Department of Social Development Studies

The failure of imported and top-down development plans and policies persuaded scholars and policymakers around the world to pay more attention to the values of local communities, their needs, demands, and desires. The focus of development discourses has now shifted towards collective efforts and management, as well as incorporating cultural, ethnic, and religious values.

With the emergence of new theoretical approaches in the social sciences and interdisciplinary research, Social Development Studies as a discipline can open new horizons for sociological research in the dimensions of culture, the economy, and policymaking and can tackle issues confronted by local communities, and ultimately help towards the sustainable development of society, promoting social welfare and justice among members of communities, especially among those in the lower sections of society, rural areas, and peripheral cities.

The Department of Social Development Studies has been pursuing this aim since its establishment in 1998.

Head of the Department

Professor  Seyed Ahmad Firouzabadi