The Role of Social Forces in Society

The Role of Social Forces in Society

The role of social forces in society, according to Iran Gate, is a concept used extensively in political science sociology and political sociology, and scholars in these fields of humanities often use this concept.

Social forces are essentially a political concept or more precisely a socio-political concept. But what exactly does this term refer to? In political sociology, which is the intersection of sociology and political science, the domains of society and state are distinguished from each other, with the state referring to the political system.

Social forces are essentially forces that exist outside the state and strive to align the policies and actions of the state with their own interests and concerns. They influence the state and are also influenced by it. According to political sociologists, social forces can be distinguished at three levels: base, movement, and influence.

Classes and strata are considered the base level of social forces, such as the working class or women. Social movements form the movement level of social forces, such as labor movements or women’s movements. Political parties and civil organizations are regarded as the influence level of social forces, such as labor parties or organizations related to women’s rights.

As another example, the new middle class itself is a social force at the base level. The student movement is the movement level of this social force. Political parties that advocate for the interests of the middle class, often liberal and democratic parties, form the influence level of this social force.

If a labor party or a liberal party enters the government, the working class and the new middle class have succeeded in bringing their political representatives into the government. In this case, these classes become part of the government and are no longer merely a social force exerting pressure on the government.

Karl Marx, who believed that the state in capitalist societies is nothing but the executive committee of the bourgeoisie, claimed that the working class in these societies could never be part of the state. Therefore, he recommended a revolution against the capitalist state to the workers.

However, when the labor movement emerged from the working class and parties defending workers’ interests were formed, and these parties succeeded in gaining all or part of political power, workers as a social force no longer saw a reason for revolution because this social force had gained the power of political action, namely legislation and distribution of benefits.

In Iran, over the past two decades, the new middle class, with its movements, organizations, and political parties during the presidencies of Khatami and Rouhani, had its political representatives in the government, and its behaviors and slogans were not radical. However, in the current situation, where its political representatives are not present in the government, its political behaviors and slogans have become radical.

The difference between the protests of December 2017 and November 2019 with the protests of 2022 was mainly the more prominent participation of the new middle class in the recent protests. The reason for this difference was nothing but the fact that the new middle class, which was the most important social force influencing the formation of Khatami’s and Rouhani’s governments, naturally did not wish to protest against a government that came to power with its vote.

Among the organizations related to the new middle class in Iran, one can mention the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Journalists’ Association. The Journalists’ Association inherently belonged to the influence level of the new middle class, meaning it defended the interests of an important segment of the new middle class, journalists, against the government and exerted pressure on the government in a civil manner. In fact, if the media are not government-owned, they are part of the social forces, so it is natural for them to present the people’s demands to the government and, in other words, be the voice of the people.

However, the Participation Party, until it was dissolved, was part of the state, meaning the political system, because although it was out of the executive branch, it had a few representatives in the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The British Labour Party, even when it did not control the cabinet, continued to be part of the British political system with its numerous representatives in parliament. Therefore, this party has always been the political representative of British workers for at least the last hundred years and has never turned into a political party outside the structure of the political system.

However, there have been many periods in the history of Western Europe in the 20th century where Green parties operated outside the executive and legislative branches and merely formed the third level, the influence level, of a social force, namely environmentally conscious people.

Similarly, women, who in the form of women’s movements have played a significant role in policy reform in many countries around the world, have almost never formed a specific political party. Therefore, women as a base force have created women’s movements as a movement force and have sufficed with civil organizations at the third level of social forces, the influence level, and have not gone on to establish a political party.

In fact, labor movements have led to labor parties, but women’s movements have not resulted in the establishment of women’s parties. Similarly, student movements have not led to the creation of student parties. The reason for this is likely that parties usually have a class nature, and since women, students, and employees ultimately belong to a social class, if they wish to participate in elections, they vote for political parties of that class.

Strata usually have their civil organizations and in this way exert influence on the government. Their protests are also manifested in the form of social movements, women’s movements, student movements, and professional protests by teachers, drivers, and pilots.

In other words, some social forces, due to their nature, do not seek to establish a political party or seize the executive branch, although they have representatives defending their interests and concerns in parties that have reached parliaments or parties forming the executive branch through the class they belong to.

In summary, it can be said that in any society, different groups of people, such as a class of women or a class of workers, may create social movements and beyond that, establish organizations to exert influence on the government and political system to achieve their demands. These organizations are sometimes political parties that enter the political system, and in this case, are considered the political representatives of that specific social force within the government structure.

In any case, whether civil organizations outside the political system or parties that have entered the political system, they advocate the interests of the social forces that created them. This process illustrates how social forces operate and exert political influence.