Wall Street Journal describes Iran's generational Awakening era - 1-Jul-2008 - Generational Dynamics

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-Jul-2008

Wall Street Journal describes Iran's generational Awakening era

Young Iranians turn away from the Quran and go for self-help and New Age.

In a page one article on Monday, the Wall Street Journal uses a gee-whiz tone to describe changes in Iranian society:

"TEHRAN, Iran -- When Hassan Bakhtiar couldn't find a job last year, his mother told him to pray and read the Quran.

Instead, the 25-year-old aerospace engineer dropped in on a packed appearance by Alireza Azmandian, Iran's most famous motivational speaker and self-help guru. Now, he meditates by staring at a flickering candle and chants Mr. Azmandian's inspirational catch phrases.

"Religion doesn't offer me answers any more," Mr. Bakhtiar says, after listening to Mr. Azmandian at a public auditorium in a shabby neighborhood of South Tehran. But, he says, "this seminar changed my life."

The self-help craze -- long part of life in the Western world -- is taking the Islamic Republic by storm. Iran is one of the world's youngest nations, with 70% of its 65 million under the age of 30. There's widespread disenchantment among young people with Iran's strict theocratic regime, which requires headscarves for women and bans alcohol. And jobs are scarce.

In other Middle East countries with similar demographics, like Egypt and Turkey, young people are increasingly turning back to their Muslim identity for solace. But Iran's mostly well-educated youth are more likely to seek other remedies -- such as self-help seminars, New Age theories, meditation and yoga.

"The regime presumed it could mold the society into whatever shape and form it wanted, but we are seeing the opposite take place," says sociologist Hamid Reza Jalalipour. The younger generation is "turning away from conventional religion and tradition."

There are a few interesting things about this.

First, you could change "Quran" to "Bible" and change the people's names to European names, and this could almost describe America in the 1960s.

That's not surprising. Iran is in a generational Awakening era today, just one generation past the genocidal Iran/Iraq crisis war of the 1980s. America was in an Awakening era in the 1960s, just one generation past the genocidal World War II.

(For information about generational Awakening eras, see "Basics of Generational Dynamics.")

The second interesting thing is the contrast to "other Middle East countries with similar demographics, like Egypt and Turkey, [where] young people are increasingly turning back to their Muslim identity for solace."

Egypt and Turkey are in generational Crisis eras, and so they are likely to be attracted to religion to differentiate themselves from their potential enemies. Iran is in an Awakening era, where the population is more likely to seek accommodation with their former enemies, which usually means rejecting sharp religious differences.

Even more interesting is a certain fact about "Alireza Azmandian, Iran's most famous motivational speaker and self-help guru":

"A father of three, with a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from the University of Southern California, Mr. Azmandian, 55, says he was drawn to the motivational-speaker circuit when he was a graduate student in the U.S., after reading a few self-help books and seeing how his own life improved. He returned to Iran in 1995 to teach at Tehran University and bought a small private office to promote positive thinking and self-help."

In other words, if you do the math, Azmandian was in America around 1970, the height of America's Awakening era. So Azmandian has done something that so many people would like to do, but can't: He's recaptured the exciting days of his youth.

He learned about the excitement of Awakening eras when he was in America, and then, 35 years later, he's a leading "self-help guru" in Iran's Awakening era. What fun!

It's a shame that the Wall Street Journal reporters know absolutely nothing about generational theory, or they would have been able to put their article into better context. Once you understand how an Awakening era works, then you can actually understand Iran's international strategy, as I explained recently in my comparative strategy of Iran and China, and earlier in "Iran's President Ahmadinejad is facing a growing 'generation gap.'"

What's the next stop for Iran's youth? I'll hope for an Iranian Summer of Love. The mullahs ought to love that! (1-Jul-2008) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-Jul-2008 Wall Street Journal describes Iran's generational Awakening era

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-Jul-2008
Wall Street Journal describes Iran's generational Awakening era