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This dissertation is titled Dissidence and conformity in Iranian Politics: Political Culture and Islamic Revolution. The objective of this work is to analyze political culture and its relations to the Islamic Revolution in Iran. To achieve this task a study of the theories of political culture, theories of religion; and their relationships, is provided. In order to understand the political culture of Iran, which is an essential element of its psychological make-up, a study of its political history, its traditional cultural beliefs, and its religion is provided. In the case of Iran, the birth and development of Islam in general, and Shiaism in particular is analyzed. Furthermore, this work covers most of the significant religious-political movements that have occurred in Iran throughout its history. The findings in this study demonstrated that, in order to introduce rapid technological changes and political development, it is necessary to acculturate and socialize the people prior to their introduction. The Islamic Revolution in Iran proves that the lack of prior adjustment in acculturation and socialization of the people resulted in contradictory values. This led to massive unrest and finally a need to revitalize the traditional values in order to restore psychological harmony. In Iran rapid modernization was imposed from above regardless of its effect on the religious political culture. The result was the revitalization of militant Islam and establishment of the Islamic Republic.

Traditionalists, in Mir-Hosseini's study, are clerics who view the shari`a as natural and compatible with human nature. The traditionalist view is based on the writings of the late non-jurist philosopher Allameh Tabataba'i and those of his student, Ayatollah Motahhari; both believed gender equality to be contradictory to shari`a. (Mir-Hosseini writes that in a small book called Polygamy and the Position of Women in Islam, \"Allameh [Tabataba`i] articulated all that is implicit in the writings of the [t]raditionalists\" (p.23).) Mir-Hosseini conducts detailed interviews with traditionalists Ayatollah Madani and Ayatollah Azari-Qomi, who follow Motohhari's thinking and have also written extensively on women's issues in Islam. These two traditionalists inspire Iran's formal ideological positions on women's rights. Another modernist is Hojjat ol-Eslam Sa`idzadeh, a cleric who calls his approach the \"equality perspective\" (p.249), and whose writings have appeared in both Zanan and Payam-e Zan. Sa`idzadeh claims that Islam \"basically regards men and women in the same way, thus it can accommodate feminism, which articulates women's aspirations in this century\" (p.249). He argues that gender is a secular, not divine, concept and that gender roles are \"defined and regulated more by familial and social circumstances than by nature and divine will.\" (p.249). In refuting old hadith and feqh (Islamic jurisprudence) theories on gender, however, Sa`idzadeh insists on arguing \"from within feqh itself, using its own language and mode of argumentation\" (p.250). In Gender and Human Rights in Islam and International Law: Equal Before Allah, Unequal Before Man?, Professor [Shaheen Sardar Ali] argues that the concept of women's human rights under Islamic law can be reconciled to some degree with current United Nations formulations of international human rights. The basic premise of her argument is that \"the Islamic legal tradition is not a monolithic entity\" (p.3). Furthermore, she argues that shari`a (\"the principles of Islamic law\") does not consist of an \"immutable, unchanging set of norms,\" as implied by \"literalists,\" but is \"sensitive and susceptible to the changing needs of time,\" as implied by the \"progressive\" elements. (p.3)

In the introduction, Afzal-Khan lays out her two goals: to bring together and juxtapose the diverse views of Muslim women despite differences between their outlooks, histories, and cultures, and to enlighten readers about diversities between Muslim women and reveal complexities in order to challenge the monolithic image of Muslim women constructed and institutionalized as the body of knowledge in the West. The book's claim is that this stereotyping has created a stronger dichotomy of \"us\" against \"them,\" legitimizing the Judeo-Christian policies of carrying the burden of \"civilization\" against \"barbarian\" Muslims through the war on terror and the emancipation of Muslim women from their Islamic bondage.