38 results for "Economic History"

African Political Systems

Meyer Fortes
AFRICAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS by Fortes, Meyer CONTENTS: EDITORS' NOTE. PREFACE. Professor A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, M.A. (Cantab.), Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Oxford INTRODUCTION. Dr. M. Fortes and Professor E. E. Evans-Pntchard Aims of this Book. A Representative Sample of African. Societies. Political Philosophy and Comparative Politics. The Two Types of Political System Studied. Kinship in Political Organization. The Influence of Demography. The Influence of Mode of Livelihood. Composite Political Systems and the Conquest Theory. The Territorial Aspect. The Balance of Forces in the Political System, The Incidence and Function of Organised Force. Differences in Response to European Rule. The Mystical Values Associated with Political Office. The Problem of the Limits of the Political Group. THE KINGDOM OF THE ZULU OF SOUTH AFRICA. Max Gluckman. B.A. (How.) (Witwatersrand), D.Phil. (Oxon). Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Manchester Historical Introduction. The Zulu King and the State. Status and Political Power. The Tribes within the Nation, Sanctions on Authority and the Stability of the State. The People and their Leaders. The Period of European Rule. Conclusion. THE POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE NGWATO OF BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE. /. Schapera, M.A, (Cape town), Ph.D., D.Sc.(London), F.R.S.S.Af. Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Cape toton Ethnic Composition and Territorial Constitution. The Administrative System. Powers and Authority of the Chief. Rights and Responsibilities of Chieftainship. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE BEMBA TRIBE NORTHEASTERN RHODESIA. Audrey I. Richards, M.A-(Cantab\ Ph.D.(London). Reader in Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London 83Bantu Political Organization Some General Features The Bemba Tribe: Tribal Composition Social Grouping Kinship Local Grouping Rank Other Principles of Social Grouping Economic Background White Administration. Bases of Authority: The Dogma of Descent Legal Rules of Descent and Succession. Functions and Prerogatives of Authority: The Headman the Chief. The Machinery of Government: Administrative Military Judicial Advisory, The Integration of the Tribe. Post-European Changes: New Authorities introduced Effects of the 1929 Ordinances. THE KINGDOM OF ANKOLE IN UGANDA K. Oberg, A.M., Ph.D.(Chicago)t Escola Livre de Sociologia e Politica, SSo Paulo, Brazil Traditional and Historical Background. Political Status, the King and the Royal Kraal. Tribute. The Cult of Bagyendanwa. Succession. Conclusion.
Read Books 2008-11 332 pages

Sailing the wine-dark sea: International trade and the late bronze age aegean

Cline, Eric H.
A reissue of Eric H. Cline's highly regarded study of trade in the Late Bronze Age Aegean, first published in 1994 and out-of-print since 2000. The monograph is composed of three principal parts: 1) an analytical section discussing the trade and contacts which occurred between the Aegean, Italy, Egypt, and the Near East during the latter half of the second millennium BC, and the social, economic and cultural implications of such contacts; 2) first, a catalogue of literary and pictorial references to the LBA Aegean found in outside areas - primarily Egypt and the Near East - with transliterations and translations of the appropriate texts, and second, a compilation of the references to, and loanwords from, other areas of the Mediterranean found in the Linear B texts in the Aegean; and 3) a catalogue, by object type, of all the Orientalia and Occidentalia found in LBA contexts within the Aegean area. The monograph utilizes the catalogues in combination with previously published works by a variety of scholars to provide a detailed analysis of the trade and contacts between the LBA Aegean, Italy, Egypt and the Near East. The work is divided into six sections, each consisting of a series of interlinked essays. Section One provides an introduction to the topic, a brief overview of the previous scholarship in this area, and a discussion of the chronological problems involved. Section Two consists of an initial chapter discussing LBA trade and contact between the Aegean, Italy, Egypt and the Near East by centuries, followed by chapters discussing trade between the LBA Aegean and individual Mediterranean countries. Section Three contains discussions of the trade mechanisms involved, the trade routes, merchant nationalities, goods, motivations, and partnerships, plus a brief look at the Ulu Burun (Kas) and Cape Gelidonya shipwrecks. Section Four presents an overview of the conclusions reached by this study and reiterates that the current work presents much raw data and some preliminary observations but is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of tapping the wealth of information which may be extracted from the accompanying catalogues.
British Archaeological Reports 2009 348 pages

