Structural analysis of herotic cinema in Revolution period (1978-1981) case study; the narrative analysis of the"khunbaresh"
hosseinali
afkhami
Associate Professor, Faculty of Communication, university of Allameh Tabatabaei
author
ali
eskandari
ph.d student of communication studies, university of Allameh Tabatabaei
author
text
article
2018
per
Received: 08/10/2017Accepted: 17/03/2018 Extended Abstract: Myths, are one of the great narratives that can convey the ideas, experiences, and emerging humanity problems in various social, political and cultural circumstances and add to the richness of any literature. Therefore, the use of mythology in dramatic formats, especially films, may be viewed from two aspects of form and meaning. On the other hand, the production of mythical or heroic works has increased with a great deal of audience in recent years. This achievement has brought scriptwriters and film makers to the point that the existence of myth can integrate the textural structure of the text and help its durability, attractiveness and impact. Since then, among all kinds of myth, the heroic myth from Jung's point of view –as the most important and influential type of myth- based on this research aims to study the status of the cinematic heroes during the Iranian revolution of 1979. The paper studies the narrative structure of the movie “bloodthirsty” as a case study using the "structural analysis of narratives" method. Further, the historical-cultural criticism will be placed alongside the text analysis to show the construction of ideological themes. Theoretical background In this section, first we try to define the important definitions in the field of myth and their functions. Then, while addressing the relationship between myth and the cinema, the structural analysis of narrative from Prop's point of view (functions and areas of action) will be examined. Myths: Although it is difficult to provide a comprehensive definition that encompasses all the features of the myth, in this section the views of the thinkers in this field illustrating the purpose of this study were mentioned and the following definition for the myth was introduced: "Myth is an alive and joint unit reality affected by and affecting culture, representing collective unconscious that relates both to the past and the future, narration the form of the story. It can also appear in various shapes like hero, beauty, generosity, and so on." The structural analysis of narration (Propp): Propp has mentioned 31 functions for stories and put them in seven "areas of action" that correspond to the major roles of story. With this proposed model, in the case of cinema, one can also argue that how many “functions” are there in a film and how these functions create narratives in the “areas of action”. Research procedure: The levels of narrative analysis in this research will be as follows: - Preliminary studies on the film: Implicitly, preliminary studies can be considered; - Recognition of the narrator or narrators of the film, the production conditions, financial support, audience status, political and social conditions before and after the release, and some cases. - Reading the movie to the text: watching the movie accurately and taking notes of events, conversations and pictures is important at this stage. -Tapping the text to narrative text: at this point, the text of the summary and its non-narrative components are deleted. - Narrative Analysis based on the Prop Model: after selecting the related narrative propositions, narrative analysis begins based on the Prop model. Results and discussion: A) Thematic and content status of the cinema during the revolution were: The Extreme politicization; Highlighting ethnic orientations; Simultaneous presentation of religion and armed struggle; Representation of peasants struggles; and Representation of working class battles. B) The status of the hero's myth in the cinema during the revolutionary period; Based on the examined films, the character of struggling against tyranny, faith, and democracy on the one hand, and audacity, sense of revenge and resistance on the other hand, have been the main attributes of the heroes emphasized by the several directors of this period. The hero's most significant function in the films of the revolutionary period is the function of conscientiousness, confrontation with death and sacrifices. Ultimately, the heroes of this era, which are generally derived from the capital city, are the kind of volunteer hero. Reviewing the best-selling films of this period shows that the emphasis on "past history and events" to strength the discourse of such revolutionary period as the most important forms of the emergent of the myth of the heroic myth. It also expresses the fact that how the revolutionary excitement has spread from the street to the cinema. It also reveals how the discourses of the revolution in its political and social contexts, with elements such as formation of a universal ummah of Islam, a classless society, the struggle against tyranny, unity and empathy against internal and external enemies (the spirit of public mobilization) and rebuilding political and cultural values, manage to make hero’s myth an universal form. Conclusion The summing up of the emerging heroes during the revolutionary period indicates that unlike the pre-revolutionary heroes, such as Qaisar (Kaiser), which the result of their actions was uncertain and unclear; these heroes were able to motivate the people by their protest or to be effective in reducing oppression and corruption. Due to the production of these films after the Islamic Revolution, the hero of the story could confidently see the result of his actions and wait for better days. Finally, the philosophical deadlock of today's obscure world has made the modern world redefine its myths and the cinema which has been manipulated as a mean of authorizing for governments. In this framework Iran's cinema was no exception; and by representation of hero's myth affected by socio-economic events has played a role in their design, guidance and their role playing.
