The Detection of Social Factors Influential in Expanding Soccer in Second Pahlavi Period

The present article attends to detection of social factors influential in expansion of soccer in the Iranian society during the Second Pahlavi era. The aim has been proposing a model for the process of soccer expansion in the mentioned period, with a qualitative perspective. The research data have been collected through reference to books, documents, evidences and also interview with knowing people and witnesses to the occurrences and have been analyzed using Grand Theory. After performing three stages of open, axial and selective coding, on the all, from the 20 extracted sub-category, 5 main category, "westernization," "the expansion of group media," "power and ability of Great Britain" and also "opportunities" and "functions" that a phenomenon like soccer can bring for rulers have been proposed as the paradigm model. “Modernization” is the core item of the research which explains the other category. The findings show that the expansion of soccer in the studied period, more than being the product of the sport's features, is the logical result of the strategy of the contemporary government and its supporting powerful parties for modernizing and westernizing the Iranian society in the form of modernization.