Comparative study of clerical capital during the Safavid and Qajar dynasties(Using Bourdieu's theory)

The clergy have always had a high position in Iranian society due to having various cultural, symbolic, social and economic capitals. Although this position was established after the officialization of the Shia religion in the Safavieh period,but it has been accompanied by ups and downs in later periods. In order to investigate this issue the present research examines the capital of the clergy in Safavieh and Qajar periods from a historical and comparative perspective, using Pierre Bourdieu's theory. In this regard, the following question has been asked: What has changed with the arrival of the Qajar period of the clerical capital in relation to the Safavieh era? Further, it is hypothesized that given the beginning of modernization and the establishment of reforms in various fields during the Qajar period, it seems that the traditional capital of the clergy have been affected by these developments and weakened. To answer the research question, the cultural, symbolic, social and economic capital of clergy in the Safavieh and Qajar period have been reviewed and compared. in the Safavieh period, Shiite clerics enjoyed a high status in the society by taking various capitals, which encountered serious challenges as they entered the period of reform and modernization in the Qajar government. The present study has analyzed and compared the capitals of the clergy in these two periods with a comparative approach and by collecting resources in a library way.