The Process of Establishing Official Time in Iran during the First Pahlavi Era from 1307 to 1314 SH (1928 to 1935 AD).

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 beheshti

2 -

Abstract

One of the axes of modern nation-state building policy in Iran during the Pahlavi era was the modernization of social identity based on the idea of standardization. One of the areas considered by the Iranian government was defining official time based on modern timing. In this regard, policies were initiated by the government to define and establish a coordinated and uniform temporal order in government institutions and the public sphere of society, thereby monitoring the rhythm of government and society activities. Initial measures in this process began in 1307 SH (1928 CE) with the synchronization of time in different regions of the country with Tehran's horizon, and culminated with the approval of the country's official time decree in 1314 SH (1935 CE). The foundations and process of government policies and programs during the Pahlavi era aimed at defining official time, which led to the establishment of official time in administrative institutions and social spheres, is the subject of this article.

Examination of documents and analysis of events show that the modernizing Pahlavi government, by setting the official time to Tehran's horizon under the mechanisms of world time with Greenwich as the prime meridian and synchronizing the time across all geographical regions of Iran with it, using the coordinating functions of government institutions such as the telegraph office, municipality, and army, as well as administrative-legal measures, imposed its intended temporal order on the country's governmental, social, and economic institutions, creating a nationwide, coordinated, and uniform temporal identity for society.

The Pahlavi government was able to expand the culture of time-centricity in Iranian society within the process of unifying government and society time, and successfully institutionalize it by implementing a series of measures in various fields, so that the time of Iranian modernity was adjusted to the horizon of global modernity.

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