Global Media Journal-Persian Edition
University of Tehran
2008-0468
12
v.
2
no.
2018
1
19
https://gmj.ut.ac.ir/article_66999_6d5ffbe409fca1ac76a0e66b9a724b11.pdf
Designing a crowdsourcing operational model for monitoring IRIB TV programs
mohammad gholi
minavand
Assistant Professor at the IRIB University, Faculty of Communication, Tehran, Iran
author
siavash
salavatian
Assistant Professor at the IRIB University, Faculty of Communication, Tehran, Iran
author
milad
shiran
PhD Student at the Sciences and Research, Tehran, Iran
author
text
article
2018
per
Received: 27/08/2017 Accepted: 30/01/2018 Introduction: One of the key elements in management, especially the management of media organizations in particular, is to have a control and monitoring systems. Without this element, other elements of management, such as planning, organizing and conducting, are incomplete and there is no guarantee for their proper functioning. Ensuring that the program is correctly implemented and directed, and proper steps would be taken in case of deviations, requires a process that is called monitoring and control. By setting up different levels of monitoring and, of course, spending expenses on various aspects, before and after production, at the time and after the programs are broadcasted, the IRIB monitors different programs of various radio and TV channels as much as possible. They do that so that not only it pursues current normative and legal frameworks but also meets the satisfaction and trust of the target audiences. The question now is whether the media can use a new concept in management science by the name of crowdsourcing and make a situation so that the media would be able to engage the audiences in monitoring IRIB TV programs and pave the way for increasing the number of observers and strengthening the trust of its audiences? Is it also a question whether it is possible to reduse heavy costs of the traditional monitoring layers of the organization? By the same token it can be asked whether it improves its monitoring performance using mass participation of people in monitoring the programs? Conceptual Framework: Crowdsourcing is a combination of the two word of population and outsourcing, meaning outsourcing to masses of people. Crowdsourcing means outsourcing activity or task of a mass of people (a large network of unspecified people) through a public call. Meanwhile in outsourcing the activity or task is transfered over to a particular person or group (Keshtkar, Peshayee and Mohammadi, 1391). The benefits of using crowdsouring is to promote access to a community of potential employees who have a diverse range of skills and specializations that are willing and able to complete and fulfil their duties, in the shortest period of time and also a significant reduction in costs compared to doing the activities as before (Whitla, 2009, p. 23-24). People monitroing is the systematic monitoring, and guarantees periodic analysis of information that has been selected and registered with the help of others (population). The primary purpose of participatory monitoring is to provide the necessary information throughout the life of the project, so that, if necessary, adjustments or changes are made. People' monitoring provides a participatory monitoring mechanism that allows the community to decide whether the ongoing activities are in line with previous plans. It also indicates the diversion of the activities from the main path, so that the initial planning can be re-established and we can identify the problems and provide the required solutions at the same early stages. This is especially feasible and easy to use with new technologies (Reyes, 2003). Research Methodology: In order to achieve the desired pattern of this research, we used the grounded theory method. We considered the research community to consisted of senior and middle managers of different times in the IRIB organization, university professors in the field of communication and media management, experts in the field of national media supervision, and knowledgable and competent individuals working on the new media. The units of observation were selected using theoretical sampling method and the data were collected using in-depth interview technique. The implemented and adjusted data for each interview were analyzed using the three types of open, pivotal, and selective coding. The process of sampling and data collecting was continued until the data saturation phase, which was achieved after sample 17. Findings: The six central categories of "feasibility and determination of people monitoring", " monitoring classification and being placement in the formal monitoring layer of the IRIB TV", " audience participation in monitoring programs", "the way of analyzing information in people monitoring", "obstacles to the implementation of people monitoring in IRIB TV" and "possible conflicts and the way of solving them,” along with their subcategories, were the result of coding the interviews. Based on the research findings, the potential presence of audiences in TV monitoring cycle is definite, and is divided into three parts of before, during and after broadcasting, which, according to the potential risks before broadcasting with limited displays for the elite population, as well as using the compiled database during and after the programs are broadcasted. Then the utilities and the delicacies of the popular demand will be measured. Since the social standard is one of the major monitoring issues in the IRIB TV, people's customary monitoring can be easily seen at all levels of official monitoring, and would be achieved through taking into consideration the desire and the need of the audience and of course producing programs artistically and maximum audience participation in people monitoring using all traditional (telephone, SMS, ...) and