Analysis of the Symbolic Economy of Art in the Museum of Astan Quds Razavi: The Theoretical Approach of Pierre Bourdieu and Its Role in the Formation of the Cultural Tourism Brand

Khosravi, Soheila; Shafiei, Zahed

doi:10.22034/toc.2026.580047.1228

Analysis of the Symbolic Economy of Art in the Museum of Astan Quds Razavi: The Theoretical Approach of Pierre Bourdieu and Its Role in the Formation of the Cultural Tourism Brand

https://doi.org/10.22034/toc.2026.580047.1228

Volume 7, Issue 25
Summer 2026

Pages 14-27

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

Soheila Khosravi ¹

Zahed Shafiei ²

¹ Department of Art Research, Faculty of Advanced Studies in Art and Entrepreneurship, Isfahan University of Art, Isfahan, Iran

² Department of Museum & Tourism, Faculty of Advanced Art Studies & Entrepreneurship, Isfahan University of Art, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

In contemporary sociology of art, museums have become active institutions in the production of meaning and symbolic value. However, the institutional, discursive, and spatial mechanisms shaping the symbolic legitimacy of art in Iranian religious museums have rarely been examined within a coherent theoretical framework. The Astan Quds Razavi Museum, as one of the country’s most significant cultural-religious institutions, provides a suitable context for analyzing this process in relation to religious capital and the authority of the museum institution. This research aims to analyze the formation of the symbolic economy of art in this museum based on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory and to explain its role in cultural tourism branding. The central question is: through what mechanisms is the symbolic legitimacy of artworks produced and reproduced in this museum, and what role does religious capital play? This qualitative, descriptive-analytical research adopts a critical-interpretive approach. Using a qualitative case study strategy, data were collected from official documents, artwork descriptions, catalogs, and field observations, and analyzed through thematic analysis within Bourdieu’s conceptual framework (field, cultural capital, symbolic capital, symbolic power). Findings indicate that religious capital plays a central role in legitimizing the museum’s artworks. Mechanisms such as endowment and votive offerings, the descriptive language of artworks, and the spatial organization of the museum have led to a specific symbolic order not necessarily based on autonomous aesthetic logic. This symbolic order underpins a distinct brand of cultural-religious tourism centered on art in service of the sacred, intertwining pilgrimage and museum experience.

Keywords

Symbolic Economy

Brand

Pierre Bourdieu

Cultural Tourism

Museum of the Astan Quds Razavi

Subjects

Tourism of culture

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