"We as Islamic Clergies, What We Can do Against AIDS"

"We as Islamic Clergies, What We Can do Against AIDS" is the name of a new book which written by Hesamoddin Ashna and published in Iran. This Book responses to the question of How Islamic clergies can struggle with AIDS". After publishing it, Christian Salars Folkman, the agent of UNICEF said: "This Book is a sample for scientific research about AIDS which include scientific references and religious knowledge and is prepared for Iranian Youngs." He believed that "the combination of Modern Science and Religious Knowledge is a powerful tool for struggle against AIDS." It is seem that the book will be translated, and published in other country.

Dr. Hesamoddin Ashna (My Professor) and the author of the book said that, "This book is based on a communicational approach to the Health. The Health Communications use group communication very much, in addition, this book prepared by the model of Health beliefs to influence on audience understanding and hold him/her in taking HIV.” He added, "Including the Health Communication with religious Communication indicated that changing the Behaviors need to change in Value System.

This book are formed in 6 chapters: (1) What we should know about HIV?, (2) Why the Clergies and Religious Institutions, (3) What we should do to prevention the Spread of AIDS in Society?" (4) Marriage and Family (5) What We should do in interaction with dangerous groups?" (6) What we should do in interaction with HIV Patients?"

Dr. Hesamoddin Ashna (1343) is one of the Faculties of the School of Culture and Communication of Imam Sadiq University. He has done many research and published several books (Such as “Culture and Violence” and “From Politics to Culture”) and Articles in English and Persian. You can connect to him by his blog:

http://ashna1343.persianblog.ir/

Dissecting the G. Lukács Mind: From Literature to Mass Media Commodification

Written by: Sobhan Rezaee

Abstract:
Georg Lukács is one of the most important thinkers of twenty century. He wrote in many fields, but in this essay, we want to receive an analyzing for mass media commodification, by his ideas. In his important work, “The Soul and the Forms”, an idea was proposed which define the relation of context (Form) and content. He believes that the Forms exist as priori factors and they are static and eternal. In other hand, the contents are created by the time circumstances. Therefore, with this intellectual preference, we began our work with reviewing Lukács himself-context, their related works, his dividing and defining literary books, as the most contiguous Form to our area: Mass media; and his ideas about commodification process. Then we use Lukács’s opinions to analyze the mass media commodification. In this way, we indicate to “Magnolia”, a 1999 drama film which written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is an extraordinary commercial product, which confess, and explain the commodificational role of mass media.


Keywords: Georg Lukács, Literature, Commodification, Mass Media


Biography:
Georg Lukács was born in Budapest on 13 April 1885 as the second son of Josef Lukàcs, a wealthy Jewish banker. His mother, whose maiden name was Wertheimer, was brought up in Vienna and learned Hungarian after her marriage. Therefore, the family language is German and most of Lukács books were originally written in German. The Hungary in which Lukács grew up was still part of the dual monarchy of Austria and Hungary, with a king who resided in Vienna and a Parliament suited in Budapest. He Studied Jurisprudence at the University of Budapest between 1902 and 1906. (Parkinson, 1977: 1-3) He got his PHD on Philosophy at the same University but continued his education at Berlin university under the influence of Georg Simmel (1911) and then with the guidance of Max Weber in the University of Heidelberg. (Edwards, 1972) His First book is “A History of the Development of Modern Drama” which published in Hungarian language at 1911. However, at the same time, Lukács was affected by neo-Kantian school, which can be traced in his primary works such as “The Soul and the Forms” and “The Theory of the Novel”. (Parkinson, 1977: 3-4)

In 1918, Lukács joined the Hungarian Communist Party. Moreover, in the Communist Government Kun Béla, he accepted the position of commissar for culture and education, but after the overthrow of it in 1919, he moved to Vienna, where he remained for 10 years. He edited the review Kommunismus and was a member of the Hungarian underground movement. During this period, he wrote History and Class Consciousness (1923), in which he developed a unique Marxist philosophy of history and laid the basis for his critical literary tenets by linking the development of form in art with the history of the class struggle. (Britannica, 2006) but this book cause to dismissal him from membership of Communist Party and editorial of Kommunismus.

After empowering Hitler, he migrate to the Russia and begin his work at Marx-Engels Institute (1930- 1931) and then in the Institute of Philosophy (1933-1944).
After the World War 2, he returned to Hungary, became one of the members of his country parliament, and appointed as the professor of Aesthetics in university. In the Government of Imer Nagy, he was the minister of Culture, but after the defeat of revolution of Hungary, he was arrested and deported to Romania. (Edwards, 1972) In 1957, he was allowed to return to Budapest. Then he continued his Aesthetic works until his dead in Budapest at 4 June 1971.

Lukács’s Works in Literature:
Lukács wrote in all of his life courses, pre-Marxist thinking, Communist Leadership and De-Stalinization. Therefore, he publish more than 30 books and hundreds of essays. However, in this issue, we want to concentrate on Aesthetic and literary works of him, and review his theories and scales for studying the works.


The Soul and the Forms:
This book consists of ten essays, which published before. Most of them are literary criticism for the works of writers such as Theodore Storm, Stefan George and Lawrence Sterne. In this work, Lukács define the essay by these words: “A struggle for truth, for embodiment of life, which someone as read out of a man, an age, a form; but it depends entirely on the intensity of the work and of the vision, whether we derive from what is written a suggestion of this life.” (Lukács, 1974: 16-17)

Therefore, he treats the essay as a life experience, which used for embodiment of living. In this book, he believes that the Forms exist as priori and do not create after presence of the artistic works. The Form is static and eternal. So what is changed is the time circumstances which cause to changing the contents of artistic works. However, this work is belong to the pre-Marxist course of his thought and published three years before the beginning of the World War I include a pessimistic approach to modernity that continued to his later book, “The Theory of the Novel”. He defines the Modernity as the lack of any "existent and constitutive meaning" and therefore concludes that no artist can discover utopian structures of perfectly meaningful community within the modern life described by novels. (Lukács, 1971: 142-143) So, he assumes the Modernity as a suitable context for the birth of the Tragedy.


