Lady Banu’s Game for Name and Bread: A Blauean Reading of Social Exchange in Belgheis Soleimani’s The Last Game of Banu

Peter Blau’s Social Exchange Theory examines human relationships in accordance with resources, power, and status and explains the evolutionary stages of social relations from interpersonal exchanges to legitimacy and social transformation. Informed by Social Exchange Theory, this article investigates Belgheis Soleimani’s The Last Game of Banu. This article aims to investigate the formation, development, and disintegration of the relationships between Gol-Banu and the three principal male characters of the novel—Heydar, Saeed, and Ebrahim Rahami—with particular emphasis on power, status, and social legitimacy. The study employs a descriptive-analytical method. The central questions of this research are: In what ways do cultural, economic, and social forms of capital generate differences in status and power among the characters? What mechanisms lead to the transformation of inequalities and the restructuring of social relationships? The findings indicate that Gol-Banu’s cultural capital and literacy place her in a superior position vis-à-vis Heydar’s violence and social limitations. Saeed’s cultural capital and social status gradually become instruments of power and domination, transforming an initially emotional relationship into one marked by asymmetrical control. Likewise, Gol-Banu’s relationship with Rahami gains legitimacy through economic capital, administrative influence, and prevailing customary norms. Ultimately, the collapse of these relationships results from the intervention of more powerful rivals, the pressures exerted by social structures, and broader political crises. The study concludes that The Last Game of Banu demonstrates how the interaction of various forms of capital, social inequalities, and legitimacy generates a cyclical process of power, domination, resistance, and transformation within human relationships.
 
Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Peter Blau’s Social Exchange Theory examines human relationships in accordance with resources, power, and status and explains the evolutionary stages of social relations from interpersonal exchanges to legitimacy and social transformation. The main potential of this theory in the analysis of literary texts is that it interprets characters and narrative relationships as a reflection of exchange, status, and power mechanisms within the context of social structure. Belgheis Soleimani’s The Last Game of Banu offers significant potential for analysis through the lens of social exchange theory, given its focus on a network of emotional, economic, and status-based relationships. Golbanu, the novel’s protagonist, finds herself in a situation where her romantic and marital choices are heavily influenced by poverty, insecurity, status inequality, and normative pressures. The central question of the research is the ways in which cultural, economic, and social capital cause differences in status and power between characters in the novel, and the mechanisms that transform the inequalities and change the structure of relationships.
2. Methodology
The study employs a descriptive-analytical method.
3. Theoretical Framework
Moving beyond the dichotomy of behaviourism and social realism, Peter Blau presents a theory that transcends the level of individual actions and explains social structures. He explains the process of social exchange in terms of four interconnected steps: personal exchange transactions, distinctions in status and power, legitimacy and organisation, and opposition and transformation. In the first step, relationships are formed in accordance with the exchange of material and non-material rewards. In the second step, inequality in resources leads to inequality of power and status. In the third step, social norms and values ​legitimise unequal relationships, and in the fourth step, entrenched contradictions and inequalities provide the basis for conflict and change.
4. Discussion and Analysis
At the level of personal exchange transactions, Golbanu and Heydar’s relationship is in accordance with a traditional and emotional bond, but the rewards offered by Heydar are not consistent with Golbanu’s long-term expectations, such as education, becoming a teacher, and escape from poverty. In contrast, the relationship between Golbanu and Saeed is in line with a gradual exchange of cultural, emotional, and supportive rewards. The relationship between Golbanu and Rahami is also chaotic from the beginning and is based on an exchange in which Golbanu’s beauty, youth, and maternal power are pitted against Rahami’s social power, religious status, and economic security. In the second step, the distinction between power and status becomes apparent. In relation to Heyder, Golbanu’s cultural capital and desire for social advancement place her in a superior position, and Heyder’s violence opposes her status. In relation to Saeed, cultural capital, education, and social status become instruments of power, gradually transforming from symbolic status to psychological and physical domination and violence. Regarding Rahami, his economic, administrative, and symbolic power overwhelms Golbanu’s initial status, and the relationship becomes an unequal bargain in which Golbanu’s independence and dreams are pitted against economic security. The third step is the legitimisation of domination. At this stage, Bibi Khawar is the most important factor in legitimising unequal relationships. With a mentality formed in the context of poverty and patriarchal culture, she makes unequal relationships appear rational and natural. In the relationship between Golbanu and Heyder, the legitimacy of the relationship is formed in the light of the traditional custom of cousins. In the relationship between Golbanu and Saeed, the behaviour of the family and the silence of those around them provide the basis for the legitimisation of Saeed’s domination. In the relationship between Golbanu and Rahami, money, administrative influence, and customary standards represent marriage as a rational solution to escape poverty and solidify Rahami’s dominance in the form of family and social norms. In the fourth step, the relationship enters a stage of conflict and transformation. Golbanu and Heydar’s relationship collapses with the arrival of Saeed and the intensification of resource inequality. The relationship between Golbanu and Saeed is affected by the political and social developments of the 1960s. Saeed’s deployment to the frontlines and the collapse of his family network led to suspension and rupture. The relationship between Golbanu and Rahami also enters a crisis phase after the birth of their child and the entry of rival forces of power, including Haj Sadeq and the security institutions, and ultimately collapses. Thus, all three relationships show that entrenched inequalities ultimately lead to conflict and transformation.
5. Conclusion
The findings indicate that Gol-Banu’s cultural capital and literacy place her in a superior position vis-à-vis Heydar’s violence and social limitations. Saeed’s cultural capital and social status gradually become instruments of power and domination, transforming an initially emotional relationship into one marked by asymmetrical control. Likewise, Gol-Banu’s relationship with Rahami gains legitimacy through economic capital, administrative influence, and prevailing customary norms. Ultimately, the collapse of these relationships results from the intervention of more powerful rivals, the pressures exerted by social structures, and broader political crises. The study concludes that The Last Game of Banu demonstrates how the interaction of various forms of capital, social inequalities, and legitimacy generates a cyclical process of power, domination, resistance, and transformation within human relationships.
Bibliography
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Soleimani, B. 1402 [2023]. The Last Game of Banu. Tehran: Qoqnooz. [In Persian]
Turner, J. 1393 [2014]. Nazarieh-ha-e Novin-e Jame’eh-shenakhti. Moghadas, A and Maryam, Sh (trans.). Tehran: Jame’eh-Shenasan. [In Persian] (Contemporary Sociological Theory)