new (social media, etc.) communication channels. The feedbacks would then be received directly and indirectly, and by creating a comprehensive feedback system, all audiences’ needs would be analyzed and indexed in a centralized way and ultimately the barriers and possible conflicts would be removed by creating the necessary media protocol. Conclusion: In the end of our resedarch the proposed model for popular monitoring of the IRIB TV was presented. What is outstanding in this research is the novelty of the subject as well as the way of dealing and using the concept of crowdsourcing. Meanwhile other studies have solely worked on the defining and analysing the crowdsourcing itself or, in the field of media, and have woked on subjects such as content production and feed preparation for program production. Therefore we have made use of a new outlook to the monitoring process in the IRIB TV, the audience will therefore participate in this process using the crowdsourcing technique and within the people monitoring and, in addition to preventing the momentary deviation barrier, the necessary monitoring, the popular monitoring, trust to the media would increase. In the end, it is suggested that, in the wake of the normal indicator within the IRIB TV monitoring framework, the public approval of the programs, i.e., an indicator for promoting and ordering future works and products will be provided to the developers so to enhance the possibility of improving the programs. This, in turn will provide an order and discipline for professional rating of the suppliers. It is also suggested that we should focus on social networks and cyberspace and Web-based tools which enjoy a pre-technological approach. We also should focus on analysing and following the networks continuously and their results should become systematic in order to be used in the IRIB TV monitoring systems.
Global Media Journal-Persian Edition
University of Tehran
2008-0468
12
v.
2
no.
2018
20
46
https://gmj.ut.ac.ir/article_66998_074c8fa65add5ed5b0e6ebcc7c7e994a.pdf
A linguistic and Metalinguistic Analysis of Iranian TV Ads Targeting Men and Women
Reza
Abdi
دانشیار زبان شناسی کاربردی، دانشگاه محقق اردبیلی
author
neda
mennati
Neda Mennati, MA Student in General Linguistics, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili
author
text
article
2018
per
Received: 06/05/2017 Accepted: 30/01/2018 Extended Abstract Introduction and statement of the problem: The critical analysis of media discourse as an attempt to characterize the features and to unravel the hidden layers of such discourse has recently attracted many scholars. Meanwhile, advertisement, which has been an influential genre of media discourse, has been a focus of many scholars to launch critical discourse analysis research on them. This is because advertising employs multitude of persuasion techniques in order to convince people to buy certain products. The complexity of the ideological, social, and psychological considerations readily lends the ads genre for such investigations. Moreover, the differential assumptions of the ads targeting men and women are among the interesting factors attracting scholars in that it opens up a legitimate area of investigation. Iranian television ads were selected for investigation in this study as they supposedly address the audience in a culturally tendentious way making it different from similar ads in other countries. Theoretical background: According to Williamson (1978), the commercial ads not only try to convince people to buy certain products, but also seek to change the worldview of people. They try to change the mentality of the people in order to create the feeling of lack and need of certain products through employing language and meta-language techniques and building several ideological assumptions (Geis, 1982). Similarly, Vestergaard and Schroder (1994) consider commercial ads as tools to bring about ideological changes in the minds of the people. This is specially the case when a product is introduced in a society where the hunch is that people might not welcome. Commercial products impose themselves to the civilizations and ads are attempts to ensure their survival. The ads producers, just like the producers of commercial products, are intelligent observers of the tendencies and ambitions of the people who envisage the need and do their best to persuade people to follow the line. A discourse analysis view of the ads is an attempt to find out about such attempts and perhaps the legitimacy of such intent. In the meantime, the fact that different products target men and women, the ads employ completely different paths according to the different world the two genders belong to or the ambitions the two genders pursue. Television ads address a larger population as compared to other types and this makes television ads a more serious topic of investigation due to the probable extensive ideological and social consequences. Methodology: For the purpose of this study ten Iranian television ads recently aired form the national channels were chosen. Five ads were selected from among the ads targeting the men and the other five were chosen from among the ones targeting the women. The ads were precisely examined for language and meta-language according to Cook (1998), Vestergaard and Schroder (1994) and Godard (2001). The setting, the characters, the effects, and the language the characters employed were all closely examined to find out the assumptions and the ambitions the producers of the ads had considered. Results and discussion: It was found that the metalinguistic features of the ads targeting women mostly assume that women are housewives and are mostly obliged to do the chores at home. The settings are mostly limited to the homes. Furthermore, they are seen as consumers and favorer of the