Research Letter of Political Science

Irannians social imagines and their role on the configuration of the Safavid state

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Masoud Vatandoost 1
Mehdi Najafzadeh 2
Vahid Sinaee 3
Seyyed Hossein َAthari 3

1 Ph.D. Candidate of Political Science (Iran Issues), Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad , Mashhad, Iran.

3 Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22034/ipsa.2024.522
Abstract
Having a deep knowledge of Iran during the Safavid era, particularly the emergence of a state out of the old-age Sufi traditions, is of utmost significance for understanding the evolutions of the Iranian society in recent centuries. This study is aimed at studying the effects of social imagines on the structure of Safavid state, and proceeds to analyze how those imagines were formed and changed during that significant historical period. Using the theory of Charles Taylor about the social imagines and a historical sociological approach, the present study attempts to demonstrate that the normal-moral order formed during that period was based on what social backgrounds and resulted from what kind of self-understanding, and how the collective beliefs of the Iranian people about political power affected the structure and performance of the state. The findings of this study indicate that the continuation of the decentralized monarchy imagine in ancient Persia, along with the formation of a religion-centered imagine during Safavid era, resulted in the formation of a centralized state based on religious legitimacy. Also, the defeat at the Battle of Chaldoran and the efforts towards creating a Shi’ite religious utopia caused major changes in such imagines. The study is innovative in its focus on the active role of social imagines in the formation of the state and then its analysis in this historical context of Iran. By presenting an analytical model based on Taylor’s theory, this study helps create a deeper understanding of the relationship between public beliefs and political structures.

Keywords

Keywords: Social Imaginary
Iranian
Safavid
State
Charles Taylor

Subjects

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Research Letter of Political Science
Volume 19, Issue 3 - Serial Number 75
No.75
Autumn 2024
Pages 229-274

  • Receive Date 30 July 2024
  • Revise Date 21 October 2024
  • Accept Date 24 October 2024

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