The Islamic Revolution of 1979, the student protests of 1999, and the Iranian Green Movement are among the most important social movements in contemporary Iran. This tumultuous history makes Iran a prime candidate for any analysis of social movements and collective action. However, a comprehensive assessment of the relationship between studies of Iranian social movements and the larger literature on collective behavior and social movements is yet to be conducted. I divide the literature on Iranian social movements between works focusing on the Islamic Revolution and those addressing movements in post‐revolutionary Iran with a focus on the Iranian Green Movement and point out the major foci of each category. Analyses of the Islamic Revolution mostly emphasize the role of grievances, political opportunities, and Shi'a ideology. Works on post‐revolutionary movements are mainly concerned with analyzing the role of political opportunities and internet and communication technologies. Overall, studies of Iranian social movements seem to be moving towards more connection with and application of mainstream theories of social movements. Nevertheless, I identify four areas with room for improvement: (a) a continuous connection to and dialogue with the mainstream literature on collective behavior and social movements; (b) an emphasis on the use of cutting‐edge analytic techniques, especially quantitative ones; (c) increasing the number of studies that address issue‐specific social movements such as the women's and LGBT rights or environmental movements; and (d) conducting more comparative studies on Iran and a variety of different societies. In addition, I suggest that the scholarship on social movements in contemporary Iran can benefit studies of social movements in general by testing and modifying theories in a sociopolitical setting that is different from where they originally focused on.
Most traditional interpretations of Islam view alcohol consumption as strictly forbidden and more than a dozen Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, have prohibited alcohol use. Nevertheless, many Muslim residents of these countries continue to consume alcohol. While this paradox merits scholarly attention, little has been done to clarify it. This paper utilizes Iran as a case study to assess the determinants of alcohol consumption and of attitudes towards the Islamic decree on alcohol use among Muslims. To do so, this study uses a survey of 84 Iranians. Utilizing a small non-random sample, this paper serves as an exploratory foray into the topic. Results show that social influence is strongly and positively associated with alcohol use. Identifying as Muslim, however, is not significantly associated with alcohol use. Among different aspects of religiosity, only religious practices is negatively associated with alcohol use. Additionally, those who have higher scores on a scale of spiritual experiences are more likely to believe that alcohol is not forbidden in Islam, while those with higher scores on a religious practice scale are more likely to conform to the conventional view that considers alcohol use forbidden for Muslims. This suggests that researchers should disaggregate Muslim religiosity into different dimensions to explain its relationship with alcohol consumption.
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