From Grief to Grievance: The Sociology of Collective Mourning and State Violence in Iran
نویسنده: رضا عاشوری
Public grieving following state-sponsored violence is a profound sociological and psychological phenomenon. When a government orchestrates mass killings, as seen recently in Iran where thousands of peaceful protesters were slaughtered and ongoing executions continue, grief ceases to be a private emotional state and becomes a highly charged collective experience. To understand the depth of this trauma, we can look to established theoretical frameworks developed by scholars analyzing similar crises in other authoritarian contexts. Sociologists and psychologists define collective grief as the shared emotional and psychological response of a community to a significant loss or trauma. Western models of bereavement have historically pathologized grief as an individual ailment requiring a private cure (Granek, 2014). However, cross-cultural research and contemporary grief sociology demonstrate that mourning is inherently relational and political. Neimeyer, Klass, and Dennis (2014) argue that grief is a process of communal narration, where societies construct collective meaning out of shared loss. When trauma is inflicted by the state, the very institutions that typically facilitate this communal meaning-making are weaponized against the bereaved. The psychological impact of state violence is devastating. Scholars studying the aftermath of dictatorships, such as in Chile, have shown that state-sponsored massacres produce a unique form of communal grief characterized by shock, exhaustion, and transgenerational trauma (Henríquez et al., 2025). Because the state denies accountability and often punishes those who mourn openly, families are forced to navigate a paradox. They are traumatized by the state, yet forced to hide their pain from it. This disenfranchised grief breeds deep social anxiety and collective melancholia, a situation Beland (2009) describes as a barrier that prevents a collective from actively mourning and processing its trauma. Culturally and sociologically, however, public grieving also serves as a potent catalyst for resistance. Political sociologists Goodwin and Jasper (2006) demonstrate that in the face of severe state repression, shared grief creates powerful affective ties that bind strangers together into a cohesive movement. Milstein (2017) refers to this phenomenon as rebellious mourning, wherein the collective work of grief transforms from passive sorrow into a demand for liberation and justice. In historical case studies, social movements have played a crucial role in uncovering and processing the trauma of past state violence, transforming silenced histories into visible political grievance and intergenerational dialogue (Henríquez et al., 2025). Funerals, memorials, and public rituals become arenas where communities reassert their solidarity and refuse the state narrative of fear (Wagoner & de Luna, 2021). Furthermore, as Proust (2024) notes, the digital age has expanded these arenas, allowing collective expressions of grie…
