Shamed but not Ashamed: Iran’s Use of Symbolic Power and Making the World Turn around Stigma

Abstract This study advances a Bourdieusian framework for understanding the processes of counter-stigmatization and in-group alignment within the context of international normative orders, with Iran’s case serving as a primary example. By integrating Erving Goffman’s insights on stigma and Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic power as the power to make groups, the paper demonstrates how actors who do not feel ashamed in the face of external stigmas build on past struggles and the feeling of honour to legitimize their distinct disposition to produce a Separate System of Honour. Iran’s management of its enduring stigma as a “state sponsor of terrorism” exemplifies how symbols of past struggles and collective identity are mobilized to reproduce and reinforce these honour systems, enabling counter-stigmatizing practices at domestic, regional, and international levels. The analysis highlights how these practices serve to restore ontological security and legitimacy, transform external stigma into a source of pride, impose internal stigma on the domestic rivals through counter-stigmatization, and sustain regime stability despite sanctions and diplomatic isolation. Ultimately, the paper underscores the significance of symbolic power and emotional discourse in shaping state behavior, contesting normative hierarchies, and contributing to a split in the competing visions of normative orders within world politics.