Self consciousness : an alternative anthropology of identity / Anthony P. Cohen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cohen, Anthony P. (Anthony Paul), 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Personality and culture--Cross-cultural studies.

Personality and culture.

Self--Cross-cultural studies.

Self.

Identity (Philosophical concept)--Cross-cultural studies.

Identity (Philosophical concept).

Group identity--Cross-cultural studies.

Group identity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (230 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 1994.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Traditionally the self and the individual have been treated as micro-versions of larger social entities by the social sciences in general, and by anthropology in particular. In Self Consciousness, Cohen examines this treatment of the self, arguing that this practice has resulted in the misunderstanding of social aggregates precisely because the individual has been ignored as a constituent element. By acknowledging the individual's self awareness as author of their own social conduct and of the social forms in which they participate, this informs social and cultural processes rather th

Contents:

Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Preface and acknowledgements; 1 The neglected self: anthropological traditions; Positions; Objectives; Why should anthropologists be concerned with the self?; Complex selves; The individual and society; Society : individual:: form : meaning; Self against orthodoxy; 2 The creative self; Self-direction vs. social determinism; Reflecting on the Mbuti reflecting on themselves; Balancing the self: (i) Mbuti, again; (ii) The Utkuhiqhalingmiut Inuit; (iii) The Huichol; Rhetoric and the self; Cultural theories of the self; Conclusion

3 Initiating the self into societyChildhood; Initiation; Becoming social; Institutions and selves; Naming; 4 Social transformations of the self; Making the 'I' into 'we': (i) Greek marriage; (ii) Organisational membership; Holding on to the self, and resisting the claims of others; 5 The primacy of the self?; Models and muddles of principle and practice; Descent and marriage on Tory Island; Words and world-makers; Culture, boundary, consciousness; 6 The thinking self; Thinking culture; Public forms, private meanings; Thinking through culture; Culturing thought: nation(-state) and self

7 Individualism, individuality, selfhoodThe indulgent self?; Conservatism and English individualism: a polemic; The massification of individuals, and the right to identity; Novelists and the reflexive self; Non-conclusion; Notes; References; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-134-88931-3

1-134-88932-1

1-280-32132-6

0-203-41898-0

9780203418987

OCLC:

310464975