Abstract
In the Middle, On the Edge is a collection of essays on the spectrum of the Iranian middle class that is becoming poor or is at risk of falling below the poverty line. It offers theoretical and empirical discussions on the class structure in Iran and how the problem of poverty is now an aspect of middle-class life. The book has been edited by Nazli Kamvari, an expert on Iranian social issues, especially human rights, who has done considerable work on issues related to gender and sexuality. The volume examines the sociopolitical developments in Iran, especially after the Constitutional Revolution (1905–1911), and exhibits the importance of the middle class until the 1979 Islamic Revolution and subsequent developments. The middle class joined hands with the upper class in the Constitutional Revolution and with the lower class in the 1979 Revolution.
The middle class also plays a significant role in the Iranian elections and was instrumental in the victory of Mohammad Khatami in the 1997 presidential election. Their decision to not participate in the elections resulted in hardliner Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s victory in 2005. Likewise, their substantial participation in 2013 led to Hassan Rouhani becoming president and their boycott of the elections in 2021 brought hardliner Ebrahim Raisi to power.
During Hashemi Rafsanjani’s presidency, there was a strengthening of the new (or modern) middle class in Iran. The impact of modernization on politics and unbalanced development led to the victory of Khatami in the 1997 election, whose slogan was to create an open political environment at home and to interact actively with the outside world. Between 1997 and 2005, the new middle class, from intellectuals to political parties and journalists, was given a voice in the society, and technocrats came to power and took ministerial and other managerial posts in the government.
Since 2011, about 8 million middle-class people have fallen into the lower middle class, and the ranks of the poor have swelled by more than 4 million. As many middle-class members slip into the lower class, its demands are focused on livelihood concerns instead of political development. This has made their demands radical. According to Asef Bayat, an Iranian sociologist and professor at the University of Illinois, the current middle class in Iran can be better explained by the concept of the “middle-class poor.” According to him, the feeling of being ignored, of having a dark future, awareness of the prevailing corruption in political structure and the livelihood crisis have made this class angry. Since Raisi came to power, widespread and frequent protests by teachers have been witnessed in different parts of Iran.
The book examines the reasons for the impoverishment of the modern middle class and its consequences. According to one hypothesis, the weakening of the modern middle class in Iran has been deliberately pursued by the “hard core of power” to weaken the pro-reform social base on the one hand and the critical strata on the other. The book, on the contrary, makes the point that the process of weakening the modern middle class in Iran is more complex.
One of the important features of this book is to deal with the reasons for the impoverishment of the middle class in Iran and its effects on the economic, cultural, political and social identities of this class. A variety of topics, including the impact of the nuclear policies of the Islamic Republic on the middle class, the problem of drugs, Kurdish identity and class degradation, have been examined. The range of topics shows that new aspects such as religious, ethnic, linguistic orientation and gender have transcended the analysis of the middle class in Iran. The book looked into the relationship between instability in the class position and the tendency to highlighting identity, and it is illustrated by a detailed examination of the city of Sanandaj in Iranian Kurdistan. The authors illustrate how Iran’s nuclear policy led to sanctions that had a devastating effect on all social classes and dealt a severe blow to the middle class.
A key issue discussed in Chapter 1 is the characteristics of the middle class in Iran and the course of its strengthening and erosion in the country. The authors assert that the middle class is currently under pressure from two sides. First, the more structural changes in the global capitalist economy and the information technology revolution have made the skills of many technocrats redundant. Second, the structural-political-economic isolation of Iran has oppressed this and other classes of society. This is especially true for middle-class women at the forefront of the struggle for their rights and is adversely affected by political and economic conditions. The poor strata of the middle class, including the youth, have also been considered.
One of the most important issues causing dissatisfaction of the middle class in Iran is the incompatibility of their cultural status and living style with the falling economic incomes. After the Iran–Iraq war and under the Rafsanjani presidency, one of the issues that led to the expansion of the middle class was the increase in the number of universities in Iran. Islamic Azad University (a private university) established branches in different parts of Iran, with Rafsanjani as one of its founders. Likewise, public universities intensified this trend by expanding university branches and increasing the number of academic disciplines. In fact, according to the Max Weber classification, which pays attention to the cultural dimension of the middle class, the increase in the level of education in Iran led to the rapid expansion of the middle class. However, this class has not been able to enjoy the appropriate style and standard of living. University education is no more a catalyst for a person to enter the middle class. Thus, the cultural identity of the middle class does not match their economic identity.
This group is incapable of converting its cultural capital into an economic one. Given the rentier character and structure of Iran’s economic system, it is inconceivable that cultural groups would drive many benefits from an improvement in the government’s economic situation and revenue. Because they have little connection to political bases or lack of necessary social capital or social relations network, they do not have the necessary information to change their position. In such a situation, it is necessary to participate in different strata of the ruling class. It gets reflected in the form of social dissatisfaction. The recent nationwide demonstration of teachers shows how the middle class is concerned with livelihood issues. This has brought the concerns of the middle class closer to the concerns and problems of the poor class, although they differ in terms of cultural level. The impoverishment of the middle class has also been directly related to social delinquency and their tendency towards using drugs. A large proportion of drug users in Iran are middle and poor classes, but there is a strong tendency to deny this. A segment of these classes has also committed various drug-related crimes to meet their economic needs.
Although this book focuses on field studies in some cases and uses statistical data, one of the problems is the lack of statistics and data in some sensitive areas such as human rights, women’s issues, corruption, prostitution and drug abuse. The weakening of Iran’s middle class has not only domestic effects but also long-term effects on the country’s foreign policy, and it continues to strengthen the “Look East” policy. Accordingly, the book In the Middle, On the Edge has studied an important issue of the middle class in Iranian society that will have more visible effects on its domestic, regional and even international arena, especially in the coming years.