Ma`rifat Farhangi Ejtemaei

Culture, in its modern sense, gradually entered Iran, and with the changes that the term found in the West, different perceptions of it became commonplace in Iran. Most conceptions, when it came to popular culture, gradually acclimated to an indigenous conception of it, and at the same time a place for it in the administrative system was defined, but at the elite level these perceptions have sometimes been the source of conflict. This article, which is mainly descriptive, deals with six concepts of culture in Iran: public and modern education, human achievements, cultural heritage, art, Islam and Western culture, and describes each. Finally, these six views have been evaluated and, with some evidence, two recent views of culture have been introduced as the main and influential ones in today's Iran.