Historical Sociology of Iran: The Analysis and Interpretation of the Role of Young and Old Politicians in Political Field of Iran, Post-constitutional Revolution Till the 1960s

This paper is an attempt to study two groups of young and old politicians from two perspectives. First, it will examine the mechanisms of entering and exiting the field of politics. Second, the paper will look into similarities and differences of strategies that young and old politicians used in order to perform their political actions. The necessary research data and materials have been gathered through documentary studies, as well as the memoirs and notes remained from active politicians in the field of politics. The timeline of the research extends from the 1900s to the 1960s. Using Bourdieu's approach, some of the research findings indicate that young politicians had to have priorities such as possessing symbolic capital, political capital. Besides, their origins should have gone back to a family with high social status and political credentials. Such qualities had to be followed by the young politicians and consider themselves as being deserved to enter the politics as well as being able to deliver a speech and knowing the political language. Moreover, it can also be mentioned that functional strategies used by young and old politicians, as well as the status of the individual in the field of politics and their size of political and symbolic capital, were influential factors that could take one into the field of politics. The factor of Age had much less significance. There is, however, a difference between the old and young political approach in terms of political and symbolic capital, as the old politicians had more.