Transformation of the Political-Economic Structures and Cultural-Social Changes of the Rostam Tribe during the Centralized Modernization of the Pahlavi Era (1925–1979)

Abstract

The centralized modernization of the Pahlavi regime was an aggressive project aimed at transitioning from a traditional federal structure to a modern nation-state, within which tribes were perceived as missing links and potential threats to the process of centralization. Focusing on the Rostam tribe in Fars Province, the present study examines the four-dimensional transformations of this tribe during the reigns of Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Shah. The main question is how the structural pressures exerted by the central state on autonomous tribal institutions led to fundamental changes in the fabric of power and everyday life. This study was conducted using a descriptive-analytical approach and a historical-documentary method. The data were collected and validated through content analysis of archival documents, including military reports and bureaucratic correspondence, contemporary newspapers such as Habl al-Matin, and field research based on oral history. The findings indicate that the strategy of the Pahlavi state consisted of a combination of “military repression,” “confiscation of property rights,” and “compulsory land reforms.” In the political dimension, wars such as the Gajestan conflict and the execution of khans such as Imam-Qoli Khan and Hossein-Qoli Khan symbolized the complete disarmament of hereditary tribal authority. In the economic dimension, the transfer of lands to non-local merchants, such as Moein al-Tojjar Bushehri, and the implementation of land reforms in the 1960s dismantled the landlord-peasant system. Although this process disrupted traditional class stability, it also resulted in the rupture of social solidarity bonds and the continuation of property disputes among tribal clans. In the cultural dimension, the emergence of modern secular education through figures such as Bahman Beigi stood in direct opposition to the religious educational system and paved the way for the formation of a new elite. The study argues that although the Pahlavi state succeeded in securing the unconditional submission of the Rostam tribe in the short term, this “top-down” modernization led to the institutional collapse of traditional structures without providing an effective substitute. The long-term consequence of these transformations was the emergence of a deep social divide and an identity crisis rooted in the unjust management of the transition from tradition to modernity.