Citizens,+Society,+and+the+State

=**A. Cleavages and Politics**= media type="custom" key="12831544" align="center"
 * 1) **Iran is the world's most populous Shia Muslim country**. About 89% of Iranians are Shia Muslims, while 9% are Sunni Muslims. The split between Shia and Sunni Muslims happened soon after the inception of Islam over the question of who should succeed Muhammad as the new caliph. Shi'ites believe that only direct descendants of Muhammad had the right to lead. They regard other leaders that Sunnis revere as illegitimate, and have been suspicious of secular authority and political power. Shi'ites revered Muhammad's direct descendants (Fatima, his daughter; Ali, her husband; Hassan and Hussein, their sons) as their leaders, or imams, until the 12th imam disappeared. They now await his return at the end of time to restore order. Shi'ite clergy came to represent the hidden imam, and were very influential but completely independent from political leaders and authority. However, their separation from political life stemmed from a desire to remain untainted by illegitimate political and religious leaders, not from a desire to divorce religion from the state. Sunnis and Shi'ites believe in some of the same things, such as Islamic law, but in different ways. Their religious differences have manifested themselves in significant and often violent conflict over the past centuries in countries across the Middle East.
 * 2) **Other religious groups in Iran include people of the Ba'Hai faith, Christians, and Jews.** People of other religions are technically allowed to keep their religious beliefs but are subject to Islamic civil law. Ba'hai is outlawed in Iran, but there are 350,000 people of Ba'hai faith in Iran. The government considers the Ba'hai faith an offshoot of Islam and a British fabrication meant to undermine the Iranian government. There are about 80,000 Christians and 30,000 Jews in Iran

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 * 1) **Iran is a "young country" - 70% of its population is under 30 years old.** Young people in Iran tend to be highly educated, most of them complete a college education, because education is valued by Iranians. Iran's young people are often hurt economically by Iran's slow growing economy and the sanctions. It is difficult for them as highly educated young adults to find jobs. Young women worry about inequality between the sexes, as there are now more women than men enrolled in Iran's universities but men still make up the majority of the Iranian workforce. They resent the dress codes and desire greater personal freedoms and greater civil liberties. The right to vote is important to them and they resent the fixed elections, they want their votes to count and their voices to be heard. They resent the government's censorship of the Internet, and see it as an infringement on their liberties. They see the limitations that the government imposes as an inhibition to true democracy. Iran's young population did not live through the 1979 revolution, they didn't fight in the Iran - Iraq war, and they are becoming disenchanted with the revolution, and Khatami's Islamic Democracy as failed to address their concerns with civil liberties. However, young Iranians have a strong sense of national pride and don't want to see Iran become secular - Islam is a big part of their daily lives, but they would like to see it confined more into a private sphere


 * 1) **Iran's lower class can be divided into two groups - those with regular employment, and those without**. Employed lower class people usually work as domestic servants, or in other service jobs. Unemployed are either peasants or marginally employed. Iran's harsh climate and desert landscape makes it pretty inhospitable to agriculture, but the government subsidizes some agriculture. Peasants are often kept in perpetual debt and find it difficult to move ahead economically. For the working class, some strikes were an important part of the 1979 Revolution, but strikes are now outlawed by the new government and considered un-Islamic. For the most part, the lower class is a strong base of religious orthodoxy and people belonging to this class may be more traditional in their personal and public lives. Women can work, but are expected to quit their job when they get married. Getting a divorce is generally not accepted, and weddings are small but jubilant celebrations. They benefit somewhat from state institutions but are still unhappy with the poor economic performance of the country.
 * 2) **Iran's middle class is diverse, but economically shrinking because of Iran's slow growing economy.** The middle class tends to be secular, and is the biggest source of opposition to the regime. People in the middle class are very proud of their "culture capital" - their abilities, skills, and knowledge that they pass on to younger generations. The middle class perpetuates itself thanks to urbanization, increasing rates of literacy, and the bureaucratization of state power. Education is very valuable to members of the middle class, as it is a sort of status symbol and a gateway to economic opportunity. The sympathies of members of the middle class typically depend on how traditional or modern they view themselves, but in general the middle class is hostile to the clergy and its corruption. Thousands of western educated Iranians have emigrated since 1979, hurt by refusals to conform religiously to social codes in order to retain their jobs. Many members of the middle class are hurt by the economic sanctions imposed on Iran by the international community, while the Revolutionary Guards, the force assigned to enforce and protect the regime, benefits from many of them. Small business and industries are hurt by the sanctions because they can't buy raw materials from foreign sources, and people end up buying cheap imported goods from China instead of quality domestic products. The Revolutionary Guards own many of the thriving businesses that specialize in smuggling foreign goods into Iran. This has caused more tension and resentment between the middle class and the regime.
 * 3) **Iran's upper class is made up of financiers, industrialists, and large-scale merchants.** Many people remained in the upper class by staying in Iran after the Revolution and retaining their wealth. However, in Iran, political power and influence is closely linked to the acquirement of more wealth, especially in the upper class. Therefore, many upper class members who stayed in Iran after the Revolution were no longer in favor with the new regime and their ability to acquire more wealth was severely affected. After the revolution a new group surfaced - the senior clergy, which became part of the upper class and some of the most influential members of society. After the revolution, wealth didn't equal authority anymore.

