Sociological analysis of the generation gap in fiction works of the 90s based on Riesman’s Lonely Crowd theory

Articles in Press

Document Type : Applied

Authors

Seyyed Ali Seraj ¹

ali salar ²

Zeynab Arjmandi Rad ³

¹ associate professor in Persian language and literature, neyshabur university of Iran.

² Assistant Professor of Sociology at Neyshabur University

³ MA student of Persian language and literature at Neyshabur University

https://doi.org/10.22067/social.2026.87013.1484

Abstract

The phenomenon of the generation gap in contemporary Iran, especially in the 2010s (1390s), has become one of the fundamental challenges in the realm of culture, identity, and social cohesion. The present study aims to investigate the components of the generation gap in Persian fictional works of the 2010s, relying on David Riesman's theory of The Lonely Crowd. The main research question concerns how value-based, normative, and identity-based ruptures between generations are represented in four selected novels: Qeydar, Kami Dirtar (A Little Later), Se Gozaresh-e Kutah Darbareh-ye Navid va Negar (Three Short Reports on Navid and Negar), and Payiz Fasl-e Akhar-e Sal Ast (Autumn Is the Last Season of the Year). The research method is qualitative content analysis with an inductive and conventional approach, through which the texts were analyzed in three stages: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The findings indicate that the generation gap in these works is not a linear phenomenon but rather a network of multilayered conflicts manifested in five main axes: tradition-avoidance, individualism and isolation, model-orientedness and imitation, negation of values, and identity crisis. Based on Riesman's typology, Qeydar is predominantly tradition-directed with a value-identity gap; Kami Dirtar represents a combination of tradition-directed and inner-directed types with a belief-spiritual gap; and the other two works (Three Short Reports... and Autumn Is the Last Season of the Year) are other-directed, exhibiting psycho-communicational and socio-gender gaps, respectively. The conclusion is that the fiction of the 2010s both reflects the generational rupture caused by the dominance of instrumental rationality and incomplete modernity, and serves as an active arena for redefining identity and values among different generations.

Keywords

generation gap

fictional works

Lonely Crowd theory

tradition and modernity

identity crisis

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