Sepehr Ariannezhad
INFORMATION
ABOUT ME
ABOUT ME
I’m Sepehr Ariannezhade
I am a Master’s student in Social Sciences at the University of Tehran, specializing in Social Research. My academic background includes a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Sharif University of Technology. My research interests focus on Marxist philosophy, materialist moral theory, political economy, and critical musicology.Currently, I am exploring the potential for a comprehensive Marxist moral theory and analyzing the political economy of global phenomena like K-Pop. I have earned top ranks in national exams and academic awards, including a Silver Medal in the National Olympiad of Astronomy & Astrophysics. My work aims to critically examine the intersections of culture, economy, and society to contribute to a deeper understanding of social structures.
ABOUT ME
I’m Sepehr Ariannezhad
I am a Master’s student in Social Sciences at the University of Tehran, specializing in Social Research. My academic background includes a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Sharif University of Technology. My research interests focus on Marxist philosophy, materialist moral theory, political economy, and critical musicology.Currently, I am exploring the potential for a comprehensive Marxist moral theory and analyzing the political economy of global phenomena like K-Pop. I have earned top ranks in national exams and academic awards, including a Silver Medal in the National Olympiad of Astronomy & Astrophysics. My work aims to critically examine the intersections of culture, economy, and society to contribute to a deeper understanding of social structures.
CURRENT RESEARCH
On the Necessity and Possibility of A Comprehensive Marxist Moral Theory
The ’blind spot’ for morality in Marxist philosophy is a well-known fact that most scholars either outright
ignore by addressing its triviality to the totality of Marxist theory of history as a whole, or resolve it
by creating new (or old) dichotomies traced back to the claimed ’Aristotelian’ root of Marx’ perspective
of morality.
Horkheimer’s seminal work on the essence of morality as a rational category in a capitalist society, and picking
up the idea of an Integral Marxism proposed by Kellner. Hence the title – first justifying the necessity based
on Marx’ own praxis and philosophy, and second by examining the possibility of such morality.
Sublimation or Repetition? A Critical Approach to the Political Economy of K-Pop
resembles a Brechtian V-effect and apparently breaks the current rules of musical experience; and the other
being the distilled ultimate exemplary form of musical experience in the age of Neoliberalism.
to address the shortcomings of analyses by Jin, Messerlin and Sheen whom neglected the dialectical approach
to the inherent contradictions of K-Pop, while trying to elaborate the issue by drawing from the Frankfurtian
critique of culture in the age of mass production.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND AWARDS
Ranked 1st in National University Entrance Exam for Master’s Degree in Social Research
Ranked 1st in University of Tehran Master’s Program for Social Research, Class of 2020
Ranked among the top 10 in University Entrance Exam for Master’s Degree in 10 subjects
Silver Medal in the 9th National Olympiad of Astronomy & Astrophysics
Member of Iran National Elites Foundation
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
EDUCATION
Master (2020 – Now)
Bachelor (2014 – 2019)
COURSES
University of Tehran
Sociology of Culture
University of Tehran
Economic Sociology
University of Tehran
Sociology of Literature
University of Tehran
Theoretical Approach to Social Problems
University of Tehran
Advanced Quantitative Research Methods
University of Tehran
Advanced Qualitative Research Methods
University of Tehran
PROJECTS
A Luk´acsian Critique of the Novela ’Gavkhooni’ by Ja’far Modarres-Sadeghi
Gavkhooni is one of the most notable works of Persian modernist fiction which has been praised by readers
and critics alike in Iran. In this essay, I attempted to critique Modarres-Sadeghi’s work through a Luk´acsian
perspective, namely his reliance on the notion of ’type’, which he borrowed from Engels and developed to a
full-fledged literary criticism device. I had previously critiqued Tolstoy’s ’The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ and Zola’s
’Germinal’ via this perspective, but Gavkhooni proved to be the most crucial due to the deficit of Marxist literary
critique in the sphere of Persian literature.
