“Our House Was a Small Islamic Republic”: Social Policing and Resilient Resistance in Contemporary Iran

Alireza Delpazir () and Fatemeh Sadeghi
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Alireza Delpazir: Institute of Education, University College London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK
Fatemeh Sadeghi: Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London, 149 Tottenham Ct Rd, London W1T 7NE, UK

Social Sciences, 2024, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: In this article, we address a question that has been frequently asked: Why is the Iranian government unable to defeat the struggle by women against the compulsory hijab? What distinguishes women’s resistance from other forms of freedom and justice movements? We address these questions by highlighting women’s “resilient resistance” within the family domain as both flexible and sustainable. The article examines how the domestication of politics and the politicization of family have interconnected dynamics in Iran, as illustrated by the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. It shows how women have shifted the Iranian family from a collaborator of oppressive patriarchal power to a more egalitarian structure to accommodate their protests against the compulsory hijab. As the catalysts for this change, they succeeded in discrediting the Islamic Republic’s moral discourse based on the compulsory hijab as a manifestation of modesty for women. They also validated their own morality based on personal choice. Using ethnographic fieldwork, including participatory observation and in-depth interviews with movement participants, this paper shows how women’s invisible yet significant resistance within the family has transformed this institution and profoundly affected the broader political landscape of Iran. It examines a unique case where social transformation drives larger political change.

Keywords: resilient resistance; compulsory hijab; social policing; transformative politics; personal choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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