Impact of Neoliberal Policies on Humanities and Social Sciences in Iran

Abstract

After the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, Iran's neoliberal economic policies led to a series of educational and research issues; a problem that has been experienced in many other countries. This paper aims to provide an analysis of the impact of the neoliberal economic policies during the postwar era on humanities and social sciences in Iran. The paper will argue that the neoliberal policies dragged Iran's humanities and social sciences into the market-oriented and power‐oriented values. Neoliberal policies led to spread the corporate and marketized model of universities and research institutions, making them responsive to the needs of market and government agencies. Marketisation distorted educational goals and social functions of universities and research institutions. So, critical function of humanities and social sciences asking fundamental questions and informing the public, has become weak. In order to made convincing hypothesis, this paper has adopted a mixed method approach.