Maghsoud Farasatkhah

Maghsoud Farasatkhah, born on May 4, 1956, in Tabriz, is a sociologist, higher education researcher, author, and professor of higher education development planning. He has worked in areas such as Iranian sociology, sociology of religion, university studies, higher education, qualitative research methods, development, social ethics, and futures studies in higher education.

Farasatkhah is one of the well-known figures of public sociology in Iran; that is, he has not remained confined to the university environment and has also endeavored, through lectures, dialogues, and more publicly accessible books, to explain the issues of Iran, the university, religion, ethics, and development in a language more understandable to society. He has received the Science Promotion Award, the Dehkhoda Medal, and the Farabi Award, and his book Boundary Actors was recognized as the selected work in the field of social sciences at the 42nd Iran Book of the Year Awards.

Farasatkhah's work can be categorized into three main axes: first, studies of Iran and Iranian society; second, university studies and higher education; third, religious studies and social ethics.

In the first axis, through books such as We Iranians, The Problem of Iran, and Boundary Actors, he seeks a historical and social understanding of Iran's situation. In the second axis, with works like The History and Vicissitudes of the University in Iran, University and Higher Education, and The Iranian University and the Problem of Quality, he has addressed the institution of the university, the quality of education, science policy, and the future of higher education. In the third axis, works such as The Language of the Quran, Religion and Society, and Ethics in Iran are situated.

Farasatkhah's most important recent idea is the theory of boundary actors. By boundary actor, he means individuals who move between the state and society; they neither completely dissolve into power nor remain outside formal institutions. They commute between the