Cultural incorporation of Iran into the western capitalist culture : westernization of Iranian education

The purpose of this study is to examine the importance of the cultural incorporation of Iran into Western capitalist culture as a component of incorporation into the capitalist world-system. The concept of cultural incorporation itself is a new concept developed in this research. Discussing the phenomenon of incorporation, world- system theory, associated with the Wallerstein School, theorizes two aspects of economic incorporation and political incorporation but ignores a third aspect of incorporation, i.e. cultural incorporation. It is argued, in this research, that the realm of culture is independent from the other two realms of economics and politics. Culture is not, as Marx and many neo-Marxists believe, merely a reflection of economy. It rather has its own dynamics. Cultural incorporation is related to the broadening and deepening of the capitalist world-system, both as stimulant and as a source of resistance.

In order to examine the cultural incorporation of Iran, this research investigates the Westernization of education in Iran during the Qajar, Reza Shah, and Mohammad Reza Shah periods. In Iran cultural incorporation initially occurred, concurrently with economic/political incorporation, during the Qajar period. However, full-blown movement toward cultural incorporation happened only in the period of deepening, during the reign of Pahlavi. Iran's quest for inclusion and ascent within the world-system entailed the establishment of a modernization/Westernization educational iii project. The very success of the universalistic/secularistic components of that program produced a cultural/political explosion. The case of Iran illustrates the uneven nature of the development of the capitalist world-system.