Ideology as Episodic Discourse: The Case of the Iranian Revolution

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Abstract
Sociological research on ideology and revolution has been guided by three models: the subjectivist model, which proposes that ideology re-orients disoriented and discontented individuals in situations of social strain; the organizational model, which analyzes ideology in terms of organized contention for power and emphasizes the organizational context in which ideological producers respond to challenges to their authority; and the Marxian model, which attributes causal primacy to class conflict in its analysis of ideological dynamics. I argue for a fourth model, one that treats ideology as an episodic discourse, consisting of a general principles, concepts, symbols, and rituals that shape human actions in a particular historical period, and considers revolutionary phenomenon as a particular mode of historical action constituted by revolutionary ideology. The Iranian Revolution is examined to demonstrate the fruitfulness of the episodic discourse model.

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