modern technologies as opposed to the traditional and mostly manual procedures. Of course, in some cases and contrary to the established mentality, women are encouraged to get out of home and take part in social activities. The language employed by the characters of the women ads mostly suggested that they prefer beauty, cleanliness, smartness, kindness and socialization. As for men, it was seen that the meta-language, the setting and the characters show that the men are policy makers, social and outside actors who have the priority over the women at home. However, in some ads, contrary to the established mindset, men are seen as working at home and the kitchen while the women are resting or attending social events. The language used by the characters suggests masculinity and superiority in a fairly and smartly inbuilt manner. Men are shown to welcome technology, fast food and they frequently appear to accept the role traditionally exclusively assumed by women. Consumerism is also encouraged among men just like among the women. Conclusion: Some of the results show that the cliché role of men and women (that is outside and social activities for men and inside and house activities for women) is mostly assumed and encouraged in most ads. Nevertheless, some ads try to change the established and taken for granted mentalities and try to introduce social activities for women and inside and chore activities for men. Prominent result: The ads signal gradual departure from the cliché roles of men and women and encourage role changes primarily to promote consumerism while bringing about radical changes in ideological assumptions. However, the traditionally established values persist in the ads and the traditionally established mentalities are frequently employed perhaps mostly to encourage the predominantly conservative society
Global Media Journal-Persian Edition
University of Tehran
2008-0468
12
v.
2
no.
2018
47
66
https://gmj.ut.ac.ir/article_66997_8b5f9f6eb00c0a0299a0e6114d6dc38e.pdf
Study of the Effect of Virtual Social Networks on Global Identity: A Case Study of Students at University of Sistan and Baluchestan
Esfandiyar
ghafarinasab
Associate Professor of sociology, Shiraz University
author
Abdollatif
karevani
Ph.D. student of sociology, Shiraz University
author
Mehrdad
Namdari
Master of Sociology
author
text
article
2018
per
Received: 05/11/2017Accepted: 13/03/2018
Extended Abstract
Introduction and Purpose of the Research: the development of modern communication technologies and on top of it Internet and communication networks have provided a space for re-establishing identity. Virtual social networks as one of the newest mode of communication provides a vast context of communication at the global space and in various areas of economic, social, cultural, and political grounds. It allows users to maintain social relationships, find new friends, change, and develop websites, and find partners so to contribute to developing experience and widen membership, and activate meaningful participation of the users. It is also a social space that has heavily influenced the link between the essential elements of identity-time, place, space, and the boundaries of social life. The present research was conducted in this direction with the aim of investigating and recognizing the relation of virtual social networks with the global identity.
Theoretical framework: Theoretical framework of the research is of a mixed type, based on Castells' and Rheingold's theories. As Castells believes, the role of the media is now key, and in fact, the media are reproducing a new type of society. I such social system, mass communication technologies play a fundamental role, and various discourses, lifestyles and all social values are defined by the media. In addition, Rheingold believes that participating in local virtual communities, ethnic, regional, etc. strengthens the native aspects of identity and participation in international and global communities in virtual space. This in turn, leads to the formation of a global or cosmopolitan identity among internet users. The theoretical claim of the paper here is the same as that of Castells and Rheingold. Research method: This research survey was conducted among a sample of students at the University of Sistan and Baluchestan. Total sample size amounted to 400 students who were selected according to Cochran formula. Actual samples were selected based on a stratified sampling technique. We used the face validity method in order to evaluate the validity of the research tool. In this field, the questionnaire was given to the experts to express their opinions on the questions; then they received their opinion regarding the correction of questions. Then, 30 students of the University of Sistan and Baluchestan filled the questionnaire. The items that were inaccurate and unclear to the respondents were deleted in the final version of the questionnaire. In addition, we ran Cronbach's alpha test to measure the reliability of the questionnaire so to determine the explanatory power of the items of the scale. Findings: Some of the findings indicate that the underlying variables, i.e., the variables age and education have a significant relationship with the global identity. In addition, the variable ethnicity has a significant relationship with the global identity. Therefore, there is a significant difference in the level of global identity among the ethnic groups. Two ethnics groups, i.e., Kords and Fars have the highest degree of global identity. Data analysis also showed that there is a significant relationship between the variables among users of the virtual social network. They include "use of internet", "duration of using virtual social networks" and the global identity of the users. There were no significant relationships between the two variables