The Relationship Between Iranian Urban Social Structure and The Victimhood Content Reflected In Ta'ziye Texts

Fear, dissatisfaction and disappointment are some of the most important contents of Ta'ziye. As a ritual drama, Ta'ziye is based on a religious-historical event. The ideological background of this ritual, is honoring the martyred Imam, who prefers the respectful death to the meanly life; so he is killed by the brutal tribe and gains the credibility of intercession for his followers on resurrection day. But the mourning and sorrow, as they appear in Ta'ziye have an Iranian quality. So it seems necessary to pursuit the cause of these hurting pretensions as the origin of Ta'ziye, in the Iranian society. The necessity of social recognition of the cultural products, is their collective quality. This collective nature is more powerful in ritual and traditional arts. Ta'ziye is a product of Iranian society and as other human activities deserves to be recognized sociologically. The content of Ta'ziye comes from two important sources: Religion & Nationality; and leaning on some social factors, Ta'ziye approaches its final forms. Ta'ziye is the product of a historical period in which, for the first time, Iranian society experiences urban social measures, such as: centralized political government, urbanization, ideological and military integration. The structuralist sociology of art, considers the shaping of arts, as a complex social process. According to this view, it is possible to trace the social transformation affects on theformation of Ta'ziye. So each ideological element reflected in Ta'ziye, may explain some Iranian sociological facts. The pattern of Iranian urban structure, before the 20th century modernism, is mainly a single system of political authority, which includes the other structures, such as economy, culture and religion. It's obvious that Iran’s history has been always the field of repetitive wars and insecurity of lives and properties. It's a history of victimhood and disillusionment. But according to the victimhood psychology subjects, it seems that the Iranian historical appearance as a victim, is a result of the lack of personal and social skills in facing failure and defeat. The Iranian social structure is the main cause of these psychological characteristics, which have been durable enough to be recognized as the Iranian cultural manners. Victimhood and failure are important cultural psychology reflexes in Iranian society and also repeatedly appear in Ta'ziye texts. The aim of this research is to explain the relationship between the Iranian urban social structure and the psychology of victimhood as a cultural characteristic which is oneofthe most important themes of Ta'ziye texts. The research method is descriptive-analytical and gives the following result: Reviewing the Iranian sociopolitical history reveals that various structures constructing the Iranian urban system are not significantly different. The univocal model for power has created a similar hierarchy in religion and economy and comprises all living aspects of Iranians. The concentration of political-ideological government and the pyramid pattern of authority in Iran causes failure morale and a tendency to appear in the victimrole in Iranian society. This cultural nature appears as pity, plaintiveness for fate, and submissiveness in Ta'ziye texts.