Iran: the resilience of the secular middle class
5th Annual Sadighi-lecture in cooperation with the International Institute of Social History
The 2009 Green Movement and the mobilizations around the 2013 elections demonstrated the ability of the secular middle-class to mobilize and unify different social demands. These developments indicate that the Islamic theocracy has not only been powerless to permanently undermine these classes but, on the contrary, has strengthened their legitimacy and vindicated their mind-sets. Iranian-French sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar elaborates.
Middle classes in Iran have been traditionally dual: those belonging to the pious strata of the population and those who are effectively secular. In Iran, during Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's reign (1941-1979), secular middle classes were politically weak and culturally homogeneous. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, secular middle classes became the educational, social and political target of the attacks by the theocratic regime.
However, the experiences of the last two decades are a proof of the resilience of the secular middle-classes. The 2009 Green Movement and the mobilizations around the 2013 elections demonstrated the ability of this class to mobilize and unify different social demands.
These developments indicate that the Islamic theocracy has not only been powerless to permanently undermine these classes but, on the contrary, has strengthened their legitimacy and vindicated their mind-sets. Even those who do not belong to this class aspire to it subjectively and mentally, and present themselves as "would-be middle class" people.
The speaker
Born in Iran, now living in Paris, the distinguished Iranian-French sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar has interviewed Arab nationals throughout his career. A student of Arab and other Middle East languages, he is the author of 17 books, some of them translated into 10 languages. He writes frequently for major French magazines. He has taught or lectured in the United States at Yale, Harvard, and other universities. He is professor at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris (School of Advanced Studies).
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