The Theory of the Novel:
As said above, Lukács in his previous work was affecting by neo-Kantian thoughts, but in this book, he take a transition to Hegel. It represents the abandonment of the idea of timeless forms and a move towards what Lukács called ‘a historicizing of aesthetic categories.’ (Lukács, 1971: 15) In this work, Lukács regards the novel as a form of what he calls ‘the great epic’; it is, as he puts it, one objectification of the great epic. (Parkinson, 1977: 24-25)
This book consists two parts. The first, which includes of five essays, studying the novel from several aspects: (I) integrated western civilization that arguing the western culture and civilization from its Greek initial point to the modern age. In other hand, his accent in reviewing the history is completely philosophical. Furthermore, he use a very difficult and compressed text to proposes a deterministic approach to social phenomena: “For man does not stand alone, as the sole bearer of substantiality, in the midst of reflexive forms: his relations to others and the structures which arise therefrom are as full of substance as he is himself, indeed they are more truly filled with substance because they are general, more ‘philosophic’, closer and more akin to archetypal home: love, the family, the state.” (Lukács, 1971: 33)
In other four chapters of first part, he pays attention to Tragedy, Epic forms, Means of expression, Totality, Objective structures, Types of hero, inner aspects of novel and historical and philosophical conditioning of the novel. But at the second part, he attempts to form a typology for novels by reviewing several works of Writers such as Balzac, Jacobsen, Novalis, Goethe, Tolstoy…
However, when Georg Lukacs returned to this work in his old age, criticize this book and wrote, it "founded on a highly naive and totally unfounded utopianism," a "romantic anti-capitalism" on which we "have every right to smile." (Lukács 1971, 12, 19-20) “Suffice it to point out that novelist such as Defoe, Fielding and Stendhal found no place in this schematic pattern, that the arbitrary ‘synthetic’ method of the author of “The Theory of the Novel” leads him to a completely upside-down view of Balzac and Flaubert or of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky etc., etc.” (Lukács 1971, 14)


Studies in European Realism
This book consists of nine articles, which were written in the period of 1938-1939, but it published in 1948. These issues studying writers such as Balzac (Chapter 1 & 2 & 3: “The Peasants” and “Lost Illusions”), Stendhal (Chapter3), Gorky (Chapter 7), Zola (Chapter 4), Tolstoy (Chapter 6 & 8).
The work belongs to the Marxist period of Lukács and obviously based on Marxist ideas. For example, he said, “The Marxist philosophy of history, analyzes the human as a whole and treat the history of his evolution as a whole, too. (Lukács, 1972: 6) “Marxism is an index for history which shows the arrow of moving the history. The Confidence that is offered by this guidance is the evolution of the human will not and cannot arrive to absurdity.” (Lukács. 1972: 5)

The main question of this book refers to the importance of litterateurs: “Balzac or Flaubert, which are the greatest and typical novelist of 19 century? The responding of it is not the problem of tastes and preferences, but it contains all the aesthetic issues of the novel. It is coming from the question that do the greatness and the importance of a novel relate to the unification of inside and outside worlds or relate to the separating them.” Do the peaks of the modern novel is Gide, Proust or Joyce or it was received by Balzac and Tolstoy, before?” (Lukács. 1972: 3)

Lukács answers the question with these words: “The real heritors of excellent French novel of 19 century is not Flaubert or Zola, but they include Russian and Scandinavian authors of second half of this century. Therefore, this book is my studying about French and Russian Realist authors… (Lukács. 1972: 7)


The Literature:
The Importance of Lukács main question on “Studies in European Realism” is designing a distinction between two paradoxical philosophies for history. He identifies the novel as the dominant form of modern culture of bourgeoisie. (Lukács. 1972: 3) So recognizing the correct form from these aesthetic understandings causes to comprehension of the orientation of whole of the literature and may be the Culture.
Lukács in his book, “The Meaning of Contemporary Realism” (1963), divides the modern literature in three areas: (1) Avant-garde (2) Socialist Realism (3) Critical Realism.
According to Lukács, the Avant-garde approach to literature is based on idealism and in front of human situations is static. In other hand, Socialist Realism is dogmatic and its view about the paradoxes of social life is very naïve.
However, critical realism is on the peak of Lukács thought. Because, social changing and evolution are reflected on the works of its members, such as Thomas Mann and Bernard Shaw which are the real heritors of the great realist of 19 century, he mean Balzac, Stendhal and Tolstoy.



Literature Forms:
As we said above, Georg Lukács believes that the Forms exist forever and the contents are changed by time circumstances. He defines the Forms as the static constituent and the content as the dynamic component of the literature. In this part of issue, we want to pay attention to different forms by Lukács opinion:

The Epic:
Lukács similar to Hegel defines the epic with Homer’s Works: The Iliad and the Odyssey. And understand them by Greek World which prepare a suitable context for the birth of the epic: “The Age of the epic is typified by the fact that it does not yet have any conception of an inner world, or any conception of the soul’s search for itself. It is also an age in which the divinity is just as familiar and close to man and Just as incomprehensible, as a father is to small child. Modern life, at the same time as it has immensely enlarged its world, has also established a gulf between the self and the world, which did not exist in the era of the epic. We have destroyed the meaning of Greek life, which was totality: a totality, which was all-inclusive, there being nothing which pointed to a higher reality out side it. (Lukács. 1971: 30) In other hand, “the modern man, unlike the man of Homer’s epoch, is not at home in the universe; and the literary form which expresses this ‘transcendental homelessness’ is the novel. (Lukács. 1971: 36- 41)


The Tragedy:
In Lukács’s thought system, Tragedy is begun with Greek civilization and continues to the modern world. This form of literature is very interesting. The author creates a hero, describe him/her, empower him and then kill him/her. So, in this process, the distinction is killing. I mean the sudden elimination of hero in this special narrative cause to form the Tragedy. When Achilles is killed at the end of the Iliad, the Homer’s epic convert to the Tragedy. Lukács said: “Tragedy places its heroes on the stage as living human beings in the midst of a mass of only apparently living beings. So that a clear destiny may gradually emerge incandescent from the condition of the dramatic action, heavy with the weight of life – so that its fire may reduce to ashes everything that is merely human, so that the inexistent life of mere human beings may disintegrate into nothingness and the affective emotions of the heroic figures may flare up into a blaze of tragic passion that will anneal them into heroes free of human dross. In this way the condition of the hero has become polemical and problematic; to be a hero is no longer the natural form of existence in the sphere of essence, but the act of raising oneself above that which is merely human, whether in the surrounding mass or in the hero’s own instincts.” (Lukács. 1971: 43- 44)


The Novel:
According to Lukács, Novel is the most important literary Form of the modern world. The Novel, Lukács says, is the epic of an age in which the extensive totality of life has ceased to be sensuously given, but which still has a ‘disposition towards totality’. (Lukács. 1971: 56) The basic intention of the novel is given objective form in the psychology of its heroes, who are seekers. Lukács similar to Hegel says that the hero of the epic is the community. Now, the community is an organic totality, whereas the hero of the novel is an individual, and arises out of modern man’s estrangement from the external world. (Parkinson, 1977: 26)
Lukács in his genealogy of novel relate it to a special phenomenon: Mass Experiment of History. He thinks that the age of enlightenment, conquering of Napoleon in Europe, modern wars that need to satisfied the mass society… caused to construct a form of literature which used by the mass and report the social changing. (Lukács, 1973: 134, 139, 140) He describes the novelist as the historian of the bourgeoisie society. (Lukács, 1973: 134)

The Commodification:
In the first step, the commodity is an interpersonal relationship, which is formed between people, but in the next stage, the commodity reproduces itself in social communications and constructs the commodification. Commodification is a kind of commercial modification that discovered by Marx, for the first time.
Lukács in some of his important works such as “History and Class Consciousness” and “Studies in European Realism” discusses this process and develops the Marx’s concept. According to Lukács, social relationships, activities and human worth are increasingly defined in terms of an alienating and objectifying monetary value- a process known as commodification. (Smith, 2001: 38; cited from Lukács, 1971 B: 92) However, as Habermas said in his book, “The Theory of Communicative Action”, Lukács based his argument on a part of “the Capital”:


