Cultural Analysis of Half-Century Demographic Swings of Iran: The Place of Popular Culture

Yaghoob Foroutan

doi:10.29333/ejecs/184

Authors

Yaghoob Foroutan Associate Professor, University of Mazandaran & Research Associate, Waikato University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/184

Keywords:

Culture, popular culture, Iran, population dynamics

Abstract

Giving specific reference to the place of popular culture, this paper examines the patterns and determinants associated with population dynamics from socio-cultural perspectives. The discussion is based on the analysis of observations in a country that has experienced substantial changes in family formation resulting in one of the world's most spectacular falls in women's birth rate ever experienced in human history: Iran. Facing fundamental historical experiences and substantial socio-cultural changes over the past decades, the context of this study acts as a unique ‘social laboratory’ to survey the intergenerational comparisons. The results of this analysis show substantial intergenerational transition, which provide new evidence to support Sauvey's (1978) and Weeks's (1994) socio-demographic investigations in some other developing countries.

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Author Biography

Yaghoob Foroutan, Associate Professor, University of Mazandaran & Research Associate, Waikato University

Dr Yaghoob Foroutan completed PhD in Demography & Sociology Program at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. His doctoral dissertation on Muslim/Non-Muslim women's employment differentials in Australia was awarded The W. D. Borrie Essay Prize by the Australian Population Association. He has been Post-Doctoral Fellow at The University of Waikato, New Zealand (2010-2012), where he now holds a position as Research Associate at The University of Waikato Islamic Studies Group, Hamilton, New Zealand. Further, he is Associate Professor of Demography at Department of Social Sciences, The University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran. Dr Foroutan also holds position as Adjunct Fellow at School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia.

Dr Foroutan has served as the Chair of the Scientific Group on ‘Demography of Asian Migrants and Diasporas’ at The Asian Population Association; and as a committee member for The Society of the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) in the USA. He also serves as Editorial Board Member of six academic journals including Comparative Islamic Studies; International Journal of Social Science Studies and Technology; Today Social Science; International Journal of Social Science Studies; International Journal of Education, Culture and Society; Humanities and Social Sciences. Dr Foroutan has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs; Current Sociology; British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies; New Zealand Sociology; International Migration Review; Journal of Population Research; Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in Religion & Education.

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