ʿolum-e ejtemāʿi wa taʿāwon) was created with Jamšid Behnām as its dean. The new faculty consisted of four academic departments: sociology, anthropology, demography, and cooperative studies, and a single research organ made up of the former two institutes combined (Behnām, p. 178; Dāneškada, 1974, pp. 7-8).

PUBLICATION AND LIBRARY

Conscious of the scarcity of reference material for its core objectives, teaching and research, the Institute made an effort to fill the gap. This was done in two interrelated ways of publication and development of a specialized social sciences library.

Publication. By the time of its incorporation into the Faculty of Social Sciences in 1972, the Institute had published (in addition to some 400 monographs and research reports) more than 75 volumes of books on various subjects of the social sciences, many of which had gone into reprint several times. Of these, 15 titles were allocated to basic textbooks, prepared as teaching material for the new courses offered by the Institute and the Department; eight titles were monographs of a number of villages, and six volumes on the social history of Iran. Basic textbooks in various social science disciplines included five books on methodology: P. Bessaingnet, Méthode de l’anthropologie (the text of his lectures in the anthropology course, Tehran, 1961; tr. ʿA.-M. Kārdān as Raveš-e mardom-šenāsi, Tehran, 1961), ʿA. Ḵᵛājanuri et al., Ravešhā-ye moqaddamāti-e āmāri (Basic statistical methods, Tehran, 1963), Emile Durkheim, Qawāʿed-e raveš-e jāmeʿa-šenāsi (Des Regles de la methode sociologique, tr. ʿA.-M. Kārdān, Tehran, 1964), Ḵosrow Mohandesi, ed. and tr., Ravešhā-ye taḥqiq dar ʿolum-e ejtemāʿi (Methods of social research, Tehran, 1965), Parviz Varjāvand, Raveš-e barrasi-e ilāt o ʿašāyer (Method of tribal studies, Tehran, 1965).

Other textbooks included three books prepared for courses in demography, as mentioned above; M. Halbwachs, Ṭarḥ-e ravān-šenāsi-ye ṭabaqāt-e ejtemāʿi (Esquise d’un psychologie des classes sociales, tr. ʿA.-M. Kārdān, Tehran, 1961), ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Jahānbeglu, ed. and tr., Oṣul-e barnāmarizi-e rošd-e eqteṣādi (Principles of planning for economic development, Tehran, 1964), Reżā ʿOlumi, tr., Oṣul-e ʿolum-e siāsi (Principles of political science, Tehran, 1965), ʿA.-M. Kārdān, Masāʾel-e ravān-šenāsi-e jamʿi wa ravān-šenāsi-e ejtemāʿi (Problems of collective and social psychology, Tehran, 1966), A. Ašraf Jāmeʿa-šenāsi-e ṭabaqāt-e ejtemāʿi dar Āmrikā (Social class in America, Tehran, 1967), Ehsān Narāqi, ʿOlum-e ejtemāʿi wa sayr-e takvini-e ān (Development of social sciences, Tehran, 1967), Jean Kaznove, Mardom-šenāsi (Anthropology, tr. Ṯorayyā Šaybāni, Tehran, 1970).

Library. Following the establishment of the Institute, Ṣadiqi donated to it a number of books and periodicals, and thus was laid the foundation of its specialized social sciences library, headed by Hušang Dādār. In the subsequent years the efforts continued, and in 2000 it had a total of over 54,000 books, of which 37,500 are in Persian and 16,500 in foreign languages; of 146 titles of periodicals 76 are local and 70 foreign. It has an archive of more than 2,700 dissertations of which 200 are for the doctorate, 700 for master’s degree, and 1,800 for bachelor’s level. The library in recent years has been computerized, and its circulation is handled electronically. The library also formed a small documentation center with Ḥasan Ḥabibi as its head in 1962. This center collected various documents and prepared subject and author indexes for social science journal articles and books, the results of which were published in 13 monographs (interview with Dādār, 2002, and interview with and notes of Šahlā Kāẓemipur, currently assistant professor and head librarian, 2002, p. 4).

AN OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Although organizationally a part of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities, the Institute was far more than a simple adjunct to the Faculty during the period 1958-72. It was, relatively, an independent entity with its own charter, library, facilities, and budget as well as a separate campus (for an interesting history of the campus, see Dāneškada-ye ʿolum-e ejtemāʾi wa taʿāwon, 2002, p. 1). The Institute along with the Department played a crucial role in the introduction of sociology, anthropology, demography, social psychology and, more specifically, national, regional, and local sample survey and fieldwork in Iran. Instrumental in introduction and development of fieldwork were Paul Vieille (social survey), Pierre Bessaingnet (anthropology), Jean-Claude Chasteland (demography), ʿAbbāsqoli Ḵᵛājanuri, along with his colleagues (statistics), and Firuz Tawfiq (research method). Also should be noted is that the Institute served as the pioneering agency in the formation of research centers in Iran’s universities. Its example was followed by other faculties of the University of Tehran as well as other universities in the 1960s-70s. The Institute continued to perform the above important functions until 1972 when it was merged with the newly formed Faculty of Social Sciences and Cooperative Studies (see above).

