The East in the West
Cambridge University Press, 11/18/2010
EAN 9780521556736, ISBN10: 0521556732
Paperback, 304 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm
Language: English
The East in the West reassesses Western views of Asia. Traditionally many European historians and theorists have seen the societies of the East as 'static' or 'backward'. Jack Goody challenges these assumptions, beginning with the notion of a special Western rationality which enabled 'us' and not 'them' to modernise. He then turns to book-keeping, which several social and economic historians have seen as intrinsic to capitalism, arguing that there was in fact little difference between East and West in terms of mercantile activity. Other factors said to inhibit the East's development, such as the family and forms of labour, have also been greatly exaggerated. This Eurocentrism both fails to explain the current achievements of the East, and misunderstands Western history. The East in the West starts to redress the balance, and so marks a fundamental shift in our view of Western and Eastern history and society.
Introduction
the West's problem with the East
1. Rationality in review
2. Rationality and ragioneria
The Keeping of Books and the Economic Miracle
3. Indian trade and Economy in the Medieval and Early Colonial Periods
4. The Growth of Indian Commerce and Industry
5. Family and business in the East
6. From collective to individual? The historiography of the family in the West
7. Labour, Production and Communication
8. Revaluations.