Socio-Cultural Strategy

Socio-Cultural Strategy

An Analysis of the Relationship between Religion, Culture, and Society from the Perspective of Islamic Revolution Thinkers; Implications for Optimal Governance

Document Type : Original Article

Author
محمد سهیل سرو
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/scs.2025.516056.1686
Abstract
Religion, culture, and society are three central categories in theoretical and practical studies of governance. These three concepts are very close to each other in the field of implementation. This research aimed to examine the triple relationship between religion, culture, and society with an emphasis on the thoughts of Islamic Revolution thinkers in order to provide a model for optimal governance in religious societies. If the exact relationship between these categories is not determined, the field of optimal religious governance will face challenges and there will be an overlap between these cases. This research was conducted using a qualitative method and the information was collected in the form of documents. The texts of Islamic Revolution thinkers and Western theories were examined with an interpretative-critical approach, and the data were analyzed using three-stage coding (open, axial, selective). The findings of this research indicate that the relationship between these three categories in the perspective of the thinkers of the Islamic Revolution is dialectical and multi-level, not reductionist (unlike Marxist or positivist approaches); therefore, in the implications of governance, the multidimensionality of these categories and their overlapping relationships should be taken into account. Also, religion as an independent variable has both a culture-forming role (creating religious patterns) and a culture-destroying role (reforming incompatible patterns). In desirable governance, culture acts as a context and society as the scene of interaction between the two. This article concludes that culture is the context of the main movement of society and religion is the content and nourishment of culture, which should show their dialectical relationships in governance through a clear passage.
Keywords
Relationship between religion and culture
Desirable governance
Dialectical relationships.

Subjects

 
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  • Receive Date 12 April 2025
  • Revise Date 05 June 2025
  • Accept Date 08 June 2025