This valuable book introduces Mary Douglas's theories, and outlines the ways in which her work is of continuing importance for the future of the social sciences.
Über den Autor
nPaul Richards was formerly Professor of Anthropology at University College London, and now advises the Directorate of Research at Njala University in Sierra Leone. His numerous publications on the civil wars of the 1990s in West Africa have applied Douglas's theoretical insights to understanding rebellion and violent factional conflict.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
nList of Figures
n¿Preface
nAcknowledgements
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nIntroduction
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nChapter 1. Social organization in Microcosm: Anomalies and Ritual Concentrate Conflict
nChapter 2. Comparing on a Grand Scale: Elementary Forms do the Organizing
nChapter 3. Building Fundamental Explanations: Rituals do the Institutionalizing, and Institutions Make Change
nChapter 4. Analytic Method is also Ritual Peacemaking: Thinking in Circles Helps to Defuse Conflict
nChapter 5. Douglas's Contribution to Understanding Human Thought and Conflict
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nCoda
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nReferences
nIndex
Klappentext
Mary Douglas's innovative explanations for styles of human thought and for the dynamics of institutional change have furnished a distinctive and powerful theory of how conflicts are managed, yet her work remains astonishingly poorly appreciated in social science disciplines. This volume introduces Douglas's theories, and outlines the ways in which her work is of continuing importance for the future of the social sciences. Mary Douglas: Explaining Human Thought and Conflict shows how Douglas laid out the agenda for revitalizing social science by reworking Durkheim's legacy for today, and reviews the growing body of research across the social sciences which has used, tested or developed her approach.
