انقلابی که به خون نشست: سفری در گذر زمان الفارسية 1447

The course of a human life is shaped neither by what is commonly called fate, nor by chance occurrences, nor by individual decisions made outside the bounds of time and place. No event happens randomly or by mere luck; rather, what we casually refer to as coincidence is the outcome of necessary and law-governed processes. Yet it cannot be denied that these very events, which we call coincidences, often bring about fundamental changes in the course of our lives.

Not all such events, however, influence our lives, or even society, to the same degree. In every individual life, and in the evolutionary process of every society, there are events that play a decisive role in personal and social transformations. In sociology, these are called “key events” or determining events. Unlike the everyday use of the word event, meaning something accidental, these key events are the result of necessary individual, collective, and social movements, as well as normative, economic, political, and cultural actions. They exert a defining influence on the formation of individual lives, social groups, the societies in which we live, and even on major historical transformations.