Political culture, as the political cognition, attitudes, emotions, beliefs, and practices shared by the majority of society members, shapes the political behavior of social members (both elite and public members), including social movements. Since the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, the following five social movements in Iran have influenced the course of Iran's political development: the 1999 Iranian student protests; the 2009 Iranian Green Movement; the 2017 Iranian October Movement; the 2019 Iranian August Movement; and the 2022 Iranian Women, Life, Freedom Movement. Although these movements all aim to change the power structure and ideology of the existing political system, the specific political discourses and symbolic behaviors of each social movement are significantly different. From the perspective of political culture, this study analyzes the formation and evolution of the discourse and protest behavior of these five social movements in Iran since 1979 and, on this basis, discusses the future direction of Iran’s political development.