=**B. Civil Society and Social Capital**=
 * 1) **The goal of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 was to create a society with values based on the Quran and Shia Islam.** Revolutionary leaders started using the central government to implement this goal and the de-secularization of public life in Iran. Iranian culture is class-based, traditional, and patriarchal. Class is based mostly on income, financial position, and family genealogy. Tradition comes from Islam but some aspects, like the importance of kinship, come from older, Asian and Middle Eastern practices in place millenniums ago. Members of the western-educated, upper and middle classes have been criticized by the clergy and lay people for leading "immoral" lifestyles. Members of these class often oppose strict dress codes - like hejab, which says that women have to be completely covered in public except for their face and hands. These classes often dominated civil and professional occupations and some have been forced to undergo "Islamic re-education" in order to keep their jobs.
 * 2) **Dress codes in Iran are dictated by the government and tradition**. Iranians take great pride in how they dress. Formal attire is expected for almost any gathering, and informal dress at a gathering is expected only if it takes place among very close friends and family. Men usually wear a suit everywhere, although ties have been recently rejected as being "too Western". Iran's dress codes prohibits short sleeved shirts and shorts for men, but men wear short sleeves on the streets often in spite of the rules. Contrary to popular belief, not all Iranian men sport beards, although beards have become a symbol of loyalty to the theocratic regime. More modern women may uncover their hair at private gatherings, expose body parts, or wear heavy makeup. More traditional women will always cover their hair and most of their bodies, and wear no makeup. Some women may wear a chador, a long, loose black garment that is wrapped around the body with no fasteners. Other women may wear loose, small scarves in public which expose parts of their hair. It depends on how traditional they are. For more traditional Muslim families, the way their children dress may be a source of conflict. Girls are not allowed to wear shorts or tank tops or else they are considered immoral, and boys are not allowed to color their hair or wear earrings because those are considered feminine trends. In private, dress codes are looser, women may uncover their hair or dress in more revealing clothes when they are among family members and especially if they are only among women. [[image:http://iranpoliticsclub.net/history/DeChadorization/images/Iranian%20women%20students%20after%201979.jpg]][[image:https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSlhle_MPx1atAfTgAYaPaDfRivLUHz_RPxlOyIGqdby_C9ikn4GQ]][[image:http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Travel/Pix/pictures/2007/04/07/Iran_Alamy460.jpg]][[image:https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgjS3qIuM5Oohz-Kxt20SvUktMOqUk0tRF6Jd1fuMyQM9bP5qsKwOIuMiqzw width="348" height="235"]]
 * 3) **Iran is a patriarchal society**. Legally and culturally, men have more rights and privileges than women. Women have more restrictions in regards to dress codes, social behaviors, and freedoms. Women's role is traditionally childbearing and housekeeping, but younger generations of women are now educated, seek professional jobs, and are politically engaged. Generally working women rely on the family to take care of the children if they work as day cares are mistrusted. Nannies are preferred if they can be afforded. Patriarchy has been a major institution in the area since ancient times and is rooted in religious, cultural, and legal practices. The middle and upper classes tend to reject this patriarchal structure and have more equal relationships, but for the masses and the rural areas, patriarchy remains the way of life. In marriage, divorce, and custody rights, women have less legal rights than men. Their custody to their children in case of divorce is limited to the first two years of the child's life. Men can partake in polygamy but women cannot. A women's inheritance is half that of a male sibling. Women's testimonies are half as valuable as a man's. In murder cases, the testimony of a women alone is not enough to sentence a murderer. The witness of a man is needed for validation. The state forces women to wear veils in public and they can be arrested for non observance. There are few legal measures to prevent the abuse of women and domestic violence, though these practices are uncommon in the upper and middle classes.
 * 4) **Socialization between sexes in Iran differs depending on social class and how traditional a family is.** For some traditional Muslim families, there is no socialization between men and women except for marriage. There should be no open dating or socializing with that intent as the families will often arrange marriages, so there is no need for dating. More traditional women may not dance at parties where the company is mixed and may feel more comfortable with members of their own sex. More traditional men may refuse to kiss or touch the hand of a woman not related to him. However, decades of westernization and modernization have created modern groups who behave differently. The way people drink, eat, and dress can say a lot about how traditional they are and even what social class they belong to. Marriage is still a complex and important matter in Iran. Parents often still play a big part in choosing who their children marry. In the case of arranged marriages, they usually present different candidates from young men who are the sons of family friends, neighbors, or colleagues. The children usually get to take their pick out of the partners deemed worthy by their parents. In other cases, young people choose who they marry through dating and friendships and their parents merely have to put their stamp of approval on their child's future spouse. If there is disagreement over a child's future spouse, this may create some conflict within the family. Parents are usually involved in the wedding process. The groom's family pays for the wedding celebration and the bride's family contributes furniture as part of the bride's dowry. In this way, the young couple is still financial dependent on the parents. More traditional and less educated men may expect to marry a woman who is subservient and a virgin and have her and their children adhere to strict behavioral codes. In more modern unions, the couple treats each other as equals, they may both work outside the home, and are both involved in decisions about their future. They may sign a prenuptial agreement that says the woman can travel without the husband's permission, and that the children are allowed to travel with her, since in Iran the husband's permission is needed for things like this. Interracial and interreligion marriages are not that popular. Women can only marry non-Muslims if the spouse agrees to convert before the marriage. Men can marry non-Muslim women, though. Children born to non-Iranian fathers can't become Iranian citizens since only their father's citizenship matters. Therefore, they cannot own property, have Iranian IDs, or have an Iranian passport. Finally, a double standard exists where it is more acceptable for men to be unfaithful than for women. Men are allowed to practice polygamy and have concubines, though this practice is uncommon and is generally looked down upon. However, women who are unfaithful are severely punished along with their lovers.


