1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910827956003321

Autore

Wolf Eric R. <1923-1999.>

Titolo

Envisioning power : ideologies of dominance and crisis / / Eric R. Wolf

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, c1999

ISBN

1-283-38215-6

9786613382153

0-520-92172-0

0520215362

0-585-28937-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (357 p.)

Disciplina

303.3

Soggetti

Power (Social sciences)

Ideology

Kwakiutl Indians

National socialism

Aztecs

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. 1nt:roduction -- 2 .Contested Concepts -- 3. The Kwaluutl -- 4. The Aztecs -- 5. National Socialist Germany -- 6. Coda -- Notes -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

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.