Abstract:
Two groups of factors have contributed to the formation of Iranian associations and academic individuals’ status as peripheral in the international social science academic arena. First group consists of external factors such as prevailing euro centrism, English language hegemony and inevitable political-economic problems. Second group of factors are internal factors. Iranian academics’ and academic organizations’ attitudes towards researchers’ choices of their research topics, preferred methodologies and applied theories, has resulted in aridity and stagnation of social research in Iran. Excessive emphasis on positivist paradigm, quantitative research, arbitrary interpretation of indigenization of social science and lack of problem oriented research, have led to the contemporary ambiguous status of social sciences in Iran.
Keywords:
Generalization; Indigenization; Local theory; Periphery; Problem-oriented; Qualitative research; Iran