Reflection of work culture in Gilan popular literature; Looking at Gilaki proverbs

Culture and language are deeply related. Language, whether spoken, written, or visual, can better reflect origins and cultures than any other element. In order to get a true picture of the culture of work in Iranian society and to judge the accuracy of the claim of some experts that there is a weakness of work culture in Iranian society as an undesirable historical heritage, the study of popular culture and literature is important. Given the relationship between language and culture, the cultural characteristics of society should be reflected in the language and the popular culture and the literature of society. Proverbs, as one of the most important elements of popular literature, can to a large extent represent the culture and values ​​ governing the  society throughout history.
Studying how work culture is represented in the popular literature of different local cultures can be an important step in developing research in the field of anthropology and sociology of literature. Therefore, in this research, an attempt will be made to study and study the components related to cultural work in Gilan culture. The issue of this research is how to represent work culture in Gilaki proverbs.


This paper is a descriptive and analytical study in which an attempt is made to refer to a part of the folk culture heritage of Gilan using content analysis method reflecting the work culture in Gilaki proverbs. Content analysis refers to any inferential method used regularly, objectively, and determining the characteristics of messages. After examining about 3070 Gilaki proverbs of East and West and the center of Gilan, 142 Gilaki-related cases related to work culture were extracted. In order to gain an understanding of the content of semantically ambiguous proverbs, an attempt was made to use several people familiar with the Gilaki dialect throughout the research process. Moreover, in this research, each of the proverbs were taken as one content unit. Subsequently, examples with common themes were placed under specific categories.


Today, in development programs, the element of culture is more and more considered to the extent that cultural development is introduced as a factor in the movement and dynamism of society beyond development and economics. One of the most important factors in the development of any society is the existence of an efficient cultureal work and human resources. If we consider culture as a set of values, norms and belief systems of a society, then we can say that cultural work is in fact a set of common values ​​and beliefs of a group or work organization or an economic community in performing productive and service activities. Work culture is a set of internalized, desirable and appropriate behaviors in employees that is necessary for the development and success of the organization. According to Giddens (1994), work culture is a set of values ​​and norms that members of a group have and follow.
People's views on work, commitment and work consciousness, discipline, criticism, teamwork and cooperation and consultation in work, appreciation, looking at wealth, individualism, rationalism, responsibility, risk-taking and foresight, hard work are among the most important components in cultural work. In addition to the above, observance of work divisions and organizational issues, rational thinking in doing things, educatbility, saving on substance use, flexibility, interest and attachment to work, observance of occupational health and safety, use of new technologies are other components of work culture.
Since work culture is one of the signifiant factors of growth and development in any society, most experts introduce the training of human resources and its optimal use as one of the indicators of growth and development of societies. When the work culture in a society is weak, it means that there is no desire to work productively, hence the activities will be less effective. Some studies in Iran emphasize the weakness of work culture in Iranian society. On the other hand, most of the researches emphasize the lack of positive values ​​related to work in the culture and temperament of the Iranian society throughout history believing that laziness, tendency to destiny, irresponsibility and the lack of collective spirit along with other negative characteristics are the most visible obstacles to the development of Iranian society. Proverbs as a part of popular culture and literature can be a reflection of the culture of a society.


After repeated readings of the proverbs, major categories related to work culture were extracted. The value of work and effort, attention to expertise and skills and experience, teamwork and participation, individualism and self-reliance, foresight, attention to time, order in work, wealth, tendency to destiny are among the most significant components of work that are illustrated in Gilaki proverbs.
Among the components of work culture, the component of importance of work and effort (26%), specialization and core skills (15%), foresight and reasoning (11%) and individualism and self-reliance (10%)  are of the highest content frequency in the proverbs. Also, the study of proverbs shows that there is a positive attitude towards the component of participation and group work (8%), order and rule in work (8%). These components are compatible with the culture of development and entrepreneurship. The findings of many previous studies often emphasize the weakness of work culture in Iranian society and the reflection of Iranians’ negative attitude towards it in the popular literature. These studies introduce laziness and weakness in work culture in Iranian society as a historical issue. For example, Rezagholi (1373) and Ghazi Moradi (1389) consider the tendency to destiny and non-individualism of Iranian society throughout history as one of the obstacles to Iran’s development. However, the focus on popular culture indicates that the positive individualism is praised in Gilaki proverbs.