A Commodity is therefore a mysterious thing simply because in it the social character of men’s labor appears to them as an objective character of the products of that labor, as social natural properties of these things; because the relation of the producers to the sum total of their labor appears to them as a social relation among objects, a relation existing outside of them. Through this quid pro quo, the products of labor become commodities – things which are at the same time perceptible and imperceptible to the senses, social things… It is only a definite social relation among men that assumes, in their eyes, the fantastic form of a relation among things. (Habermas, 1984, Vol 1: 357; cited from Capital: 83)

Lukács in explanation his theory, defines the current science as a component of the society of bourgeoisie and relates it to the paradigm of producing the commodities. (Lukács: 1971 B: 136-137) In other hand, when he reviews the “Lost Illusions” which written by Honoré de Balzac, the famous French novelist of 19 century, pay attention to it as a mean for describing the process of commodification in the Literature. He believes that “Lost Illusions” is a Comic-Tragic Epic, which its centre is the conversion of literature to a kind of commodity. All things are purchasable: articles, poems, novels, Theaters, cyclic publishing… Lukács points to a key sentence that was said by “Venon” in the novel: “Are you believe to your writings?” Then continues: “but we are the merchants of the words… those articles which are read nowadays, will be forgotten, tomorrow. However, we give our royalties and there are no means, else.” (Lukács, 1972: 60- 61)



Mass Media Commodification:
Every normal trade takes worthy Commodities and sell them to get some profits. However, in the world of media, we have no worthy naive commodity which can indicated them as ordinary purchasable things. Therefore, Media use from a special process to convert non-purchasable things to purchasable and also profitable things: The Commodification
It has a central role in media developing. Advertising, Celebrating, Humiliating, Making Superstars … are part of this process. Media need some special factors to made people for give money to them. They use mass broadcasting to Celebrating or Humiliating a subject, give good or bad worth to them and at last, sell them to their audiences. Hereto, media create salable things, which can bring money for their inventors. Films, News, Face-to-Face Discussing, and Games… are expensive ways and commodities, which are formed in this area.
However, some media products such as “Magnolia” confess media roles of commodification. We want to continue our essay in analyzing this artistic exception and dissecting the Mass Media Commodification.
Magnolia is a 1999 drama film which written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It includes several-separated story, which are linked together with an invisible line of destiny. It has many aspects, but we want to focus on the commodification.

A Scene from "Magnilia" where Stanley was protesting to the commodification of a TV show

The central point of the film is a Television Show that contains a game in the name of “What do Kids Know?” It is a very famous program, which attract many audiences. It is constructing between three adults and three teenagers. One of the teens is a Quiz Kid (Stanley) who is won at seven courses and if he can be success at eighth game, break the record and achieve the final victory. Nevertheless, this last cycle confront with a basic problem: The Media Hero need to go to the bathroom.
This is very interesting, which shows the media compression that cannot suffer any abnormality. This tension cause to change Stanley’s mind and disturbing a 30 years old TV Show. In other hand, the camera focuses on a previous hero of “What do Kids Know”: Dannie Smith who won the play at 1968, but nowadays he is a bankrupt that other people never accept him. However, he want to take a beauty surgery on his teeth.
But at the current game, when Stanley made to piss in his trousers and experienced some humility, every thing is changed. Then Stanley passes the buck and ignores to continue the game. He asks from famous showman of the game, Jimmy Gator: “What is funny? What is Interesting? Do you see, what are your ideas about us? Am I a toy for you? I am not a doll. To you, we are some pretty tiny teens. Why? Because I am converted to an odd being? Because I answer to the questions? because I am clever. Or because I want to go to the bathroom? What is the answer, Jimmy? What is the answer? Now, I ask you?” Then Jimmy says: “I don’t know.” Stanley continues his speech: “I am not a pretty and stupid doll. I am genius, not a funny man whom is seen by the people and my intellect would be their hobby. I know. I know very much. I know. I know. For example, I know that I should go to bathroom, but you don’t allow me.”
After this extraordinary speech, the program producer made to finish the show…then Stanley escapes from the Studio.
Yes, as Stanley find out, mass media convert their subjects to toys and dolls, which can purchasable. In that example, Stanley converted to a toy that entertains people in an entertainment media. With Lukács opinions, we can say, in modern world, all things melted to commodity, to be controlled, purchased and to be come to nothing… If any one want to break the cycle, must escape from their studio…

Conclusions:
1. “The Soul and the Forms” consists of ten essays, which published before. Most of them are literary criticism for the works of writers such as Theodore Storm, Stefan George and Lawrence Sterne. In this work, Lukács define the essay by these words: “A struggle for truth, for embodiment of life, which someone as read out of a man, an age, a form; but it depends entirely on the intensity of the work and of the vision, whether we derive from what is written a suggestion of this life.” (Lukács, 1974: 16-17) In this work, he believes that the Forms exist as priori and do not create after presence of the artistic works. The Form is static and eternal. So what is changed is the time circumstances which cause to changing the contents of artistic works.

2. In “The Theory of the Novel”, Lukács regards the novel as a form of what he calls ‘the great epic’; it is, as he puts it, one objectification of the great epic. This book consists from two parts. The first, which includes of five essays, studying the novel from several aspects: (I) integrated western civilization that arguing the western culture and civilization from its Greek initial point to the modern age. In other four chapters of first part, he pay attention to Tragedy, Epic forms, Means of expression, Totality, Objective structures, Types of hero, inner aspects of novel and historical and philosophical conditioning of the novel. But at the second part, he attempt to form a typology for novels by reviewing several works of Writers such as Balzac, Jacobsen, Novalis, Goethe, Tolstoy…

3. “Studies in European Realism” consists of nine articles, which were written in the period of 1938-1939, but it published at 1948. These issues studying writers such as Balzac (Chapter 1 & 2 & 3: “The Peasants” and “Lost Illusions”), Stendhal (Chapter3), Gorky (Chapter 7), Zola (Chapter 4), Tolstoy (Chapter 6 & 8). The work belongs to the Marxist period of Lukács and obviously based on Marxist ideas.

4. The Age of the epic is typified by the fact that it does not yet have any conception of an inner world, or any conception of the soul’s search for itself. It is also an age in which the divinity is just as familiar and close to man and Just as incomprehensible, as a father is to small child. Modern life, at the same time as it has immensely enlarged its world, has also established a gulf between the self and the world, which did not exist in the era of the epic. We have destroyed the meaning of Greek life, which was totality: a totality, which was all-inclusive, there being nothing which pointed to a higher reality out side it.

5. In Lukács’s thought system, Tragedy is begun with Greek civilization and continues to the modern world. This form of literature is very interesting. The author creates a hero, describe him/her, empower him and then kill him/her. Therefore, in this process, the distinction is killing. Lukács said: “Tragedy places its heroes on the stage as living human beings in the midst of a mass of only apparently living beings.” However, the sudden elimination of hero in this special narrative causes to form the Tragedy. When Achilles is killed at the end of the Iliad, the Homer’s epic convert to the Tragedy.

