نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
دانشجو دکتری علوم سیاسی، دانشکده علوم اجتماعی، دانشگاه بینالمللی امام خمینی (ره)، قزوین، ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
The emergence and evolution of the middle class, as a central axis in the analysis of modern political and social societies, has consistently attracted the attention of sociologists, historians, and political scientists. The middle class refers to a social group occupying an intermediate position between upper and lower strata in terms of economic status, education, and occupation, typically encompassing clerks, professionals, small business owners, and intellectuals. The constituents of this class are differentiated based on criteria such as stable income, higher education attainment, lifestyle patterns, and socio-political participation. This article examines how selected European travel writers perceived the concept of the middle class during the Safavid era, addressing the question of whether embryonic forms of an emerging social stratum, analogous to the modern middle class, can be identified within the social fabric of Safavid Iran. Employing a comparative approach and content analysis of Western travelogues, this research demonstrates that: (1) despite the absence of a modern conceptualization of the middle class in that period, factors such as the institutionalization of bureaucracy, urban economic development, industrial growth, and the expansion of educational opportunities created the necessary conditions for the formation of an intermediate social stratum; and (2) the nascent middle class in Safavid Iran was founded upon waqf (religious endowments), court bureaucracy, and international trade, rather than private property ownership or industrial revolution—a distinction that endowed it with a unique identity not observed in European models. Consequently, travelogues serve not merely as descriptive sources but as analytical texts with significant theoretical capacity for research on Iran's social history; furthermore, contrary to claims attributing the emergence of the middle class to the first Pahlavi era, evidence indicates that the earliest indicators of this class were observable for the first time during the Safavid period.
کلیدواژهها [English]
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