The document provides background on the cultural conflicts in Iran over the past century. It describes how the Shah mandated westernization that clashed with traditional Islamic practices, fueling anger among the population. The Ayatollah Khomeini exploited this anger to rise to power in 1979. Since then, Iran has modernized in some ways but still faces political and economic challenges. The author chose this topic to better understand tensions between Iran and other nations as well as come to terms with their own experiences.

1. TheresaHerstad
Final Paper
CU 309
BellevueUniversity
May 24, 2015
A Changing Iran
For more than a century,Iran hasbeena nationof cultural conflict.Ican easilydescribe Iran’scultural
conflictsasan iceberg.We see the massive bodyof ice floatingabove the surface of the water;but,
unlesswe make the efforttolookbeneaththe surface of the water,we don’tsee the largermassof ice
beneathit. Forthe average Americancitizen,mostof the conflictwe see throughthe mediainvolves
inter-cultural conflictsbetweenIslamicnationalismandWesternnations.Whatwe don’tsee inthe
mediatodayare the intra-cultural conflictsthathave beengoingonforthe past centuryinIran.
I encourage youto take a momentto considerWesternculture.Inordertounderstandthe intra-cultural
conflictsinIran,it’simportanttothinkof Westernculture asnot limitedtoaspecificareaof the world,
but ratheras a mentality. UsingthismindsetregardingWesternculture,we’ll betterunderstandthe
cultural psychologybehindthe revolution.
Duringmost of the TwentiethCentury,Iranwasgovernedbythe Shah’smonarchy. Earlierinthe 1900’s,
westernnationswere invitedintopartnershipsforthe sake of the growingoil industry,and the
resourcesavailableinthe Middle East.Lawswere putin place toencourage,andeventuallyrequire
Westernizationof culture.Insome cases,thismeantbeinglegallyrequiredtoturnawayfrom traditional
Islamicpractices.Eventhougha middle class emergedinIran,manyof the decisionsmade bythe Shah
resultedingreatersocio-economicdivide. Of course,we all know anytime agovernmentclasheswithits
ownpeople,the thoughtprocessof the people turnsawayfromsupportingthe government.
Thisendedupbeingsome the AyatollahKhomeini playeduponwhile he wasinexile.He understood
there wasanger towardthe Shah fromboththe general population,andthe religiousinstitutions.
Essentially,throughthe use of propaganda,he fueledthe fire of angeragainstthe Shah,to the pointof
revolt.Whenthe Shahwas overthrownin 1979, Khomeini returnedtoIran,and wasinstilledasleaderof
the IslamicState of Iran. Thisbegana purgingerafor Iran; the goal to effectivelycleanseIranof anything
relatedtoWesternculture.Thiswentasfar as raidingthe US Embassy,and takingAmericancitizens
hostage.
In the past thirty-six years,Iran,asa national society,hasnothad iteasy.Betweenawar withIraq,
sanctionsimposedbythe UnitedNations,andgreatdeal of negative publicity,the challengesof national
survival have beenthere.Iranhasgrowna greatdeal on itsown.Educationis easiertoaccess.Literacy
rateshave improved.There are nowover2 millionstudentsenrolledinuniversity,withsixtypercentof
thembeingwomen.Iranhasseveral highlyrankedscience andtechnologyprogramsonthe global scale.
Progressisstill slow,thankstothe political corruptionthatcontinues.Iranisstandingwell onitsown,
independentof the reliance itonce hadon the West.
I chose thisparticulartopicfor a fewreasons.My firstinspirationforlearningmore aboutthe Iranian
Revolutionwasthe book Persepolis.There wasseveral eventsmentionedinthatbookthatresonated
witheventsinmylife asa veryyoungchild. WhenI toldmymom about Persepolis,she broughtup
storiesof life asa NavyWife inthe CommandGroup involvedinseveral partnershipprojects withIranin

2. the late 1970’s. For me,thistopic isan opportunitytobetterunderstandthe causesof tensionsbetween
the nations.It’salsoa good wayfor me to come to terms withsome of the traumatic eventsinmylife. I
alsowantedto take a lookat the wayIran isnow,as comparedto thirtyyearsago.
