Digital impulses, Thermidor, Daily life in Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

PhD, Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jpq.2025.390679.1008302

Abstract

Introduction
In recent decades, the rapid expansion of digital technologies has deeply transformed not only the structural dimensions of economics, politics, and culture but also the foundations of everyday life—especially among the emerging generation. The digital generation has introduced new modes of awareness, knowledge production, and identity formation, challenging traditional systems of governance and social order. However, the specific relationship between these transformations and the future of governance in Iran has received limited scholarly attention.
In an age characterized by "real competition of minds" and the rise of "digital literacy", the boundary between truth and falsehood, good and evil, or reward and punishment is increasingly determined by a mere click—either physical or cognitive. This blurring of lines constructs a lived reality that is simultaneously digital and physical, requiring a new theoretical lens to comprehend how power, legitimacy, and identity are being reshaped.
 
Methodology
This research adopts a qualitative-descriptive methodology grounded in Heideggerian phenomenology to investigate how the digital phenomenon deconstructs traditional modalities of "interest in awareness and knowledge production" in the daily lives of Iran's new generation. Phenomenology, particularly in the Heideggerian sense, offers a way to engage with the existential and ontological dimensions of the digital experience—how individuals perceive, embody, and respond to this new digital environment.
The theoretical framework is built upon David Apter’s typology of political systems—namely, liberal secularism, cumulative-sacred authority—and is complemented by Fred Riggs’ concept of the “prismatic society”, which is especially apt for analyzing transitional or hybrid societies like Iran. In addition, the concept of “Thermidor”, as explored by Trotsky and Brinton in the context of revolutionary cycles, is employed to frame the potential political outcomes of Iran's current digital-cultural transformation.
 
Results and Discussion
The study reveals that the digital phenomenon in Iran is not merely an instrumental development but a paradigm of consciousness that has the power to redefine knowledge, legitimacy, and social identity. In the digital lifeworld, traditional binaries—such as real vs. simulated, private vs. public, or knowledge vs. belief—are constantly being restructured. The increasing influence of "mental clicks" and "manual clicks" reflects a new form of interaction that determines preferences, consumption patterns, political participation, and even religious engagement.
Emerging concepts such as “personalized truth,” “fluid digital identity,” and “quasi-public participation” point to deep structural contradictions within the existing sociopolitical order. Technology has come to occupy the core of awareness, action, and even emotional life. As a result, the digital sphere has introduced new tensions within the four core dimensions of societal power: accumulation, hegemony, legitimacy, and identity.
Moreover, the Iranian youth simultaneously engage with aspects of liberal-secular logic and deeply rooted sacred traditions, leading to a hybrid identity that matches Riggs’ characterization of a “prismatic society.” This duality intensifies the challenge for existing systems of authority, as legitimacy becomes harder to maintain in a context where algorithms shape awareness and global platforms mediate culture.
At the same time, history shows that many large-scale political transformations go through a phase referred to as “Thermidor”—a stage in which the initial ideals of a movement are either diluted or re-appropriated by power structures. The central question then becomes: Is Iran undergoing a similar phase of digital Thermidor, where technological adaptation is used to preserve rather than challenge existing systems of control? Or are we witnessing the early signs of a broader socio-political rupture—one in which the new generation's digital sensibility could reshape Iran’s power structures fundamentally?
 
Conclusion
The Heideggerian phenomenological analysis presented in this study reveals that digitality in Iran operates as a new mode of being, reshaping how people think, live, and relate to authority. The digital experience is not merely about communication or access to information—it transforms the very logic of subjectivity and governance.
This transformation generates ambivalence: on one hand, it can serve as a tool for the re-legitimization of existing regimes (a technological Thermidor); on the other hand, it opens the door to new demands, new failures, and new discourses of power. The distinction between the real and the virtual is no longer adequate to understand the social world of Iranian youth. As such, future research and policymaking must move beyond surface-level assessments of technology and engage with its ontological, political, and existential implications.
The digital world is not an external factor imposed upon Iranian society—it is now internal to its consciousness, politics, and future. Whether this leads to passive adaptation, structural resistance, or revolutionary change depends on how various actors—from youth to state institutions—navigate this rapidly evolving terrain.

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Main Subjects

References

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  • Receive Date: 03 September 2019
  • Revise Date: 22 November 2019
  • Accept Date: 27 November 2019

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