Ariel

Literature & Fiction

Sylvia Plath

Poetry

Aldine de Gruyter

Whitsun Weddings

Philip Larkin

The development of industry in Europe and the United States has resulted in great marvels of production. However, non-Western nations, with a few exceptions, have not yet shared fully in this productivity, despite the desires of their leaders to do so. Also, in the United States, and in other industrial nations, there are sizeable minority groups which have not been fully assimilated into the productive pattern of the majority. Most live as poverty enclaves within the greater society. This socioeconomic imbalance has contributed to unrest in both the agrarian and industrial nations. Introducing Social Change deals with numerous topics of social change: cultural problems of change in general; a description of the concept of culture; a discussion of cultural change in its various forms; an introduction to the process of directed change; a discussion of the motivation necessary to bring about change; a treatment of the method of adapting an innovation to existing ideas and customs; the profile of the primary characteristics of most developing nations; the main characteristics and cultural values of America as a sample urban, industrial culture; and field problems of the change agent, and in particular those methods from anthropology that can be modified for use. Developments in the industrial countries, particularly the United States, have demonstrated the need for this second edition. When the original version was produced, little thought or activity was given to development efforts among ethnic minorities of industrial countries. Development was thought of almost exclusively as an activity relevant to the developing, non-industrial nations. It has become apparent that ethnic groups in industrial nations are also in need of economic development. Government policies, including funding, have been increasingly pointed in this direction.

Introducing Social Change

Politics & Social Sciences

Arensberg, Conrad M.

Anthropology

Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia

Collected jokes, toasts, and stories from the Northern ghetto, with descriptions of the personalities and styles of the tellers

Abrahams, Roger D.

Social Sciences

Underlying the anthropological study of man is the principle that there is a reality to which man must adapt if he is to survive, reproduce, and to perpetuate himself. Populations must adapt to the realities of the physical world and maintain a proper "fit" between their biological makeup and the pressures of the various niches of the world in which they seek to live. Social groups - where culture is found - must develop adaptative mechanisms in the organization of their social relations if there is to be order, regularity, and predictability in patterns of cooperation and competition and if they are to survive as viable units. This three-volume set of readings presents an introduction to anthropology that is unified and made systematic by focus on adaptations that have accompanied the evolution of man, from non-human primate to inhabitant of vast urban areas in modern industrial societies. Man in Adaptation: The Biosocial Background serves as an introduction to Physical Anthropology, Linguistics, and Archeology from the point of view of processes of adaptation. It focuses on the role of biological adaptation in man's attempts to transcend the restrictions of his natural habitats and deals with the principle issues and concepts in the study of human evolution. These volumes are the first attempt to unify the disparate subject matter of anthropology within a single and powerful explanatory framework. They incorporate the work of the most renowned anthropological experts on man, and they illuminate clearly one of the most important concepts around which one can build an investigation of the nature and scope of anthropology itself. For these reasons, they are recognized as indispensable reading for every professional anthropologist and as perhaps the best available means of introducing new students to the field.

Man in Adaptation: The Biosocial Background

Science & Math

Cohen, Yehudi A.

Biological Sciences

Women Cross-Culturally: Change and Challenge (World Anthropology)

Rohrlich, Ruby

International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, 9th, Chicago, 1973

"Mishpokhe is the Yiddish word for relatives. William Mitchell's monograph describes the interactions of the mishpokhe in his study of two types of Jewish family clubs... [T]his volume makes a contribution both to the field of family studies and Jewish ethnography. I would add that it also makes a significant contribution to the area of anthropological field research and can provide us all with greater insights into our own behavior and presentation of self when next we enter the field." --Myrna Silverman, American Ethnologist "Mishpokhe... is a straightforward account of family circles and cousins' clubs among East European Jewish immigrants to New York City and their descendents... As an ethnography the book is intentionally limited to a focus on the clubs and circles, per se. Mitchell has included a substantial amount of direct speech from his informants' interview responses, written statements, and other commentary. This material adds a valuable dimension to the book and gives some sense of the tone of the associations and of members' perceived relations to the clubs and to their lives in a broader sense... The people whom Mitchell studied were, in large part, the cultural descendants of the Jews of the shtetls ("small towns") of Eastern Europe... No comparable study has been attempted." --Janet Dolgin, American Anthropologist "While working on a larger research project on Jewish family and kinship, William Mitchell learned of the existence of Jewish "family clubs" (family circles and cousins clubs). As an anthropologist, Mitchell was quick to recognize the importance of studying more closely this uniquely Jewish cultural institution within the context of kinship patters in post-industrial societies. Using informants, survey research, and participant-observation, Mitchell presents a meticulously constructed analysis of the structure and dynamics of Jewish family clubs... Beyond the excellence and thoroughness of that discussion, the book contains much primary data of interest to students of the ethnic family in general, and the Jewish group in particular." --Bruce A. Phillips, Contemporary Sociology "Mitchell has accomplished a great deal in penetrating the heretofore remote world of Jewish family clubs--a feat all the more impressive in that he is not Jewish... Mitchell has been able to capture the subtlety and nuance of intimate interaction while offering broader sociological theories at the same time." --Richard Benkin, American Journal of Sociology

Mispokhe: A Study of New York City Jewish Family Clubs

Mitchell, William E.