As a resultof coveringthistopic,I’ve beenable tolearnagreat deal aboutthe cultural developmentof
Iran. Most of the cultural development of Iranhasbeenthe resultof political decisions. Inthe same way,
much of the conflictinIran isrootedin cultural changesthatare a resultof saidpolitical changes. Onan
individuallevel,Americansaren’tasdifferentfromIraniansasthe mediaimpressesonus.Some people
acceptedthe changesIran has beenthroughinthe pastcentury,while some didnot.The anti-Westand
anti-USpropagandainIran, didexist.
Biliography
Smitha,Frank. The Iranian Revolution.Macrohistory:WorldHistory.
http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch29ir.html
The sectionof thiswebsite,dedicatedtothe IranianRevolution,goesintoasubstantial amountof detail
concerningthe politicsof Iraninthe mid-TwentiethCenturythatledtothe fall of the Shah. Thisisa
storyof desire forpower,worldpartnerships,secularinfluencesconflictingwithtraditionalvalues.The
storyif Iranis one of religiousandgovernmentconflict,socio-economicstruggle,andaseriesof
unfortunate eventsthatledtothe fall of the Shah.I foundthiswebsite tobe aprettygood readon the
eventsleadinguptothe Revolutionin1979.
Mousavian,SeyedHossien.February10,2015. 36 Years Afterthe Revolution,Whereis Iran Now? Al-
Monitorhttp://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/iran-revolution-anniversary-islamic-
republic-education.html
Thisarticle givesa goodoverview of the changesthathave occurredinIran since the revolutionin1979.
Eventhoughit’sfairlyshort,incomparisontosome articles,the informationissubstantial,and
supported.Ilikedthisparticulararticle becauseitcomesfroma source dedicatedtojournalisminthe
Middle East.
August,Oliver.November1,2014. The Revolution Is Over.The Economist(printandelectronicform)
http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21628597-after-decades-messianic-fervour-iran-
becoming-more-mature-and-modern-country
Thisis a more intensive lookatthe currentsituationinIran.Much of the outside worldisstill fearfulof
Iran; and evenmore of the restof the worldknowsverylittle aboutthe nation.The few journaliststhat
have gone to Iran come away confused.Iranhasslowlybeenallowingwestern-stylepracticesinthe
recentyears. It’snot hard to findwesterncomforts,suchascomputergames,fashioninfluence,and
genderrolesanddefinitions.There are some goodchartsand graphsvisuallyoutliningchangesoverthe
past several decades.
ATAOĞLU, Simge. October28, 2013. Marmara Üniversitesi, Causes of Iranian IslamicRevolution.
AcademicPerspective. http://en.akademikperspektif.com/2013/10/28/causes-iranian-islamic-
revolution/

3. Thisarticle isbrief,incomparisontoothers,butservesa slightlydifferentpurpose.The intentof the
author isto generate thoughtfulquestioningandcuriosityregardingthe eventsleadingupthe Iranian
Revolution.The majorpointmade isthat the governmentcollapseddue todivisionsbetweencultural
standards.I chose thisarticle it’sfroma foreignacademicperspective.
Abrahamian,Ervand.May,1980. StructuralCausesof the Iranian Revolution.Middle EastResearchand
InformationProject http://www.jstor.org/stable/3011417?seq=6#page_scan_tab_contents
Thisarticle providesanin-depthlookatthe errorsmade bythe Shahthat ledto himbeingoverthrown.
One of the seriousmistakesmade wasthe lackof developmentof asocial base that couldhave
supportedthe growingoil industry.Hissocioeconomicpoliciesresultedinfurtherdividingthe nationon
a sociological scale.He continuedseparatinghisgovernmentfromthe general populationthrough
conflictswiththe bazaars(merchantgroups) andreligiousestablishments.All of thisledtogrowing
anger,and eventuallyrevoltingactions.
