Hierarchy : : Persistence and Transformation in Social Formations / / ed. by Knut M. Rio, Olaf H. Smedal.

• MitwirkendeR: Damon, Frederick H.,; Eriksen, Annelin,; Fosshagen, Kjetil,; Hoskins, Janet,; Hoëm, Ingjerd,; Iteanu, André,; Rio, Knut M.,; Robbins, Joel,; Smedal, Olaf H.,; Sneath, David,; Tcherkézoff, Serge,; Valeri, Valerio,
• HerausgeberIn: Rio, Knut M.,; Smedal, Olaf H.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2008]; ©2009
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (336 p.)

Louis Dumont's concept of hierarchy continues to inspire social scientists. Using it as their starting point, the contributors to this volume introduce both fresh empirical material and new theoretical considerations. On the basis of diverse ethnographic contexts in Oceania, Asia, and the Middle East they challenge some current conceptions of hierarchical formations and reassess former debates - of post-colonial and neo-colonial agendas, ideas of "democratization" and "globalization," and expanding market economies - both with regard to new theoretical issues and the new world situation.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- Chapter 1 Hierarchy and Its Alternatives: An Introduction to Movements of Totalization and Detotalization -- Chapter 2 Conversion, Hierarchy, and Cultural Change: Value and Syncretism in the Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity -- Chapter 3 Gender and Value: Conceptualizing Social Forms on Ambrym, Vanuatu -- Chapter 4 Can a Hierarchical Religion Survive without Its Center? Caodaism, Colonialism, and Exile -- Chapter 5 The Headless State in Inner Asia: Reconsidering Kinship Society and the Discourse of Tribalism -- Chapter 6 The Perfect Sovereign: The Sacralized Power of the Ottoman Sultan -- Chapter 7 Marriage, Rank, and Politics in Hawaii -- Chapter 8 Polynesian Conceptions of Sociality: A Dynamic Field of Hierarchical Encompassment -- Chapter 9 On the Value of the Beast or the Limit of Money: Notes on the Meaning of Marriage Prestations among the Ngadha, Central Flores (Indonesia) -- Chapter 10 Hierarchy Is not Inequality— in Polynesia, for Instance -- Chapter 11 Hierarchy and Power: A Comparative Attempt under Asymmetrical Lines -- Afterword: On Dumont’s Relentless Comparativism -- NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS -- INDEX