Sociological Analysis of Class Values in Iran

In spite of the extended use of social class concept to explain many problems and phenomena in Iranian intellectual sphere, a little empirical effort has been made to investigate this concept in Iran. This paper deals with social class values in Iran and identifies three classes including lower, middle and upper class. It defines the class via the profession position but uses the asset along with profession to identify the upper class. The research implemented by the interview and thematic analysis and including 68 interviews with the participants from this three classes. The results show that while the three classes have some values in common but they are different in some other values and sometimes there are several differences among a class. The social values are presented in four categories including social, economic, developmental values and values related to inequality and justice. The main dominated values across the classes are as follow: show off, individualism, emphasis on deserves, and money-wasting in upper class; individualism, emphasis on social responsibility, social reform and deserved in middle class; show off, social competition, individualism, and emphasis on deserved in lower class. The upper class and a layer of the middle class are seeking to defend their class interests. The other parts of middle class are seeking to improve the social situation and their quality of life and along with a layer from the upper class are willing to participate in reformative actions. The lower class tries to retain the sustainability of the need satisfying.