The Concept of Structuralism; a Review of Levi Strauss and Saussure's Ideas

Mohammad Aslam Javadi* / Amir Nikpei**

Abstract

Structuralism is one of the complex theoretical and influential trends in the field of social studies. Many important thinkers of sociology like Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens and many other theorists have been especially concerned with structuralism and have made great efforts to expound this trend or leave it a side. The aim of this paper is to resolve the ambiguity about this influential and intellectual mainstream and address some of its theoretical principles with reference to a number of eminent classical thinkers, like Saussure, Levi Strauss, Barthes, Louis Pierre Althusser and Jacques Lacan. The basic issue in structuralism is human subject and priority of structure over agency. All advocates of structuralism, including linguistics, anthropology, mythology, and structural Marxism, deny human subject giving originality to structure rather than to agency. But, in terms of methodology, this school of thought is based on certain principles and preliminaries, which if not observed, structuralist results cannot be obtained. The important parts of these principles are studied in the present paper a reference to the views of two of the most important thinkers (Levi Strauss and Saussure) is made.

Key words: structure, structuralism, subject, human agency, linguistics, anthropology, language and speech.

 

A Quranic Analysis of Shut's Phenomenological Theory

Abdulhussein Mishkani* / Mahdi Rajabi&Mahdi Soltani**/ Mohammad Foladi***

Abstract

Social phenomenology is a new theory which seeks to give form to the philosophical principles in regard to sociological issues without bringing any harm to its philosophical origins. The overall findings indicate that Quranic verses approve some of these propositions and disapprove or expound on some others.

The output of the propositions of this theory include social reality, constructive elements of vital world, our relations, there relations, meanings and motives, social interaction and deputable situations.

Analyzing these propositions will introduce us to fourteen propositions some of which are used in comparison with Quranic propositions. The method of this study is to compare between the propositions and to know the Quranic view about this theory without imposing meanings on verses. 

Key words: phenomenology, social phenomenology, phenomenological sociology, phenomenology, Quranic propositions, Quranic evaluation.

 

Evolutionary Course of Social Aspects of Guardianship of Jurist from the Mongol Era to the Constitutional Period

Reza Ramazan Nargesi*

Abstract

People's acceptance of the  guardianship of jurist has a historical trend and most efforts to present it to society began from the Mongol period which was simultaneous with the downfall of the caliphate governments in which such great scholars like Shahid Awwal, Khaja Nasir al-Din Tusi, Allameh Helli and others played a major role.The public became familiar with this issue more and more with the victory of the Usulyya( fundamentalists) during the Qajari period and political - religious guardianship of scholars was established during the Qajari government. In the Tobacco and Constitutional movement, guardianship of jurist became pervasive and international. The Islamic Revolution of Iran represents a perfect example of guardianship of jurist whose social foundations were established by former scholars.

Having influence in the Mongols' rule and then making the Mongol's ruler convert to Shi'ism, exercising authority, in the Shi'ah governments of Saffavids and having an active role in the community, Shiah scholars were able to introduce to society the idea of guardianship of jurist along with the political guardianship of governors.

Key words: guardianship of jurist, Qajars, Saffavids, Shiah, Mongol Ilkhanids, Iranian culture, Khaja Nasir al-Din, Allameh Helli, Shahid Awwal.

 

The Relationship between Theory and Observation in Social Sciences according to Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy

Qasimi Ibrahimipur*/ Hamid ParsaNiya**

Abstract

The relationship between theory and observation is among the subjects to which various schools of social sciences give different responses based on their ontological and epistemological views. Due to the different viewpoints existing in Islamic philosophy about the resources and means of knowledge on one hand and about the levels of reality and knowledge on the other hand, the nature, theory, observation and, naturally, the relationship between theory and observation will be different. From the viewpoint of Islamic philosophy, there are different types of theory, empirical, rational, intuitive and transformational, and each type can have critical and normative dimensions. Obviously, each category of these theories belongs to an appropriate source and its character is evaluated . Therefore, "observation" alone is not a suitable source for any of these theories and a "test" can assess only some aspects of empirical theories.

Key words: theory, observation, social science, theorizing, theory testing, Sadra's transcendent philosophy

 

Informal Social Control from the
Perspective of Qur'anic Verses and Hadiths

Gholam Heydar Kosha*

Abstract

This research seeks to study informal social control in religious texts. According to this research, informal control is considered as an effective control lever in Islam. Religion sees that dreams and aspirations affect behavior, and religious beliefs such as reward and retribution in the Hereafter can promote harmony among people. Also control levers such as modesty, fear, praise and blame, watchfulness, enjoining good and forbidding evil lead to the decrease of deviation.

Key words: social control, informal social control, watchfulness, enjoining good, forbidding evil, conformity.

 

Qur'anic Teachings and a Critique
of Durkheim's Theory about Religion and Social Cohesion

Mohammad Reza Aghaee*

Abstract

This paper introduces, through an analytical and documentary approach, Durkheim's theory about religion and social cohesion and the role and function of religion in society, to pave the way to the discussion of the teachings of Holy Qur'an.  It has been attempted in this article to criticize the social, anthropological, ontological, epistemological and methodological principles of Durkheim's theory. It is hoped that this paper will help scholars  benefit from the Quran as much as they can in scientific fields, especially in the humanities, and in sociology in particular.

