During the mid-1970s, the shah’s regime believed that thesystem was working and that their reforms and decadent
habits could continue unabated. Critics had by and large
been marginalized or co-opted, and economic progress,
while at times unreliable, seemed to provide a degree of
justification for continued Pahlavi rule. By the end of
1977, although the Pahlavi state appeared stable and well
entrenched under the shah, growing anger and discontent
pervaded most sections of Iranian society