Market Fundamentalism Invades the Pitch: An Overview of the Neoliberal Takeover of Football
The 2022 Qatar World Cup and the European Super League controversy once again sparked a renowned interest
in the financialization of football. In this project, I aimed to trace back the mass infiltration of market fundamentalism into the football industry right to the 70s, around the same time that Thatcherism and Reaganism
emerged as the political force that beat the world into economic submission under the capital accumulation
regime known as Neoliberalism. I tried to emphasize on the two political economy evidence in club football that
is often overlooked, the concentration of footballing success in wealthiest clubs/leagues and the ease of access of
football enterprises to professional workforce i.e. the players.
Critique of Jason Manning’s ’Pure Sociology’ Approach to Suicide
I read Jason Manning’s latest book on suicide titled ’Suicide: The Social Causes of Self Destruction’ to find
out about different types of suicide and a possible insight into the current wave of female suicides in Iran, and
upon reading it, I was staggered by the so-called ’Pure Sociology’ method implemented by Manning, a follower
of Donald Black’s school. This highly controversial school of sociology has been extensively critiqued before,
and in this project I was aiming to apply the same set of critiques to Manning’s work in terms of methodology,
epistemology and overall conception and approach to the age-old social problem of suicide.
A Critical Study of Tehran Urban Space Through the Lens of Engels, Lefebvre and Benjamin
This project is split into two parts: First, assessing the validity of the colloquial ’north-south’ division of
Tehran as an objective fact by investigating different parameters such as employment rate, welfare level, capital
accumulation etc. Second, I tried to draw upon the materialist perspective of Engels and Benjamin’s account
of the evolution of the urban space of 19th century Manchester and Paris respectively, to point out to the grand
scheme of how modern Tehran is formed based on material necessities to suppress citizens.
Arab Spring, Iranian Green Movement and the Necessity of Asef Bayat’s Notion of ’Post-Islamism
A joint project of my dear colleague N. Safapour and myself, we attempted to critique the necessity of Asef
Bayat’s notion of ’Post-Islamism’ as a justifiable new category for explaining the Arab Spring and Iranian Green
Movement in a historical materialism theoretical framework. We argued that while Bayat’s invention seems
interesting, it is still weak and potentially misleading at explanation compared to works of researchers such as
Vijay Prashad on the same matter.
Against Mutilation: The Resistance Against Musical Fragmentation in Albert Ayler’s ’Spiritual Unity’
Perhaps my most ambitious project to date, I attempted at analyzing Albert Ayler’s free jazz milestone album
’Spiritual Unity’ through a negative dialectical approach, i.e. Theodor Adorno’s method. The caveat of course
being that Adorno completely rejected jazz as vulgar, so the analysis is greatly inspired by post-Adorno scholars
of critical musicology such as Max Paddison and Tia DeNora.
ENDORSING PROFESSORS
Dr.Abazari
Email : yabazari@ut.ac.ir
Dr.Yeganeh
Email : myeganeh@ut.ac.ir
Dr.Gaffary
Email : ghaffary@ut.ac.ir
ACADEMIC WRITINGS
Title: The Influence of Market Fundamentalism on the Green Rectangle
In recent years, football has undergone a significant transformation, shifting from a popular, community-oriented sport to a commercial product dominated by market-driven ideologies. This change, influenced by neoliberalism, has reshaped the principles of the game, prioritizing financial gains over the traditional values of accessibility and community engagement.
The document will discuss how this shift toward market fundamentalism has affected various aspects of football, including the governance of leagues, labor practices, and the relationship between clubs and local communities. Moreover, it will highlight how this transition has led to conflicts with fan bases, who view these changes as a departure from the essence of the sport they cherish.
Title: The Urban Space of Modern Tehran: A Critical Study
Social inequality, the uneven development of urban space, and the polarization of urban areas in Tehran are not new issues. Various qualitative and quantitative studies over the past two decades have focused on these topics. There are different theories regarding the role of urban policies, the political economy of urban and regional planning, and the developmental trends in Tehran throughout the 20th century. This paper aims to provide a sociological analysis of the heterogeneity of urban space and social inequality in Tehran, based on critical urban theory. The primary focus is on certain characteristics of metropolitan life in the era of late capitalism, such as large-scale public transportation, the growth of private spaces, and the rapid, unbalanced urban development, all of which are uniquely manifested in Tehran, influenced by its political economy, culture, and social fabric.