The Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies, The Open University

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AFRICAN AND ASIAN STUDIES

Roehampton Conference Abstracts

16. Taghi Azadarmaki (University of Tehran, Iran):
Iranian Immigrants and Social-Cultural Changes in Iran

Taghi Azadarmaki is Professor of Sociology. He has published numerous papers and 14 books on sociology and social matters in Iran, the most recent of which are Iranian Modernity (2002) and The Idea of Modernity in Iran (2001).

In some sense Iranian culture and society may be thought of as "the immigrants’ society", compared to other cultures and societies (such as the American). I draw this observation from questionnaire-based surveys in 1997 and 2003 in Iran.

One of the major questions in our questionnaire is: "What do you think when you are leaving your country? – I would like to stay abroad (a) temporarily, (b) permanently, (c) not at all". Most of the respondents said that they love their country, but if they get a chance to go to another country to improve their lives they will leave for a short time. Most of them are dissatisfied with the current situation in Iran and would like to change the situation. Historically, Iranian people wish to immigrate to other countries, particularly in the West, to gain money, a good education and a high standard of living. This is what most Iranian images of immigrants show. Hence, we find that there is usually at least one person in each family who is living abroad while maintaining relations with her/his family at home. He or she supports the family in Iran by sending them money.

In relation to the whole society, this immigrant population can be observed as being instrumental in helping and pushing Iran to become more modern and involved with the world. It is often observed that satellite television has provided a major way of making Iranian society more modern – I feel Iranian immigrants have played a more significant role in this process.

This paper will examine three generations of Iranian immigration and the effects they have had on Iranian society. These immigrants have gone to vastly different parts of the world and have often not returned or returned only after a very long stay abroad, and yet they have influenced Iranian society in distinct ways. The questions that I wish to address are as follows: In what ways to Iranians in different parts of the world influence Iranian society? What are the consequences of such effects – does it lead to social change, social disorder, or dependency?

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