Societies in Persian literature

Societies in Persian literature

Addiction and Habitus in Iranian Southern Local Color Stories with Emphasis on Pierre Bourdieu's Theory of Cultural Reproduction

Document Type : Original Article

Author
maryam mohammadzadeh
Associate Professor of Department of Persian Language and Literature, Ahar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran
10.30488/sipl.2026.570706.1156
Abstract
This study, using a descriptive-analytical approach and library-based method, examines the representation of addiction in 19 literary works by 10 authors of southern Iranian regional literature from the 1960s and 1970s. The theoretical framework is Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction, with an emphasis on the concepts of habitus, doxa, symbolic violence, and field, which enables the analysis of how addictive habits are stabilized and transmitted within social contexts. The main objective is to explore the functions of tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and narcotics across three domains: rural, maritime, and industrial-working class. Findings indicate that addiction in these texts is not portrayed as an individual or biological act, but rather as part of the dominant culture and habitus. In the rural domain, addiction is linked to traditions, family rituals, and the prominent role of women; in the maritime domain, it is tied to labor relations, port activities, and the informal economy; and in the industrial-working class domain, it is depicted as a symbol of social collapse, the vulnerability of modern humanity, and psychological erosion. Across all these domains, social institutions such as family, school, and the workplace, instead of countering addiction, themselves become grounds for its transmission and consolidation, and these habits are intergenerationally reproduced and naturalized through the mechanisms of doxa (naturalization) and symbolic violence (imposition through legitimate institutions). Nevertheless, moments of moral awareness and the desire for liberation are also highlighted, pointing to the possibility of resistance against cycles of reproducing social anomalies. Accordingly, the regional literature of southern Iran provides an effective platform for cultural-social critique of addiction and can play a role in the critical re-reading of society's educational and social structures.
Keywords
Iranian Southern Local Color Literature
Addiction
Cultural Reproduction
Habitus
Doxa
Symbolic Violence
Subjects
-      Speller, J. R. W. (2011). Bourdieu and Literature. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers.
-      Parkin, S. (2013). Habitus and Drug Using Environments: Health, Place and Lived-Experience. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing.
-      Moyle, L., & Coomber, R. (2017). Bourdieu on supply: Utilizing the 'theory of practice' to understand complexity and culpability in heroin and crack cocaine user-dealing. International Journal of Drug Policy.