Civil Society: Challenging Western Models / Edition 1

by Elizabeth Dunn, Chris Hann

Overview

Between kinship ties on the one hand and the state on the other, human beings experience a diversity of social relationships and groupings which in modern western thought have come to be gathered under the label 'civil society'. A liberal-individualist model of civil society has become fashionable in recent years, but what can such a term mean in the late twentieth century?
Civil Society argues that civil society should not be studied as a separate, 'private' realm clearly separated in opposition to the state; nor should it be confined to the institutions of the 'voluntary' or 'non-governmental'sector. A broader understanding of civil society involves the investigation of everyday social practices, often elusive power relations and the shared moralities that hold communities together. By drawing on case materials from a range of contemporary societies, including the US, Britain, four of the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Middle and Far East, Civil Society demonstrates what anthropology contributes to debates taking place throughout the social sciences; adding up to an exciting renewal of the agenda for political anthropology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415132183
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/05/1996
Series:	European Association of Social Anthropologists
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Chris Hann is Professor of Social Anthropology and Dean of Social Sciences, University of Kent; Elizabeth Dunn is a Doctoral candidate at John Hopkins University, Baltimore

Table of Contents

Introduction Political society and civil anthropology Chris Hann 1. Money, morality and modes of civil society among American Mormons Elizabeth Dunn 2. How Ernest Gellner got mugged on the streets of London, Or civil society, the media and the quality of life Peter Loizos 3. Anti-semitism and fear of the public sphere in a post-totalitarian society: East Germany Susanne Spuelbeck 4. The shifting meanings of civil and civic society in Poland Michal Buchowski 5. Bringing civil society to an uncivilised place: Citizenship regimes in Russia's Arctic frontier David G. Anderson 6. The social life of projects: Importing civil society to Albania Steven Sampson 7. Civic culture and Islam in urban Turkey Jenny B. White 8. Gender, state and civil society in Jordan and Syria Annika Rabo 9. The deployment of civil energy in Indonesia: Assessment of an authentic solution Leo Schmit 10. Community values and state co-operation: Civil society in the Sichuan countryside John Flower and Pamela Leonard 11. Making citizens in postwar Japan: National and local perspectives John Knight Index.

Editorial Reviews

Anthropologists challenge the narrow definition of civil society, which western social scientists mainly equate with a distinct private sphere. Drawing on case material from the US, Britain, eastern Europe, and the near and far east, they find it encompassing a range of everyday social practices, often elusive power relations, and material constraints that influence shared moralities and ideologies. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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