The New Vichy Syndrome Why European Intellectuals Surrender to Barbarism

Theodore Dalrymple
Western Europe is in a strangely neurotic condition of being smug and terrified at the same time. On the one hand, Europeans believe they have at last created an ideal social and political system in which man can live comfortably. In many ways, things have never been better on the old continent. On the other hand, there is growing anxiety that Europe is quickly falling behind in an aggressive, globalized world. Europe is at the forefront of nothing, its demographics are rapidly transforming in unsettling ways, and the ancient threat of barbarian invasion has resurfaced in a fresh manifestation. In The New Vichy Syndrome , Theodore Dalrymple traces this malaise back to the great conflicts of the last century and their devastating effects upon the European psyche. From issues of religion, class, colonialism, and nationalism, Europeans hold a "miserablist" view of their history, one that alternates between indifference and outright contempt of the past. Today's Europeans no longer believe in anything but personal economic security, an increased standard of living, shorter working hours, and long vacations in exotic locales. The result, Dalrymple asserts, is an unwillingness to preserve European achievements and the dismantling of western culture by Europeans themselves. As vapid hedonism and aggressive Islamism fill this cultural void, Europeans have no one else to blame for their plight.
Encounter Books 2011 163 pages

Slavery and African Ethnicities in the Americas Restoring the Links

Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
Enslaved peoples were brought to the Americas from many places in Africa, but a large majority came from relatively few ethnic groups. Drawing on a wide range of materials in four languages as well as on her lifetime study of slave groups in the New World, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall explores the persistence of African ethnic identities among the enslaved over four hundred years of the Atlantic slave trade. Hall traces the linguistic, economic, and cultural ties shared by large numbers of enslaved Africans, showing that despite the fragmentation of the diaspora many ethnic groups retained enough cohesion to communicate and to transmit elements of their shared culture. Hall concludes that recognition of the survival and persistence of African ethnic identities can fundamentally reshape how people think about the emergence of identities among enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Americas, about the ways shared identity gave rise to resistance movements, and about the elements of common African ethnic traditions that influenced regional creole cultures throughout the Americas.
University of North Carolina Press 2005 225 pages

Inside the Presidential Debates Their Improbable Past and Promising Future

Newton N. Minow,Craig L. LaMay
Newton Minow’s long engagement with the world of television began nearly fifty years ago when President Kennedy appointed him chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. As its head, Minow would famously dub TV a “vast wasteland,” thus inaugurating a career dedicated to reforming television to better serve the public interest. Since then, he has been chairman of PBS and on the board of CBS and elsewhere, but his most lasting contribution remains his leadership on televised presidential debates. He was assistant counsel to Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson when Stevenson first proposed the idea of the debates in 1960; he served as cochair of the presidential debates in 1976 and 1980; and he helped create and is currently vice chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has organized the debates for the last two decades. Written with longtime collaborator Craig LaMay, this fascinating history offers readers for the first time a genuinely inside look into the origins of the presidential debates and the many battles—both legal and personal—that have determined who has been allowed to debate and under what circumstances. The authors do not dismiss the criticism of the presidential debates in recent years but do come down solidly in favor of them, arguing that they are one of the great accomplishments of modern American electoral politics. As they remind us, the debates were once unique in the democratic world, are now emulated across the globe, and they offer the public the only real chance to see the candidates speak in direct response to one another in a discussion of major social, economic, and foreign policy issues. Looking to the challenges posed by third-party candidates and the emergence of new media such as YouTube, Minow and LaMay ultimately make recommendations for the future, calling for the debates to become less formal, with candidates allowed to question each other and citizens allowed to question candidates directly. They also explore the many ways in which the Internet might serve to broaden the debates’ appeal and informative power. Whether it’s Clinton or Obama vs. McCain, Inside the Presidential Debates will be welcomed in 2008 by anyone interested in where this crucial part of our democracy is headed—and how it got there.
University of Chicago Press 2016-07-28 237 pages