"Much light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history," thus ended Darwin's Origin of Species. For many years, the book provoked a flood of argument, but yielded little evidence. In the first century after the book's publication, virtually no one tested Darwin's theory against the evidence of human history. Now that tide has changed. Laura Betzig challenges the proposition that the evolved end of human life is its reproduction by presenting the literature on conflict resolution from over a hundred societies. The research results presented in Despotism and Differential Reproduction convincingly uphold Darwin's prophecy. A basic premise behind research has always been that understanding the way things are should contribute to our ability to change them to the way we would like them to be. This idea forms the basis for Betzig's research--she sets out to explain how things really are by leading the reader through the historical and natural conditions that have promoted despotism in the hopes that this might eventually eradicate it. She begins with the idea that reproduction is the end of human life, and that all forms of power and strength are exploited in reaching this end. In this way, Betzig shows with startling clarity how power corrupts and how despotic governments continue to exist in the world today. Engaging--even at times railing against--existing literature on human and social evolution, such as that of Rousseau and Marx, Betzig asserts herself as a formidable and undeniable voice in this debate. Since Darwin's monumental work, more has been said about why questions regarding how human history has been shaped by natural history should not even be asked, than has been said in an effort to answer them. This work puts a stop to that by testing the Darwinian hypothesis and finding that he was right: light has in fact been shed on human political and reproductive history. Controversial and creative, this book makes no apologies for its bold messages and interdisciplinary boundary blending and addresses a topic of continuing interest and importance.

Despotism and Differential Reproduction: A Darwinian View of History

History

Betzig, Laura L.

World

Despite wide acceptance that the attributes of living creatures have appeared through a cumulative evolutionary process guided chiefly by natural selection, many human activities have seemed analytically inaccessible through such an approach. Prominent evolutionary biologists, for example, have described morality as contrary to the direction of biological evolution, and moral philosophers rarely regard evolution as relevant to their discussions. The Biology of Moral Systems adopts the position that moral questions arise out of conflicts of interest, and that moral systems are ways of using confluences of interest at lower levels of social organization to deal with conflicts of interest at higher levels. Moral systems are described as systems of indirect reciprocity: humans gain and lose socially and reproductively not only by direct transactions, but also by the reputations they gain from the everyday flow of social interactions. The author develops a general theory of human interests, using senescence and effort theory from biology, to help analyze the patterning of human lifetimes. He argues that the ultimate interests of humans are reproductive, and that the concept of morality has arisen within groups because of its contribution to unity in the context, ultimately, of success in intergroup competition. He contends that morality is not easily relatable to universals, and he carries this argument into a discussion of what he calls the greatest of all moral problems, the nuclear arms race. "Crammed with sage observations on moral dilemmas and many reasons why an understanding of evolution based on natural selection will advance thinking in finding practical solutions to our most difficult social problems." û Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences Richard D. Alexander is Donald Ward Tinkle Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, and Curator of Insects, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. A recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Alexander is the author of Darwinism and Human Affairs.

The Biology of Moral Systems (Evolutionary Foundations of Human Behavior Series)

Alexander, Richard

The earliest sites at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania are among the best documented and most important for studies of human evolution. This book investigates the behavior of hominids at Olduvai using data of stone tools and animal bones, as well as the results of work in taphonomy (how animals become fossils), the behavior of mammals, and a wide range of ecological theory and data. By illustrating the ways in which modern and prehistoric evidence is used in making interpretations, the author guides the reader through the geological, ecological, and archeological areas involved in the study of humans.  Based on his study of the Olduvai excavations, animal life, and stone tools, the author carefully examines conventional views and proposals about the early Olduvai sites. First, the evidence of site geology, tool cut marks, and other clues to the formation of the Olduvai sites are explored. On this basis, the large mammal communities in which early hominids lived are investigated, using methods which compare sites produced mainly by hominids with others made by carnivores. Questions about hominid hunting, scavenging, and the importance of eating meat are then scrutinized. The leading alternative positions on each issue are discussed, providing a basis for understanding some of the most contentious debates in paleo-anthropology today.  The dominant interpretive model for the artifact and bone accumulations at Olduvai and other Plio-Pleistocene sites has been that they represent "home bases," social foci similar to the campsites of hunter-gatherers. Based on paleo-ecological evidence and ecological models, the author critically analyzes the home base interpretation and proposes alternative views. A new view of the Olduvai sites—that they represent stone caches where hominids processed carcasses for food—is shown to have important implications for our understanding of hominid social behavior and evolution.

Early Hominid Activities at Olduvai: Foundations of Human Behaviour (Foundations of Human Behavior)

Potts, Richard

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