TY - JOUR
T1 - “We Deserve Better”
T2 - Ideologies of Deservingness and Status in the Interpretation of Chinese Goods in an Iranian Bazaar
AU - Theobald, Simon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Association For Iranian Studies, Inc.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This article argues that even as Chinese imports occupy an increasingly large percentage of the space in Mashhad’s bazaars and marketplaces, such goods are interpreted not only as being of poor quality but, critically, as insufficiently “worthy” of the Iranian middle class who positioned themselves as “deserving better.” In attempting to assess why this is the case, the article suggests that such framing both reveals much of, and requires us to consider, the pivotal role of status in Iran. It holds that this concern for status is expressed at multiple levels: that of the family, as a class, and finally, of the nation. At each of these levels of expression, it is possible to trace different post-revolutionary social phenomena. These include the reification of the family as a moral unit, major shifts in the demographics of education and urbanization, the rise of a consumer culture and the perilous decline of the fortunes of the middle class, and, finally, imaginings of national exceptionalism. This article then uses such readings of Chinese goods as a window into middle class ideologies of worth and deservingness.
AB - This article argues that even as Chinese imports occupy an increasingly large percentage of the space in Mashhad’s bazaars and marketplaces, such goods are interpreted not only as being of poor quality but, critically, as insufficiently “worthy” of the Iranian middle class who positioned themselves as “deserving better.” In attempting to assess why this is the case, the article suggests that such framing both reveals much of, and requires us to consider, the pivotal role of status in Iran. It holds that this concern for status is expressed at multiple levels: that of the family, as a class, and finally, of the nation. At each of these levels of expression, it is possible to trace different post-revolutionary social phenomena. These include the reification of the family as a moral unit, major shifts in the demographics of education and urbanization, the rise of a consumer culture and the perilous decline of the fortunes of the middle class, and, finally, imaginings of national exceptionalism. This article then uses such readings of Chinese goods as a window into middle class ideologies of worth and deservingness.
KW - Aspiration
KW - China-Iran
KW - Class
KW - Consumptive Behavior
KW - Deservingness
KW - Status
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85080925737&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00210862.2020.1723408
DO - 10.1080/00210862.2020.1723408
M3 - Article
SN - 0021-0862
VL - 53
SP - 947
EP - 961
JO - Iranian Studies
JF - Iranian Studies
IS - 5-6
ER -