Despite the fact that individual and social happiness are very important rights and needs and strongly influence various aspects of human life, they have received less attention and have not been the subject of analytical discussions and debates. The right and need for a proper response to them is both a cause and a result of a wide range of social problems. Individual and social happiness may seem insignificant at first glance, but neglecting them can lead to serious issues and crises. In this issue, the Peace Line has spoken with Mr. Darvin Sabouri, a sociologist and researcher, about individual and social happiness and the surrounding issues.

What definition has sociology provided for individual and social vitality? And what platforms are necessary for creating and maintaining individual and social vitality?

If we define individual happiness as a relative feeling of satisfaction, joy, and contentment with one’s personal situation, we can refer to social happiness as a relative feeling of satisfaction, joy, and contentment with one’s situation in the social world. In other words, social happiness is a universal and widespread feeling that humans experience from being part of the social world and being among others, from having interactions and coexistence with others of the same era, fate, and species. Here, it can be assumed that this feeling of satisfaction has different levels; it can be at a very low level, where the individual simply says “it’s good, I’m satisfied!” or at an ideal and idealistic level, where people feel satisfied and happy from living together and experiencing this happiness with each other. Unlike individual happiness, which is an internal feeling of one’s own situation in the world, social happiness is a universal, widespread, and communal feeling of social life that can be observed in the faces of

How do you evaluate the state of social activity in today’s Iranian society? Is it on the brink of crisis and warning, or has it even crossed that threshold?

Every year, we witness alarming statistics in the field of violence; for example, in the field of domestic violence. However, we know that the reported statistics are not reliable at all. In other words, because violence occurs within the private institution of the family, it may be resolved and not brought to the attention of non-private institutions. Fear of shame may be a factor, and the small culture may not allow you to speak up. Violence against children, violence against the elderly, violence against men and violence against women have all been attributed to alarming statistics within the family institution. Street conflicts and suicide rates in some provinces are very concerning. Self-immolation among women in provinces like Ilam is concerning. According to statistics that were announced, I believe two years ago, we became the second saddest country in the world. So we can guess that such a society is a worried, anxious, and violent society. Of course, we have not yet crossed the borders of crisis and warning, but we

How does risking social activity affect the health of society and to what extent? In other words, what is the relationship between activity and social health and how does it hinder the growth and development of society?

See, first we need to understand what social vitality does so that we can say how it can impact or affect social health. One of the functions of social vitality, namely rituals and places that flourish and are bustling due to social vitality, helps with the health of society. This health is both psychological and behavioral, as well as completely physical. So we can guess that when there is a significant relationship between social vitality and health, when social vitality is low and limited, how can health be at risk.

As mentioned before, there is a completely significant and direct relationship between these two. We can explain how it can hinder the growth and development of society, that a citizen who does not feel connected and intertwined with their land and society, and does not feel inner satisfaction and contentment with life in a community, is essentially stateless. In other words, they become a stateless citizen who does not care about or will not care about the fate of their homeland. In other words, they have no

We know that the level of access for people in deprived areas, including marginalized communities, to tools, facilities, and spaces for recreation is much more limited. Where is the lack or shortage of social vitality among the factors that drive different segments of society, especially residents of marginalized and deprived areas, towards delinquency?

The discussion of marginalization is highly prevalent. I believe it cannot be looked at as a single factor. In other words, the social vitality that we are seeking, due to our definitions, is critically lacking in the marginalized areas of Iran. In fact, this is where we can say it is critically lacking, not just average. We have sensitive provinces such as Sistan and Baluchestan, Kurdistan, and Khuzestan where the rate of crime is high. But considering a direct correlation between the lack of social vitality and crime throws the issue out of the sociological realm. It’s not accurate. Crime has a very direct relationship with employment. Where employment is low, there is a high prevalence of criminal subcultures; meaning there is sometimes a direct factor. We can say that social vitality, which is itself affected by economic and political factors, is completely on the brink of crisis and warning in those areas, lagging behind and dysfunctional. Other people do not feel the need

Why, despite the existence of criminalization and the implementation of inhumane, disproportionate, and inappropriate punishments for behaviors and actions that develop and grow under the shadow of lack or deficiency of personal and social vitality, is there still an increasing trend among people, especially young people, to engage in actions that are considered crimes by the judicial and legislative system? Is punishment, aggressive behaviors, and labeling individuals as criminals on the forehead of social assets (meaning people, especially the young generation) considered a solution?