of the use of virtual social networks and the feeling of freedom in the virtual social networks. Conclusion: According to the findings of the present research, virtual social networks as some type of virtual community can strengthen the global identity and strengthen the local aspects of national identity. This means that being internet user will strengthen local identities and will increase users' local identities. In other words, virtual social networks can strengthen global or transnational identities. Prominent results: The main contributions and findings of the present research rest in the fact that it addresses the issue of global identity and its relations to the virtual social networks. It also indicates how global identity relates to the ethnic groups. Moreover, according to the findings of this research, it can be claimed that cyberspace and virtual social networks have served as means of strengthening global identity among ethnic groups. In addition, these virtual social networks have increased the users' sense of belonging to the national and global identity. Accordingly, it can be said that despite the fact that the province of Sistan and Baluchestan and the University of Sistan and Baluchestan are geographically located on the border and are on the margins, the rate of using virtual social networks are high and, consequently, some changes in the national and transnational identity of the users is evident.
Global Media Journal-Persian Edition
University of Tehran
2008-0468
12
v.
2
no.
2018
67
88
https://gmj.ut.ac.ir/article_67000_93e027a6e5af94158f11ae72da921fdc.pdf
Opportunities and Challenges of Social Networks Use for Iranian Businesses
Morteza
Maleki MinBashRazgah
Faculty of Business Management, DoS in Economics, Management & Administrative Sciences, Semnan University
author
Mehri
Shahriari
Master of Sociology, Islamic Azad University of Borujerd
author
text
article
2018
per
Received: 24/09/2017Accepted: 15/03/2018 Introduction and statement of the problem: Using social networks as a modern marketing and advertising tool has been predominant in recent years. The use of social media has changed the traditional business models becoming an ideal channel for doing business and telecommunication interactions. The rise of social networks has created opportunities and challenges for businesses and for the development of commercial relations as they improve business performance and benefit while creating challenges. According to Alexa, telegrams and Instagram social networking sites are most popular ones. Due to significant growth of distance sale, marketing and advertising companies in the telegram channels and Instagram pages, a question arises here as to what opportunities and challenges are for businesses using social networks? Because of the existence of various cultural and environmental factors in different countries, opportunities, and challenges in each country is different. This is also the case in Iran as not much research has been done in this area in Iran. Here we identify and evaluate opportunities and challenges of using social media in businesses in Iran. Theoretical background: Today, social media is an important tool for managers and companies that use it, as they contribute to the creation of opportunities and new businesses by increasing their selling opportunities and revenue. Social networking allows individuals to create and publish a profile, create a list of other users with whom they share a connection, control that list, and monitor similar lists made by other users. Many businesses use the social media to engage in connection with their customers, to publicize their brand and to increase the word of mouth marketing. Businesses should consider each countries’ several aspects such as their economic, socio-cultural, environmental, as well as their technological environment. This will help them having a good understating of the role of social media in any business activity, as well as the role of government in the use of social media that can help them create opportunities and challenges. Methodology: Our research methodological approach was to use a mixed method, meaning to use both qualitative as well as quantitative research methods. First, we used in-depth interviews with 11 marketing and entrepreneurial experts who had business in social networks and were selected using judgment sampling method, we identified opportunities and challenges through content analysis. Then we used quantitative method for evaluation of the results using a questionnaire that was distributed among 390 samples who were active at least 2 years in social media business. These people were selected through snowball sampling. Finally, we collected the necessary date and analyzed them using the binomial tests. Findings: Some of the results show that factors such as collaboration and two-way communication with customers, word of mouth, guerrilla marketing, branding, economic, socio-cultural, technology-related as opportunities, and political factors, uncontrollability of the messages, and audience limitations construct the set of challenges. Accordingly, the research results suggest managers to use traditional methods of exact definition of the target market, use new tools such as social networks in order to help their firms to reap the benefit of social media networks. The use of secure social networks help managers identify customers so that firms can use the customers' comments, which, by the way, can help them minimize the impacts of negative, or irrelevant comments that can damage the brand's image in the minds of the consumers. With an accurate planning in this area, customers are encouraged to express their needs and provide useful and constructive comments, so that the necessary feedback can be presented and possible errors can be corrected.
