Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis

Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis PDF Author: Johann P. Arnason
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438469411
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
The concept of civilization has a long but checkered history in anthropology, and anthropological materials have been of great importance for the development of civilizational analysis in historical sociology. Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis brings these diverse fields together and explores a wide range of topics pertaining to civilization, from classical theories to contemporary rhetorical discourses, including detailed case studies of concrete practices documented through archival and ethnographic research. While many scholars and the wider public still think of civilization in simplistic terms, viewing it in terms of Enlightenment notions of progress and evolution to higher stages, others have pluralized the term only to create essentialized units which are only tenuously linked to historical processes. In this book contributors use dynamic approaches, including those rooted in the seminal writings of Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss, opening up the dimension of civilization as an important complement to other key terms such as society and culture in social science and historical analysis.

Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis

Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis PDF Author: Johann P. Arnason
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438469411
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Get Book Here

Book Description
The concept of civilization has a long but checkered history in anthropology, and anthropological materials have been of great importance for the development of civilizational analysis in historical sociology. Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis brings these diverse fields together and explores a wide range of topics pertaining to civilization, from classical theories to contemporary rhetorical discourses, including detailed case studies of concrete practices documented through archival and ethnographic research. While many scholars and the wider public still think of civilization in simplistic terms, viewing it in terms of Enlightenment notions of progress and evolution to higher stages, others have pluralized the term only to create essentialized units which are only tenuously linked to historical processes. In this book contributors use dynamic approaches, including those rooted in the seminal writings of Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss, opening up the dimension of civilization as an important complement to other key terms such as society and culture in social science and historical analysis.

Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis

Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis PDF Author: Johann P. Arnason
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 143846939X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Brings social and cultural anthropologists into dialogue with historical sociology and illustrates the continued potential of the concept of civilization for all participants. The concept of civilization has a long but checkered history in anthropology, and anthropological materials have been of great importance for the development of civilizational analysis in historical sociology. Anthropology and Civilizational Analysis brings these diverse fields together and explores a wide range of topics pertaining to civilization, from classical theories to contemporary rhetorical discourses, including detailed case studies of concrete practices documented through archival and ethnographic research. While many scholars and the wider public still think of civilization in simplistic terms, viewing it in terms of Enlightenment notions of progress and evolution to higher stages, others have pluralized the term only to create essentialized units which are only tenuously linked to historical processes. In this book contributors use dynamic approaches, including those rooted in the seminal writings of Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss, opening up the dimension of civilization as an important complement to other key terms such as society and culture in social science and historical analysis.

Rethinking Civilizational Analysis

Rethinking Civilizational Analysis PDF Author: Said Arjomand
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1412931347
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
′At last, a volume on civilization that truly reflects the complexity of multiple civilizations. The wealth of contributions Arjomand and Tiryakian have assembled demonstrates the value of an old concept for understanding the awful dilemmas confronting human kind in the global age. Its thoroughgoing renewal here establishes this book as the essential benchmark for future scholars of civilization′ - Martin Albrow, Founding Editor of International Sociology and author of The Global Age - winner of the European Amalfi Prize, 1997 ′In our tension filled world, many are heralding, and others fearing, a"clash of civilizations." The contributors to this volume provides a healthy and persuasive argument about why this clash need not, and certainly should not, take place. They do so, moreover, not by rejecting the concept of civilization, but by developing a less primordial, homogenous, and essentialist concept of it. An important collection that provides illumination in this sometimes frighteningly dark time′ - Jeffrey Alexander, Professor and Chair of Sociology at Yale University ′The concept of civilization may well replace the notions of globalization and identity as the core component in the vocabulary of 21st century sociology. The authors contribute a great deal to the clarification of fashionable controversies around the "clash of civilizations" and "multiculturalism". They go a long way toward purging the concept of civilization of its ideological overtones, and they suceed admirably in turning it into powerful analytic tool of an emerging fleld of macrosociology, known already as civilizational analysis′ - Piotr Sztompka, President, International Sociological Association Although the concept of ′civilization′ has deep roots in the social sciences, there is an urgent need to re-think it for contemporary times. This book points to an exhaustion in using ′the nation state′ and ′world system′ as the basic macro-units of social analysis because they do not get to grips with the ′soft power′ variable of cultural factors involved in global aspects of development. Also, globalization requires us to reconsider the link between civilization and a fixed or given territory. This book focuses upon the dynamic aspect of civilizations. Among the topics covered are: · Civilizational analysis and social theory · Global civilization and local cultures · Civilizational forms · Rationalization and Civilization · Civilizations as zones of prestige · Historical and comparative dimensions of civilization · The clash of civilizations.

