The Quiet Encroachment of Young Urban Subalterns in the Islamic Republic of Iran This paper examines the politics of everyday life among poor street and working youth in the capital city of Tehran, Iran. Upon critically navigating through the prevailing theoretical paradigms that have thus far been used to study the politics of subaltern groups, namely resistance, passivity and quiet encroachment, I articulate an approach that centers on “youth quiet encroachment” and that more closely encapsulates the everyday experiences of poor working young people in the Islamic Republic. As I argue, previous perspectives have incorporated a discussion of poor youth into a wider analysis focused on class, thereby undermining the significance associated with age-specific modes of struggle in the developing world. I draw from participant observation and interview data with street and working youth in peri-urban and urban districts in Tehran to inquire into poor young people’s everyday forms of quiet advancement onto the urban public sphere. It is my contention that the unintended consequences of their practices problematize the prevailing ideology of youth that views them as maldeveloped, subversive, and lacking in moral and social values. In so doing, this paper not only sheds light on the character of civil society in the Islamic Republic of Iran, but also demonstrates how these young people’s actions come to bear on dominant analyses of disadvantaged youth and the politics of the urban poor in the Middle East more generally.