THE FAMILY

Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1982

Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, 2019

Power is manifested differently in different cultures. Modern societies are balancing between power and equality. During the past few years, the Iranian family system has changed. Women are looking toward nongendered equality. The aim of this study was to investigate the power within the cultural background of urban Iranian couples. In this qualitative study, 16 couples (n ¼ 32) were recruited and interviewed by using a semistructured interview. Each partner was interviewed individually. Narratives were recorded and transcribed by all authors separately and a final conclusion was made. To analyze the data, thematic analysis was carried out. The analysis of the data shows that in Iranian families, power is influenced by six themes: (a) couple's communication patterns, (b) gender identity and roles, (c) original family's perception of power, (d) couples indecisiveness (irresponsibility), (e) sexual issues, and (f) ambivalence. Understanding power dynamics in Iranian families is helpful for both researchers and practitioners.

Third World Quarterly, 2024

This contribution addresses the strategic significance of family politics for the Islamic Republic of Iran, facing multifaceted crises. It identifies Iran’s recent family and gender policies, which are characterised by the fusion of neoliberal principles with moral politics and can be found in other authoritarian neoliberal regimes. Drawing on a historical analysis of familialism in Iran, spanning pre- and post-revolutionary periods, we contend that the recent shift towards a gendered-moral politics emphasising harsh pronatalism and family-oriented governance, termed ‘neoliberal familialism’, reflects a profound shift in the political rationality of the Islamic Republic towards neoliberal governance to manage its socio-economic crises. In other words, not only have neoliberal principles affected the family politics of the last decade in Iran, but a specific form of masculine nationalist neoliberalisation in Iran has also been possible and advanced partly through neoliberal familialism.

Hawwa, 2008

JOURNAL FOR IRANIAN STUDIES, 2018

“ Brothers Larijani live like gods while we cannot afford bread”. This slogan was an accurate reflection of popular rage in the demonstrations that erupted in Iran in December 2017. The protestors showed their dissatisfaction with some families, given their monopoly over power in Iran for decades. Most of the participants in these demonstrations did not live at the time when Iranians rebelled against Shah in 1979, but they were completely convinced that their living conditions were the same as same forty years ago. They believed that the only difference between both regimes was the transition that had taken place from the Shah and his tyranny to the theocratic system of the Supreme Leader and his followers. By studying its history, geography, cultural heritage, and civilization, Iran is part of the traditional Middle Eastern political culture where the family, tribe, and race share power and impact the political system and form of government. However, this is more notable in Iran than in other countries with similar traditional political cultures. Some families in Iran have absolute political power in contrast with the claims of the Iranian ruling elite who pretend sincerity and love for democracy and try to give the political system a civilized picture. The dominant political role of some families in Iran is reflective of the high level of corruption and the low level of development, which has increased poverty and damaged living conditions. This has consolidated the regimes absolute power and supported its expansionist sectarian project to boost its internal legitimacy. This expansionist tendency has impacted the role of Iran regionally and internationally through the imposition of sanctions and its isolation by the international community, resulting in the Iranian people being deprived from their own wealth and opportunities for development. As a result, the Iranian people went to the streets at the end of 2017 and called for regime to be toppled, along with its prominent figures. This is evidence of the failure of the Iranian regime to build a political system that meets the aspirations of all Iranians and a decline in legitimacy of its key political figures. Since the 1979 revolution, Iran’s politics witnessed several families that took over several influential positions in the structure of the Iranian regime. The members of these families played major roles in all spheres of power like Khomeini, Khamenei, Rafsanjani, Khatami, Larijani, Araqchi, and others. The political role of the family has been widely questioned by many advanced and developing countries because of its impact on the nature of rule, the future of the concerned countries, and the welfare of the people. In fact, the political role of the family is not a problem unless it turns into minority rule with broad political powers that damages and limits the effectiveness of the regime. Since the emergence of the role of the family in Iran’s politics many reflections on the regime’s effectiveness have taken place. Basically, any political regime has to be effective by ensuring the supremacy of law, political participation, transparency, honesty, equality, liability, accountability, control, and independence. However, the Iranian experience has resulted in a negative impact of the role of the family on these characteristics that make a regime effective. This study handles the political role of the family in Iran by discussing the following points: the factors behind the rise of the role of the family and its nature within the political system, its relationship to the regime’s vitality and efficiency, and how promotions and internal political activities gave ground for this role.

Family Process, 2009

Sometimes therapists assume that gender equality is not relevant when working with couples from traditional cultures. This study of couples in Iran suggests more complexity. The authors identify a variety of views and practices regarding equality between men and women in relationships. Some aspired to traditional roles; others attempted to create mutually supportive relationships. Yet others were somewhere in-between. This study helps identify important dimensions that may be overlooked when we define couple equality only by American standards or understand it only through a Western lens. The study provides insight into the dilemmas couples face when ideals of equality intersect with societal structures that maintain gendered power and offers suggestions for addressing gender when working with couples with traditional cultural backgrounds.

UR JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2024

The influence of Western culture and the efforts of domestic intellectuals merely scratched the surface of pre-existing and traditional practices towards women in nineteenth-century Iran. However, they led to the rise of social movements, such as the women's rights movement. Modernisation and economic growth drove ongoing processes of industrialization and urbanization during the twentieth century in Iran. Modernization also changed the social structure by creating a new middle class. It is expected that economic growth and educational attainment would empower the new middle class to demand greater political accountability, which, in turn, would lead to women's empowerment. The new middle class participated in the 1979 revolution, the outcome of which was to accelerate the rise of religious leadership. The revolutionary government renewed traditional Shiʿite practices, including traditional norms concerning women. Since the revolution, despite the imposition of Islamic law, the level of literacy and access to higher education, particularly for women, has escalated. This has led to women's awareness of their rights and their struggles to realize them in practice. However, unexpectedly, the new middle class hesitated in turning revolutionary and in joining the protestors. This research assumes that education enables women to confront their traditional roles in the family. Nevertheless, changing women's position is a process of cultural change that is coherent with both socioeconomic development and the rise of a strong middle class.