6. According to Lukács, Novel is the most important literary Form of the modern world. Lukács similar to Hegel says that the hero of the epic is the community. Now, the community is an organic totality, whereas the hero of the novel is an individual, and arises out of modern man’s estrangement from the external world. (Parkinson, 1977: 26) Lukács in his genealogy of novel relate it to a special phenomenon: Mass Experiment of History. He describes the novelist as the historian of the bourgeoisie society.

7. In the first step, the commodity is an interpersonal relationship, which is formed between people, but in the next stage, the commodity reproduces itself in social communications and constructs the commodification. According to Lukács, social relationships, activities and human worth are increasingly defined in terms of an alienating and objectifying monetary value- a process known as commodification. When Lukács reviews the “Lost Illusions” which written by Honoré de Balzac, the famous French novelist of 19 century, pay attention to it as a mean for describing the process of commodification in the Literature. He believes that “Lost Illusions” is a Comic-Tragic Epic and its centre is the conversion of literature to a kind of commodity.

8. Every normal trade takes worthy Commodities and sell them to get some profits. However, in the world of media, we have no worthy naive commodity which can indicated them as ordinary purchasable things. Therefore, Media use from a special process to convert non-purchasable things to purchasable and also profitable things: The Commodification. They use from mass broadcasting to Celebrating or Humiliating a subject, give good or bad worth to them and at last, sell them to their audiences. Hereto, media create salable things, which can bring money for their inventors. Films, News, Face-to-Face Discussing, and Games… are expensive ways and commodities, which are formed in this area.

9. However, some media products such as “Magnolia” confess media roles of commodification. Magnolia is a 1999 drama film which written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It includes several-separated story, which are linked together with an invisible line of destiny. The central point of the film is a Television Show in the name of “What do Kids Know?” It is a very famous program, which attract many audiences. It is constructing between three adults and three teenagers. One of the teens is a Genius Kid (Stanley) who is won at seven courses and if he can be success at eighth game, break the record and achieve the final victory. Nevertheless, this last cycle confront with a basic problem: The Media Hero need to go to the bathroom.

10. But at the current game, when Stanley made to piss in his trousers and experience some humility, every thing is changed. Then Stanley pass the buck and ignore to continue the game. He asks from famous showman of the game, Jimmy Gator: What is Interesting? Do you see, what are your ideas about us? Am I a toy for you? I am not a doll. To you, we are some pretty tiny teens. Why? Because I am converted to an odd being? Because I answer to the questions? because I am clever. Or because I want to go to the bathroom? I am genius, not a funny man whom is seen by the people and my intellect would be their hobby. I know. I know very much. I know. I know. For example, I know that I should go to bathroom, but you don’t allow me.”

11. As Stanley find out, mass media convert their subjects to toys and dolls, which can purchasable. In that example, Stanley converted to a toy that entertains people in an entertainment media. With Lukács opinions, we can say, in modern world, all things melted to commodity, to be controlled, purchased and to be come to nothing… If any one want to break the cycle, must escape from their studio…


References:

1. Habermas, Jurgen, 1984, The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol 1, Translated to English Thomas McCarthy, Beacon Press, Boston

2. Lukács, Georg, 1971 B, History and Class Consciousness, Translated to English by Rodney Livingstone, Merlin Press, London

3. Lukács, Georg, 1971, The Theory of the Novel, Translated to English by Anna Bostock, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts

4. Lukács, Georg, 1972, Studies in European Realism, Translated to Farsi by Akbar Afsari, Scientific and Cultural Publisher, Tehran

5. Lukács, Georg, 1973, Marxism and Human Liberation, Delta Book, New York

6. Lukács, Georg, 1974, “The Soul and the Forms”, Translation to English Anna Bostock, Merlin Press, London.

7. Parkinson, G.H.R, 1977, Georg Lukács, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London

8. Smith, Philip, 2001, Cultural Theory, Blackwell Publishers

Toward a Communicative Interpretation for Sexual Verses of the Quran

“A Short Thinking”

Written By: Sobhan Rezaee

Abstract:
In this short issue, we pay attention to four religious sexual areas and exploit some related verses from Quran: The Birth of the Sexuality (Taha: 116-117; Araf: 12-25), Husband (Al-Nisa: 34), Wife (Rum: 21) and Sexual Relation (Baghare: 223). Then we use the Communicational Model of “Meaning source” (Mohsenian Rad’s Model) to analyze and interpretation these verses. My conclusions shows that (1) the verses of the Suras of Taha and Araf indicated that after forbidden fruit was eaten by Adam and Eve, their virginity converted to sexual desires. So their position and environment should be changed. However in this evolution, the sender is God or the Satan (based on the kind of interpretation), the receivers are Adam and Eve and the message is the Sexualization. I think this is the most influential communicational process which Human kind has experienced. (2) If we assume the family as a communicational System, then we confront the verses such as Al-Nisa-34 which define its parties with different statues. According to the Verse, the Quran take a priority to the men. And there is a necessity for receiver (women) to accept the sender’s message (husbands’ message), which aren’t concerned to the main meaning of wives’ mind. (3) The Islamic treatment of Wife is very similar to Catholic understanding. (4) The Islamic Sexuality is structured with different dimensions: Biological, Cultural, Economic, and Politic which reproduce its society in all of these roots. (5) Sexual Relations have two stages: Biologic and Communicational. The majority of Communicational Mechanisms is Non-Verbal form, which use from the Touch as the main Canal for sending the messages. I mean that the Kissing, the Caressing, the Smiling, the embracing, the Wooing, the Penetration… are Communicational methods which send emotions as messages from men to women, or inverse.

Keywords: Sexuality, Sexual Relations, Quran, Wife, Husband


The Story of the Birth of the Sexuality:

The Maximum Influence of a Message

“When We told the angels to prostrate before Adam they all obeyed except Iblis (Satan) who refused.” (Taha, 116)

When the God order to angels to prostrate before human, he want to force them to form a special communicational process in front of His new Creature. In this way, the angels should send their spiritual respect as a message to the human and confirm his priority. But the Satan wasn’t a suitable sender which can sent such a message for the new creature, because he has a specific Meaning in definition the priority. I mean he thought that the reason of priority is the “Material of the Creation”. So he said: “I am better than Adam, for You have created me out of fire and Adam out of clay.” (Araf: 12) But this argument caused to recognize the Satan as the Enemy of Human by God and so he warned to His new Creature: “We said," Adam, this (Satan) is your enemy and the enemy of your spouse. Let him not expel you and your spouse from Paradise lest you plunge into misery.” (Taha, 117)

Then God expel the Satan from his Heaven, but give His previous dignified slave a new important role: “The Lord ordered Satan to get out (of Paradise) saying," This is no place for you to be proud. Get out of this place, for you are worthless"(13) Satan asked the Lord to give him respite (keep him alive) until the Day of Resurrection. (14)
The Lord told him," We will grant you this respite."(15) Then Satan said," Because you have made me go astray, I shall certainly try to seduce people into straying from the right path. (16) I shall attack them from all directions and You will not find many of them giving You thanks". (Araf: 13-17)

