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Iran
Index
Religious and social traditions profoundly influence attitudes
toward welfare. There is a general belief that fate determines
living conditions, but most Iranians feel an obligation to help the
needy in accordance with religious tenets. This idea has been
reinforced since the Revolution by the persistent exhortations of
the clergy to help the poorest people in society, the
mostazafin. The giving of alms (zakat) is one of the
mandatory obligations of the Islamic faith. As a consequence,
donors of real property and monetary bequests are anxious that
their names be attached to their gifts. Charitable donations may be
distributed at any time, but Friday, the day of congregational
prayers, is regarded as a particularly appropriate day, and even
those of modest means regularly distribute food to the poor.
There is a long history in Iran of wealthy individuals'
bequeathing part of their estates in the form of perpetual
endowments, vaqfs, for a specified charitable purpose
(see
Religious Institutions and Organizations
, this ch.). The last
dynasty established the Pahlavi Foundation, which funded programs
ranging from low-cost housing projects to the preservation of
national relics. After the Revolution, the government took over
administration of the Pahlavi Foundation and renamed it the
Foundation for the Disinherited (Bonyad-e Mostazafin). Some of its
former programs, such as granting scholarships and operating
cooperatives, have been continued, but others were redesigned or
dropped entirely in favor of new projects that are in accord with
religious ideology.
Government-funded social insurance programs have not been as
important as the private vaqfs. The first workers in the
country to benefit from a public retirement program were government
employees. Legislation during the 1960s and 1970s provided for the
extension of social security benefits to broader categories of
employees, but by the time of the Revolution less than 10 percent
of the total work force was actually covered by social security.
The government of the Islamic Republic has said that extending
coverage to all employed persons is one of its priorities, but as
of 1986 no information was available about what measures may have
been adopted to extend coverage.
The first public housing projects were built in the 1960s in
the southern part of Tehran. These were developments of small,
single- family homes that were sold to the occupants at subsidized
cost over several years. Public housing projects expanded to other
cities during the 1970s. After the Revolution, the Republic
continued to budget funds for the construction of low-cost public
housing, although prior to 1985 its efforts in this area focused
primarily on the provision of interest-free, long-term loans to
encourage private construction on public land.
Since 1985 the government has built low-cost public housing,
particularly in Tehran and in large cities that suffered
considerable damage during the war, such as Ahvaz and Dezful.
Priority for such housing has been given to widows of men killed
during the war.
This housing is an example of the kind of social program that
the revolutionary regime felt ideologically committed to provide as
a way of assisting the less fortunate, the mostazafin. Other
examples of concern for the poorer elements of society were the
construction of elementary schools, bathhouses, and health clinics
in villages and low- income urban areas and the emphasis on
religious charitable giving to the disadvantaged. This concern for
the deprived members of society was a traditional element of Islam
that had been neglected to a considerable degree under the shah but
which was being emphasized by the revolutionary government.
* * *
The most complete analysis of Iranian society prior to the
Revolution is Iran Between Two Revolutions by Ervand
Abrahamian. Roots of Revolution by Nikki R. Keddie is an
excellent study of the cultural tensions between the secularized
middle and upper classes and the religiously oriented bazaar class,
and it examines the relationship of this social conflict to the
Revolution. The background of Shia clerical opposition to secular
state policies is thoroughly examined in Shahrough Akhavi's
Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran. The most
detailed study of social class divisions is Iran: Dictatorship
and Development by Fred Halliday. A detailed analysis of
several important policies implemented during the early years of
the Republic is The Reign of the Ayatollahs by Shaul
Bakhash. A fascinating fictionalized account of how the secularized
classes have reacted to the Islamic Republic is Sorraya in a
Coma by Ismail Fassih. (For further information and complete
citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of December 1987
In the mid-1980s, polluted water supplies remained one of the
main reasons for the high incidence of parasitic and
gastrointestinal diseases. Tehran and other large cities had
chlorinated water systems, but contaminated water has continued to
be a major problem in the smaller towns and villages. The disposal
of waste also remained unsatisfactory. Tehran in 1986 still did not
have a sewage system serving the entire city. Most of the other
cities had only partial sewage systems, and in small towns and
villages there were none at all.
