From Anthropology to Social Theory
Cambridge University Press, 1/17/2019
EAN 9781108438384, ISBN10: 1108438385
Paperback, 284 pages, 22.7 x 15.1 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
Presenting a ground-breaking revitalization of contemporary social theory, this book revisits the rise of the modern world to reopen the dialogue between anthropology and sociology. Using concepts developed by a series of 'maverick' anthropologists who were systematically marginalised as their ideas fell outside the standard academic canon, such as Arnold van Gennep, Marcel Mauss, Paul Radin, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl and Gregory Bateson, the authors argue that such concepts are necessary for understanding better the rise and dynamics of the modern world, including the development of the social sciences, in particular sociology and anthropology. Concepts discussed include liminality, imitation, schismogenesis and trickster, which provide an anthropological 'toolkit' for readers to develop innovative understandings of the underlying power mechanisms of globalized modernity. Aimed at graduate students and researchers, the book is clearly structured. Part I introduces the 'maverick' anthropologists, while Part II applies the maverick tool-kit to revisit the history of sociological thought and the question of modernity.
Introduction
rethinking social theory with anthropology
Part I. Maverick Anthropologists
1. Arnold van Gennep
liminal rites and the rhythms of life
2. Gabriel Tarde and René Girard
imitation and the foundations of social life
3. Marcel Mauss
from sacrifice to gift-giving or revisiting foundations
4. Lucien Lévy-Bruhl and Colin Turnbull
participation, experience, and home
5. Paul Radin
the trickster
6. Gregory Bateson and Johan Huizinga
Schismogenesis and play
7. Victor Turner
liminal experiences as the grounding of social theory
Part II. Rethinking Modernity and Its Sociology
8. A reflexive political anthropology of sociology
9. A reflexive political anthropology of modernity.