Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The role of religion in contemporary society
The effects of secularization
Modern vs traditional society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The role of religion in contemporary society
It has been really an wonderful week learning about one of the most controversial country of the modern time, Iran, because of its rigidity towards the Nuclear program and Shariah law thus result to continuous violation of human rights. Yet we all have to admit it the journey of Iran had been full of struggle because of inefficient ruler and thus lead to fall in economic, social and political aspect of the people over the course of history. The current status of Iran have both ups and down but it is economy, at the end of the day, which makes all the difference to the acceptance of a particular approach by the people.
The impact of modernity is multidimensional to the traditional societies. The main appealing factor of modernity what I believe is social equity, freedom and independence also development of infrastructures which increases the standard of living. This is why people all over the world are too attracted to modernity. However, all the elements of modernity is not suitable for all the parts of the world and more precisely in greater extent the historical and cultural background of the people which largely influences the establishment of elements of modernity on a particular landmass. For an instance, we all are aware of the fact that democracy is an element of modernity and so is secularism. In the course of history of many countries we have seen traditional elements were brought by element of modernity or traditional elements reserved elements of modernity. In order to clear out the fact let me put some examples
Turkey and Iran:
The military personnel are always conscious about the preservation of Kemalism in the modern Turkey. Thus there has been several impacts upon the democracy by military coups in the modern ...
... middle of paper ...
...t when they will be aware of their human rights, mainly the rights of freedom of thought and speech, freedom of belief, rights of LGBT, and individual freedom. So we can expect economic development lead to more educated citizen leading to creation of self-conscious section of society. So in order to keep its establishment the reformation of religion or the liberal interpretation is necessary.
Iran needs to gain many elements from modernity. Islam in no way can be solution to the challenges of modern times. Although it is claimed by the fundamentalist section of the believers that it does, Iran could not prove this extraordinary claim nor in a way to prove it so. Human beings have to realize the fact that tradition was created addressing to a social challenge and human life is dynamic. Adaption leads to exist otherwise annihilated by natural selection process.
Not only did the religious history play a large role in Iran’s beliefs but also foreign invaders have been imposing their power on the Iranian region for thousands of years. Iran...
The Iranian government is fighting a losing battle against a rapidly growing Western force. Although Iran is not physically waging war against the United States, the government is fighting to eradicate its increasing cultural influence in Iran. The young, Iranian population is currently speaking out against the Islamic Republic’s attempts to rid the country of Western culture, demanding more freedom and less censorship, similar to how Marjane Satrapi acts out against the regime in Persepolis.
14?Narli, Nilufer. ?The Rise of the Islamist Movement in Turkey.? Middle East Review of International
Democracy in the United States became prominent in the early to mid 19th century. Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States, was inaugurated in 1829 and was best known as the person who mainstreamed democracy in America. Because he came from a humble background, he was the “genuine common man.” (Foner, pg. 303) He claimed he recognized the needs of the people and spoke on behalf of the majority [farmers, laborers]. However, critics of Jackson and democracy called him “King Andrew I” because of his apparent abuse of presidential power [vetoing]. These critics believed he favored the majority so much that it violated the U.S. constitution, and they stated he was straying too far away from the plan originally set for the United States. Because of the extreme shift of power to the majority, the limiting of rights of the few [merchants, industrialists] and the abuse of power under Jackson’s democracy, the foundational documents set in the constitution was violated, and the work of the preceding presidents were all but lost.
Over the course of the last century, the Islamic Republic of Iran (formerly known as Persia) has seen colonialism, the end of a dynasty, the installation of a government by a foreign power, and just over three decades ago, the popular uprising and a cleric-led revolution. These events preceded what could be considered the world’s first Islamic state, as politics and fundamentalist religion are inextricably linked in contemporary Iran. Looking at Iran from the mid 1940’s until the present day, one can trace the path that led to the rise of fundamental Islam in Iran in three distinct periods. The first is that which began with the rise of secular nationalism and the decline of Islam. In the second, the secular, western-friendly government eventually gave way to the Islamic revival in the form of a government takeover by hard-line clerics and disillusioned, fundamentalist youth; both motivated and led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Rule of Iran by these fundamentalist clerics then led to the formation of the fundamentalist Islamic theocracy that governs present-day Iran. The current government has some democratic appearances, but all real power is in the hands of the supreme leader, an Ayatollah who is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics chosen by the Guardian Council. With the Iranian Revolution, political Islam was born, with the fundamentalists holding the reins of power in Iran to the present day.
In the 1970’s Iran, under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was a very centralized military state that maintained a close relationship with the USA. The Shah was notoriously out of touch with working class Iranians as he implemented many controversial economic policies against small business owners that he suspected involved profiteering. Also unrestricted economic expansions in Iran lead to huge government expenditure that became a serious problem when oil prices dropped in the mid 1970’s. This caused many huge government construction projects to halt and the economy to stall after many years of massive profit. Following this was high rates of inflation that affected Iranians buying power and living standards. (Afary, 2012) Under the Shah, political participation was not widely available for all Iranians and it was common for political opposition to be met with harassment, illegal detention, and even torture. These measures were implemented by the Iranian secret police knows as ‘SAVAK’. This totalitarian regime combined with the increasing modernisation of the country paved the way for revolution.
