Natural Hierarchies The Historical Sociology of Race and Caste

by Smaje, Chris

• ISBN13: 9780631209492
• ISBN10: 0631209492
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-07-13
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This original and provocative text provides an approach to understanding the emergence and development of social rank through race and caste. The struggles we face in race and ethnic relations today are explored through anthropological, historical and sociological lenses to understand the roots of social hierarchy drawing on examples from the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean, and mainland America.

Author Biography

Chris Smaje is a Lecturer of Sociology at the University of Surrey. He holds degrees in anthropology, health policy, and sociology, and his research interests span the fields of medical sociology and the comparative historical sociology of race and colonialism. He is a member of the editorial boards of the journals Ethnic and Racial Studies and Sociology of Health and Illness.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Race, Caste, and Hierarchy	1	(34)
Race and Caste as Natural Hierarchies	1	(3)
Race	4	(8)
Caste	12	(11)
Hierarchy	23	(6)
History and Ambivalence: A Place in the Sociological Debate	29	(6)
Theoretical Constructions	35	(45)
Introduction	35	(1)
Essentialism and Anti-essentialism	36	(4)
Structure	40	(12)
Culture, Practice, and Symbol	52	(17)
History	69	(9)
Conclusion	78	(2)
Economic and Political Formations	80	(52)
Introduction	80	(6)
European Capitalism, Indian Capitalism?	86	(10)
Political Formations	96	(31)
Nations and Citizenries	127	(5)
Race, Slavery, and Colonialism	132	(30)
Introduction	132	(1)
Slavery	133	(15)
Race and Colonial Society	148	(4)
Race and Political Thought in Early Modern Europe	152	(10)
Race, Caste, and the Person	162	(41)
Introduction	162	(1)
Race, Caste, and Kinship	163	(14)
Caste, Kinship, and Gender in India	177	(10)
Race, Kinship, and Gender in the Caribbean	187	(16)
Race, Caste, and the Nation	203	(43)
Introduction	203	(1)
Race and Creolization in the Caribbean	204	(24)
Caste, Communalism, and the Nation in Contemporary India	228	(18)
Hierarchy and Politics	246	(14)
Hierarchy and a Sociology of Politics	246	(10)
Hierarchy and a Politics of Sociology	256	(4)
References	260	(22)
Index	282