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'. _

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.

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.