Analytical Formulation of Cultural Engineering Based on the Views of Ayatollah Khamenei

Soheilsarv, Mohammad

doi:10.22059/jstmt.2025.391219.1779

Analytical Formulation of Cultural Engineering Based on the Views of Ayatollah Khamenei

Document Type : Research Article / Original Article

Author

Mohammad Soheilsarv

Assistant Professor of Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jstmt.2025.391219.1779

Abstract

Cultural engineering is a systematic approach to understanding, regulating, and managing culture, representing a relatively new perspective in cultural studies. As articulated by Ayatollah Khamenei, this approach can serve as an effective strategy for advancing cultural development. The present study aims to conceptualize and formulate the notion of cultural engineering based on Ayatollah Khamenei’s thought. Accordingly, the research addresses the question: What is cultural engineering, and how can it be analytically formulated in Ayatollah Khamenei’s view? This study employs a documentary method for data collection and content analysis for data interpretation. The findings indicate that, from his perspective, cultural engineering comprises five interrelated and inseparable components: supervision, guidance, growth, the nature of culture, and cultural construction. These components function within a cyclical and dynamic process. Cultural supervision refers to monitoring and safeguarding cultural processes; cultural guidance involves steering culture toward the overarching goals of the Islamic system; cultural growth denotes the intellectual and spiritual development of society; the nature of culture is understood as an endogenous, quality-generating movement; and cultural construction entails creating new cultural forms aligned with societal needs. By comparing Ayatollah Khamenei’s perspective with liberalist and socialist approaches, this study demonstrates that he offers an intermediate framework between complete cultural freedom and total cultural control. This approach preserves cultural liberties while, through intelligent guidance and supervision, directing culture toward the objectives of the Islamic system.

Keywords

Ayatollah Khamenei

Cultural Construction

Cultural Engineering

Cultural Guidance and growth

Cultural Supervision

Subjects

Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers

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