Rethinking Civilizational Analysis

Rethinking Civilizational Analysis PDF Author: Said Amir Arjomand
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9781412901833
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Although the concept of 'civilization' has deep roots in the social sciences, there is an urgent need to re-think it for contemporary times. Rethinking Civilizational Analysis points to an exhaustion in using 'the nation state' and 'world system' as the basic macro-units of social analysis because they do not get to grips with the 'soft power' variable of cultural factors involved in global aspects of development.

An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology PDF Author: C. Nadia Seremetakis
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443891711
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
This book engages young scholars, teachers and students in a critical dialogue with past and present directions in cultural-historical studies. More particularly, it prepares prospective anthropologists, as well as readers interested in human cultures for understanding basic theoretical and methodological ethnographic principles and pursuing further what has been known as cultural anthropological perspectives. The book discusses key, field-based studies in the discipline and places them in dialogue with related studies in social history, linguistics, philosophy, literature, and photography, among others.

Water and Power in Past Societies

Water and Power in Past Societies PDF Author: Emily Holt
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 143846875X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Examines the many ways water has contributed to power structures in the past, with insights for contemporary water management. Water, an essential resource in all cultures, is at the heart of human power structures. Utilizing a diverse range of theoretical perspectives, the contributors to Water and Power in Past Societies provide a broad introduction to the archaeology of water-related power structures. The studies herein explore the long history of water politics in human society, offering new insights into the power structures and inequalities surrounding irrigation systems, the collection of rainwater as a component of ancient industrial production, and sea water as a facilitator of communication, trade, and aggression. In addition to examining the role of different types of water in creating power relationships, the volume presents case studies from a variety of climatic regions, ranging from the very dry to the tropical. This geographical breadth facilitates cross-cultural comparison, making Water and Power in Past Societies an essential resource for instructors and students of the archaeology of water. Finally, in addition to reaching conclusions with significant implications for archaeologists and anthropologists, the volume has real contemporary relevance, often drawing explicit parallels with issues of current and future water management.

Explorations in Jewish Historical Experience

Explorations in Jewish Historical Experience PDF Author: Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004136932
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Professor S.N. Eisenstadt has written numerous essays on Jewish Identity over the years. This volume brings together some of these. The major argument of the essays follows the Weberian view of Jewish historical experience as that of a distinct civilization, as a distinct Great Religion, the first monotheistic civilization - without, however, accepting many of Weber's concrete analyses.

After Society

After Society PDF Author: João Pina-Cabral
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 178920769X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
In the early 1980s, when the contributors to this volume completed their graduate training at Oxford, the conditions of practice in anthropology were undergoing profound change. Professionally, the immediate postcolonial period was over and neoliberal reforms were marginalizing the social sciences. Analytically, the poststructuralist critique of the notion of ‘society’ challenged a discipline that dubbed itself as ‘social’. Here self-ethnography is used to portray the contributors’ anthropological trajectories, showing how analytical and academic engagements interacted creatively over time.

Social Transformations and Revolutions

Social Transformations and Revolutions PDF Author: Johann P. Arnason
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474415350
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Prompted by the 25th anniversary of the Soviet collapse, this volume reflects on revolutions and transformations around the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, the political transformations after 9/11, the important changes following the global economic crisis, and the revolutionary transformations of India and China. The authors stress that the United States' military actions after the 9/11 terrorist attacks have had a major transformative impact on the global arena. More recently, the economic crisis that began in 2007/8 caused a series of breakdowns and provoked demands for social and political transformation, so far unfulfilled. The repercussions of the Arab Spring and transformations linked to the rise of BRICS are altering the patterns of international and global relations. All these processes have unfolded within the framework of global capitalism, whose reproduction on an expanding scale involved multiple economic, political ecological and civilizational transformations.

Civilization: Contents, Discontents, and Malcontents and Other Essays (c)

Civilization: Contents, Discontents, and Malcontents and Other Essays (c) PDF Author: Stanford M. Lyman
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
ISBN: 9781610751001
Category : Social change
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description