masud ghafari

In order to shed light on the nature, evolution, development and dynamism of political culture of Iran, it is necessary to provide answer to the following question: why the Iranians are inclined to work hard in order to achieve the goals and targets that are not accessible in the normal circumstances? Through a cultural approach and by combining the discursive and constructionist methods in the field of human sciences, and also by relying on some existing doctrines within the framework of theories of sociology of knowledge, attempts have been made to identify the theoretical foundations and epistemological roots of idealism in the political culture of Iranians. It is presumed that idealism of Iranians in many cases inevitably pits them against the existing global order. The hypothesis of the preset study is: the continuous and simultaneous effects of the idea of Iranian utopianism (Iranshahr), the idea of Shia Islam and the factor of being a southern or a third world country in the collective conscience of the Iranians have led to idealist tendencies in their culture and beliefs. In order to test this hypothesis, in the first place the concept of idealism has been explained and then the operation and impacts of the said three factors on the emergence and dynamism of idealism in the Iranian political culture have been studied.