A comprehensive interpretation of Societal security in a case study of Iran

Abstract

Societal security theories emphasize the identity and values of society as the basis of the social existence on which the cohesion and survival of society depend. Societal security is a contextual concept that has been the subject of many studies in Iran. However, with a diversity of research, each investigating various aspects of the concept, a comprehensive definition of societal security has never been achieved. Adopting a descriptive-analytical approach and using the meta-analysis method, the present article tries to collect the diverse range of researches in this field and systematically analyze the results and provide a comprehensive interpretation of this concept in Iran. Data were collected by a documentary method. According to the findings, societal security studies are categorized into eight themes: the feeling of security, Islamic values, police, urban space, mass media, women, family, and national and ethnic identity. The presentation of a comprehensive interpretation of societal security was followed by placing the scope of the basic concerns of society under the expanded concept of identity - modern, Islamic and Iranian. The result is that the identity elements of Iranian society is the basis of societal security and the imbalance between the layers of identity causes societal insecurity.