Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Amir Mahmoodi ¹
• Ramin Moradi ²
• Maryam Mokhtari ³

¹ PHD student of Economic & Development sociology, Yasouj university, Yasouj, Iran.

² Assistant Professor of sociology, Yasouj university, Yasouj, Iran.

³ Associate Professor of sociology, Yasouj university, Yasouj, Iran.

Abstract

In the Safavid era and especially during the reign of Shah Abbas І, series of actions and institutional reforms caused a huge change in trade and brought short-term commercial and economic prosperity. In fact, after many years, Iranian people experienced a period of economic prosperity, however short. But this prosperity was short term and the economic reforms of this period did not lead to long-term accumulation of capital and sustainable economic growth. In this regard, various viewpoints have been presented to explain it, which often considering the dominance and dependence on macro theories, emphasize structural factors such as despotism and tyranny of the Iranian society as an obstacle to sustainable economic growth in this period. Therefore, not much attention has been paid to the human actor and subject and the culture and attitudes ruling his mind. Therefore, in this research, an attempt has been made to investigate the culture and work ethic of Iranians in the Safavid era with the historical method and the technique of traditional content analysis of the sources of the Safavid period as an explanation for the lack of sustainable economic growth in this period. In general, the analysis of the data related to this era shows that the content of Iranian culture and work ethic in this period was such that it not only did not support the institutional reforms and short-term economic prosperity of the Safavid era, but also acted as an obstacle that acted against this economic boom.

Keywords

• Sustainable Economic Growth
• work ethic
• Safavid historical
• Conventional content analysis

Main Subjects

• Social history

Extended Abstract

A contemplation on the cultural and work ethic of Iranians in the Safavid era                                                                                                                                      

Introduction: The concern and question of underdevelopment or less developed of Iranian society has always occupied the minds of many Iranian researcher and thinkers. In response to this question of the underdevelopment of Iranian society, the majority of analyses have focused on structural and macro-scale political and economic problem, and they have emphasized factors such as the internal tyranny of Iranian society and the domination of political over the economic sphere, or the dominance of certain from production methods in Iranian society or official institution and social classes. But the point that has been ignored in these researchers is the attention and investigation of human subject and their role in underdevelopment situation of the historical society of Iran. In fact, in these analyses, the attitudes and approaches of Iranian people in facing economic activities, in general and the attitude towards work, in particular, have not been addressed. This concern leads us to concept of work ethics. Work ethics have been defined as an attitudinal structure and set of work-related values, in such a way that when a person has a high work ethics, work becomes the center and basis of his life, and it attaches intrinsic value to hard work, self –reliance, effective use of time, delaying immediate pleasures, and moral principles and values in work. In general, although structural and macro-scale analyses have explanatory power to some extent for the issue of Iran^, s underdevelopment, they are insufficient and one-dimensional. Therefore, paying to the work ethic and the way of Iranian encounter with work, from the perspective of the micro level of analysis, is a response to the underdevelopment and less developed of the Iranian society. Throughout the history of Iran, at time, we have faced with conditions that put us on the threshold of development and beginning of an economic boom. One of these historical situations appeared in the Safavid period. In the Safavid era and especially during the time of Shah Abbas I, a series of reforms and institutional measures caused a huge change in trade and Iranian people of this era also experienced prosperity, economic boom and to some extent, a level of welfare. But this economic prosperity was short-term and did not last long and did not lead to sustainable economic growth. Considering the dominance of macro analysis over the analysis of Iran's historical underdevelopment, this research has analyzed the work ethics of Iranians in the Safavid era with a micro-level approach and attention to human subjects, and has tried to answer this question with this approach. Why, despite the creation of infrastructure and economic reforms, sustainable economic prosperity was not possible.

Methodology: This research has investigated historical documents and sources of the Safavid era with a qualitative approach and historical method, using conventional content analysis technique. The unit of analysis in this research is the structure of work ethics in the Historical-Iranian person in the Safavid era. In this area, by using the purposive sampling method, numerous historical sources such as travelogues and diaries, writings of princes and court officials, books related to geography and history of cities, Tazkere, public histories and secondary sources of social history and analysis related to it, were reviewed, and finally, by considering the obtained data, categories related to the culture and work ethics of Iranians were extracted.

Findings, discussion and conclusions: The analysis of the data of the Safavid era showed that the human society of this era, influenced by its cultural beliefs and values, surrendered to fatalism, conservatism and the spirit of compatibility. These moods and temperamental characteristics, affected the attitude and the type of exposure of the Iranian of this period towards work and effort and created a work culture and ethics with components and characteristics such as the lack of priority of work in life, laziness, minimal independence in work, the unethical texture of work and the use of unethical methods of gaining profit, disregarding time and not believing in rushing in work, seeking fun and aimless leisure, and stagnation and lack of innovation in work, were manifested. This culture and work ethic not only did not support and accompany the economic reforms of the Safavid era, but at times it was manifested as an obstacle to continuity and a sustainable boom.

Keyword: Sustainable Economic Growth, work ethic, Safavid historical, Conventional content analysis