SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF GLOBALIZATION IN IRAN

Nuriyya Guliyeva

Information and images in this presentation were taken from different websites of research centers, newspapers, blogs, and books. Experiences and impressions of people who travelled to Iran were also used.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

CONTENT

Globalization and Iran

Employment, Labor, Migration, Brain drain

Society, Family, Women and Youth issues, Feminism

Technology, Internet, Social media

Islamization and Globalization

Conclusions

Since the ‘80s, the world economy has become increasingly “connected” and “integrated”; on the one hand the decreasing transportation costs and the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies have implied a fast downgrading of the concept of “distance”, while – on the other hand – gross trade, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), capital flows and technology transfers have risen significantly. In most countries, the current wave of “globalization” has been accompanied by increasing concern about its impact in terms of employment and income distribution.

The movement of ideas, images, products, and patterns of social relationships operatesabove the limits and boundaries established by the dictatorial regimes and isolationiststates. Even in the most isolationist countries, products imported from other countriesbring with them images, patterns, and modalities that influence the local patterns andforce the local actors to react to them either favorably or unfavorably. For instance,Islamic states like Iran, who are determined to stay away from Western influences, findthemselves fighting not foreign armies and imperialist tanks and war machines butMcDonald sandwiches, Hollywood movies and Disney images, and Western pop music icons.

Iran is one of the leading nations in the Middle East region that has a culturally-rich history and civilization. Iran mattersenormously. It has huge reserves of oil and gas, it is the country with the world's fifth largest Islamic population (afterIndonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) and it is the only predominantly Shiite power. It has an old and gloriouscivilization. It may also be in the process of acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran, since 1979, has rejected globalization — andhas been increasingly in global isolation. Since the late 1970s the world has been more and more affected by global forces andcountries have experienced greater pressure to open their borders, enrich their intellectual horizons, and expand theircultural bonds to forces outside of their own domains. During the first decade of its existence, the Islamic Republic of Iranresisted these forces and attempted to disconnect Iran from some of the global forces that had previously shaped the social,cultural, political and economic aspects of that country. It is obvious that globalization impacts every country, and Iranhas not been an exception.

After the revolution, Iran's tourist industry, where the local and global meet, collapsed as a result of the Islamization and the war with Iraq. Islamic codes have made it very difficult for foreign women and even men to have a normal traveling experience in Iran. To travel to Iran, women have to cover themselves with Islamic veil, completely avoid public physical interactions with both unrelated and closely related males. According to law, all shops, restaurants, cinemas, and government agencies must not serve women who violate the dress code. Even though the authorities and the Islamic police tends to be super nicer to foreigners and give them a sense of freedom, but you are expected to abide by Islamic laws when in public. This includes dressing up wearing an scarf over your hair.

Medical tourism is not new phenomenon in the world as well as in Iran. In the past somepeople from neighbor countries especially from Arab countries of Persian Gulf came toIran especially to Fars province to get health care services. In this area in thecountry, there are no exact statistics about medical tourists came to the country butsome resources indicated about 17500 patients came to Iran in 2005. The most popularprocedures which are demanded include: advanced treatments of cardiac treatments andsurgeries, cosmetic surgeries, productivity treatments, organ transplant.Cosmetic procedures cost five to six times the average monthly wage in Iran butaccording to a report in their conservative Etemad newspaper, as many as 200,000Iranians are undergoing rhinoplasty operations every year.

Iran nowadays is the first country in the world which sends its “elite” abroad, according to the globalstatistics of international organizations; and those students rarely come back. The International MonetaryFund states that Iran has the highest rate of brain drain in the world. Therefore, this wave ofimmigration of educated people is a delicate issue for the current government – for several reasons suchas the leak of educated and therefore fruitful students for the Nation, as well as theinfluence/impact/affect these students may have towards the Iranian regime from abroad. Nowadays manyrural populations in Iran have access to modern communicative devices such as radio, television, media,satellite technologies and improved road and transportation facilities and technologies in relation toagricultural industry.

In Iran in 1974, the tendency to choose spouse was among acquaintances, while such trend from 1979 has been reversed (2003). Now-even inrural areas-the exogamous marriages are increasing because of developments in communicational means, increase in migrations, socialcommunications and job statue. And most of marriage customs are maintained: proposing, engagement, and wedding, having marriage-portion, other marriage ceremonies and the first child’s birth ceremony. Some factors cause a decrease in the traditional patriarch families dueto modern thoughts, changes from agricultural economy to industrialization and constraints of urban life. In fact, there is an external pressurein modern society that restricted in patriarchal family. The modern family is neither patriarchal nor matriarchal because the power structure haschanged and the parents’ relatives respected and behaved equally by children. Families move to a kind of equality and we can see the couples’cooperation and enhancement of children’s statues.