Lost Tribes and Promised Lands The Origins of American Racism

Ronald Sanders
THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL EDITION! An utterly revelatory work. Unprecedented in scope, detail, and ambition. In Lost Tribes and Promised Lands, celebrated historian and cultural critic Ronald Sanders offers a compelling and ideology-shattering history of racial prejudice and myth as shaped by political, religious, and economic forces from the 14th Century to the present day. Written with clear-eyed vigor, Sanders draws on a broad history of art, psychology, politics, and religion to inform his striking and soundly-reasoned assertions. Lost Tribes and Promised Lands nimbly zig-zags through space and time, doggedly chipping away at the myopic history of discovery and righteous conquest that has been reiterated for decades by the same ideological forces responsible for centuries of mythological prejudice and racial strife. Placing 14th Century Spanish intolerance (specifically anti-Semitism) as the origins of American racism toward African and Native Americans, Sanders elegantly weaves complex threads of colonial economics, religious exceptionalism, and xenophobia into a heady and often-infuriating thesis on the history of racism. Finally back in print in a complete and cost-accessible edition (when the book was out of print, demand for this important work was so intense that used copies sold for thousands of dollars). Find out why! Lost Tribes and Promised Lands is a gripping and hegemony-exploding treatise on the history of race in the New World.
Echo Point Books and Media 2015 456 pages

The Forgotten Americans

John E. Schwarz,Thomas J. Volgy
Does the American Dream still exist when nearly 30 million Americans live in families in which workers find a paycheck and poverty in the same envelope? Just as Michael Harrington's The Other America shocked the nation with its disclosure of poverty in the 1960s, John E. Schwarz and Thomas J. Volgy's The Forgotten Americans exposes the breadth of poverty that exists today among responsible, hardworking Americans. At the end of the prosperous 1980s, the number of Americans living in working-poor families equaled the combined populations of the nation's 25 largest cities. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this situation is not largely confined to minorities, women, the undereducated or young adults. It is commonplace for workers from nearly all segments of society to be employed in low-paying jobs even during good economic times. The Forgotten Americans reveals the betrayal of the hopes and expectations of these industrious people through broad-based factual evidence and the real-life stories of individual families. Their hardship has been ignored at enormous cost to them and the country. Numerous problems at the forefront of national debate--welfare dependency, crime, and the inadequate performance of many American school children--are closely connected to the existence of working poverty on a large scale. Unless corrective action is taken, the country risks the creation of a deeply fractured society arising from the despair of millions of employed people who have discovered that practicing the work ethic yields little reward. The problem is staggering and often misunderstood by politicians, the media, and the public. Once Schwarz and Volgy have outlined the implications of this social and economic tragedy, they propose effective solutions that require simple changes to existing policies--solutions that are politically feasible and can be accomplished without new taxes.
W. W. Norton & Company 1993 219 pages

The Ellen Meiksins Wood Reader

Ellen Meiksins Wood
Ellen Meiksins Wood is a leading contemporary political theorist who has been described as the founder, together with Robert Brenner, of Political Marxism,' a distinct version of historical materialism which has inspired a research program that spans a number of academic disciplines. Organized thematically, this Reader provides an overview of her original interpretations of capitalism, and many different topics.
Haymarket Books 2013-11-05 368 pages

The History of Miners' Diseases A Medical and Social Interpretation

George Rosen
""The History of Miners' Diseases: A Medical and Social Interpretation"" by George Rosen is a comprehensive exploration of the health hazards and illnesses that miners have faced throughout history. The book delves into the medical and social aspects of these diseases, examining how they have been caused and how they have impacted the lives of miners and their families.Rosen begins by discussing the various types of mining, from coal to gold, and how each type of mining has its own unique set of hazards. He then goes on to explore the diseases that miners have faced over the centuries, including lung diseases like silicosis and black lung, as well as other illnesses like lead poisoning and tuberculosis.Throughout the book, Rosen examines the social and economic factors that have contributed to the spread of these diseases, including poor working conditions, inadequate safety measures, and the lack of access to medical care. He also discusses the efforts that have been made over the years to improve the health and safety of miners, from the introduction of safety regulations to the development of new medical treatments.Overall, ""The History of Miners' Diseases: A Medical and Social Interpretation"" provides a fascinating and informative look at the challenges that miners have faced throughout history. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of mining, public health, and social justice.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
Literary Licensing, LLC 2012-06 530 pages

