Structural Lie: Small Clues to Global Things / Edition 1

by Charles C. Lemert

Overview

The Structural Lie tackles one of social science's most mysterious problems. How is it possible to derive statements about the grand structures of social life from their effects in the small movements of everyday life? Prominent sociologist Charles Lemert shows how Marx and Freud provide some answers to this question. Marx derived from the commodity his picture of the capitalist system, Freud diagnosed the character of psyches from the details of dreams, slips and jokes. This wonderfully readable and engaging book lays the foundation for a new social science in an age where a microchip can convey a world of information.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594515330
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/30/2011
Series:	Great Barrington Books
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Charles Lemert is Senior Fellow in the Center for Comparative Research, Yale University, and Vice-Chancellor's Professorial Fellow, University of South Australia, Adelaide. He is the author of numerous books including Uncertain Worlds, with Immanuel Wallerstein and Carlos Rojas, and Thinking the Unthinkable.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Chapter 1 Lies and Life; Chapter 2 Baudrillard’s Death; Chapter 3 Paul Piccone (1940–2004); Chapter 4 Goffman’s Enigma; Chapter 5 Harold Garfinkel; Chapter 6 Structural Aggravations; Chapter 7 Betty Friedan and Simone de Beauvoir; Chapter 8 Said and “Edward”; Chapter 9 Niebuhr, Derrida, and Death; Chapter 10 Why Go to Prison?;

Editorial Reviews

I love the brilliance of Lemert’s writing and the force of his critique.”

—Dorothy E. Smith, University of Victoria, Canada



"Charles Lemert's comprehensive critique of the 'social unconscious', of Marx and Freud reappraised, in 'The Structural Lie' crowns a career devoted to innovation of the highest order in social theory. This is a brave, brilliant book".

- Professor Anthony Elliott, Chair of Sociology, Flinders University, Australia and Visiting Research Professor, Open University, UK

From the Publisher