| Description |
vi, 248 pages ; 23 cm |
| Series |
European Association of Social Anthropologists |
|
European Association of Social Anthropologists (Series)
|
| 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 th 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 Spulbeck -- 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 |
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10. Community values and state cooptation: civil society in the Sichuan countryside |
| Summary |
The term 'civil society' has in recent years enjoyed something of a vogue. Social scientists in many countries have enthusiastically endorsed it as an ideal model of social organization, but from an anthropological point of view this seems odd. How can an elusive idea that is clearly European in origin - and which, on closer scrutiny, throws little light even on the current social realities in Europe - gain the status of a universal perspective model? Civil society is often presented as a distinct private sphere and equated with the voluntary or non-governmental sector. The contributors to Civil Society challenge such narrow definitions in the light of ethnographic research. They argue for a broader understanding of civil society, encompassing a range of everyday social practices, often elusive power relations and the many material constraints that influence shared moralities and ideologies. Drawing on case materials from the USA, Britain, four of the former communist countries of Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Middle East, Indonesia, China and Japan, the studies presented here demonstrate the contribution that anthropology can make to the current debate in the social sciences. They also add up to an exciting renewal of the agenda for political anthropology |
| Analysis |
Politics Related to Society |
|
Politics Related to Society |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Subject |
Civil society -- Cross-cultural studies.
|
|
Civil society.
|
| Author |
Dunn, Elizabeth.
|
|
Hann, C. M., 1953-
|
| LC no. |
98176421 |
| ISBN |
0415132185 (cased) |
|
0415132193 (paperback) |
|
