The Iranian Dowreh

Despite the enormous changes in the basic institutions and social structures of Iranian society and the introduction of modern technology and means of mass communications, many traditional structures, especially those related to the social behavior and social communication of individuals are still functioning in Iran. These traditional institutions and structures not only have survived the process of change, but they have assumed a revived role in contemporary Iranian society because the effective institutions of social and politicnl association and communication are absent. A "dowreh" is an informal group of individuals who enter into an intimate, closed-to-others relationship. This group activity is considered to be on a permanent basis, even if the group disintegrates after a short period of time. The members of group meet periodically, usually rotating the meeting place among the membership. As a common norm a dowreh meets weekly but some may meet only twice a month, others less often. The group which constitutes a dowreh is a small group, because the usual number of people in any single dowreh does not exceed 20 and it is more often about 8 to 15. The more, concrete, recognizable feature of a dowreh is it communicative aspect since the participants use it to discuss, organize and communicate with each other. Clearly, the functions of dowreh as a small group activity are not limited to these. During the course of this investigation we shall observe that each type of dowreh fulfills different personal and social functions for its membership. The socio-political significance of dowreh lies in the fact that it is not an isolated phenomenon. The indefinite number of cells of small group informal association are interrelated and interconnected to each other. Rarely an individual confines himself to the membership in one dowreh. The majority, particularly those who are socially or politically active, will go to more than two dowrehs each week. In each single dowreh they assume a different social role and enter into a different type of small group association. What they carry invariably, however, is their information; the social, economic and political information that is transmitted to them through their communication with their group. Thus, each individual becomes the linkage between several small group cells, and a social network of dowrehs is created. This social network covers most of the social strata and cuts across different classes. Our research, however, concludes that dowreh is essentially an urban phenomenon and it can not be said that such network pervades rural areas of the country too. Thesis Supervisor: Lucian W. Pye Title: Professor of Political Science