Crime and Custom in Savage Society - Softcover

Malinowski, Bronislaw

Softcover

ISBN 10: 161427682X ISBN 13: 9781614276821

Publisher: Martino Fine Books, 2014

Synopsis

2014 Reprint of 1926 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "Crime and Custom in Savage Society" represents Bronislaw Malinowski's major discussion of the relationship between law and society. Throughout his career he constructed a coherent science of anthropology, one modeled on the highest standards of practice and theory. Methodology steps forward as a core element of the refashioned anthropology, one that stipulates the manner in which anthropological data should be acquired. Malinowski's choice of law was not inevitable, but neither was it unmotivated. Anyone interested in understanding the social structure and organization of societies cannot avoid dealing with the concept of "law," even if it is to deny its presence. Law and anthropology have shown a natural affinity for one another, sharing a beneficial history of using the methods and viewpoints of one to inform and advance the other. The best lesson Malinowski provides us with comes in the last paragraphs of "Crime and Custom in Savage Society": "The true problem is not to study how human life submits to rules; the real problem is how the rules become adapted to life." On that question, he has left us richly inspired to continue the quest.

About this title

About the Author:

Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) was one of the most important anthropologists of the twentieth century. He was known for his ethnographic work in the Trobriand Islands, which yielded material for such classic works as Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Sexual Life of Savages in Northwestern Melanesia, Coral Gardens and Their Magic, and Crime and Custom in Savage Society.

Review:

Now and then a book is written which cuts mercilessly through an accumulation of traditional conceptions and by the light of overlooked or misinterpreted facts and common sense shows us how absurd the orthodox ideas have really been. Such a book is this volume of Dr. Malinowski's, which brilliantly, concisely, and in non-technical language demonstrates how very wrong and indeed impossible are the currently accepted views of some of the fundamentals of savage life. (Saturday Review)

About this edition

• Publisher: Martino Fine Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 161427682X
• ISBN 13: 9781614276821
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 148