A01=Eric R. Wolf
academic
anthropology
argument
Author_Eric R. Wolf
aztecs
case study
Category=JHB
Category=JHM
Category=QDTS
coastal
crisis
cultural production
cultural studies
culture
dominance
ecology
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
government
historian
historical
ideology
labor
mexico
nazi party
northwest
pacific coast
pacific northwest
political
politics
power
psychology
scholarly
social science
social studies
socialism
socialist
socialist germany
Product details
- ISBN 9780520215825
- Weight: 544g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 11 Jan 1999
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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With the originality and energy that have marked his earlier works, Eric Wolf now explores the historical relationship of ideas, power, and culture. Responding to anthropology's long reliance on a concept of culture that takes little account of power, Wolf argues that power is crucial in shaping the circumstances of cultural production. Responding to social-science notions of ideology that incorporate power but disregard the ways ideas respond to cultural promptings, he demonstrates how power and ideas connect through the medium of culture. Wolf advances his argument by examining three very different societies, each remarkable for its flamboyant ideological expressions: the Kwakiutl Indians of the Northwest Pacific Coast, the Aztecs of pre-Hispanic Mexico, and National Socialist Germany. Tracing the history of each case, he shows how these societies faced tensions posed by ecological, social, political, or psychological crises, prompting ideological responses that drew on distinctive, historically rooted cultural understandings. In each case study, Wolf analyzes how the regnant ideology intertwines with power around the pivotal relationships that govern social labor.
Anyone interested in the history of anthropology or in how the social sciences make comparisons will want to join Wolf in Envisioning Power.
Eric R. Wolf, (1923--1999) wrote Europe and the People Without History (UC Press), and numerous other books. He was Distinguished Professor of Anthropology (Emeritus) at H. Lehman College and Graduate School, City University of New York.