Sorman,Guy. May 3, 2008. Clash of Civilizations:The West AgainsttheRest?. The Jakarta Post.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/05/03/clash-civilizations-the-west-against-rest.html
I knowwe read thisarticle atthe beginningof the course.Ifeltthishas relevance tothe Iranian
Revolutionbecause of hispositionthatculture isa mentalityandnotlimited togeography.He uses
examplesfromAsiaandthe Middle East.Whenwe considerthe Westernizationof Iraninthe earlier
part of the TwentiethCentury,andconsiderthatculture isa mindset,ithelpsusunderstandthe cultural
roots behindthe IranianRevolution.Fromthe informationprovidedinthe articlesdiscussingIrantoday,
Abrahamian,Ervand.2009. The Crowd in the Iranian Revolution.Radical HistoryReview Available
throughBellevueUniversityOnlineLibrary:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.bellevue.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7a252c2b-b607-
4aa3-986f-3e6c9444518c%40sessionmgr4004&vid=3&hid=4107
Mr. Abrahamian hasquite afewarticlesavailableregardingthe IranianRevolution.Inthisarticle,he
discussesthe crowdduringthe revolution.He saysthatoverall,the general “crowd”of the revolution
was quite peaceful.Anyviolence thatensuedwastargetedagainstspecifictypesof property.Mostof
the violence occurredbetweenculturalgroups.Inthe cityof Tehran,most of the violence wasinstigated
by secretpolice,notthe people. The numberof civiliandeathsduringthe revolutionwereactuallyfar
lessthanbroadcastedthroughpropaganda.I likedthisarticle becauseof hisuncoveringof “urban
legends”regardingviolence of the revolution.
Gholizadeh,Shadi,
DerekW.Hook. May 10, 2011. The Discursive Construction of the1978-1979 Iranian
Revolution in the Speeches of Ayatollah Khomeini. Journal of Community&AppliedSocial Psychology.
Available atthe BellevueUniversityLibrary:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.bellevue.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=b7071f70-9d8a-40a1-8e5a-
af0f11236eb4%40sessionmgr4003&crlhashurl=login.aspx%253fdirect%253dtrue%2526db%253daph%25
26AN%253d70230244%2526site%253dehost-
live&hid=4107&vid=0&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=70230244
Thisarticle givesus a verygood insighttothe strategiesof AyatollahKhomeini whilehe wasinexile.In
the speechesexaminedbythe authorsof thisarticle,we receive insightaboutthe anti-western
sentiment.Itdiscusseshis effortstocreate a national identityforIran that aidedinrefutingWestern

4. cultural ways.Khomeini appliedseveral psychological conceptsinsteeringthe general publictowards
rejectingthe Shah,aswell asmaintainingloyaltyfromreligiousclerics.Muchof whathe saidinhis
speechescouldbe consideredpropagandainnature.He paintedagoodvsevil picture throughhis
speechesinordertopresentthe monarchyandwesterninfluence inanegative light.
Parsa,Misagh, (1988) Theoriesof Collective Action and the Iranian Revolution. Sociological ForumVol 3,
No 1. Springer,NewYork,NY.AvailableatJSTOR
http://www.jstor.org/stable/684621?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents andthe Bellevue University
Libraryat:
http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph
&AN=10795350&site=ehost-live
In thisarticle,MisaghParsaidentifiesthe commonlyusedsocial modelsforunderstandingthe root
causesof the IranianRevolution:social movementandsocial breakdown.Parshathenproceedstogive
reasonas to whyneitherof these modelsiscompletelyaccurate;andconcludesthatafocus onthe
collective actionsandconflictsprovidesabetterunderstandingof the revolution’sdevelopment.
Parsha’stheoryinvolvingcollective actionsandconflictsisanin-depthreflectionof the eventsand
conflictingideologiesof Iran.
Satrapi,Marjane (2000, 2001). Persepolis:The Story of a Childhood.L’Association.Paris,France.English
translation,2003. PantheonBooks.NewYork,NY
Originallywrittenintwovolumesin2000 and 2001, and latercombinedintoone bookfortranslation
and publicationinEnglish, Persepolis isapersonal perspective of the eventsof the IranianRevolution
and Iran-IraqWar. We are able to view effectsof the Shah’srequirementsto westernizethe Iranian
society, asthe author wasalreadypart of a thirdgenerationtoadaptcultural normsthat were notin
alignmentwithtraditional Islamicpractices.Throughoutthe book,she describesthe changesTehran’s
urban middle classwere enduring,alongwithchoicesmade bythe new governmentthatpenalized
specificwaysof life.The filmrenditionwasbannedfromIran,andpulledfromthe Turkishfilmfestivals
at the requestof the Iraniangovernment.There isanew book,Persepolis2.0,now available,thattells
more of the story.Thiswas my inspirationtotake onthistopic.