So Satan reformed himself as the Adam’s enemy. But for this new meaning and intention, he look up a way for awake a very special phenomenon: The Sexuality: “Satan tempted them to reveal that which was kept private from them (Sexual Organs) and said," Your Lord has not prohibited you to eat the fruits of this tree unless you want to be angels or immortal."(Araf, 20)

In this way, If the Islamic story of creation is adapted with the basical model of the communication, I mean the sender, the receiver and the message, then its sender is the Satan or God (based on the kind of interpretation); the receiver is the Adam and Eve; and the message is Sexualization which had been covered under the forbidden fruit: “When they had tasted (fruits) from the tree, their private parts (The Sexual Organ) became revealed to them. (Araf, 22)

Some Quran Interpreters Such as Fazl ebne Tabarsy believed that, before this evolution, the sexual organs of the humans are hidden and the Satan knew “Every one who is revealed his/her sexual organ can’t stay on the Heaven. But the only way for revelation the sexuality was eating from the fruit of the forbidden tree.” (Majmaol Bayan, V 9, P 69) But some mystical interpreter such as Ebne Arabi said that, “It doesn’t relate to revelation the sexual organs, but the Satan want to aware humans’ desire to materialism and its joys and bring out them form celibacy and immaterialism.” (Ebne Arabi, Vol 1: 230)
After melting the virgin primitive Humans to Sexual Beings, A specific emotion is formed: Sexual Shame: “they began to cover their private parts with leaves from the garden.” (Araf, 22) And the Conclusion of this process is exiting from the Heaven of Virgins and Enter to the World of the Sexuality: “The Lord told them to leave the garden as each other's enemies and go to earth to dwell and benefit from the means therein for an appointed time. (24) He told them that, on earth, they would live, die, and be resurrected. (Araf: 24-25)


So, indeed this is a real Communicational Process, because ‘the Sender’ could change completely the meaning of ‘his receivers’ about themselves by his message. And transit them to a new position which is needed a new and different environment. I mean the God or Satan (based on interpretation way) as the sender with some specific meanings which included his intentions send the Sexualization as a message to his audiences, Adam and Eve. Then they are changed completely, because after eating the forbidden fruit, their virginity converted to sexual desires. So their position and environment should be changed: They descent to the Ground of the Sexuality: The Earth.

The Wife:
In the Sura of Al-Rum, Allah after explanation the creation of Human with the clay: “Among His signs is [the fact] that he has created you from clay; then you were propagated as human beings. (Rum, 20)” and before treatment the differentiation of Languages and Colors of Humans as a Special privilege: “Among His signs are the creation of Heaven and Earth, as well as the diversity in your tongues and colors.” (Rum, 22) He said that: “Among His signs is [the fact] that He has created spouses for you from among yourselves so that you may console yourselves with them. He has planted affection and mercy between you; in that are signs for people who think things over.” (Rum, 21)

Fazl ebne Tabarsy in interpretation of the verse and explanation the kind of creation spouse said that: this verse means “Eve was created by one of the Adam’s ribs or the Feminine was created from the sperm of Masculine.” (Majmaol Bayan, V 8, P 470)
In other hand, Mohammad Moghnyye in his interpretation, Al- Kashef, said: “Certainly, the Quran define the goal of the marriage as the mean for form affection and mercy between the family members.” (Moghnyye, Vol 6: 136) In other hand, According to the text of sura of Rum (21), we can say: “God has created spouse for Man from himself so that he may console himself with her.”

This understanding is touching to the Christian belief: “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Gen, 2: 18) But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, for she was taken out of man. (Gen, 2: 20-23)”

The Husband:
Men are in charge of women, since God has given some persons advantages over others, and because they should spend their wealth [on them]. Honorable women are steadfast, guarding the Unseen just as God has it guarded. Admonish those women whose surliness you fear, and leave them alone in their beds, and [even] beat them. If they obey you, do not seek any way [to proceed] against them. God is Sublime, Great. (Al- Nisa: 34)

If we assume the family as a communicational System, then we confront such verses which define its parties with different statues. According to this Verse (Al-Nisa, 34), the Quran take a priority to the men “since God has given some persons advantages over others, and because they should spend their wealth (on the Women.)” So in this religious context, we have an institutionalized priority in family Communication: the advantages and wealth of the men take him a higher position in the process. I mean, the man is the main Sender, who sends the main message, because they are in charge of women.

In other hand, God define the Honorability for the Women: “Honorable women are steadfast, guarding the Unseen (Husband’s Rights & Properties) just as God has it guarded.” Mr. Tabatabaee in interpretation of this sentence said: “It refers to the guardianship of husbands in relation with wives. So the wives should obey from her husbands.” (Almizan, Vol 4: 343) So, the wife as the main receiver in family should obey from her husband’s messages and intentions, to be an Honorable woman.

At the End, God prescribe to men a Kind of Communicational collection in front of ill-behaved women which include one verbal solution (Advice) and two non verbal ways (Abandonment their Sexual Relationship & Corporal Punishment), But this Prescribes are reliable until they accept the obedience: “If they obey you, do not seek any way [to proceed] against them. God is Sublime, Great. (Al-Nisa: 34)
So in Islamic model of family communication, we have some specific positions which are related to Sender and Receiver. And there is a necessity for receiver (women) to accept the sender’s message (husbands’ message), which aren’t concerned to the main meaning of wives’ mind. And if they don’t accept the messages, the verbal and non-verbal ways are used to convince them.

Sexual Relations:
Your wives are as fields for you. You may enter your fields from any place you want. Reserve something good for your souls (for the life hereafter). Have fear of God and know that you are going to meet Him. (Muhammad) give the glad news to the believers. (Baghare: 223)

This verse similize the women to fields and the men to farmers, and so take an advice to the men (or men & women): “Reserve something good for your soul.” According to Almizan interpretation, it refers to Human reproduction. (Almizan, Vol 2: 214) In other hand, I think it means that the sexuality is a system of Humans’ Society Reproduction, which is structured with different dimensions: Biological, Cultural, Economic, Politic and reproduce society in all of these roots. I mean the Bio-Sexuality reproduces the bodies of people and extend them with their children. In other hand, Cultural-Sexuality with its process of socialization regenerate the stereotypic Sex-roles and define the Good and the Bad in Sexual Intercourse, Gendered Relations and its sexual preferences. Also Economic-Sexuality expands economic patterns with the help of sexual collection such as family, kinship system and others. But the relation of Policy and Sexuality is more complicated and has a lot of results. The Policy for reproduction its dominance, manage the sexuality system and make some convincements in Sexual and Family Planning. (Rezaee, 2007 A: 10)

In a religious society, all of these dimensions of Reproduction are religious. So God’s Advice leads us to an Islamic Bio-Sexuality which reproduces the Muslims, An Islamic Cultural-Sexuality that use from socialization process to reproduce the Islamic common senses, traditions, and sex roles, An Islamic Economic-Sexuality that regenerate Islamic economic network, systems and regulations. And The Islamic Policy reproduces itself with Islamic goals. This is the real meaning of God’s device: “Reserve something good for your souls (for the life hereafter). Have fear of God and know that you are going to meet Him.”

