| During the 1950s and 1960s Iran's government as well as many of the Third World countries were under the assumption that developmental industrialization could and would contribute to their eventual acceptance as autonomous, but interdependent participants in the international arena. The United States' interest, on the other hand, was primarily stimulated by Iran's geopolitical position--direct military, communications, and maritime access to all other oil producing nations, including the Soviet Union.;Iran's rapid process of industrialization required the immediate alteration of the existent economic, political and religious ways of life, as well as accustomed patterns of social interaction. There was the almost complete destruction of the original economic infrastructure--an agriculturally-based system under landowner authority, social displacement, through in some cases, forced and/or voluntary migration of peasant and tribal populations from rural to urban centers, the disintegration of familial arrangements due to such migrations and the attempt to negate Iran's strong religious base and authority of the individuals who perpetuated its efficacy. When the population at large became aware of a variance between the program's announced positive intent and its negative result, they showed their discontent by mass demonstrations.;To understand this failure, an interpretation of the meaning sets underlying Iran's system of beliefs and concomitant social and cultural activity in relation to the requirements of agricultural and industrial development is offered.;This dissertation analyzes the effect of the government's politically-oriented development program on Iran's culture, politics and economy during the period 1962-1978. The explanatory framework used for the theoretical interpretation of this period and the previous historical occurrences which impacted it, is examined within the mode of analysis as put forth by Clifford Geertz. |