Welfare
Religious and social traditions profoundly influence attitudes
toward welfare. There is a general belief that fate determines
living conditions, but most Iranians feel an obligation to help the
needy in accordance with religious tenets. This idea has been
reinforced since the Revolution by the persistent exhortations of
the clergy to help the poorest people in society, the
mostazafin. The giving of alms (zakat) is one of the
mandatory obligations of the Islamic faith. As a consequence,
donors of real property and monetary bequests are anxious that
their names be attached to their gifts. Charitable donations may be
distributed at any time, but Friday, the day of congregational
prayers, is regarded as a particularly appropriate day, and even
those of modest means regularly distribute food to the poor.
There is a long history in Iran of wealthy individuals'
bequeathing part of their estates in the form of perpetual
endowments, vaqfs, for a specified charitable purpose
(see
Religious Institutions and Organizations
, this ch.). The last
dynasty established the Pahlavi Foundation, which funded programs
ranging from low-cost housing projects to the preservation of
national relics. After the Revolution, the government took over
administration of the Pahlavi Foundation and renamed it the
Foundation for the Disinherited (Bonyad-e Mostazafin). Some of its
former programs, such as granting scholarships and operating
cooperatives, have been continued, but others were redesigned or
dropped entirely in favor of new projects that are in accord with
religious ideology.
Government-funded social insurance programs have not been as
important as the private vaqfs. The first workers in the
country to benefit from a public retirement program were government
employees. Legislation during the 1960s and 1970s provided for the
extension of social security benefits to broader categories of
employees, but by the time of the Revolution less than 10 percent
of the total work force was actually covered by social security.
The government of the Islamic Republic has said that extending
coverage to all employed persons is one of its priorities, but as
of 1986 no information was available about what measures may have
been adopted to extend coverage.
The first public housing projects were built in the 1960s in
the southern part of Tehran. These were developments of small,
single- family homes that were sold to the occupants at subsidized
cost over several years. Public housing projects expanded to other
cities during the 1970s. After the Revolution, the Republic
continued to budget funds for the construction of low-cost public
housing, although prior to 1985 its efforts in this area focused
primarily on the provision of interest-free, long-term loans to
encourage private construction on public land.
Since 1985 the government has built low-cost public housing,
particularly in Tehran and in large cities that suffered
considerable damage during the war, such as Ahvaz and Dezful.
Priority for such housing has been given to widows of men killed
during the war.
This housing is an example of the kind of social program that
the revolutionary regime felt ideologically committed to provide as
a way of assisting the less fortunate, the mostazafin. Other
examples of concern for the poorer elements of society were the
construction of elementary schools, bathhouses, and health clinics
in villages and low- income urban areas and the emphasis on
religious charitable giving to the disadvantaged. This concern for
the deprived members of society was a traditional element of Islam
that had been neglected to a considerable degree under the shah but
which was being emphasized by the revolutionary government.
* * *
The most complete analysis of Iranian society prior to the
Revolution is Iran Between Two Revolutions by Ervand
Abrahamian. Roots of Revolution by Nikki R. Keddie is an
excellent study of the cultural tensions between the secularized
middle and upper classes and the religiously oriented bazaar class,
and it examines the relationship of this social conflict to the
Revolution. The background of Shia clerical opposition to secular
state policies is thoroughly examined in Shahrough Akhavi's
Religion and Politics in Contemporary Iran. The most
detailed study of social class divisions is Iran: Dictatorship
and Development by Fred Halliday. A detailed analysis of
several important policies implemented during the early years of
the Republic is The Reign of the Ayatollahs by Shaul
Bakhash. A fascinating fictionalized account of how the secularized
classes have reacted to the Islamic Republic is Sorraya in a
Coma by Ismail Fassih. (For further information and complete
citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of December 1987
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