Document Type : Original Article
Author
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Yazd University, Yazd
10.22034/jis.2026.2077675.1043
Abstract
Introduction: Although technology and industry are considered the foundation of modern society and have played a key role in building Iranian modernity, Iranian sociologists have not paid much attention to them and have given them little consideration. As a result, the sociological issues of technology and industry, which have had a significant impact on developments in Iranian society, have become a marginal issue in Iranian sociology. The continuation of this situation will cause significant challenges in understanding developments in Iranian society and explaining them from a sociological perspective. On this basis, the present study seeks to examine the reasons for the marginalization of this field and the necessity for sociologists to enter more seriously into the discussions of industry and technology, while also listing the importance of sociology's attention to technology and industry in Iran and reviewing some sociological studies in this area.
Method: This analytical-theoretical research was conducted using the documentary method, given the nature of the subject. In documentary research, the researcher collects his data about actors, events, and social phenomena from sources and documents, and while categorizing and analyzing them and utilizing theoretical insights, presents his analysis.
Findings: According to the results, the main reasons for the neglect of the sociology of industry and technology in Iran can be traced to the following: 1) The lack of lived experience of sociologists in the field of technology and industry and the lack of effective and meaningful connection between the humanities and social sciences and technical-engineering disciplines. 2) Placing the category of industry and technology under the general category of the capitalist system in sociological analyses. 3) Reducing industrial and technological development to technical and infrastructural dimensions and leaving the study of these dimensions to economists, and reducing the sociology of industry to the sociology of "work and occupation" or the sociology of "organization". 4) The dominance of the paradigm of "pathology" and "social effects" in Iranian sociology.
Conclusion: Given the pervasive importance of technology and industry in Iranian society and its tremendous effects on changes and developments in society, it is necessary for sociologists to pay attention to industry and technology at three levels, micro, medium, and macro, some of the most important of which can be stated as follows: 1) At the micro level, "human resource productivity" within industrial units. 2) At the intermediate level, the "network of relationships" between industrial units, such as the study of "industrial zones", "industrial clusters", "industrial associations" and "technological ecosystems" and how economic and industrial components are intertwined with the cultural, social and historical components of each region. 3) At the macro level, the social responsibility of industry.
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