Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Women's Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University
3
Associate Professor, Department of Women's Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University
Abstract
Corona opened a sociological window to a new understanding of family institution at the time of disaster. In the dialectic between conceptual sociological literature and field findings obtained from in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 married women aged 30-52 in the first quarantine in 2019, this study aims to answer these questions: How and in what process the deconstruction or reconstruction of family at the time of disaster is defined and interpreted in women's narration? What strategies and mechanisms are applied by families in the process of reconstruction and recovery? The purpose of this study is to understand the mechanisms through which Iranian families protect their values and make their survival possible in the experience of social disaster. The research is based on the main hypothesis that families entangled in the chaos and break from the normal flow of life in disastrous conditions, by focusing on the rethinking family-centered subject, and by reviving and redefining some external structures and internal sub-structures, can adapt to the conditions. The analysis of the research field in the paradigm of understanding interpretation and by applying theme analysis method indicates five main themes or dominant semantic patterns, i.e. the centrality of spouses' relationships, centralizing generational relationships, the importance of family rituals and traditions, reviving collective rituals (mourning) and heightened spirituality as well as the revival of religious ritual. In other words, at the time of crisis, the most important issue is the possibilities of adaptation and resistance, the answer of which is implemented in the family-oriented subjects. In fact, family is the only asset and safe haven that helps a person to overcome the crisis, and while in the pre-coronavirus era, the life policy was more oriented towards individualistic tendencies, at the time of crisis, it had tendency towards family centered strains, with the aim to preserve durability and survival of families.
Keywords