In other hand, This Verse has an important role in the sayings of sacred leaders of Shiah. For example, Abdullah ebne Yaghfour asked about the legitimacy of Anal Sex in Shiite thinking, Imam Sadegh responded him: “Your wives are as fields for you. You may enter your fields from any place you want. (Baghare, 223)” And he underline on ‘from any place you want.’ (Vasayelo Shiah, Vol 20: 148) Mr.Tabatabaee in interpretation of this verse, said that “the purpose of this part of the verse is enrich and development the freedom of marriage and sexual relations in the fields of (Sexual) place and time (Except in the Catamenia time).” (Almizan, Vol l: 226)

The Expansion of religious limitations of sexual behaviors, cause to the development of the touching area in sexual communication. Indeed Sexual Relations have two stages. One of them is Biologic which its goal is gratification of sexual organs and gets the biologic orgasm. But the other is Communicational Stage. In this dimension, we have several complicated communicational processes which are included the Verbal and Non-Verbal kinds, but the majority of Mechanisms is Non-Verbal form, which use from the Touch as the main Canal for sending the messages. The Kissing, the Caressing, the Smiling, the embracing, the Wooing, the Penetration… are Communicational methods which send emotions as messages from men to women, or inverse. In these Communicational mechanisms, the positions of sender and receiver are changed, frequently. Also, the collection of meanings of man and woman about him/her self, their sexual partner, their situation… are changed, frequently… In other hand the messages of this special communications may be senses and emotions such as Security, Love, Self Confidence, Priority, and Humility…
This Analyze of Sexual Relations is only a beginning point. I want to continue it in my future book, Sexuality and Religion, which I am writing it, nowadays.

Conclusions:

1. If the Islamic story of creation is adapted with the conventional model of the communication, I mean the sender, the receiver and the message, then its sender is the tree (the Satan or the God); the receiver is the Adam and Eve; and the message is Sexualization: “When they had tasted (fruits) from the tree, their private parts (The Sexual Organ) became revealed to them. (Araf, 22) Then they are changed completely, because after eating the forbidden fruit, their virginity converted to sexual desires. So their position and environment should be changed. Then they descent to the Ground of the Sexuality: The Earth.

2. If we assume the family as a communicational System, then we confront the Quran verses such as Al-Nisa-34 which define its parties with different statues. According to the Verse, the Quran take a priority to the men “since God has given some persons advantages over others, and because they should spend their wealth (on the Women.)”. So in Islamic model of family communication, we have some specific positions which are related to Sender and Receiver. And there is a necessity for receiver (women) to accept the sender’s message (husbands’ message), which aren’t concerned to the main meaning of wives’ mind. And if they don’t accept the messages, the verbal and non-verbal ways are used to convince them.

3. According to the text of Sura of Rum (21), we can say: “God has created spouse for Man from himself so that he may console himself with her.” This understanding is touching to the Christian belief: “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Gen, 2: 18)… Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh (Gen, 2: 22-23)

4. The Sexuality is structured with different dimensions: Biological, Cultural, Economic, Politic and reproduce society in all of these roots. When we assume a religious society, all of these dimensions of Reproduction the sexuality are religious. So God’s Advice leads us to an Islamic Bio- Sexuality which reproduces the Muslims, An Islamic Cultural-Sexuality which use from socialization process to reproduce the Islamic common senses, traditions, and sex roles, An Islamic Economic-Sexuality that regenerate Islamic economic network, systems and regulations. And The Islamic Policy reproduces itself with Islamic goals.

5. Sexual Relations have two stages: Biologic and Communicational. In Communicational Stage, we have several complicated communicational processes which are included the Verbal and Non-Verbal kinds, but the majority of Mechanisms is Non-Verbal form, which use from the Touch as the main Canal for sending the messages. The Kissing, the Caressing, the Smiling, the embracing, the Wooing, the Penetration… are Communicational methods which send emotions as messages from men to women, or inverse. In these Communicational mechanisms, the positions of sender and receiver are changed, frequently. Also, the collection of meanings of man and woman about him/her self, their sexual partner, their situation… are changed, frequently…

References:

1. Amely, Horr, 1409 LY, [1], Vasayelo shiah (Arabic Version), Vol 20, The institution of Alol Bayt, The Jame Al-Ahadith
2. Ebne Arabi, 1422 LY, The Interpretation of Ebne Arabi (Arabic Version), Dar Ahya Al-Torath Arabi,The Jame Tafasir Noor, CD-Rom
3. Moghnyye, Mohammad, 1424 LY, Al- Kashef (Arabic Version), Vol 6, Darol Kotobe Islamic, The Jame Tafasir Noor, CD-Rom
4. Mohsenian Rad, M, 1999, Communicology: An Innovative Definition and Model for Communication Process, Soroush Press, Tehran
5. Rezaee, Sobhan, 2007 A, Talcott Parsons & Understanding “the Sexuality” As a Social System, http://Sobhanrezaee.blogspot.com
6. Rezaee, Sobhan, 2007 B, Dissection of Shiite and Catholic Bodies on the Sexuality (Farsi Edition), Imam Sadegh University
7. Tabarsy, Fazl ebne, 1372 (SY [2]), Majmaol Bayan (Arabic Version), Vol 8, Naser Khosro Publisher, The Jame Tafasir Noor, CD-Rom
8. Tabarsy, Fazl ebne, 1372 (SY), Majmaol Bayan (Arabic Version), Vol 9, Naser Khosro Publisher, The Jame Tafasir Noor, CD-Rom
9. Tabatabaee, 1417 LY, Mohammad Hossein, Almizan (Arabic Version), Vol 1, The Bureau of Islamic Publisher of Hazawh Elmyye of Quom, The Jame Tafasir Noor, CD-Rom
10. Tabatabaee, 1417 LY, Mohammad Hossein, Almizan (Arabic Version), Vol 2, The Bureau of Islamic Publisher of Hazawh Elmyye of Quom, The Jame Tafasir Noor, CD-Rom
11. Tabatabaee, 1417 (LY), Mohammad Hossein, Almizan (Arabic Version), Vol 4, The Bureau of Islamic Publisher of Hazawh Elmyye of Quom, The Jame Tafasir Noor, CD-Rom
12. The Bible, 1984, New International Version, International Bible Society, http://www.biblegateway.com/
13. The Quran, 1981, translated to English by Mohammad Sarwar, Elmhurst, The Jame Tafasir Noor, CD-Rom
14. The Quran, translated to English by T.B. Irving, The Jame Tafasir Noor,CD-Rom


[1] Arabic Lunar Year
[2] Iranian Solar Year

Global Fashion and Local Policy Making in Iran:

Are the Iranian Localization Policies Can Prevent the Popularity of Western Fashions in Iran?

