Analysis of the Intergenerational Transmission of Capital and the Reproduction of Bazaar Culture in Tehran’s Gold Market
Keywords:
Intergenerational Succession; Family Business; Market Culture; Cultural Reproduction; Social Capital; Symbolic Capital; Tehran Gold MarketAbstract
Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the process of intergenerational capital transmission and explain how bazaar culture is reproduced and reconfigured in family businesses in Tehran’s gold market.
Methodology: This qualitative study was conducted using a systematic grounded theory approach. The research field comprised Tehran Grand Bazaar, particularly the gold-selling district and related family businesses. Participants were initially selected purposively and subsequently through theoretical sampling. Ten participants, organized into five intergenerational pairs, including three father–son and two father–daughter pairs, took part in the study. Eligibility criteria included belonging to the first or subsequent generation of a family business and having at least five years of continuous experience in Tehran’s gold and jewelry market. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews, participant observation, field notes, and theoretical memos. Sampling continued until theoretical saturation. Data were analyzed through constant comparison using open, axial, and selective coding.
Findings: The analysis identified the core category of “reproduction and reconfiguration of intergenerational relations in the process of family-business transmission.” Intergenerational succession involved the simultaneous transmission and recombination of economic, social, cultural, and symbolic capital, while operational responsibility did not necessarily transfer at the same pace as professional authority and legitimacy. Five intergenerational configurations emerged: strategic alliance, moderated separation, innovation-oriented alliance, authoritarian–conflictual relations, and traditionalist–authoritarian relations with succession challenges. Trust, reputation, honesty, and family credibility remained relatively stable elements of bazaar culture, whereas management practices, technology, customer relations, professional specialization, and the distribution of authority were more open to change.
Conclusion: Successful intergenerational transmission in Tehran’s gold market depends less on the formal transfer of ownership than on the gradual transfer of social and symbolic capital, recognition of the younger generation’s resources, and redistribution of professional authority and legitimacy; accordingly, bazaar culture is reproduced through reconfigured continuity rather than unchanged preservation.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Negarin Al Sadat Mohamadian (Author); Ali Baghaei Sarabi; Majid Tavasoli Roknabadi (Author)
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