We must pay attention to the fact that what is felt as a need within society, if not defined by institutional mechanisms, if a new need is felt within society due to changes in society, but social institutions cannot think about it to create or respond to the need that arises from within society, namely the family institution, education institution, economic institution, political institution, religious institution, media, sports, leisure activities, which are the main and subsidiary institutions of a society, cannot provide a proper, appropriate and timely response (time is very important in functionalist theories), then the society starts to invent its own methods. This invention, as it is perceived as a deviation by political and cultural spheres, brings about a shift to underground places and times, and even underground patterns. Society begins to experiment and test. It organizes underground parties, places and colonies. On the other hand, political institutions, having lost control over them and not having their approval, start to confront and gather these underground places and gatherings

The response to the demands and protests of the people in order to meet their needs and citizen rights, including everything that brings about individual and social happiness, what result will it have in the long run with the suppression and implementation of laws that do not align with the reality and needs of society?

A social estrangement arises between the body of society and the policy-making spheres. They become so foreign that reading and understanding this language becomes difficult for cultural and political policymakers. As we know, subcultures that emerge within a larger culture eventually give rise to a new literature, which is a hidden literature. That is, what we have experienced in recent decades, especially among young people, are terms that are difficult for their parents to understand and decipher. They invent a language and a series of hidden symbols, and this sense of detachment from society gives them a sense of being unseen, their needs not being met, and it is better for them to hide in the dark corners of society; a place where there is no supervision over their actions and is full of new social harms. In other words, from the heart of each of these individuals, a new harm can be created. In other words, we should expect to be confronted with new harms in the future that we had not even thought of.

Many believe that rebellious attitudes of youth and specific psychological problems are the main reasons for their tendency towards addiction and various criminal activities. In fact, without any root cause, delinquent or addicted youth are seen as inherently inclined towards crime and various social problems, as they claim that even if these individuals were raised in the best environments and conditions, they would still ultimately be driven towards committing crimes, breaking norms, and engaging in immoral acts. What is your response to these individuals?

I am familiar with such opinions. It means those who are essentialist, are action-oriented, and do not see structures. We must pay attention to the fact that what makes a social human is a response to social institutions and structures. If the structures and social institutions do not deviate from their functional rails, if family, economy, politics, religion, media, sports, and leisure activities, as I mentioned in previous responses, can function properly, the product that will emerge will be strongly normalized. It will create an active and civic human being. Young people generally have difficulty understanding the concept of power and see it as opposed to their freedoms. But to think that young people always have a tendency towards rebellion and disobedience, I believe, cannot be a comprehensive social perspective. It may be a psychological perspective, even in its conventional sense, that everything that happens in the world is caused by human action and structures have no role. But this will greatly distance us from understanding what takes shape as social

In addition to the mentioned cases, what other problems does the lack of infrastructure for creating and maintaining individual and social vitality pose for society?

We can accurately guess that in the absence of social joy, meaning the level of satisfaction, happiness, and contentment of an individual from existing in a social world and being able to experience it with others hand in hand, social health is at risk. The pregnant belly (which I mentioned earlier) will regularly produce new cesareans, depression and violence will emerge from it; sometimes systematic violence and sometimes completely personal violence. This violence will involve the judicial system, overcrowd our prisons. The center of a person’s family is at risk; his wife may divorce him, his child may become a child laborer. That divorced woman will open a new cluster of damages. The child laborer will also open a new cluster. According to statistics from the Welfare Organization in Tehran, sixty percent of child laborers are sexually abused. So these child laborers are children who have been abused. These individuals will have the possibility of rape and abuse when they grow up. They will arrest and execute the new

Thank you for the opportunity you have given us to use the peace line.