Using Papanek's words, the Islamic Republic viewed women as the "carriers of traditions"whose existence was threatened by foreign forces of globalization. In the face of thisassault, stability and survival of the Muslim family was in danger. To protect thisfamily and its central element, i.e., women, they were to be shielded from these foreignforces and unwanted influences. To do this, it became necessary to keep a close eye onthe women's body, and social activities.

While the Islamic government's reaction to the globalization has been in the form of localization of identity, culture,traditions, and social norms, Iranian women's reactions have taken a course in between. Realizing the necessity of havingaccess to the technological, scientific, and communicational skills of the globalized world, and working against a localizedbut totalizing religious ideology and state apparatus, Iranian women have begun to demand access to global resources but at apace and in tune with their local needs and concerns. They have begun to connect their local conditions to global forces ofpatriarchy and social inequality. They have discovered the role of local agency and its impact on changing global structures.They are pressing against and going beyond the narrowly defined Islamic codes of femininity imposed by the IRI. They arechallenging the validity, universality, and generalizability of religious codes concerning female status within family andsociety.

With land, becoming one the major sources of capital accumulation, many people were attracted to invest inthis section including many unprofessional and jerry-builders which reduced the quality of Tehran’s urbanlandscape. Activities and investments in construction section implemented to maximize profit, minimizeexpenses without adhering to standards. On the other hand, international companies and firms left theirsignature in forms of buildings in public sphere without a participatory or bottom-up process, preventedthe social justice and ignored citizen’s rights and preferences. Widespread use of new materials andWestern new styles in construction market, made the urban landscape chaotic and messy. Of clearconsequences of this process is the chaotic skyline of Tehran which does not much to transfer to itscitizens and the world Construction of iconic and high buildings to create spatial contrast and in urbanstructures is another movement is recent transformation process of Tehran’s urban form. Erecting towerssuch as ASP and Milad Communication Tower are evidences of this.

Distribution of technology across Iran is another dimension of globalization process in Iran and speciallyTehran. 15 millions of cell phone devices were sold in 2008 which has reached 53 million in 2010.According to statistics of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, the number of graduatedstudents in technologic majors in 2006 was 46053 which manifests the tendencies for being global. Despitelimitations in accessing Internet and its low speed, number of Internet users is about 24.5 millions whichis the highest number in the Middle East according to data of 2010. Also, Tehran Municipality’s effort tojoin ICT network is another evidence of technologic improvement in recent years.Iran is one of the countries that apply strict control over printed and online media tools. When we look at theincrease in the number of Internet users in Iran, we see that while the number of Internet users were under one millionin 2000, this number has increased to twenty three million users in 2008. The increase at such a sharp rate shows itseffects on the number of blogs in Iran. It has been calculated that approximately 60.000 blogs were written in Persianlanguage in 2008, which is a large number considering the censorship implemented by the government.

Freedom of speech is among the rights that each person should have regardless of his race,religion, gender, and social position. In Iran’s constitution it is declared, “the mediashould be used as a forum for healthy encounter of different ideas, but they must strictlyrefrain from diffusion and propagation of destructive and anti-Islamic practices”(Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1979). However, it seems that it has beendifficult to apply the principles written in constitution to the Internet. Iran has a historyof monitoring and blocking social media. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus are allblocked in the country, but millions of people use proxy servers to bypass the restrictions.Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is inaccessible in Iran on the grounds that they undermineIslamic values.

Iran has blocked access to an Instagram page devoted to the lifestyle of Tehran’s young elite that stirred indignation and spawned a rival site on how the majority live. Richkidsoftehran, created in September on the photo-sharing service, attracted almost 100,000 followers, with its contributors saying they wanted to show a different image of Iran from the stereotypes in the west. Its photo gallery was filled with Ferraris, Maseratis, luxury watches, expensive homes in upmarket northern Tehran – “all the accessories a Persian boy needs”. It also showed parties and women in western dress, despite the ban on alcohol in Iran, where women are obliged to wear headscarves.The Instagram page was blocked because of its “vulgar” content

Double standards?

Peace activists in Israel have launched an internet campaign to try to prevent conflictwith Iran in 2012. The ‘Israel loves Iran Facebook campaign has begun to receive numerousresponses from Iranians, who stared responding to the Israeli initiative that calls onpeople to announce their love for the Iranians by posting pictures on Facebook. Up toSaturday night, graphic artists Ronny Edry and his wife, Michal Tamir, who began thecampaign, were still trying to persuade Iranians to respond to the dozens of Israelis thatput up posters of themselves with the words, "Iranians, we will never bomb your country,we [heart] you.” Their labor bore fruit, as more and more posts by Iranians startedpopping up on their Facebook page in response to their Israeli counterparts.

Conclusions

• brain drain despite huge investments on education

• changing lifestyle of Iranian people despite strict regulations

• rising feminism in society despite actions on preventing this trend

• increasing rate of technology and internet users despite restrictions

• between islamization and globalization

Thank you for your time and attention!