Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran Sociological Review 1010-2809 33 1 2026 06 10 Institutional Opportunities and Constraints for Fostering Critical Thinking in Iran: A Qualitative Study of the Philosophy for Children Program Institutional Opportunities and Constraints for Fostering Critical Thinking in Iran: A Qualitative Study of the Philosophy for Children Program 105 121 106000 10.22059/jsr.2026.232824.1128 FA Fatemeh Fazli nothing 0009-0009-8550-7284 Seyyed Zia Hashemi deputy minister of science Abdolhossien Kalantari Department of Sociology, Social Sciences Faculty, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 0000-0002-7518-6204 Journal Article 2017 05 07 The formal education system in modern societies is not merely an institution for the transmission of knowledge; rather, it constitutes one of the most significant mechanisms for the reproduction of social order, power relations, and dominant patterns of action. In Iranian society, the memory-based, authoritarian, and grade-oriented logic of formal education has imposed structural constraints on the cultivation of critical thinking. Adopting a qualitative and critical approach, the present study examines the institutional possibilities and limitations of fostering critical thinking through the experience of implementing the “Step by Step Toward Thinking” program.<br />The research data were collected through participant observation, classroom dialogue recordings, field notes, and interviews with children, parents, and instructors at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, and were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that, at the micro level of education, this program has been able to temporarily suspend the logic of banking education and create spaces for rational dialogue, inquiry, and the emergence of a critical subject. However, these changes encounter resistance and limitations when confronted with dominant institutional orders, particularly the authoritarian family structure and the formal education system.<br />The results suggest that alternative educational programs, while capable of producing meaningful disruptions in the dominant educational order, remain fragile and unstable in their impact without simultaneous transformations in institutional structures and a critical rethinking of the roles of teachers and families. Therefore, fostering critical thinking is less an educational issue than a profoundly institutional and social one. The formal education system in modern societies is not merely an institution for the transmission of knowledge; rather, it constitutes one of the most significant mechanisms for the reproduction of social order, power relations, and dominant patterns of action. In Iranian society, the memory-based, authoritarian, and grade-oriented logic of formal education has imposed structural constraints on the cultivation of critical thinking. Adopting a qualitative and critical approach, the present study examines the institutional possibilities and limitations of fostering critical thinking through the experience of implementing the “Step by Step Toward Thinking” program.<br />The research data were collected through participant observation, classroom dialogue recordings, field notes, and interviews with children, parents, and instructors at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, and were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that, at the micro level of education, this program has been able to temporarily suspend the logic of banking education and create spaces for rational dialogue, inquiry, and the emergence of a critical subject. However, these changes encounter resistance and limitations when confronted with dominant institutional orders, particularly the authoritarian family structure and the formal education system.<br />The results suggest that alternative educational programs, while capable of producing meaningful disruptions in the dominant educational order, remain fragile and unstable in their impact without simultaneous transformations in institutional structures and a critical rethinking of the roles of teachers and families. Therefore, fostering critical thinking is less an educational issue than a profoundly institutional and social one. https://jsr.ut.ac.ir/article_106000_facb36e630d49d4a775e7cce72c6023d.pdf