Analysis the state of Middle Class in Post-Revolution Iran

Iran’s 1979 revolution caused some changes in the class structure of society and led to a kind of class mobility. After the revolution, the relationship between the government and social classes formed differently based on the level of adherence of each class to the agreed values of the government. Moreover, freedom and justice-seeking slogans during the revolutionary process were a reflection of the democratic and development demands of the new middle class. Now, considering the reformistic and democratic desires of the new middle class and its role in the process of revolution, we encounter a question what changes has Iran post-revolution’s middle class experienced in terms of size, demands, and interaction with the government?This article, which has been done by documentary analysis, has used two different sets of data: the economic data (consumption expenditure per capita) has been obtained from the Brookings Institute. The second type of data, including the rate of university education and white-collar workers (employment), has been obtained from Iran’s statistical yearbooks and the results of the population and housing censuses for different years in Iran.The findings show that the size of the new middle class has increased which is an outcome of the renovation of the war-torn country, the reforms pursued by the Hashemi Rafsanjani and Khatami states and expanding of education across the country. This new middle class has tried to pursue its demands which have been ignored by the government. This contradiction has created some challenges in the relationship between the government and the new middle class.