Descent Into Discourse: The Reification of Language and the Writing of Social History (Critical Perspectives On The P)
Language: English
Published by Temple University Press, 1990
- Softcover
- New
Seller: Cloud Runner Books, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.Cloud Runner Books
AbeBooks seller since June 19, 2025
Condition: New
US$ 53.63
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New. Descent Into Discourse: The Reification of Language and the Writing of Social History (Critical Perspectives On The P) (0), Vol. 0 by Bryan Palmer. Temple University Press, 1990. 245pp. Language: English.
Seller Inventory # 0877227209N
- Title
- Descent Into Discourse: The Reification of Language and the Writing of Social History (Critical Perspectives On The P)
- Author
- Bryan Palmer
- Publisher
- Temple University Press
- Publication year
- 1990
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0877227209
- ISBN 13
- 9780877227205
"Critical theory is no substitute for historical materialism; language is not life." With this statement, Bryan Palmer enters the debate that is now transforming and disrupting a number of academic disciplines, including political science, women’s studies, and history. Focusing on the ways in which literary or critical theory is being promoted within the field of social history, he argues forcefully that the current reliance on poststructuralism—with its reification of discourse and avoidance of the structures of oppression and struggles of resistance—obscures the origins, meanings, and consequences of historical events and processes.
Palmer is concerned with the emergence of "language" as a central focus of intellectual work in the twentieth century. He locates the implosion of theory that moved structuralism in the direction of poststructuralism and deconstruction in what he calls the descent into discourse. Few historians who champion poststructuralist thought, according to Palmer, appreciate historical materialism’s capacity to address discourse meaningfully. Nor do many of the advocates of language within the field of social history have an adequate grounding in the theoretical making of the project they champion so ardently. Palmer roots his polemical challenge in an effort to "introduce historians more fully to the theoretical writing that many are alluding to and drawing from rather cavalierly."
Descent into Discourse counters current intellectual fashion with an eloquent argument for the necessity to analyze and appreciate lived experience and the structures of subordination and power in any quest for historical meaning.
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Cloud Runner Books
Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since June 19, 2025
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