Positive and Negative Effects of Globalization On Iran's Economy and Culture

Globalization is a process of similarity and integration of human in the worldwide in influence of increasing and extension of information and communications technology, and  compaction of time and space, under guidance of democracy and domination discourse of neo liberalism. Globalization becomes a process of reshaping human life through globalizing certain values, which include economic patterns related to free trade, production, consumption and  distribution; cultural patterns related to entity, language, and lifestyle; and political patterns  related to democratic process and human rights. Despite the continuing emphasis on promoting global prosperity and achieving a more “just world,” negative aspects of globalization remain rife in our globe. Poverties, inequalities, injustices, starvations, backwards and marginalization are all serious problems many societies are still experiencing.The aim of this paper is to examine the positive and negative aspects of globalization inthe economic and cultural aspects of Iran and realize how one could successfully deal with the challenge it poses. The author attempts to explain that globalization is a process by which capital, goods, services and labour cross national borders, and acquire a transnational character, it is  often accompanied by the flow of related lifestyles, tastes, ideas, and even values across boundaries which help reshape local political institutions, cultural patterns and social relations. It also creates new opportunities for many peoples to increase their wealth and enhance their prosperities. On the other hand, a globalizing ‘modern life’ will involve displacing the poorest and the most powerless societies to make way for ‘new roads and buildings’ for the rich. The problem in fact lies in the sharp differences and inequalities between haves and have-nots. This process in its current features and aspects presents not only a moral crisis, but also the potential for economic disaster and civil unrest in many areas in the world. This paper concentrates on the gradual transition to the participatory-democratic culture during the period after the Islamic Revolution. Structural changes (characterized by indices such as population growth, literacy rate, higher education centres, communications, relative economic growth, transportation, etc.) during the second decade of the Revolution, on the one hand and the information revolution and political and cultural globalization on the other, led to the intellectual developments and political and social awareness in Iran. In this historical period, we witness the gradual transition from the subject political culture to the participatory-democratic one in Iran. The country has now passed through the preliminary periods of the participatory political culture, and its institutionalization requires removing political-social vulnerabilities, striking balance between political and  economic development and more importantly, the internalization of values and new civic concepts in people’ beliefs and real application of freedom and observance of law and the rights of other people.