Two-Dimensional Man: An Essay on the Anthropology of Power and Symbolism in Complex Society (Routledge Library Editions: Social and Cultural Anthropology) - Hardcover

Cohen, Abner

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1138928720 ISBN 13: 9781138928725

Publisher: Routledge, 2015

Synopsis

Central to this original study, first published in 1974, is that Political Man is also Symbolist Man, that man is two-dimensional. The book explores the possibilities of the systematic study of the dialectical interdependence between power relationships and symbolic action in modern, complex society. The discussion focuses on the processes by which interest groups, that cannot organise themselves formally, manipulate different types of symbolic formations to articulate a number of basic organisational functions: distinctiveness, communication, decision-making, authority, ideology and socialisation. The analysis is worked out in terms of specific case studies of different types of groupings, or ‘invisible organisations’ – ethnic, elitist, religious, ritually secret, cousinhood – which go through processes of cultural metamorphosis, shifting from one symbolic strategy to another, in response to changes in their circumstances. In conclusion, the discussion is brought to bear on the study of stratification in large-scale industrial society generally.

About this title

About the Author:

Abner Cohen (1921-2001) was, before his retirement, Professor of African Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at London University. His books include The Politics Of Elite Culture (1981) and Masquerade Politics: Explorations in the Structure Of Urban Cultural Movements (1993).

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1138928720
• ISBN 13: 9781138928725
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 170