When History Accelerates: Essays on Rapid Social Change, Complexity and Creativity

Description

Rapid and complex social change is of urgent concern to all human societies, but how can researchers do justice both to the objective complexities of causal relations and to subjective experiences of different types of change? The present volume focuses upon cases of ‘accelerating change’ – including Russia, Iran, South Africa and Turkey – and examines some of the theoretical issues involved in conceptualizing social change and transformation and the methods for their study. The fifteen essays in this collection will be of interest to all students of history and the social sciences; and especially to students of social anthropology, sociology and development studies. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface and Acknowledgements Contributors 1 Fast Forward: The Great Transformation Globalized SYNCHRONIC SYSTEMS AND TEMPORALITY SOCIAL CHANGE AND REVOLUTION ETHNOGRAPHIC KNOWLEDGE AND RESPONSIBILITY PAUL STIRLING: A PERSONAL SYNTHESIS NOTES REFERENCES 2 The Evolution of Society: A Darwinian Approach THE HUMAN ANIMAL DARWINISM AND EVOLUTIONISM SOCIOLOGICAL DARWINISM NOTES REFERENCES 3 Rates of Change: Weasel Words and the Indispensable in Anthropological Analysis INTRODUCTION SYSTEMS, SUBSYSTEMS AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF SOCIAL CHANGE IDENTIFYING KINDS OF CULTURAL AND SOCIAL CHANGE PERCEIVING AND MEASURING RATES OF CHANGE SYSTEMIC CONSEQUENCES OF DIFFERENT RATES OF CHANGE DISJUNCTIONS AND CONTRADICTIONS RATES OF CHANGE AT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION CONCLUSION NOTE REFERENCES 4 Modelling Complexity and Change: Social Knowledge and Social Process INTRODUCTION ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH WEAK AND STRONG REPRESENTATIONS ARRANGING A MARRIAGE IN URBAN PAKISTAN ETHNOGRAPHIC SETTING MULTIPLE DOMAINS AND CONTEXT CHANGE BETWEEN 1982 AND 1992 SPECIFICATIONS, EXTERNAL KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE DISTRIBUTION NOTES REFERENCES 5 Social Creativity WHAT DOES IT PRODUCE? WHAT ARE THE KINDS OF SOCIAL CREATIVITY? WHAT ARE THE RAW MATERIALS? WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF SOCIAL CREATIVITY LIKE? REFERENCES 6 Rustic Chivalry: Variations in Honour Ideologies in Italy and the Limits of Historical Explanation INTRODUCTION HONOUR CRIMES THE LANGUAGE OF HONOUR THE USES OF HISTORY CONCLUSION NOTES REFERENCES 7 Meanings, Myths and Mystifications: The Social Construction of Life Stories in Russia INTRODUCTION METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS THE POLITICS OF FORGETFULNESS EDUCATION, WORK AND FAMILY VALUES IGOR AND FAMILY TRADITION RELIGION CONCLUSION: BETWEEN CULTURES, A LIVING HISTORY NOTES REFERENCES 8 'And Who Now Plans Its Future?': Land in South Africa after Apartheid A STARTING POINT APARTHEID, LAND AND POPULATION WHITE AGRICULTURE AT THE END OF APARTHEID THE BANTUSTANS AGRARIAN REFORM: A POLITICAL VACUUM? THE POLICY DEBATE DIFFERENT QUESTIONS, A DIFFERENT POLITICS CONCLUSION NOTES REFERENCES 9 Change, Cognition and Control: The Reconstruction of Nomadism in Iran PREAMBLE BACKGROUND: THE NOMADS OF IRAN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF NOMAD ECONOMY AND SOCIETY UNDER THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC WHO ARE - AND WERE - THE 'NOMADS'? DEFINITION AND REDEFINITION TRIBES AND NOMADS NOMADS' SELF-DEFINITIONS REDEFINING 'SETTLEMENT' CONCLUSION NOTES REFERENCES 10 Creating Law: Trade, Production and Accelerating Change in Late Ottoman Izmir INTRODUCTION ISLAMIC LAW, SECULAR LAW AND TRADE INTERNATIONAL TRADE SHAPES THE LOCAL CONTEXT AN AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION LOCAL AND NATIONAL ELITES, AND LEGAL CHANGE NOTES REFERENCES 11 The New Circle of Equity A PENDULUM-SWING THEORY OF KEMALISM THE TURKISH WAY TO MODERNITY NOTES REFERENCES 12 Social Change and Culture: Responses to Modernization in an Alevi Village in Anatolia INTRODUCTION A SUNNI VILLAGE MODEL AN ALEVI VILLAGE MODEL TARIKAT AND §ERIAT SOME EXAMPLES CONCLUSIONS NOTES REFERENCES 13 Negotiating Ethnographic Reality: Team Fieldwork in Turkey Emine Onaran Incirlioglu INTRODUCTION POWER AND LANGUAGE, GENDER AND LIFE CYCLE KNOWLEDGE OF VILLAGE HISTORY INSIDER AND OUTSIDER: 'ONE OF US' VERSUS THE GAVUR CONCLUSION NOTES REFERENCES 14 Social Standards and Social Thought DISTINCTIVE INSIGHTS? INSCRIPTION AND SPECIFICATION A CASE STUDY FROM MEWAR SETTING STANDARDS NOTES REFERENCES 15 The Application of Anthropology in Britain, 1983-1993 INTRODUCTION A CONCISE ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY 'NOW THE REAL CONFERENCE HAS BEGUN' CONCLUSIONS: THE APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGIST AS JANUS NOTES REFERENCES Index