(Photographer: Javad Moghimi (Fars News Agancy), 17 July 2006, "The Festival of The Women of My Land" , Iran, Tehran)

Nowadays, the global fashion is a kind of screen which are using very much. This Communicational process is based on the power of global media which can promote Fashion models towards a worldwide network. The function of this phenomenon, is sharing a special model of clothing, body decorations or any other forms of decorations between the categorized people around the world, such as Young people, Teenagers, Kids… So the Most of teenagers in Europe, America, Middle East, Africa and Asia use same fashion and share him/her self definitions. Indeed, it is making a range of similar shapes for fashioned Sender which sends a range of similar messages to receivers.

As I said above, these common surfaces usually come with supportive flows in media. I mean Cinema, TV, Music and other creators of cultural stereotypes prepare the contents of fashioned messages and strengthen this process with their attractive items. In this way, global superstars who have had the best presences on global media (Such as Cinema Actors, Sportsmen, Singers…) use the fashion preferences and then become special interfaces in front of senses of watchers the media. Also the roles of superstars are very influential which they will be to a sacred position that cause to valued their fashioned tools and decorations which may be sold to millions dollars, after or before their death.

But when these cultural waves come to a certain region, confront local orders and traditions. So, the reacts are very different. In the countries like Iran, the formal reacts against the fashion is varied. Sometimes, easily they are accepted, especially for men clothing. And sometimes conflict with them in chief for women clothing. But when they antagonize with the fashion, their intentions are disaccording with strip clothing (you should intend the cultural standards for clothing and decoration) or against with the western culture. Indeed they see the West as an origin of immorality and injustice who want to extend their models and evil forms.

In many times, they localize the fashioned models and recover them in contrast the developing the western surfaces. For example the dresses is longed, widen, or the same clothing is altered which haven’t any strip parts. But they forgot that covering the strip parts or localization of global fashion can be popular them in a larger sphere and strengthen the fashion process. Indeed they only clear their traditional considering about nudity. But this reformed fashion can improve with suitable constituents and promoted itself in a larger area. So a safe cultural entrance is formed. And the regional people, not only the westernized populations, but the most of them can be set as potential targets of fashion process. Because the Iranian government can reform the fashioned surfaces and localize it with religious and politic constituents, but these reformed fashion send the same messages which global media not IRIB loaded them and strengthen this process with their productions.Then, the western hegemony can get a more powerful position about these regions and with using these stages, construct localized cultural Serotypes which have linked to western messages, too. So the supportive process of media and their superstars can made more influences in the countries such as Iran.

Talcott Parsons & Understanding “the Sexuality” As a Social System

Written by: Sobhan Rezaee

Abstract:
In this Article, I want to study the Sexuality as a “Discourse System” with Parsonsian thought. So, at the first part of this issue, we focus on Parsons Theories and its growth root. Then we take his system analyzes and apply some reforms. In this way, we determine the four main parts of Sexuality System as Adaptation, Goal Attainment, Integration and Latency. And exert them in examining the Sexuality System. So in conclusion, “the Latency” is defined with its centre, Family; “the Adaptation” is realized with Socialization and Sex-roles; “the Integration” is understood with Laws and Common Senses; and at last “the Goal Attainment” is seen with “the Reproduction the Society.”

Keywords: “Talcott Parsons”, “Sexuality”, “System”

A Short Thinking: Social Genealogy of the Fashion

Written by: Sobhan Rezaee

Abstract
In this Article, my approach to the fashion is based on the social roots and needs of this phenomenon. Fashion is a modern item and differs with its predecessors. The fashion used for support the hegemony, distinct the subcultures and connects these separated parts of the modern society together and defines a specific distance between them. And also, the identity of the fashion cause to regenerates itself constantly. Indeed the fashion is a kind of non verbal communication which consist the communicational process: the sender, the receiver and the message. The fashioning person sends his/her messages in the form of Yes or No (0 or 1) to other people, and defines his position between several groups of the society and form the perception of others from himself/herself.

Keywords: Fashion, Nonverbal Communication, Modernity

Introduction
The Age of Enlightenment and then Modernity have created new world for social life. Every day we are getting up, wear special clothes and use some consecrated body decorating, enter the traffic streets, confront with hundreds people who are dependant to different subcultures, receive the mass media messages and so on.
Metropolitan environment is included with intensification of nervous stimulation, social pressures, crowded spaces and deeply difference on social classes. In urban life, we are strangers and are absolutely alone. Georg Simmel in interpreting this kind of exists said: “The deepest problems of modern life drive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces.”(Simmel, 1997:174-5) In other words he thinks that the various aspects of urban life are threatening to our sense.

Increasing Distances
When Emile Durkheim, one of the founders of the sociology, decide to understand the modern world, paid attention to the solidarity and define two kinds of this concept: “Mechanical” and “Organic”. He thinks that industrial societies include organic solidarity which causes to increase up the diversity in division of labors and specialization. (Durkheim, 1947) In this sequel, people are finding themselves with different proficiencies, so the sharing part of their minds is decreasing. People are connected together with the instrumentality of their expert ability. On the other hand, Simmel believed that in such society, self to self communication face to another gap: The Money. This item is also cause to break the human interactions and has become them more anonymous. (Simmel, 1997:177)

However, Karl Marx with the concept of the “alienation” underlined the rupture of modern man, too. (Marx, 1978) He discovered the superstructure of modernity in the system of production and defined it in ownership of means of production and the relation of production. He believed that the dominant ideology reflects views and interests of owners of means of production (Bourgeoisie) and serves to legitimate their authority. And on the other hand, He thinks to the separation from fellow humans, sentiments of isolation and inability to live in a fulfillment society. (Marx, 1954) All of them formed the theory of alienation in Marx’s thinking.
So, modern human in the urban life is a being who specialized, monetrarist and alienated. The increase of specialization in division labor, caused to decrease the diameter of sphere the “social common mind.” Furthermore, the Money in our society breaks the interaction and direct communication of people and it melt to an important instrumentality. And above all, the system of production alienated us.
These are coordinating with the idea of individualism in enlightenment and modernity. All of them separate person from others and society and weaken the power of personal interaction. Therefore, the public transform to a collection of disconnected or badconnected parts.

Modern Alternative for Loneliness
Modernity broke the traditional structure of relationship in society, but used a special way for covering these gaps: The influences of the self to self communication replaced with the new mass media communication which is improving very fast. Books, Newspapers, Radios, TVs and other web based media are affecting on the sphere of the “social common mind” and form the shared apparent and inapparent faces for people of the society. Therefore, public opinion is structured for minds and the fashion was created for surfaces.

