Religiosity in postrevolutionary Iran: Politics of religious crowds

After the Islamic revolution, a religious discipline became dominant. This question appeared whether in postrevolutionary society people are more religious. In previous researches, it is mentioned that there is a gap in religiosity data. The gap is between religious believes, experiences, and emotions on one side and collective rituals on the other side. Also, the gap is between individual religious behaviors on one hand and collective rituals on the other hand. It is rarely discussed the gap inside the collective rituals. However, it is an important gap that enables us to analyze the religiosity in contemporary Iran through concepts other than secularization and privatization of religiosity. According to secondary analysis of data from two national surveys in 1390 and 1395, secondary rituals like pilgrimage were considerably popular. People turn to these rituals relying on their emotions. Besides, self-referential religiosity that is based on emotions has become important. Based on this, religious crowds have been formed which could be an important base to reproduce the dominant ideological apparatus. The duality of religious crowds and formal religiosity does not give us a realistic depiction. Nor does the duality of formal and individual religiosity. Furthermore, although the centrality of emotions and desires can lead to the formation of creative subject- as Alain Touraine said- but looking at the policies of government on secondary collective rituals, it is more probable that it will lead to the merge of the individual into the crowd. In this way, the ideological apparatus of the state will be reproduced and authoritarianism will be strengthened. The study of religious literature in Iran indicates a change in the ideological apparatus of the state from emphasizing individual worship such as prayer and fasting to collective rituals and sacred spaces.