The Role of New Civilizational Institutions on Iran's Cultural Changes during the Qajar Period

Document Type : Research Paper I Open Access I Released under (CC BY-NC 4.0) license

Authors

1 Department of Political Science, Ra. C., Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran

2 Department of Political Science ,Ra. C., Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran

Abstract

From the fall of the Safavid dynasty to the rise of the Qajar dynasty, numerous wars took place, which resulted in Iran's backwardness from European countries. Iran's wars with Russia also ultimately led to Iran's military defeat. At this time, some of the Qajar elites initiated reforms to reduce Iran's backwardness. The goal of such reforms was to modernize various military, cultural, and social areas of the country, which paved the way for the entry of new civilizational institutions and the confrontation of tradition with modernity.
The fundamental question of the research is what impact did new civilizational institutions have on the process of cultural changes in Iran during the Qajar era? In order to answer the relevant question, the present research intends to examine the role of new civilizational institutions on the process of cultural changes in the Qajar era and the formation of industrial occupations, urban life, and secularism, focusing on Max Weber's ideas and thoughts on rationality, secularization, and modernization. The research findings show that the first new civilizational institutions in Iran were military in nature and their purpose was to compensate for military defeats against Russia and to provide legitimacy for the Qajar kings. However, their arrival caused effective cultural changes in Iran. The formation of freedom movements and the events leading to the victory of the Constitutional, the establishment of political and cultural civilizational institutions such as the Constitutional Constitution, and new education were among the results of the arrival of civilizational institutions in Iran.

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Iranian History of Culture
Volume 2, Issue 1
Spring & Summer
March 2025
Pages 146-166

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History

  • Receive Date: 17 March 2025
  • Revise Date: 23 April 2025
  • Accept Date: 03 May 2025
  • Publish Date: 21 March 2025

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