Iran

The shape and history of social networks in Iran deserves profound investigation, as it reveals the specific role that networks established from within and across pre-existing political and social structures can play in shaping a nation's social form.

Iran's contemporary history reveals a model of social networking that is unique, especially in comparison with the social and political form of neighboring countries in the region. In Iran, social networks have adapted and reinvented themselves within the limits that have been placed upon the Iranian people, and as a consequence, have grown increasingly more sophisticated. They now play a significant role in the ability of Iranian people to participate in the shaping of their nation.

Social networks are social structures in which members of a society are connected to and depend upon each other through social interaction, especially the sharing of values and activities. In contrast, a nation is a wider net that consists of multiple societies and networks. Within a nation, the shared values that encourage social agents to connect and form social networks are thus of utmost importance. Cultural, religious, and political beliefs are some of the most significant elements in this social process, especially when examining a country such as Iran, which is ruled as a religious state.

Traditional examples of social networks in Iran can be found in the quick exchange of ideas in shopping lines, coffeehouses, workplaces, and the like. These networks often featured men as the most dominant participants, because women in Iran did not often have much presence in such places. Instead, women had their own networks, developed in private and monogendered religious gatherings.

Before 1979, social networks in Iran were primarily shaped in public spaces. Although freedom of speech has always been a major problem in Iran, there was still more room than now for exchange of ideas in public. Despite limited freedom of speech, people used to share different ideas and opinions in workplaces, schools, and other public spaces. This helped encourage ideas such as a growing public opinion that there was the need for a change of the regime. Social networks spread messages and social codes throughout society; the stronger a nation's social networks, the more awareness of social and political rights develops among its citizens. The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran was the result of the strengthening of social networks through the growth and reinforcement of the position of an educated middle class at the time.