Global Media Journal-Persian Edition
University of Tehran
2008-0468
12
v.
2
no.
2018
92
111
https://gmj.ut.ac.ir/article_67001_90a1abff3b6e8c6b44bf3be3b2635f81.pdf
Analysis of differences between women and men in the use of social networks
Asghar
Mirfardi
Associate Professor, Department of sociology and Social Planning, University of Shiraz
author
Abdollah
Valinezhad
Graduated in MA of Sociology, University of Yasouj
author
text
article
2018
per
Received:30/04/2017 Accepted: 19/03/2018 Introduction and problematic of research: Gender Variable has various effects in media consumption (Sayvan & Katzgrowo, 2004) as it influences women's choices in using media (Fisk, 2011). In the same vein, Straintati (1999) states that because of the fundamental differences between men and women in terms of gender and mentality, every experience is influenced by the specific circumstances of the situation and is different, so women and men can have their own special experience from any media. Abdollahyan (2004) also pointed out that the age of people, along with their gender, determines the kind of information that they store for collective life. He also emphasizes, "The mechanism of information storage and reproduction of values in mind and in the value system of women and men is different". Accordingly, how to confront and exploit the Internet for men and women is different. Therefore, here we intend to study the role of gender variable in the use of social networks. Theoretical framework: According to the "uses and gratification" approach, if we consider "female" and "male" individuals in terms of psychological backgrounds, one can say that media influences "woman and man" differently. Based on the "uses and gratification" approach, the power of choices and actions of male and female audiences, can result from conditions affecting the social environment as well as their psychological characteristics. In other words, women and men may have different criteria for selecting a particular media. This is true for choosing the topics used in the media by men and women. This means that both men and women can communicate in different ways with the media and use them differently. Accordingly, based on uses and gratification theory this we draw the following hypothesis: · The gender variable determines the type of behavior (dependent variable 1) and the extent to which users use the Internet (dependent variable 2). Methodology: Using a survey method, we determined the unit of analysis to be statistical society of students at Yasouj University. The time of survey spanned between 2014 and 2015, from which and based on Lin sampling table (1976), about 400 cases were selected to form the sample size. Then and based on multi-stage random sampling method, the actual samples were selected. The method of sampling and collection of the research data was based on the Line table. We calculated the ratios of each faculty, grade, and gender and then ran the sampling technique. In the next step, the researchers randomly distributed questionnaires among colleges students. In the field of social networks, we created our self-made questionnaire and we used 7 questions: "membership status", "priority of using a network over other networks", "membership record", "daily activity rate," " The type of material used "; and the" type of use "of the users of these networks is questioned. These questions, using a background study in this field, were pre-tested, evaluated, designed, and applied. In order to determine the validity of the questionnaire, we asked a number of sociology professors to give us their feedback and their corrective points were included in the final version of the questionnaire. After collecting the required information, we transferred the data to the SPSS software for analysis. The analysis was done in the descriptive and inferential mode of statistics. Findings: Some of the results show that men had more "membership" (dependent variable) than women in the Internet and also had more "membership experience" (dependent variable) in these networks. By contrast, women engaged in a more "extensive" use (dependent variable) than men did. The results also show that women and men used "telegram", "Facebook" and "other social networks" respectively. In the field of "the type of content used by social networks" (dependent variable), men used more the "emotional", "political" and "religious" contents respectively; and women used more "emotional", "religious" and "political" content than others. There was also no significant difference between women and men in the field of "the type of the network use" (dependent variable). Some mode of communication such as "chat", "NEWS" and "download" were the most commonly used for men and women respectively. Prominent results: The most important achievement of the present article is the analytical aspect that affects the collaborative experience and the extent the new technologies in society have developed. It is also interesting to know how men and women confront social networks and how the technology exploits women and men. Although the psychological characteristics of women and men makes them to be fairly different, the gender variable, apart from the generational characteristics and the extent of the development of technology in society, cannot determine the style of using the networks. This means that the difference between women and men in media consumption is to some extent the consequence of developing new media outlets, generational experiences and the normative value system of the society
Global Media Journal-Persian Edition
University of Tehran
2008-0468
12
v.
