Conformity and transgression as bedfellows: Reproduction, sexuality, and religion in contemporary Iran

Abstract

Transgression in its literal definition means the violation of the boundaries of social, moral, and cultural conventions. Examples across cultures abound testifying to the way transgression and conformity can become pathways for each other to accommodate change or soften the impact of deviation for the common good. In this article, ethnographic case studies from Iran provide fertile grounds for an examination of the solutions Iranians from all walks of life, from the liberal clerics to the rebel young people, have resorted to by alternating between transgression and conformity, to accommodate modernity without disturbing the social order.The findings of the study further contribute to the understanding that the strategies devised to accommodate modernity and create social harmony have, deliberately or inadvertently, contributed to a reinforcement of the gender gap, rather than weakening or closing it.