From the Reform Movement to Street Democracy: Post-Revolution Social Movements in Iran

Shojaei, Nima

doi:10.22034/jss.2024.2009019.1787

From the Reform Movement to Street Democracy: Post-Revolution Social Movements in Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Nima Shojaei

PhD in Political Sociology, Allameh Tabataba'i University

https://doi.org/10.22034/jss.2024.2009019.1787

Abstract

This article has analyzed and explained the social movements of 1376-1402 from the perspective of political sociology. In this article, regarding the social and political developments of the years after the Iran-Iraq war, it has been shown that the social movements of these years can be analyzed according to the class analysis inspired by Eric Olin Wright's theory, moving from the "reform movement" to "democracy Street", and showed that the main carriers of these social movements were the "middle class" at first, yet gradually included the "poor middle class". In this research, the comparative-historical analysis method (a type of narrative analysis) has been used, in which, by identifying critical junctures, the role of political entrepreneur in relation to the existing political structure is analyzed to understand the nature of post-revolutionary social movements in Iran. According to the results of this article, it should be said that street democracy is the opposite of the reform movement for the following reasons: they are 1) action-oriented, 2) pragmatic, 3) without leadership, 4) lacking in organization, 5) focused on the hardships of daily life and 6) event-oriented. In addition, it should be mentioned that the main goal of the "reform movement" was political justice, but the main goal of "street democracy" is social justice and seeks to reduce "inequality" and "corruption" and increase "social capital".

Keywords

Social movements

critical juncture

reform movement

street democracy

post-revolutionary society

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