Chih shud?: Dāstān-i ufūl-i ijtimāʻ dar Īrān

This sociological study by ʻAbd al-Muḥammad Kāẓimīʹpūr and Muḥsin Gūdarzī investigates the trajectory of social capital in Īrān, posing the titular question "What happened?". Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Alexis de Tocqueville and Robert Putnam, the authors analyse the decline of "ijtimāʻ" (community) in Īrān over several decades. The work moves beyond immediate political disputations to examine deeper structural shifts in trust, civic participation, and moral norms. The text explores various contributing factors to this erosion, including the role of religious institutions, state bureaucracy, economic inequality, and demographic changes such as migration and urbanisation. By contextualising the Iranian experience within a global trend of declining social capital—referencing cases in the United States and France—the authors offer a comprehensive diagnosis of the challenges facing collective life in contemporary Īrān and propose potential pathways for social restoration at micro, meso, and macro levels.