Althusser (1918-1990) argues that there are two ways to maintain power. In order to hold power, the ruling class in a pre-capitalist society depends on repressive apparatuses such as police and military force whereas in a modern capitalist society it chooses to use ideological apparatuses like religion, education or arts. Bamdede Khomar is the story of eighty years of development in Iranian society from a traditional community to a modern one. Therefore, it provides a proper case to trace the change of power from the pre-modern repressive methods to the modern ideological ones. The novel has focused on the institution of family as the most fundamental base in which power is represented. The well-known form of power in the traditional family is patriarchy. The present study investigates how this form of power (patriarchy) is maintained throughout the long history of Iranian development from a traditional society to a modern one.