An unlikely suspect was fingered at the recent show trials of Iranian
dissidents: Max Weber, whose ideas on rational authority were blamed
for fomenting a "velvet revolution" against the Islamic Republic.
"Theories of the human sciences contain ideological weapons that can
be converted into strategies and tactics and mustered against the
country's official ideology," Saeed Hajjarian, a leading strategist
in the Iranian reform movement, explained in his forced confession.
A political scientist by training, Hajjarian "admitted" that Weber's
notion of patrimonial government wasn't applicable to Iran. The
theory, Hajjarian declared, is relevant only in countries where
"people are treated as subjects and deprived of all citizenship
rights," which is "completely incompatible with and unrelated to
current conditions in Iran."
Hajjarian's coerced denunciation of Weber is ludicrous but
unsurprising. Since the disputed presidential elections of June 12,
the hard-line government in Tehran has started a broad campaign
against social scientists.
<http://chronicle.com/article/Social-Science-on-Trial-in/48949>Link
--
Posted By johannes to
<http://www.monochrom.at/english/2009/11/max-weber-enemy-of-state-in-tehran.htm>monochrom
at 11/07/2009 12:19:00 PM
