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At a time when socialism appears to be on the wane, anthropological
analyses of its origins and worldwide diffusion are long overdue.
The aspirations of socialists have led to many dead-ends, and
revolutionary claims must be carefully scrutinized against a
background of cultural communities. Yet there are few, if any,
peoples in today's world who remain unaffected by socialism, both
as a political force and as a set of ideas, and no-one can doubt
that its cultural legacies will make themselves felt in years to
come, in the so-called First and Third worlds, as well as in its
Eurasian heartlands. While anthropological work illuminates some of
the mechanisms of the recent changes which have removed socialists
from power in many countries it also reveals the factors which have
given socialism such a profound worldwide impact, and which helped
socialist societies to reproduce themselves effectively for so
long. "Socialism" presents diverse examples of ideals and realities
and offers detailed ethnographic accounts of specific groups such
as rural cultivators in China and Tanzania, gypsies in Hungary,
actors in Czechoslovakia, and village women in Poland and
Industrial North-East England.
Social scientists did not predict the collapse of the socialist system in 1989-91 and their attempts to explain postsocialism have not been comprehensive. Economic disintegration and political instability have been documented, but the deeper causes have often gone unnoticed. Consequently the solutions proffered, such as the promotion of non-governmental organisations as the foundations of 'civil society', have so far brought little success. Postsocialism presents, for the first time, the anthropological responses to these problems which are all grounded in intensive fieldwork. A wide range of topics are discussed, including: * the role of social and cultural capital in determining the 'winners' of rural decollectivization * the devaluation of blue collar labour * the position of Gypsies * the viability of 'multicultural' models in situations of religious differences and ethnic violence * new patterns of consumption in China * the revival of rituals and the healing of socialist 'trauma'.
Social scientists did not predict the collapse of the socialist system in 1989-91 and their attempts to explain postsocialism have not been comprehensive. Economic disintegration and political instability have been documented, but the deeper causes have often gone unnoticed. Consequently the solutions proffered, such as the promotion of non-governmental organisations as the foundations of 'civil society', have so far brought little success. Postsocialism presents, for the first time, the anthropological responses to these problems which are all grounded in intensive fieldwork. The authors demonstrate that even when local conditions are specific, the view 'from below' illuminates macro trends. A wide range of topics are discussed, including: *the role of social and cultural capital in determining the 'winners' of rural decollectivization *the devaluation of blue collar labour *the position of Gypsies *the viability of 'multicultural' models in situations of religious differences and ethnic violence *new patterns of consumption in China *the revival of rituals and the healing of socialist 'trauma'. _
Socialism as a political system may be on the wane, yet no one can
doubt that its cultural legacies will make themselves felt for
years to come, and on a worldwide scale. The contributors to this
volume adopt a variety of anthropological approaches to illuminate
changes which have removed socialists from power in many countries.
Presenting detailed ethnographic accounts across a wide range of
countries, they bring out the factors which have given socialism
such a profound worldwide impact, including a substantial impact
upon the discipline of anthropology itself. The first sustained and
wide-ranging investigation of socialism by social anthropologists,
this volume will enable readers to understand better how socialism
has been experienced by millions of people and thereby to now
better understand how they may cope with post-socialist dilemmas.
The anthropological tradition approaches property as a 'bundle of
rights' and property relationships as social relationships.
Rejecting both liberal and socialist approaches, which often
neglect the wider social and cultural contexts of property, the
contributors to this volume renew and extend the anthropological
perspective. The ethnographic case studies include accounts of
sharing and intelligence gathering among hunter-gatherers and
herders in Africa and in Siberia, land appropriation from native
Americans, and the problems associated with the disposal of
property in Melanesia. However the anthropological perspective can
also illuminate capitalist property relations, and there are
fascinating essays on property redistribution in Cyprus and
Romania, and on the history of property rights in England and
Japan.
Tazlar is a rural community on the Great Hungarian Plain. In the
context of modern Hungary it is not a typical community, for its
socio-economic organisation has been based in past years on a form
of agricultural cooperative unusual in socialist societies. In this
book, C. M. Hann traces the development of the community in the
post-war period and assesses the influence of the cooperative on
its social, economic and political life. This detailed study of a
community sheds light on the general mechanisms of social and
economic control in state-socialist societies, as well as on
socialist claims to be eliminating the historical disparities
between the town and the countryside. It will appeal to
anthropologists as a study of a community in an area of Europe
which is poorly documented in English, to sociologists, political
scientists and development economists and to the general reader
with an interest in Eastern Europe or in socialism.
The anthropological tradition approaches property as a 'bundle of
rights' and property relationships as social relationships.
Rejecting both liberal and socialist approaches, which often
neglect the wider social and cultural contexts of property, the
contributors to this volume renew and extend the anthropological
perspective. The ethnographic case studies include accounts of
sharing and intelligence gathering among hunter-gatherers and
herders in Africa and in Siberia, land appropriation from native
Americans, and the problems associated with the disposal of
property in Melanesia. However the anthropological perspective can
also illuminate capitalist property relations, and there are
fascinating essays on property redistribution in Cyprus and
Romania, and on the history of property rights in England and
Japan.
Rapid and complex social change is of urgent concern to all human
societies, but how can researchers do justice both to the objective
complexities of causal relations and to subjective experiences of
different types of change? The present volume focuses upon cases of
'accelerating change' - including Russia, Iran, South Africa and
Turkey - and examines some of the theoretical issues involved in
conceptualizing social change and transformation and the methods
for their study. The fifteen essays in this collection will be of
interest to all students of history and the social sciences; and
especially to students of social anthropology, sociology and
development studies.
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