This thesis retrieves theworking and everyday life experiences of oil workers in 1973-83, and explorestheir cultural, religious and political ideas and activities during the socialtransformations... Show moreThis thesis retrieves theworking and everyday life experiences of oil workers in 1973-83, and explorestheir cultural, religious and political ideas and activities during the socialtransformations of this period that ends with the the Iranian Revolution andthe Iran-Iraq War. It analyses the historical process of class formation in theIranian oil industry and argues that a number of developments such as theexpansion of the oil industry, internal migration and the changing ideologicallandscape of the 1960s re-formed the working class in the oil industry indramatic ways, which helps to understand the mass participation of oil workersin the revolution.Looking at the oil strikes, the thesis argues that they played not only acrucial role in the downfall of the monarchy but that they also made anessential contribution to the emergence of the institutions that underpinnedthe post-revolutionary state, which in turn was challenged by the oil workersshowras (councils) in 1979-82. It is argued that although the showras wereideologically diverse and had a great democratic potential, they wereeventually repressed and integrated into the corporatist arrangements of thepopulist post-revolutionary state that consolidated its power after the startof the Iran-Iraq War. Show less
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... Show moreThis 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. Show less
