A Paradigm Shift in Iran

A Paradigm Shift in Iran

by Mohadeseh Salari Sardari

Thomas Kuhn famously argued that scientific revolutions occur when mounting anomalies create a crisis within an established paradigm, eventually producing a paradigm shift that transforms a field’s underlying worldview. Although Kuhn developed this concept to explain changes within science, the term is now often used more broadly to describe profound transformations in societies. What has unfolded in Iran in recent years marks not just another cycle of protest but a paradigm shift in the worldview of many Iranians. Some observers were stunned by the radical nature of the protests in Iran; it defied their expectations of an “Islamic country.” Inside Iran, however, this defiance did not come as a surprise. For many Iranians, the gap between public belief and the regime’s Islamic ideology has been widening for years.

The surprise among external observers reveals how persistent the assumption has been that Iran is fundamentally, or uniformly, an “Islamic” society; implicit in this assumption has been the notion that Iran’s political structure reflects a shared religious worldview with Iranian people. That assumption is increasingly untenable. The protests went beyond anger at policy or leadership. They expressed a deep rejection of Islamic ideology. Recent analyses, including research sponsored by Stanford Iranian Studies on Tehran protests from 2009 to 2023, show a clear shift in the language and demand of protests. Earlier demonstrations used reformist and religious rhetoric within the Islamic Republic’s framework. Recent protests are openly anti-clerical and secular. Focusing on slogans alone, however, still misses the broader transformation. Religion itself is disappearing from Iranian society.

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