Social Classes, State, and Revolution in Iran

Social classes and their mobility, social hierarchy, and the concept of equality and inequality, as well as the dominance and social power of dominant and subordinate classes and strata, have long been topics of interest in Iran’s history. Modernization contributed to the emergence of modern social classes. The lifestyle of elites and the stratification of dominant strata changed, a new middle class emerged in Iran, and Iranian bourgeoisie experienced a period of steady growth from the late 1940s. Nevertheless, traditional strata demonstrated significant economic and cultural flexibility during the Pahlavi era. This occurred despite the fact that the marketplace, as a result of the restriction of the clergy during Reza Shah’s period, inevitably lost its traditional ally and formed connections with the bearers of nationalistic and bourgeois-democratic ideas stemming from the Constitutional Revolution. The conflict between tradition and modernity, which manifested itself socially in the form of new social classes (industrial workers and the new middle class) and social groups associated with the traditional marketplace and trades, led in the authoritarian and at the same time modernist environment of the Pahlavi government to tensions in society and politics, which ultimately culminated in the 1979 Revolution. The present collection includes articles on social classes in Iran and their role in social and political developments under the following titles: Social Classes in Medieval Islamic Iran; Social Classes during the Qajar Era; Social Classes during the Pahlavi Era; The Alliance of the Bazaar and Clergy: The Social Basis of Revolts and Revolutions; The State, Classes, and Methods of Mass Mobilization in the Iranian Revolution; and Government and Land Relations Before and After the Iranian Revolution.