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All groups (whether about large ethnic groups, or internal communities, or small local cliques) form ideas about themselves and others as part of constructing identity (ie, marking that ‘we’ are this way, and ‘they’ are that way). So in that sense it isn’t surprising that these exist in the Iranian community. When it comes to personal identity, we all do this as well, and make choices about our identifications based largely upon a mix of personal experiences and context (ie, “Where are you from?” is a question that is answered differently based upon who is asking, and where you are located when they are asking it.)
These group markers are not always negative, and can in some contexts create the sense of unity (ie, Celebrating Norouz, following Iranian Soccer, etc). But of course this is not always the case, and when stereotypes are made that are deemed essential characteristics of an entire group (ethnic, religious, or otherwise) and are stated out of contempt (example: stereotypes about Iranians made by non-Iranians, like www.uglypersianhouses.com) is when we, as a community, have a problem.

Iman:

As we look more towards the earlier generations we see deeper gaps, political and religious differences for example, and these gap change shape as we move down into the 2nd and 3rd generation Iranian Americans. Each generation has the dire need to find itself, need to belong, and to form an identity; this is what creates new cliques and the various kinds of Iranian-Americans, and while they cannot fully associate themselves with Iranians who have more recently came from Iran, another group is formed. The separation usually happens in adolescence, at a time when they look at how they are similar to some and different from some other peers around them and choose a group that they can be accepted in. (Source: http://www.education.com/reference/article/why-do-cliques-form/)

Now when you look at this from an Iranian perspective, if we speak of large Iranian communities such as ones in California, at first there is a natural sense of belonging to the Iranian group, where there are similar home-culture and experiences to share. Then after some time the same process of comparing takes place within the Iranian group and it breaks into multiple segments according to each person’s bring-up , background, status, economical factors, or merely attraction to the crowd that pleases them the most. Of course this requires a critical mass and would not happen in a community that holds a small number of Iranians.  This group formation will then have a considerable effect on how the group members develop. These cliques each reinforce their own ideologies and values and create the subcultures that we’re discussing on the show.

Shahed:

The act of Stereotyping cognitive shortcut people take to make a quick judgement on others, based on the ingroup they belong to. The truth is it’s really tempting to want to write people off without getting to know them, because then you never really have to leave your comfort zone, and run the risk of prejudice. Insecure people stereotype, and insecure people want to be stereotyped.

I think the important point to make is howstereotyping and also conforming to a stereotype (fitting in, cliques) are roadblocks to success. No one made it big by being like everyone around them. Success is about being salient.

Links: What Kind of Persian Are You?
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