Sociologist Kevan Harris examines the construction and growth of the welfare state in post-1979 Iran - as a long-term, bottom-up development strategy that transformed Iranian society without the influence of US aid, and the catalyst for an upwardly-mobile professional class now challenging the state for political power.
Kevan is author of the book A Social Revolution: Politics and the Welfare State in Iran from University of California Press.
Kevan Harris is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California at Los Angeles.