Beyond the Marketplace: Rethinking Economy and Society (Sociology and Economics)

Business & Money

Friedland, Roger

Robertson, A.F.

Economics

Routledge

The Big Catch: A Practical Introduction To Development

This interactive, role-playing case book is an enormously rich and stimulating way of challenging students to think about the problems of development and how development experts go about trying to alleviate them. One of the most innovative and eloquent anthropologists of development, A. F. Robertson has drawn from his extensive field experience to

The Big Catch

Since the 1980s there has been a growing billion dollar business producing porcelain collectible dolls. Avertised in Sunday newspapers and mailbox fliers, even Marie Osmond, an avid collector herself, is now promoting her own line of dolls on the Home Shopping Network and sales are soaring. With average price tags of $100 -- and $500 or more for a handcrafted or limited edition doll -- these dolls strike a chord in the hearts of middle-aged and older women, their core buyers, some of whom create "nurseries" devoted to collections that number in the hundreds. Each doll has its own name, identity and "adoption certificate," like Shawna, "who has just learned to stack blocks all by herself," and Bobby, whose "brown, handset eyes shine with mischief and little-boy plans." Exploring the nexus of emotions, consumption and commodification they represent, A. F. Robertson tracks the rise of the porcelain collectible market; interviews the women themselves; and visits their clubs, fairs and homes to understand what makes the dolls so irresistible. Lifelike but freakish; novelties that profess to be antiques; pricey kitsch: These dolls are the product of powerful emotions and big business. Life Like Dolls pursues why middle-class, educated women obsessively collect these dolls and what this phenomenon says about our culture.

Life Like Dolls: The Collector Doll Phenomenon and the Lives of the Women Who Love Them

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Beyond the Family: The Social Organization of Human Reproduction

Reproduction is the most vital process in the regeneration of our species and our society. Nevertheless, its influence on the shape of the modern world has been consistently overlooked by social scientists who have emphasized the erosion of the family in industrialized societies. In A. F. Robertson's view families persist. And the goal of reproduction plays an essential role in everything from the organization of political parties to the growth of banks and factories.Robertson inverts the traditional wisdom that reproduction responds passively to the powerful transformative force of technology. Reproduction, he asserts, requires such extensive cooperation on the state and community level, as well as within the family, that it has had great impact on our social and political organization. Whether discussing Lesotho women and the South African economy or the effects of the family on the development of capitalism, Robertson demonstrates that the ramifications of human reproduction extend far beyond the family.Boldly argued and laced with cross-cultural comparisons, Beyond the Family synthesizes the writings of a range of thinkers. It is sure to garner discussion and debate among divergent scholars of many stripes.

University of California Press

Reproduction is the most vital process in the regeneration of our species and our society. Nevertheless, its influence on the shape of the modern world has been consistently overlooked by social scientists who have emphasized the erosion of the family in industrialized societies. In A. F. Robertson's view families persist. And the goal of reproduction plays an essential role in everything from the organization of political parties to the growth of banks and factories. Robertson inverts the traditional wisdom that reproduction responds passively to the powerful transformative force of technology. Reproduction, he asserts, requires such extensive cooperation on the state and community level, as well as within the family, that it has had great impact on our social and political organization. Whether discussing Lesotho women and the South African economy or the effects of the family on the development of capitalism, Robertson demonstrates that the ramifications of human reproduction extend far beyond the family. Boldly argued and laced with cross-cultural comparisons, Beyond the Family synthesizes the writings of a range of thinkers. It is sure to garner discussion and debate among divergent scholars of many stripes.

Dependence and Opportunity: Political Change in Ahafo (African Studies, Series Number 9)

First published in 1973, this is a study of the historical relationship between the system of colonial control and local social and political structures in the Ahafo region of Ghana since the arrival of the British. There has been much academic writing about African policies in the past but it has not on the whole been very successful in illuminating to outsiders what political conflicts in African countries are concerned with or what political actors in Africa understand themselves to be doing. This is particularly true in the case of the political actions of those who, like the great majority of the population of Africa, are not members of elites educated in European languages. The authors of this book, a political scientist and an anthropologist, have attempted to convey enough of the context and complexity of political intention and action in one traditional area of Ghana for someone who knows nothing about Africa to begin to understand what politics there means.

Dunn, John

Cambridge University Press

Building good relationships within African communities.

The Dynamics of Productive Relationships: African Share Contracts in Comparative Perspective

BEYOND THE FAMILY. The Social Organization of Human Reproduction.

University of California

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

Books by Robertson, A.F.

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

Beyond the Marketplace: Rethinking Economy and Society (Sociology and Economics)

The Big Catch

Life Like Dolls: The Collector Doll Phenomenon and the Lives of the Women Who Love Them

Life Like Dolls: The Collector Doll Phenomenon and the Lives of the Women Who Love Them

Beyond the Family: The Social Organization of Human Reproduction

Beyond the Family: The Social Organization of Human Reproduction

Dependence and Opportunity: Political Change in Ahafo (African Studies, Series Number 9)

Dependence and Opportunity: Political Change in Ahafo (African Studies, Series Number 9)

The Dynamics of Productive Relationships: African Share Contracts in Comparative Perspective

BEYOND THE FAMILY. The Social Organization of Human Reproduction.