 * 1) **The role of the family in Iranian society is extremely important**. Family has played a big role in Iranian society since milleniums ago. Families are adult-oriented, with the parents very involved in many big decisions in their children's lives like who they will marry or what profession they will choose. Children are raised in big extended families, taught to always respect their elders, and always take care of their families. Parents try to provide their kids with as much as possible and often support them financially throughout their education and young adult lives. Children are taught to listen to and respect their parents and always heed their wishes. In Iran, family comes before the individual. Education is also highly prized and parents often place a lot of pressure on kids to succeed academically

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=**C. Media Roles**= media type="youtube" key="zfPWNI65K-o" height="315" width="560" align="center"
 * 1) **Free speech in Iran is limited, and most of the press is state-controlled, so people take advantage of the internet and social media sites to communicate with each other and propagate opposition to the government.** Iran's constitution specifically says that the news and media channels are ways to encounter different ideas in a healthy way but should not be used to publicize anti-Islamic ideas or opposition to the government. As a result, the freedom of the press is severely limited. Young people in particular have taken advantage of social networking sites like facebook and Twitter to communicate about their grievances, organize protests, and attempt to communicate what is going on in Iran with the rest of the world. The 2009 protests were largely orchestrated through facebook and Twitter, and when the government started brutally repressing the protests and censoring reports about violence, people started uploading pictures of police brutality against peaceful protests to Twitter. This put further pressure on Iran from the international community. Iran has the most blogs in the Middle East, and internet use is widespread; most people have access and use it to their advantage. Recently, the green movement continues to use the internet to garner support for their cause. However, their opposition also uses the internet to rally and oppose the Green Movement. In this way, both camps use modern tools to attain political ends. Recently, the government blocked e-mail sites like Gmail and Yahoo! Mail without warning or explanation. Many think this move will hurt the regime. The government also blocks any Western media or news sites for fear of them spreading propaganda meant to undermine the Iranian government. Aside from China, Iran is supposed to have the most sophisticated technology for monitoring and blocking access to the internet.