New technologies, like automobiles (left), movies and radios, spread the idea of modernity to a large part of the population. There were also new ideas and theories that clashed with old traditions or religion.
Arjomand, Said Amir. “Iran's Islamic Revolution in Comparative Perspective.” World Politics, Volume 38, Issue 3 (1986. 4), 383-414.
The introduction of modernism to Australia is a more complex phenomenon than previously thought. Choose an aspect of Modernism, either Cubism or Surrealism or Expressionism or Modernist Design and Architecture and chart their development in Australia by focusing on the work of two artists, designers or architects.
Modernity. A major sociological concept that explains social change would be modernity. Modernity explains the changes in social patterns that result in a nation industrializing (Macionis, Jansson, & Benoit, 2009). Since the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, the Afghan people have been struggling to make social improvements to their living conditions (Kowaluk & Staples, 2008). The current Afghan government held by Hamid Karzai has been generally unpopular because the changes to living conditions have been very slow (Kow...
The education system in place when the shah was in charge was secular in nature, and the education system implemented by the Islamic regime was incredibly religious and based upon the teachings of Islam. If the students of Iran were not forced to switch from one education system to the other, then each system in their own way would have succeeded. However, since the students were forced to switch education systems, this caused the students to become rebellious. “I think that the reason we were so rebellious was that our generation had known secular schools,” (Satrapi, 2000, p. 98). The students had become accustomed to they ways of the secular schools, that when they were forced to switch to the strict rules of the education system of the Islamic regime, this caused pandemonium and ultimately led to rebellion. This switch is education system was the reason both forms of education ended up not succeeding but failing.
Atatürk's legacy also survives in the Turkish military, which sees itself as the guardian of Turkish nationalism and secularism. Kemalist officers staged coups in 1960 and 1980 in defence of what they saw as the principles of Atatürk against corrupt politicians, and even today the moderately Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has to tread carefully on issues such as Cyprus and Kurdistan for fear of offending Kemalist sentiment in the military. The power of the army and the authoritarian Kemalist strain in Turkish politics remain obstacles to Turkey's acceptance into the European Union.
Although the Iranian Revolution was both a political and religious movement in that it resulted in major shifts in government structure from an autocracy to a republic and that Islamic beliefs were fought to be preserved, it was more a religious movement in that the primary goal of the people was to preserve traditional ideology and in that the government became a theocracy intertwined with religious laws and desires of the people. Although the Iranian Revolution was caused by combination of political and religious motivations and ideas, the desires of the people supporting the movement were more dominantly religious ideas that were wished to be imposed in society and in a new government. The Shah, or king, of Iran at the time was Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who had developed relations with nations in the “western” world, specifically with the United States. The United States supported the White Revolution, which was a series of social reformations the Shah made to remove Islamic values, law and tradition from the government to boost the country’s economy (White Revolution, 2010).... ...
The Islamic Republic of Iran, formerly known as Iran or Persia, was crowded with a young generation looking for full freedom against the Shah. Persia, once as a powerful country with vast oil resources, soon became a vulnerable nation, ready to accept a new leader to guide them. The people were ready for change, but were the changes they got the changes they were looking for. The people wanted freedom against the shah, (For generations Iran was ruled by Kings) who allowed some freedoms, but it was somewhat limited. The people wanted freedom of speech, so that the press could freely publish their own opinions. They wanted to get rid of a law that made all eighteen-year-old males attend two years of military service unless they are accepted to a university, which would allow them attend the army later as a service worker. The shah was anti-religious, which was not ideal for many of the civilians in Iran. Savak (Secret organization of Iran) was accused of many anti – human rights actions, such as killing students who protested and immediately jailing press members for inappropriate conduct. A major problem was that the shah was a “puppet” of the United States many say, because the Shah would constantly confer with the U.S. of all of his decisions as ruler. The after affects of the revolution resulted in similar conditions, however. Human rights are horrible, the government limits all freedoms, the economy has suffered greatly, average salaries are hard to live with, most of the educated people in Iran fled to foreign countries, the quality of public schools is horrible, and the government still controls all television broadcasts and keeps a watchful eye on the newspapers. From bad to worse is what many people feel has become of Iran, but the people are ready for a real change.
Modernization is the term used for the transition from the traditional society of the past to modern society as it is found today in the West. Modernization theory refers to a variety of non-Marxist perspectives which have been put forward to explain the development or underdevelopment of countries. Modernization theory is a model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of differing levels of technological development among societies. Modernization theory presents the idea that by introducing modern methods in "technology, agricultural production for trade, and industrialization dependent on a mobile labour force," the underdeveloped countries will experience a strengthening in their economies. Modernization theory offers an account of the common features of the process of development drawing on the analysis of Durkheim and Weber. Development implies the bridging of these gaps by an imitative process, occurring in stages, such that traditional sectors and/or countries gradually assume the qualities of the 'modern' western countries. There are many proponents of Modernization Theory, such as, Walter Rostow, W.A. Lewis, Talcott Parsons, and Daniel Lerner, however the theory has it's roots in the ideas of Durkheim and Weber. The proponents of the modernization theory all felt that the rest of the world needed to look to the Western model of modernity and pattern their society like the West in order to progress. Modernization theory was developed as an alternative to the Marxist account of social development. Modernization Theory Divides the World into two kinds of societies: "modern" and "traditional." Traditional societies are backward looking : Dominated by religious a...