A Sociological Study of Imaginary Dialogues in the Presses of the Qajar Era

Abstract

An Imaginary dialogue with political and social themes is one of the critical features of Qajarian press which have been utilized by the intellectuals and journalists of this era. The prevailing theme of this approach reflects the special conditions of the Iranian community at this time of passing through a transitional phase. The main question in this research is: when did the selection of this approach come under the focus of journalists of the time and what was the purpose behind it? Although this approach was common during Fath Ali Shah era, during the Naserddin Shah era its critical aspects became more bolded. Finally, during the autocracy of Mohammad Ali Shah, due to the growing despotisms, this approach was used as an effective genre to disseminate awareness and to express political and social criticisms. The results of this study, based on a descriptive-analytic method, which analyzed all the remaining copies of 75 Persian newspapers of this Era, show that the ultimate goal of intellectuals and journalists of this era by applying this approach was to inform the constitutional system, to show its compatibility to the Islamic laws, and to introduce this system as an appropriate framework for creating the desired political and social conditions in Iranian society.

Keywords

• Imaginary Dialogues
• Presses
• Qajar Era
• Sociological Attitude
• Despotism