=**D. Political Participation**=
 * 1) **The recent 2009 election split voters into two camps-- those who supported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and those who supported Mousavi.** There were mass protests before the election to demand that votes be counted fairly. There was disillusionment among the general population that avenues for peaceful change like elections don't matter because they are fixed and corrupted. This election brought people of all social classes, economic classes, gender, and political affiliation together to call for free and unbiased elections. The peaceful protests were brutally put down, and the elections continued on, biased and fixed. Incumbent president Ahmadinejad beat out competitive reformer candidate Mousavi with 62.6% of the popular vote, and Mousavi with 33.8% of the vote. The protests died down after the election, though there were still some protests against the unfair elections, with Mousavi supporters rallying in the streets and demanding a recount. However, it was reported that about 85% of the population turned out to vote, a huge amount of political participation.
 * 1) **2012 - people are protesting in the streets again, this time calling for a total regime change as part of the Green Party movement led by the middle class**. The protesters are less in numbers than those in 2009 but they have come out to protest anyway. People have been protesting despite the threat of arrest, torture, and death, calling for human rights, the right to elect their leader, and for their votes and voices to count. Even some clerics have started criticizing the regime. Grand Ayatollah Sanei called the regime despotic. For important religious leaders to criticize the regime is huge, since the Revolutionary Guards take their cues from these leaders.[[image:http://www.freedomessenger.com/wp-content//azadi-square-june-2009.jpg caption="Mousavi supporters protest the imprisonment of ex presidential candidate Mousavi"]]

=E. Social Movements= media type="custom" key="12459130" align="center"
 * 1) There is a women's rights movement in Iran which has a long history and continues to advocate for the rights of women in Iran. It has at times achieved big advances in improving women's status and at other times has been brutally suppressed. Lately it has been more persecuted, under Ahmadinejad's presidency. In 2006, they launched the Stop Stoning Forever and the One Million Signatures campaign. The Stop Stoning Forever campaign aimed to stop the practice of stoning women and their lovers to death for infidelity. The practice was legal but was not supposed to be enforced. The One Million Signatures campaign is a call to repeal discriminatory laws against women in Iran. It is also an effort to promote cooperation and collaboration and put greater focus on women's needs. Some try to raise awareness for the cause of women with print journals like Zanan or through online journals[[image:http://www.enduringamerica.com/storage/blog-post-images/IRAN%20WOMEN%20PROTEST.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1311751879383]]2.The middle class has been instrumental in orchestrating the opposition Green Party movement in Iran. They demand social justice, greater rights for women, human rights, and political and personal freedoms. Their protests and demonstrations have captured the attention of the world. However, it is not a majority movement. They are a small but vocal minority which is tirelessly working to spread their ideas and challenge the views of Ahmadinejad and the other conservatives in power. They have used every resource available to protest and proliferate their views, including writing their criticisms of the government on bank notes, writing songs and poetry, and using social media websites. Mir Hossein Mousavi, the presidential candidate, and Mehdi Karroubi are recognized as the leaders of the movement. Both men have been imprisoned. The motto of the Green Party is "Where is my vote?" since the movement started mostly as a result of the protests after the supposedly fraudulent elections of 2009. Some of the demands of the movement include equal treatment under the law despite ethnicity or religion, the spread of secular Islam, which permits the separation of religion and state, a revival of a "culture of joy" instead of a "culture of mourning and martyrdom", no more violence as a political tool, and the epousal of civil disobedience as a legitimate means of bringing about change, initiating peaceful relations with other countries and the rejection of all gender inequality. [[image:http://windowsoniran.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/banknote-comments-001.jpg?w=500 width="444" height="244" caption="Green marker on a bank note criticizes the Iranian economy: selling cheap oil to China, importing useless goods, and allowing domestic production to go down. "]][[image:https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTBzkLcVtFeFSXMPK2GWNIe8LbledDHDM20Sl_M2GeCFnUzHMrTzA width="355" height="236" caption="Green movement protesters. "Where is my vote" motto"]]

=F. Citizenship and representation= Maria Alvarez
 * 1) Every faith is represented in the parliament with the exception of the Ba'hai faith.
 * 2) People are represented in the parliament, and are supposed to be represented by their president. However, fraudulent elections and the brutal oppression of opposition movements and the incarceration of the government's political opponents create a tense atmosphere of limited freedom and little liberties. All citizens over the age of 18 can vote, and though people have turned out in droves to vote, there is some disillusionment because people feel as though their voices have not been heard.
 * 3) Anyone born in Iran or outside of Iran whose father is Iranian is an Iranian citizen. If your father is not Iranian but you have lived in Iran your whole life and a year or more after you turn 18, then you are an Iranian citizen. Women who marry an Iranian husband can become Iranian citizens. It is possible to have multiple citizenships as an Iranian citizen. Iranian courts are amending the law that says that children born to non-Iranian fathers cannot be Iranian citizens. For years women had appealed this law, which was considered discriminatory and even un-Islamic as the children were treated as second-class citizens who could not register for school in Iran, own property as adults, or vote. Now, children born to Iranian Muslim women and non-Iranian Muslim fathers, or Iranian Jewish mothers and non-Iranian Jewish fathers, etc can become legal Iranian citizens