ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the problem, shows the connection between wife-beating and the Iranian political system, and raises questions. The several case histories of wife abuse presented exemplify social process in a political system characterized by arbitrariness and the need to dominate. The degree to which a woman could be abused depended upon the power relationships and resources that people were able to muster in their continuous effort to control others and to avoid being manipulated themselves. In this fluctuating, authoritarian village political system, men demonstrated their superiority by intimidating others. The Iranian kinship system is bilateral and couples generally maintain ties with both sides of the family. Wife-beating was common in Iran. The men in Aliabad were pressured by the authoritarian political system into obeying their elders in exchange for receiving valuable resources—such as wives. In the authoritarian, hierarchical village political system, wife abuse was just one way in which inferiors were connect to superiors.
