Sociological Study and Analysis of Relation between Traditional Civil Society and Constitutional Revolution in Iran

The main goals of the present article are the study of the relation between traditional civil society and constitutional revolution and examine the rate of explicability of this relation according to theories of the mass society and the plural society.For this purposes, firstly the methodology and two related theories about civil society and revolution are explained. Then the most important events, those led to constitutional revolution are reviewed. The other section of article is focused on introducing components and indices of tradition civil society. In final phase, various reasons for the inexplicability of relation between the tradition civil society and the constitutional revolution according to the theory of mass society and the theory of plural society are presented and analyzed.Findings through documentary method and comparative technique show that:There was a strong traditional civil society in the Iranian society at the age of constitutional revolution, which is not explicable referring to mentioned theories.The tradition civil society in that era could not stabilize Iranian society and prevent social revolution in it, while as the theory of plural society anticipate such about the American society. The reasons of this dysfunction came out from significant differentiations between traditional civil society and modern civil society (in the indices and perspectives like): Iranian weak state, dysfunctions of organizations and institutions of civil society, unification of the civil society and the political society, lake of independent social classes, organizational exclusion of social groups, violent actions of the traditional civil society and absence of a active public sphere. Although in the constitutional revolution, as a mass society, mass political behaviors were formed also elites were succeeded to mobilize non- elites against government, but Iranian society in the age of constitutionalism were different from mass society in several ways:The mass behavior was not concluded from atomization of individuals, because of strong tribal and ethic solidarity and the kinship relationships. There was not a total ideology for the mobilization of mass against the monarchy, and the social groups are followed different interests and motivations to oppose the government.