Social Hieroglyphics
Today, in our society people wear variform of clothes, body decorations, Jewels… and would be pride of their choices. Indeed, they are using these surfaces for communication to others. And also as Marx said, we make our decision about the social status and the role of the people based on what they are wearing. (Marx, 1954: 77) These clothes and decorations are definite means for social relation between men and women and we can call them with the Marx creative word: “Social Hieroglyphics”. (Marx, 1954: 79)

So, Modernity has structured a new system of appearing: The fashion. This phenomenon has a lot of differences with its predecessors. For example, religious, military or ethnical clothing related to other dress codes such as tradition, hierarchy and even intimidation. They are fixed dress which does not change during the short time.
But the fashion system set the current acceptable and unacceptable codes for clothing behavior and body making. However in the social fashion game, it revises on its rules constantly. According to Jennifer Craik, Fashion is technology of civility which prescribes special conduction in the practices of self-formation and self-presentation. (Craik, 1993:4-6)
Nowadays fashion takes an important role for social actors. And the people based on their amount of societal presence, attention to the fashion. As Bourdieu in his great work, “Distinction”, says: “The proportion of women who say they “tend not to take account of fashion always higher among women who do not work outside the home ((59 percent as against 47 percent)).” (Bourdieu, 1984, 378)


A Basic tension
But why a person should take his/her preferences from a fashion system? How can we consent to accept these strict codes for clothing and bodily behaviors? Georg Simmel, famous sociologist, argued on these questions and responded it: “two social tendencies are essential to the establishment of fashion’ and should either of these tendencies be absent from or lacking in a society, fashion will not be formed. The first of these tendencies is the need for union (Socializing impulse) and the second is the need for isolation (differentiating impulse) (Simmel, 1971: 301). The contrast of individuality and social identity which becoming from sharing spheres of the person and societal groups, are faced together in our cultural minds. Both of them are based on human needs and are improving in separate roots. According to Simmel, we face a tension between our need to remain inconspicuous in such settings, and the need to assert our identity or to be noticed. (Smith, 2001: 20) So the fashion is a mean for define a specific distance between us.

A Vital Aesthetics
The importance of the role the aesthetics inspired upper classes of society to design a special theme for their aesthetical taste. They are using the fashion as a mean for naturalize their higher status in the societal environment. The speciality and expensiveness of the fashion help them to distinct themselves from the “others”. But this process has a failure point, too: Time Limitation.
As Adrian Forty reported: “In eighteen century England, printed cottons were relatively expensive and were worn only by the more affluent middle and upper class women. With the development of the cotton industry in Lancashire in the early nineteenth century, however these printed cottons became cheaper and working-class women could afford to buy the new cotton dress material for themselves. Consequently, by 1818 a draper in London could report that these cotton prints were worn principally by servants and the lower classes. In response, the middle and the upper classes abandoned printed cotton dress material in favour of plain white dresses … inspired, it was said by the wish to imitate the form of classical figures. (Bernard, 1996: 40 cited from Forty, 1986: 73-5) So this kind of appearing support the hegemony of the society and when confront to such obstacles, change itself and regenerate the fashion process.

Fashion as a Medium
Fashion has an important role more than simply clad the body for warmth, modesty beautification or comfort. Indeed, they are technical devices which include some codes for link a particular body with social milieu. Our everyday experiences show that clothes and adorning are selected according to what one will be doing that day, which is expected to meet and what is the mood of the wearer and so on. The fashion is a form of non verbal communication which is structured like others. So, it has the three basic part of communicational process: The Sender, The Receiver and the Message. The user of a fashioned style is the sender and the people who confront him/her are receiver. But the message is a more complicated item.
On this account, a garment or other fashioned item would be a channel which sends Yes or No (0 or 1) to other people. I mean the weared fashion link wearer to the subcultures such as bourgeoisies, intellectuals, politicians, business men, young persons, teenagers, punks, raps and so on. Then, the sender says to receiver that I am a member of your group, so I agree with the basic principles of that group. Or I am not a member of your group and subscribed in another group, which is… so I agree with a different basic principals and I differ with you. Then, in the modern society, the perceptions of our being and other beings are formed and the loneliness of the modern human based on the fashion transform to a subcultural ourness.


Conclusion


1. Modern human in the urban life is a being who specialized, monetarist and alienated. The increase of specialization in division labor, cause to decrease the diameter of sphere the “social common mind.” On the other hand, the Money in our society breaks the interaction and direct communication of people and it melt to an important instrumentality. And above all, the system of production alienated us. All of them, separate person from others and weaken the power of personal interaction. Therefore, the public transform to a collection of disconnected or badconnected parts.


2. The modernity broke the traditional relation network in society and replaced it with the mass media as central communicational points. Then, it can control the common minds of the broken parts (subcultures) and specify them with distinctive fashion.


3. The functions of the un-fashioned clothes and body decorations are different. For example, religious, military or ethnical clothing related to codes such as tradition, hierarchy and even intimidation. But the fashion appearing use for support the hegemony, distinct the subcultures link the people and indeed is a non verbal communication means. And also, during the time, fashion regenerates itself constantly.


4. The fashion is a form of non verbal communication which is structured like others. So, it has the three basic part of communicational process: The Sender, The Receiver and the Message. The fashioning person sends his/her messages in the form of Yes or No (0 or 1) to other people, and defines his position between several groups of the society and form the perception of others from himself/herself.


5. The Global Fashion is a kind of screen which are using very much. This Communicational process is based on the power of global media which can promote Fashion models towards a worldwide network. I mean Cinema, TV, Music and other creators of cultural stereotypes prepare the contents of fashioned messages and strengthen this process with their attractive items.


6. When these cultural waves come to a certain region, confront local orders and traditions. So, the reacts are very different. In the countries like Iran, the formal reacts against the fashion is varied. But when they antagonize with the fashion, their intentions are disaccording with strip clothing (you should intend the cultural standards for clothing and decoration) or against with the western culture. Indeed they see the West as an origin of immorality and injustice who want to extend their models and evil forms. In many times, they localize the fashioned models and recover them in contrast the developing the western surfaces. For example the dresses is longed, widen, or the same clothing is altered which haven’t any strip parts. But they forgot that covering the strip parts or localization of global fashion can be popular them in a larger sphere and strengthen the fashion process.

References

1. Bernard, Malcolm, 1996, Fashion as Communication, Routledge
2. Bourdieu, 1984, Pierre, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, Translated to English by Richard Nice, Routledge & Kegan Paul
3. Craik, Jennifer, 1993, The face of fashion: Cultural Studies in Fashion, Routledge
4. Durkheim, Emile, 1947, “The Division of Labor in Society”, Translated from the French to English by George Simpson, Glencoe, Illinois
5. Forty, Adrian,1986, “Objects of desire, Thames and Hudson, London
6. Marx, Karl, 1954, Capital, Volume 1, Lawrence and Wishart
7. Marx, Karl, 1975, “The Poverty of Philosophy”, Progress Publishers
8. Marx, Karl, 1959, “The Economic and philosophical manuscripts of 1844” Progress Publishers
9. Simmel, G, 1971, Fashion, in wills and Midgley, Edition, on Individuality and Social Forms, University Chicago Press
10. Simmel, Georg, 1997, “Simmel on Culture”, Edited by D. Frisby and M.Featherstone, Sage Publisher
11. Smith, Philip, 2001, “Cultural Theory: An Introduction”, Blackwell Publishers