Explaining the role of the middle class on the political development of Iran after the Islamic Revolution (Grounded theory method)

The aim of this article is to theoretically explain the role of the middle class in the political development of Iran after the Islamic Revolution, while filling the wide gap in the study of the middle class, to revive the issue of political development in Iran after the Islamic Revolution. Therefore, the grounded theory method in the form of open, central and selective coding has been used in the first stage and by in-depth interviews with 18 experts (university professors, experts and political activists) to explain the theoretical model of the role of the middle class. Iran's political development after the Islamic Revolution. This model consists of six main themes: 1) causal conditions (enjoyment of political rights and political identity); 2) background conditions (political participation); 3) Interventional conditions (political capacity and facilities, social barriers, cultural barriers and economic barriers); 4) central category (meeting political needs and demands); 5) Strategies (management strategies); 6) Consequences (political, social, cultural and economic consequences). The research findings show that officials and policy makers for the political development of the middle class should pay attention to all categories of causal conditions, contexts, interventions, strategies and consequences and go through the identified steps to improve the position of the middle class.