In recent years the concept of power has soared to the top of the anthropological agenda, while the concept of culture has been found inadequate in understanding the contemporary world. The purposes of this study are to explain why power has become a central interest in the discipline, to evaluate the explanatory potential of power, to demonstrate how to analyze power in the ethnographic context, and to consider whether the culture concept can be salvaged. In chapter one the process by which the profile of power became elevated as a result of globalization is analyzed; included here is the critique of culture. In chapter two, a broad overview of the conception of power from early political anthropology to key works in philosophy, political science, and political sociology is attempted. Some anthropologists have recently tried to rescue the culture concept; this is the focus of chapter three.Although the argument in this study is that power is fundamentally important, it would be a mistake to think that power is any less ambiguous than culture or any other concept; thus, in chapter four it is shown that for each of 20 major assumptions about power, there is a plausible counter-assumption. Chapter five ties the study together by exploring the debates about power in the context of ethnography. The study ends with a postscript on the terrorist attacks on America of September 11, 2001―a poignant reminder that culture and power sometimes intersect to produce human tragedy on a grand scale.

Culture Meets Power:

Politics & Social Sciences

Barrett, Stanley R.

Social Sciences

Praeger

<p>In recent years the concept of power has soared to the top of the anthropological agenda, while the concept of culture has been found inadequate in understanding the contemporary world. The purposes of this study are to explain why power has become a central interest in the discipline, to evaluate the explanatory potential of power, to demonstrate how to analyze power in the ethnographic context, and to consider whether the culture concept can be salvaged. In chapter one the process by which the profile of power became elevated as a result of globalization is analyzed; included here is the critique of culture. In chapter two, a broad overview of the conception of power from early political anthropology to key works in philosophy, political science, and political sociology is attempted. Some anthropologists have recently tried to rescue the culture concept; this is the focus of chapter three.</p>
<p>Although the argument in this study is that power is fundamentally important, it would be a mistake to think that power is any less ambiguous than culture or any other concept; thus, in chapter four it is shown that for each of 20 major assumptions about power, there is a plausible counter-assumption. Chapter five ties the study together by exploring the debates about power in the context of ethnography. The study ends with a postscript on the terrorist attacks on America of September 11, 2001―a poignant reminder that culture and power sometimes intersect to produce human tragedy on a grand scale.</p>

The Rebirth of Anthropological Theory

Univ of Toronto Pr

‘God is a racist’—so goes a statement published in the literature of the Western Guard, a white-supremacist, anti-semitic group in Toronto. It is one of a number of racist organizations that have sprung up in Canada since the Second World War. Stanley Barrett points out in this disquieting study that although many of the principles of such organizations are offensive to the vast majority of Canadians, they represent a growing part of a broader political phenomenon that has recently surfaced in numerous nations.In examining the rise of right wing extremism in Canada, a nation with a traditional reputation for tolerance, Barrett considers a wide range of political convictions, from confessed fascists to essentially ordinary, law-abiding, but highly conservative individuals who are deeply concerned about the future of Western Christian civilization.Barrett’s study, grounded in a scientific tradition that has regularly exposed racial myths, is guided by humanist values that celebrate individual worth. It sheds new light on a growing phenomenon that threatens those values. 

Is God a Racist? the Right Wing in Canada

Politics & Government

Two villages on stilts;: Economic and family change in Nigeria (Case studies in social and economic change)

Chandler Pub. Co

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Barrett, Stanley R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Barrett, Stanley R.