New middle class and instability in Iran (1357-1320)

Iranian''s confrontation with the western world and its new born distinct phenomenon called «modernity» in the early nineteenth century caused the emergence of a process that is known as modernization. Although، the initial familiarity of Iranians with the modernization phenomenon was in the form of military and technical procedures، but gradually this trend found its way to other political، economic، social، and cultural domains and provided the ground for the emergence of a new group in the social classification of Iran which were later called the new middle class. This group developed in the second Pahlavi period due to the reforms and development of educational and official systems in quantitative terms; on the eve of the Islamic Revolution in 1357 in the alliance with the traditional middle class، they played an important role in shaping and eventually winning the revolution. Hence، the present research is an attempt to study the features and characteristics of this class and the behavior of Pahlavi regime toward the demands، wants، and ideals of this class، and to assess the role of new middle class in creating political stability and instability in a period of 37 years، since 1320 to 1357.