The Nurturing Neighborhood The Brownsville Boys' Club and Jewish Community in Urban America, 1940-1990

Gerald Sorin
Drawing heavily on the reminiscences of the Brownsville boys themselves, and skillfully integrating these with material from newspapers, books, and commentary of the time, Sorin creates an original and compelling picture of the communal and individual vitality that allowed an unusual and heartening social achievement.
NYU Press 1992 272 pages

The Last Half-Century Societal Change and Politics in America

Morris Janowitz
The Last Half-Century represents the culmination of a lifetime of scholarship by Morris Janowitz. In this comprehensive and systematic analysis of the major trends in American society during the past fifty years, he probes the weakening of popular party affiliations and the increased inability of elected representatives to rule. Centering his work on the crucial concept of social control, Janowitz orders and assesses a vast amount of empirical research to clarify the failure of basic social institutions to resolve our chronic conflicts. For Janowitz, social control denotes a society's capacity to regulate itself within a moral framework that transcends simple self-interest. He poses urgent questions: Why has social control been so drastically weakened in our advanced industrial society? And what strategies can we use to strengthen it again? The expanation rests in part on the changes in social structure which make it more and more complicated for citizens to calculate their political self-interest. At the same time, complex economic and defense problems also strain an already overburdened legislative system, making effective, responsive political rule increasingly difficult. Janowitz concludes by assessing the response of the social sciences to the pressing problem of social control and asserts that new forms of citizen participation in the government must be found.
University of Chicago Press 1978 582 pages

Pay the Rent Or Feed the Kids The Tragedy and Disgrace of Poverty in Canada

Mel Hurtig
Canadian politicians have, from time to time, proclaimed a war against poverty. What they are really prosecuting, however, is a war against the poor. Unemployment benefits are routinely denied to people who, over the course of a lifetime, have contributed a portion of their earnings to UI (now called EI). Welfare rolls have been slashed by provincial governments. The downloading of government services combined with tax cuts that benefit the rich have resulted in the reduction or elimination of countless programs, from hot lunches in the schools to subsidized housing. Politicians and bureaucrats have responded by inventing new definitions of poverty but people without food remain just as hungry as before and people without shelter are still without homes. At no time since the Great Depression has the gap between rich and poor been so wide and the outlook for poor people been so grim. Hard-hitting and outspoken, Hurtig builds a compelling portrait of Canadian society under the rule of the "neo-Neanderthals." He puts together the latest and most reliable statistics with stories told by people on the front lines of the poverty wars. Many of these stories are as heart-rending as the comments from politicians and their corporate supporters are callous. Pay the Rent or Feed the Kids challenges all Canadians to re-examine the society we are living in and to demand changes for the better.
McClelland & Stewart 2000-09-15 357 pages

Imagining Zion

S. Ilan Troen
This timely book tells the fascinating story of how Zionists colonizers planned and established nearly 700 agricultural settlements, towns, and cities from the 1880s to the present. This extraordinary activity of planners, architects, social scientists, military personnel, politicians, and settlers is inextricably linked to multiple contexts: Jewish and Zionist history, the Arab/Jewish conflict, and the diffusion of European ideas to non-European worlds. S. Ilan Troen demonstrates how professionals and settlers continually innovated plans for both rural and urban frontiers in response to the competing demands of social and political ideologies and the need to achieve productivity, economic independence, and security in a hostile environment. In the 1930s, security became the primary challenge, shaping and even distorting patterns of growth. Not until the 1993 Oslo Accords, with prospects of compromise and accommodation, did planners again imagine Israel as a normal state, developing like other modern societies. Troen concludes that if Palestinian Arabs become reconciled to a Jewish state, Israel will reassign priority to the social and economic development of the country and region.
Yale University Press 2011-03-11 360 pages

Island Networks Communication, Kinship, and Classification Structures in Oceania

Per Hage,Frank Harary
Contrary to common perception and belief, most island societies of the Pacific were not isolated, but were connected to other island societies by relations of kinship and marriage, trade and tribute, language and history. Using network models from graph theory the authors analyze the formation of island empires, dialect groups, economic and political centers; the evolution and devolution of social stratification; and the development of kinship terminologies, marriage systems and descent groups.
Cambridge University Press 2007-01-25 320 pages