Hassan Mohaddesi's article 'A Theoretical Perspective on Iran's Social Uprisings'

Hassan Mohaddesi: I began writing this long and extensive discussion, titled “A Theoretical Perspective on Iran’s Social Uprisings,” in the midst of a nationwide social movement, on 20 Mehr 1401, and completed it on 11 Azar. As I now edit this piece for its full republication, it is 17 Azar 1401, and the movement continues. Writing in the thick of a movement, while following its daily news and also studying other social uprisings and social movements in Iran in recent decades, has allowed me to pay greater attention to the social context of their emergence. I have tried, as much as possible, while providing the necessary conceptualization to explain and elucidate this phenomenon, to use concepts understandable to a general audience, to speak as precisely as possible, and to avoid generalizations. I hope this piece will be of interest to esteemed readers. Its public release gives me the opportunity to receive critiques from valued experts and to learn more.

Definition of Social Uprising

What is a social uprising? To answer such a question, we must define the concept of social uprising and recognize its characteristics. By social uprising, I mean any type of collective action that leads to the emergence of a form of discontent in the social environment, in which numerous dissatisfied individuals participate. But what is discontent? Discontent is the product of three things:

1) The failure to meet individual and supra-individual needs,

2) The creation of forms of material and non-material damage,

3) The failure to fulfill expectations and aspirations.

The failure to meet individual needs and the creation of damage to the individual, and the failure to fulfill individual expectations, creates individual discontent; and the failure to meet supra-individual needs (for example, the needs of a group, organization, neighborhood, etc.), the creation of damage at a supra-individual level, and the failure to fulfill the expectations of a collective or social group, creates collective discontent. In this sense, discontent means dissatisfaction with the three aforementioned situations.

Social uprisings may take a peaceful form or acquire a destructive and even predatory aspect, turning into a social riot. A social uprising may turn into a social movement and have a long lifespan, even becoming a social revolution, or it may have a very short life. Therefore, social uprising is a general term that encompasses various types of collective action. The scope and reach of social uprisings can be limited or very extensive. For example, a social uprising can occur among a factory with a thousand members against the employer and not extend beyond the realm of that factory, or it may engulf the entire country.

However, social uprisings are spontaneous phenomena. Individuals do not plan for an uprising but rather become involved in it. Therefore, it can be said that planned protest demonstrations differ from a social uprising. Uprisings also manifest as demonstrations, but not every protest demonstration is a social uprising. For instance, the planned sit-in of a small or large social group cannot be called a social uprising. When social uprisings persist for some time, they turn into a social movement, and planning and some form of leadership and management of the movement also emerge within it.

Thus, the definition of a social uprising can be summarized as follows: spontaneous collective actions that arise from social discontent, in which the discontent of a group of individuals finds collective expression

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Complete PDF file of the article “A Theoretical Perspective on Iran’s Social Uprisings”

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Session for the critique and review of the article “Theoretical Perspectives on Iran’s Social Uprisings”

Organized by the School of Identity Studies at the Andisheh Club | Thursday, January 5, 2023

Enghelab Street, Vesal Shirazi Street, Nayebi Alley, No. 23, Shabestan of the Andisheh Club

With the presence of Dr. Hassan Mohaddesi-Gilvaei (author) and Dr. Seyyed Javad Miri-Minaq (critic)

Watch the video of the review session on YouTube | Aparat

Download the audio of the review session

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