Myth of Individual Effort: Cultural Underpinnings and the Reproduction of Economic Inequality within Iranian Upper-Middle Class

This study investigates the persistence and justification of economic inequality among different social classes in Tehran, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst the lower class burdened by inflation, the impoverished middle class, and the increasingly wealthy elite, the upper-middle class maintains relative stability. This research explores how mental archetypes and cultural knowledge (beliefs, values, and social norms) among Tehran's upper-middle class contribute to the perpetuation of inequality. Employing historical analysis, key elements of Iranian mental archetypes, collective ethos, and Persian proverbs about injustice were identified. Semi-structured interviews with 21 upper-middle-class Tehran residents revealed that these individuals are largely unaware of the severity of economic inequality. Their adherence to the myth of individual effort and a culture of poverty reinforces this inequality. These individuals occupy a paradoxical position as both oppressors and oppressed. Factors such as severe economic pressure, selfishness, fear of repression, despair, cultural roots, and benefits from the status quo lead to the acceptance of economic inequality. For this group, belief in fate makes submission more appealing than resistance. Economic Inequality is basically not their concern because they consider the economic and social situation of each person within the framework of personal responsibility and because they consider inequality as one of the main causes of social harm, they oppose it, not for humanitarian reasons. Therefore, they contribute to the reproduction of inequality.