Key words: Durkheim, religion, social cohesion, epistemological, anthropological and ontological foundations.

 

Abstracts

Hermeneutical Foundations for Islamic Social Sciences

Muhammad Legenhausen* / Mansour Nasiri**

Abstract

A brief review of some of the major proposals for the project of Islamic social sciences are given. It is observed that in all of these proposals, interpretation and understanding are crucial. Hermeneutics is introduced in the broad sense of the study of interpretation and understanding, and a brief review of its

developments is given, with an emphasis on the work of Gadamer. Some of the problems of the application of hermenteutics are discussed along with suggestions about the rational evaluation of competing views that may be formulated in initially incommensurable languages. The idea of religious hermeneutics is next developed with reference to the positions that have been taken by Bultmann, Plantinga, and Nasr; and on this basis three grades of religious hermeneutics are distinguished. An attempt is made to overcome some problems for an Islamic hermeneutics with reference to proposals by William Chittick and Leo Strauss. Problems with the application of an Islamic hermeneutics are reviewed and solutions offered. The view that the objectivity of science precludes religious science is rejected in favor of the view that objectivity does not depend on neutrality but on articulation, the process of making assumptions and presuppositions explicit and to formulate them with ever greater precision (where this is appropriate). Complications that arise for the application of an Islamic hermeneutics for the social sciences are surveyed, and it is proposed that the application of an Islamic hermeneutics for the social sciences must be developed in a dialectical relationship to the scientific traditions whose secularity gave rise to the calls for sacred science

and in particular for Islamized social sciences

Keywords: hermeneutics, sacred science, Islamized science, interpretation, understanding, philosophy of the social sciences, Bultmann, Gadamer, Nasr, Plantinga.

 

Table of Contents

 

Hermeneutical Foundations for Islamic Social Sciences/ Muhammad Legenhausen

Qur'anic Teachings and a Critique of Durkheim's Theory about Religion and Social Cohesion / Mohammad Reza Aghaee

Informal Social Control from the Perspective of Qur'anic Verses and Hadiths / Gholam Heydar Kosha

The Relationship between Theory and Observation in Social Sciences according to Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy / Qasimi Ibrahimipur

Evolutionary Course of Social Aspects of Guardianship of Jurist from the Mongol Era to the Constitutional Period / Reza Ramazan Nargesi

A Quranic Analysis of Shut's Phenomenological Theory / Abdulhussein Mishkani / Mahdi Rajabi&Mahdi Soltani / Mohammad FoladiVanda

The Concept of Structuralism; a Review of Levi Strauss and Saussure's Ideas / Mohammad Aslam Javad i/ Amir Nikpei

 

In the Name of Allah

Ma'rifat-i Farhangī & Ejtemaii Vol.1, No.3

A Quarterly Journal of Sociology Summer 2010

Proprietor: Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

Editior in Chief: Hamid Pārsaniyā

Editor:Mahmud Rajabi

Executive manager: Mohammad Ilaghi Hoseini

Translation of Abstracts: Hasan Usefzadeh

 

Editorial Board:

Nasrallah Aqajani: Assistant Professor, Bagher al-Olum University

Hamid Parsāniyā: Assistant Professor, Bagher al-Olum University

Mohammad Hosein Pānahī:Associate Professor,TabaTabai University

GholamReda Jamshidiha: Associate Professor, Tehran University

Mahmud Rajabi: Professor, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

Syyed Hosein Sharaf al-din: Faculty Member, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

Hosein Kachoiyan: Associate Professor, Tehran University

Akbar Mirsepah: Assistant Professor, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

Shams allah Mariji: Assistant Professor, Bagher al-Olum University

 

Address:

#11, Gulestan 2, Gulestan St.,

Amin Blvd., Qum, Iran

PO Box: 37185-186

Tel: +98251-2113473

Fax: +98251-2934483

E-mail: Marifat@qabas.net

www.Qabas.net  & www.nashriyat.ir  

---

* M.A. in Sociology Received: 2010.11.9 – Accepted: 2010.12.22 hajawadi@gmail.com

** Assistant Professor, Shahid Beheshti University

* Received: 2010.8.7– Accepted: 2010.11.3 Kalameyar@Yahoo.com

** M.A. in Sociology

*** Faculty Member, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

* P.hD Student Modern History Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute                   

Received: 2010.8.8– Accepted: 2010.11.2  ramazan@qabas.net

* M.A. in Sociology Received: 2010.10.24– Accepted: 2011.1.12  ebrahimipoor14@yahoo.com

** Assistant Professor, Bagher al-Olum University

* M.A. in Sociology. Received: 2011.0.10– Accepted: 2011.2.12 gh.koosha@hotmail.com

* Faculty Member, Jame'at al-Mustafa al-Alamiyah Received: 2011.12.6 – Accepted: 2011.2.19

M_aghae@miu.ac.ir

* The Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute. Received: 2011.1.15 – Accepted: 2111.2.26

** Assistant Professor, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute. Nasirimansour4@Gmail.com