The Publishing Agency of the Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought has published the Persian research monograph Virtual Social Networks and the Islamic Lifestyle, authored by Sakineh Heidarpour Marand. Focusing on a pathological approach, this work elucidates a comprehensive paradigm for identifying cultural threats and opportunities in the face of emerging media.
Modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) have yielded unprecedented capacities for the processing, retrieval, and sharing of multimedia data. Nevertheless, sociological studies indicate that the function of these phenomena—contingent upon societal norms, cultural contexts, politico-economic conditions, and the level of societal development—consistently manifests as a dichotomy of “opportunities” and “threats.”
Accordingly, in this 284-page volume, the author investigates social networks not merely as communication tools, but as a distinct and emergent medium from a cultural perspective.
The primary objective of this research is to transcend a unidimensional view of cyberspace and to propose a structured paradigm for identifying the opportunities and mitigating the cultural threats arising from these networks. Ultimately, this paradigm aims to facilitate the preservation, adaptation, and enhancement of the components of the “Islamic lifestyle” in the era of digital communication.
