Universities and the Lack of Organizational Socialization in Iran; With Emphasis on the Second Pahlavi Period

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Department of Sociology of Revolution, Research Institute of Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution, Tehran, Iran

10.22059/jisr.2025.386500.1564

Abstract

Throughout the Pahlavi dynasty, Tehran’s universities have consistently been the site of protests and clashes. The primary cause of this dissatisfaction is frequently attributed to the blockade that impeded political participation. Nevertheless, the student protests that occurred during this period are not reducible to a political blockade.The aim of this article is to demonstrate that the absence of appropriate organizational indoctrination was a significant factor in the initiation of student protests by conducting a document analysis.
This research was conducted using a descriptive-analytical method. Accordingly, a series of documents, interviews, research, and oral history sources were studied to extract their most important themes regarding the research topic.
In many cases, students protested against the university's general regulations and sought to modify the manner in which exams were administered and class regulations were enforced. In other words, the blending of the distinction between politics and trade unionism led students to regard any form of protest against university order as legitimate, and university officials were unable to manage the resulting level of tension.
Accordingly, student demonstrations were not exclusively the result of political obstruction and an attempt to resolve the impasse that was established by unbalanced development. In fact, some of these protests were the result of the organizational anomalies that were prevalent in universities.

Keywords

References

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Social Studies and Research in Iran
Volume 14, Issue 3 - Serial Number 56
September 2025
Pages 389-408

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