The Anthropological Study of Class and Consciousness

You must be logged in to access this title.

Sign up now

Already a member? Log in

Synopsis

Presenting prehistoric, historic, and ethnographic data from Mongolia, China, Iceland, Mexico, Brazil, and the United States, The Anthropological Study of Class and Consciousness offers a first step toward examining class as a central issue within anthropology. Contributors to this volume use the methods of historical materialism, cultural ecology, and political ecology to understand the realities of class and how they evolve.
Five central ideas unify the collection: the objective basis for class in different social orders; people's understanding of class in relation to race and gender; the relation of ideologies of class to realities of class; the U.S. managerial middle-class denial of class and emphasis on meritocracy in relation to increasing economic insecurity; and personal responses to economic insecurity and their political implications.
Anthropologists who want to understand the nature and dynamics of culture must also understand the nature and dynamics of class. The Anthropological Study of Class and Consciousness addresses the role of the concept of class as an analytical construct in anthropology and how it relates to culture. Although issues of social hierarchy have been studied in anthropology, class has not often been considered as a central element. Yet a better understanding of its role in shaping culture, consciousness, and people's awareness of their social and natural world would in turn lead to better understanding of major trends in social evolution as well as contemporary society. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of anthropology, labor studies, ethnohistory, and sociology.

Book details

Author:
E. Paul Durrenberger
ISBN:
9781607321576
Related ISBNs:
9781607321569, 9781646420216
Publisher:
University Press of Colorado
Pages:
317
Reading age:
Not specified
Includes images:
Yes
Date of addition:
2021-05-21
Usage restrictions:
Copyright
Copyright date:
2012
Copyright by:
the University Press of Colorado 
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Categories:
Nonfiction, Social Studies