Organized in specialized groups, the Institute produced a large volume of information and literature, mostly in the form of unpublished reports and monographs, some in English and French, and some even in the form of documentary films. These reports contain useful and valuable information on the social, economic, and political conditions of Iran between two revolutions: from the 1963 White Revolution to the 1979 Islamic Revolution (see Moʾassesa, 1979).

Although the Institute was a part of the University, the official budget allocated to it was barely, if at all, enough for its day-to-day running and office work. Therefore, the research groups, as described above, were created ipso facto in the sense that they were formed and maintained with a view to the availability of qualified research staff on the one hand, and, more importantly, the externally funded research projects and consultations (local or foreign) on the other. In view of this fact, while the research groups were always directed by the full-time members of the faculty, their technical staff always fluctuated in number and varied in the duration and nature of their work, i.e., being full-time or part-time. Whatever the implications of this fact for the ‘scientific value’ of the research findings, it was for sure an added impetus or justification for their being utterly ‘applied’ rather than basic and theoretical.

 

Bibliography:

“Āʾin-nāma wa barnāma-ye moʾassesa-ye moṭāleʿāt wa taḥqiqāt-e ejtemāʾi,” Aḵbār-e Dāneš-kada-ye adabiyāt 6/1, 1958, pp. 100-103.

“Asās-nāma-ye moʾassesa-ye moṭāleʿāt wa taḥqiqāt-e ejtemāʾi,” Aḵbār-e Dāneškada-ye adabiyāt 6/2, 1958, pp. 88-91.

Asās-nāma-ye moʾassesa-ye moṭāleʿāt wa taḥqiqāt-e ejtemāʾi-e Dāneškada-ye ʿolum-e ejtemāʾi wa taʿāwon, Tehran, 1972, 1999.

Aḥmad Ašraf, “Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Ṣadiqi, bonyādgozār-e jāmeʿa-šenāsi dar Irān,” in Irān-nāma 15/4, 1977, pp. 519-38.

ʿAṭā Āyati, “Az saršemāri tā taḥqiqāt-e jamʿiyat-šenāsi wa goftogu bā Jean-Claude Chasteland,” in Narāqi with Āyati, pp. 322-54.

Jamšid Behnām, “ʿOlum-e ejtemāʾi, gerāyešhā-ye fekri wa masʾala-ye tawseʿa dar Irān,” in Irān-nama 15/2, Fall 1997, pp. 175-98.

Dāneškada-ye ʿolum-e ejtemāʾi wa taʿāwon, Rāhnemā-ye Dāneškada-ye ʿolum-e ejtemāʾi wa taʿāwon, sāl-e taḥṣili-e 1352-53, Tehran, 1974.

Idem, Sayr-e taḥawwol-e ʿolum-e ejtemāʿi dar Irān, Tehran, 2002.

Moʾassesa-ye moṭāleʿāt wa taḥqiqāt-e ejtemāʾi, Fehrest-e taḥqiqāt wa entešārāt-e čāppi-e Moʾassesa-ye moṭāleʿāt wa taḥqiqāt-e ejtemāʾi 1337-58, Tehran, 1979.

Eḥsān Naraqi, “Hadaf wa raveš-e taḥqiqāt-e ejtemāʿi dar Irān,” in Nāma-ye ʿolum-e ejtemāʿi 1/3, Bahman 1348/February 1970, pp. 9-25; rep. in Naraqi with Āyati, 2000, pp. 261-92.

Idem with ʿAṭā Āyati, Naẓari be taḥqiqāt-e ejtemāʾi dar Irān, Tehran, 2000.

Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Ṣadiqi, “Gozāreš-e ʿamalkard-e awwalin sāl-e taʾsis-e moʾassesa-ye moṭāleʿāt wa taḥqiqāt-e ejtemāʾi,” Aḵbār-e Dāneškada-ye adabiyāt 7/2, 1959, pp. 90-94.

Interview with the following former officers of the Institute in the Summer of 2002: Jamšid Behnām, Hušang Dādār, Šahlā Kāẓemipur, Eḥsān Narāqi, Bāqer Sāruḵāni, and Firuz Tawfiq.

(Kazem Izadi)

Originally Published: December 15, 2004

Last Updated: March 29, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. XIII, Fasc. 2, pp. 166-171