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Socialization of Schoolchildren in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Golnar Mehran*
Affiliation:
Al‐Zahra University, Tehran

Extract

Since its establishment in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has attempted to bring about a cultural revolution, aimed at replacing the old value system with new norms, building an ideal society based on Islamic criteria, and creating a New Islamic Person. In fact, one of the most important slogans of the postrevolutionary period has been: “Our revolution is a revolution in values.” Recognising the importance of the school in the process of character formation, the Iranian government has assigned the task of bringing about a revolution in values to the educational system.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Islamic Republic's efforts to create a new generation of committed and doctrinaire Muslims through the study of socialization in schools. Socialization in this context is defined as “the process by which people learn to adopt the norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors accepted and practiced by the ongoing system.”

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1989

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9 Gholam ˓Ali Haddad ˓Adel (Deputy Minister of Education and Head of the Organization of Research and Educational Planning of the Ministry of Education) and Sayyed Zia al-Din Sadri (Director of the Bureau of Research, Curriculum, and Textbook Development). Interview with author (Tehran, Ministry of Education, 13 May 1985).

10 Chapter 5, “Leisure Time,” Social Studies, Secondary Education, First Year, 1986, p. 83.

11 Chapter 7, “Society and Industrialization,” Social Science, Secondary Education, First Year, 1983, p. 101.

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14 Ibid., pp. 115-16.

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19 The term “Eastoxication” (sharqzadegī) is used by the authorities of the Islamic Republic as an analogy to “Westoxication” (gharbzadegī). Their use of the term East is not in reference to the non-Western world, as it has been commonly utilized, but applies to the socialist countries. Since socialism is defined as the opposing ideology to capitalism advocated by the West, the leaders of the Islamic Republic have used the contrasting term East to represent socialism. Thus Ayatollah Khomeini refers to those who are drawn to the communist East, believe in the socialist ideology, and support the Soviet Union as “Eastoxicated” individuals as opposed to “Westoxicated” ones who are enamored of Western ways, advocate the adoption of Western values and ideas, and support the United States (Khomeini, AyatollahNew Year's Message, 21 March 1980,Dar Jostojū-ye Rāh az Kalam-e Imām; Dāneshgāh va Enqelāb-e Farhangī [In search of the Path: University and Cultural Revolution] (Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1984), pp. 207-208.Google Scholar

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38 “Morality,” Social Science, Secondary Education, First Year, 1986.

39 Chapter 4, “The Clergy,” Social Science, Secondary Education, Second Year, 1986, p. 110.

40 Chapter 2, “Religion and Politics,” Social Science, Secondary Education, First Year, 1983, p. 29.

41 Ibid., p. 19.