The Culture Cult: Designer Tribalism And Other Essays - Softcover

Sandall, Roger

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813338638 ISBN 13: 9780813338637

Publisher: Perseus, 2000

Synopsis

The Culture Cult An often acerbic critique of a number of phenomena in contemporary society that express in common a longing to "retreat from civilization." Full description

About this title

Synopsis:

The Culture Cult is an acerbic critique of that longing widespread in society today to retreat from civilization. From Rousseau and the Noble Savage to modern defenders of ethnicity such as Isaiah Berlin and Karl Polanyi, a prominent intellectual tradition has over-romanticized the virtues of tribal life. In contrast, another tradition, represented by Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi, and Ernest Gellner, defends modern values and civil society. The Culture Cult discusses both sides of this divide between "culture" and "civilization," and between "closed" and "open" societies. The romantic insistence on the superiority of the primitive is increasingly grounded in a fictionalized picture of the past-a picture often created with the aid of well-meaning but misguided anthropologists. Such idealizations work to the detriment of the very people they are meant to help, for they isolate minorities from such undeniable benefits of modern society as literacy and health care, and discourage them from participating in modern life. Few will find comfort in The Culture Cult, but many will recognize a valuable criticism of currently popular social politics.

About the Author:

Roger Sandall

About this edition

• Publisher: Perseus
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0813338638
• ISBN 13: 9780813338637
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 228