Perceived helplessness, routinization and confused agency; A qualitative study on the attitude of having children in the city of Yazd

Document Type : علمی - پژوهشی

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yazd University

2 PhD Candidate of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

Abstract

Low fertility rate is one of the social challenges of society. The purpose of this research is to investigate the understanding and experience of having children among married citizens of Yazd city. The present study is a qualitative research that was conducted in Yazd in 2023. According to data saturation criterion, 14 women and men voluntarily entered the study and data was obtained through semi-structured interviews. The participants have a kind of negative perception towards having children. This negative perception refers to the problems and experiences of oneself or others in relation to the responsibility of having a child. The costs of a child and the issues of raising him on the one hand, the prevalence of customary values on the other hand, reduce the ideal number of children, or delay childbearing. The four themes analyzed are: social helplessness, risk and fragility, cognitive politicization, and secular accumulation. Delay in having children or reducing the number of ideal children is strongly influenced by people's understanding of environmental, social and political processes. The participants consider themselves as confused agents under conditions that have fueled a kind of perceived helplessness in them.

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