2
no.
2018
112
132
https://gmj.ut.ac.ir/article_67002_255510fab8c917223345dc32614dcbf9.pdf
Cyberspace and Dynamics of Ethnic Identity (Case Study: Balouch Intellectuals and Civil Activists)
ahmad
naderi
, Department of Anthropology, University of Tehran
author
Behrouz
Roustakhiz
Ph. D Candidate of Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Iran
author
text
article
2023
per
Received: 06/10/2017Accepted: 25/02/2018 Introduction and problematic of the research: Given the fact that virtual social networks have provided a basis for developing constructed identities and contribute to ethnic or Meta ethnic movements, we decided to launch this qualitative study so to provided better understanding about Balouch civil activists. Balouchs are members of an Iranian noble and populous ethnic group who are engaged in using cyberspace capabilities in order to define and redefine identity elements, to construct new identities and to propound and follow up identity demands. Accordingly, the problematic of this research rests in how Balouchs are using social media to redefine their ethnic identity. Theoretical framework and analytical perspectives: In our view, ethnicity is an issue similar to any other social phenomenon that is constructed in a discursive context (Barth, 1969; Castells, 1997; Anderson, 2006). It brings a person to a kind of self-awareness in order to define "self" against "other" or "others". Here, while we emphasize on the variability of ethnic identities and their formation under the status quo, we believe understanding how ethnic identity Inquiries arise and decline is also an important issue that needs further research. Therefore, it needs to be considered how social activists determine the boundaries of ethnic identity and communicate with other identity levels, including meta-ethnicity, national and international identities. It is also interesting to know what criteria are considered appropriate tools of measuring such tendencies. Methodology: the qualitative research approaches (Creswell, 2007) offer variety of methods. Here we consider our research to fall under the category of "qualitative content analysis" combined with a "case study". Accordingly, the Balouch civil activists in the field of cyberspace activism formed our units of analysis and target society. They conduct continuous reformist and identity-based activities and are constantly producing texts in this regard. We selected some 30 people purposefully from such unit to launch our study. Based on sequential sampling logic, we collected the texts that they have been producing online in order to do further analysis. This means, quotations from Balouch activists in the social networks and during their online conversations, and the notes published by them in the context of this space, formed the analytical unit and our units of observation. Results and Discussion: Some of the results demonstrate that majority of the members of the study group have tried to configure a series of critical discursive encounters with various social and political trends. This is especially true about the groups with the same socio-cultural bases and reformist political approaches. Unlike some other identity groups, Balouchs present some sort of internal critique first, and primarily emphasize on the improvement of the social organization and structure within the Balouch society. Then they turn the critique toward the governance and political macro structure. In fact, it seems we are encountering a kind of critical intellectual trend that most of its activities are based on a central core, i.e., "rethinking about Blouch-self". Our findings indicate that the purpose of the considered activists using the cyberspace capabilities, is not only to change the external and tangible structure of the society, but they believe that in the event of a fundamental shift in closed mentality and world-awareness of Balouch people, they can rule out the governing anti-developmental situation of their society. While the Balouch civil activists provide a flexible and critical image from the past and what is called traditional society, they also underline the future of this society to offer new forms of social opportunities, in which, individual agency is dominant. Furthermore, given the increasing and stable concerns regarding preservation and promotion of the potential of a peaceful coexistence, which ultimately leads to inflorescence of developmental individual creativity and long-term cooperation, the studied activists have done efforts to highlight the importance of the dialogue. In fact, these efforts aim at forming a general area that facilitates free communication processes and interactions between various social groups along with a macro-level governance. Finally and in general, the findings indicate that most of the members of the considered society that exploit a series of discursive-linguistic capabilities, are looking for constructing a new identity that, from their point of view, will create a new spirit within the body of the Balouchistan society. This happens in order to develop a new plan for a province with a cultural and social diversity. Therefore, it has been attempted to present a picture in which people who are neither ethnic-centered nor antagonist, but are converging citizens, as they tend respect each other's cultural diversity, and help each other towards perusing a excellence-oriented and emancipating development plan
Global Media Journal-Persian Edition
University of Tehran
2008-0468
12
v.
2
no.
2023
132
154
https://gmj.ut.ac.ir/article_67003_9b08065261abe03daa085ed73fcc669e.pdf