Technology, Literacy, and the Evolution of Society : Implications of the Work of Jack Goody

by Olson, David R.; Cole, (Managing Editor) Michael

• ISBN13: 9780805854022
• ISBN10: 0805854029
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-06-23
• Publisher: Lawrence Erlbau

Summary

Inspired by the seminal work of Jack Goody, a historical anthropologist specializing in the study of social structure and change, Technology, Literacy, and the Evolution of Society gathers diverse perspectives of 20 distinguished historians, anthropologists, psychologists, and educators to address the role of technologies in social stability and change in traditional and modern societies. In this interdisciplinary text, scholars examine the ways in which local languages and cultural traditions, modes of production and communication, patterns of local knowledge and authority affect how people and cultures resist or accommodate demands for such change. With work from acclaimed contributors, this pioneering volume is the first analysis of the influence of Jack Goody. It provides a thorough look at the relations between societies of different practices, customs, and values, determining the mechanisms behind sociocultural stability and change. Technology, Literacy, and the Evolution of Society is intended for graduate students and academics in history, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and education, as well as academics and all others interested in pursuing the directions and implications of the work and influence of Jack Goody.

Table of Contents

Preface: Technology and Social Change	ix
Acknowledgments	xix
Contributors	xxi
I. INTRODUCTION
1 An Introduction to Jack Goody's Historical Anthropology	3	(26)
Rosaire Langlois
II. HISTORICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: KINSHIP, INHERITANCE, AND THE STATE
2 Agrarian Civilization and Modern World Society	29	(20)
Keith Hart
3 Succession to High Office: The Chinese Case	49	(24)
Patricia Ebrey
4 Between East and West: Greek Catholic Icons and Cultural Boundaries	73	(28)
Chris Hann
5 Culture and Gender in European Bourgeois Society 1870-1914	101	(14)
Eric Hobsbawm
6 Kinship and Evolved Psychological Dispositions: The Mother's Brother Controversy Reconsidered	115	(26)
Maurice Bloch and Dan Sperber
7 The Use and Abuse of Classification	141	(24)
G.E.R. Lloyd
8 Images in Flowers	165	(12)
Jean-Claude Schmitt
III. ORALITY, LITERACY, AND WRITTEN CULTURE
9 Orality in Politics	177	(12)
Geoffrey Hawthorn
10 Writing and Kinship in Northern Ghana: From Cowry Payments to Paper Documents	189	(26)
Sean Hawkins
11 The Writing of Social Organization and the Literate Situating of Cognition: Extending Goody's Social Implications of Writing	215	(26)
Charles Bazerman
12 Dynamics of the Emergence of Sociocultural Institutional Practices	241	(24)
Esther N. Goody
13 Not by Words Alone: Reclothing the "Oral"	265	(24)
Ruth Finnegan
14 The Documentary Tradition in Mind and Society	289	(16)
David R. Olson
15 Rethinking the Goody Myth	305	(20)
Michael Cole and Jennifer Cole
Bibliography of Jack Goody's Work	325	(18)
Author Index	343	(8)
Subject Index	351