Study of Power Relation in the “The Salesman”: Analysis of the Studied Subjects’ Actions (Cognition of Strategies and Techniques)

Subject Areas : Iranian Sociological Review

Elham Tavakoli ¹ , Mehrdad Navabakhsh ² , Mansour Haghighatian ³

1 - Faculty of Humanities, Dehaghan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dehaghan, Iran.
2 - Professor of Sociology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Associate Professor of Sociology, Dehaghan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dehaghan, Iran.

Received: 2022-04-16 Accepted : 2022-04-16 Published : 2021-12-01

Keywords: power, Power Relation, Subject, Technique, Strategy, Foucault, Farhadi,

Abstract :

Everyday life has intertwined with the kinds of relations that people have with each other. When these relations become power relations, people try to influence the relationship process. This article have examined the power relation in the “The Salesman”, prodused by Asghar Farhadi, and has analyzed the power relations that has been formed between subjects- Emad and the aggressor- and has attempted to answer these main questions: How did the subjects affect each other in this relation of power, and what strategies and techniques did they use to excercise power? To answer these questions, Foucault's views were chosen as the theoretical framework and the method of critical analysis of discourse of Fairclough was chosen as the research method. The unit of analysis in this study was the text of the conversations of these two subjects. The result of the research shows that the aggressor and Emad used dominant and antagonistic approaches to influence each other. The comparison of these actions showed that although the aggressor tried to use his dominant approach to advance his purposes, Emad confronted him with a rival approach. Eventually, Findings show that Emad, after many interactions, was able to turn his strategies into a "winning" strategy by changing his techniques.