State, society and labour in Iran, 1906-1941 : a social history of Iranian industrialization and labour with reference to the textile industry

Afacan, S. (2015)

Doctoral Thesis

This study deals with the social history of industrialization and labour in Iran from the inception of the constitutional system in 1906 until the end of Reza Shah’s reign in 1941. It does so by particularly referring to the textile industry. In the main, the study seeks to discuss the Iranian industries before and after the large scale industrial leap-forward of 1930s in order to examine the conditions of the working people. The introductory Chapter One discusses the theoretical framework of the research. Chapter Two presents an historical background of the 19th century, insofar as it relates to the period investigated in this work. Chapter Three deals with an overview of the main political, economic and social developments of the years between 1906 and 1941. Chapter Four examines the Iranian industrialization between 1906 and 1941. Chapter Five investigates labour issues. Such issues as the discursive formation of the Iranian working class, the nature of the labour force in Iran during the period under study, labour legislation, working hours, sanitary conditions and workers’ attempts at improving their working and living conditions provide the main concern of this chapter. Chapter Six contains some concluding assessments and suggestions for further research.

• Labour history
• Iran
• Industrialization
• Pahlavi modernization
• Petitions
• Workers
• Textile industry

• All authors: Afacan, S.
• Supervisor: Atabaki, T.
• Co-supervisor: Linder, M. van der
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University
• Date: 2015-06-23