Development and Iran’s Social Development Planning in Pahlavi II

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Economy, Faculty of Management & Social Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

2 Department of Economy, Faculty of Management & Social Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

10.22059/jisr.2025.388528.1576

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between development or economic planning and the social order in Iran during the latter Pahlavi era. It encompasses the period from the mid-Reza Shah era to the 1979 revolution in terms of time. Donzelot’s conceptualization of “the Social,” Ewald’s concept of normalization, and the theoretical articulation of the social order in the Durkheimian tradition are employed to analyze this three-decade period.
Methodologically, this research is a historical study that explicitly implements Koselleck’s conceptual history model and Elden’s spatial history.
Library research, document analysis, and secondary analysis comprise the technical methodologies implemented.
The idea of development planning in Iran was an internal concern that was profoundly influenced by the global development discourse following World War II. This path frequently ignored or marginalized the internal concerns and priorities of Iranian society in development.
The most important conclusions of this research are as follows: Initially economic-development planning during this era became detached from social life, which led to the prioritization of program ideas over social sustainability and the establishment of values such as social solidarity, belonging, and participation.
Secondly, the growth-oriented, modernization-oriented planning perspective in Iran largely disregarded the social life of Iran. It not only failed to institutionalize planning and development objectives, but it also resulted in pervasive deinstitutionalization. Ultimately, the Pahlavi state’s endeavors to establish relative welfare conditions were unsuccessful in achieving “comprehensive normalization

Keywords

References

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