Sociological Worlds : Comparative and Historical Readings on Society

390 Pages·2013·31.858 MB·English

by  Stephen K. Sanderson

Sociological Worlds
Comparative and Historical
Readings on Society
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Sociological Worlds
Comparative and Historical
Readings on Society
Stephen K. Sanderson
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Routledge
Taylor &. Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
Copyright © 2000 by ROXBURY PUBLISHING COMPANY
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
First published 2000 by Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers
This edition published 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
British Library and Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data is available
ISBN 1-57958-284-2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE vi 7. Protoindustrialization in Europe 75
Charles Tilly
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS vm·· · Explains that there was already extensive
industrialization in Western Europe prior
PART I: PREINDUSTRIAL AND to the Industrial Revolution of the eight-
eenth and nineteenth centuries.
PRECAPITALIST ECONOMIES
8. The Emergence and Expansion
1. The Original Affluent Society 2 of Industrial Capitalism 85
Marshall Sahlins Eric R. Wolf
A classic statement that challenges the tra- A description of the Industrial Revolution
ditional view that the members of hunter- in Great Britain and the expansion of capi-
gatherer societies led bleak and arduous talism it engendered.
lives.
9. Socialist States in the Capitalist
2. Horticulturalists: Economic World-Economy 98
Behavior in Tribes 15 Christopher Chase-Dunn
Argues that socialist states have achieved
Allen Johnson
only a very limited form of socialism, and
An overview of the technological and eco-
that for the most part they represent an al-
nomic character of one major type of farm-
ternative form of capitalism.
ing society.
10. The Revolutions of 1989: Socialism,
3. Peasants 25
Capitalism, and Democracy 115
Eric R. Wolf
Krishan Kumar
An excerpt from a classic work on another
An analysis of the reasons for the collapse
major type of farming society.
of communism in the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe.
4. Trade and Markets in
Precapitalist States 36
PART III: ECONOMIC
Frances F Berdan
DEVELOPMENT AND
Describes economic specialization, trade,
UNDERDEVELOPMENT
and market behavior in the most advanced
forms of precapitalist society.
11. The Stages of Economic Growth 130
PART II: CAPITALISM, W W Rostow
INDUSTRIALISM, AND SOCIALISM A classic statement of the approach to eco-
nomic development and underdevelopment
known as modernization theory.
5. The Rise and Future Demise of the
Capitalist World-Economy 50 12. The Development of
Immanuel Wallerstein Underdevelopment 135
A classic article that launched world-system Andre Gunder Frank
theory, an important theoretical approach The quintessential statement of the depen-
to the historical and sociological analysis of dency approach to economic underdevelop-
capitalism. ment.
6. Incorporation in the 13. Three Paths of Upward Mobility
World-System 64 Within the Capitalist
Thomas D. Hall World-Economy 142
Reformulates the world-system conceptu- Immanuel Wallerstein
alization of how nation-states and regions Explains the strategies that some nation-
come to be drawn into the capitalist world- states may use to improve their position in
economy. the capitalist world-system.
14. The Origins and Development 22. The Formation of European States,
of the Northeast Asian AD 990-1990 229
Political Economy 155 Charles Tilly
Bruce Cumings
A discussion of the various forms of the
Explains the regional and world economic
state that emerged in Europe over the last
conditions that have facilitated the rapid
millennium and why different regions de-
rise of Taiwan and South Korea in the
veloped different types of states.
world-economy.
23. Capitalist Development
PART IV: STRATIFICATION SYSTEMS
and Democracy 243
15. The Evolution of Social Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelyne Huber
Stratification 168 Stephens, and John Ζλ Stephens
Rae Lesser Blumberg Identifies the major factors that the authors
Explains how population growth and eco- argue were responsible for the emergence
nomic scarcity contribute to the emergence of democratic forms of government in West-
of major social and economic inequalities ern societies in the nineteenth and twenti-
in human societies. eth centuries.
16. Social Stratification in
24. State Breakdowns in the
Agrarian Societies 174
Early Modern World 249
William McCord and Arline McCord
Outlines the leading features of stratified Jack A. Goldstone
life in a major type of precapitalist society. Formulates a general explanation of revo-
lutions and rebellions in Europe and Asia
17. Corporate Ownership and Control: since the sixteenth century.
The Large Corporation and the
Capitalist Class 185 PART VI: RACE AND ETHNICITY
Maurice Zeitlin
An important answer to the famous charge
that the separation of ownership from con-
25. Capitalism and Slavery 260
trol in the modern corporation has taken
power out of the hands of capitalists. Eric Williams
A classic statement of the role of early capi-
18. The Theory of Social Closure 198 talism in the development of slavery in the
Raymond Murphy New World.
An outline of the basic features of a We-
berian theory of stratification systems.
26. A Typology of Race Relations 269
PART V: POLITICAL SYSTEMS Pierre L· van den Berghe
Conceptualizes two different patterns of
19. Poor Man, Rich Man, race relations that are found at different his-
torical stages in the development of capital-
Big Man, Chief: Political Types
ism.
in Melanesia and Polynesia 206
Marshall Sahlins
A classic article that compares the differ- 27. The Origins of Apartheid in
ences in political organization between South Africa 274
Melanesian "big-man" systems and Polyne-
Siyabonga W. Ndabezitha and Stephen K.
sian chiefdoms.
Sanderson
20. Property Rights and the Uses a well-known theory of racial antago-
nism to explain the emergence of apartheid
Evolution of Chief doms 216
in South Africa in the early twentieth cen-
Timothy Earle
tury.
Relates political evolution to underlying
transformations in economic ownership.
28. The Ethnic Revival in the
21. The Emergence of Pristine States 221
Modern World 286
Marvin Harris
This excerpt from Harris' famous book Can- Anthony D. Smith
nibals and Kings outlines the emergence of Overviews the enormous ethnic fragmenta-
the political form known as the state and tion of many different societies in the con-
tries to explain why it occurred. temporary world.
iv
PART VII: GENDER RELATIONS 33. Explaining the Origins and
Expansion of Mass Education 346
29. The Status of Women in Agrarian John Bolt, Francisco O. Ramirez,
Societies 298 and John W. Meyer
M. Kay Martin and Barbara Voorhies Relates the emergence and expansion of
A description of the invariably low status of systems of mass education all over the
women in one particular type of human so- world to the efforts of modern states to cre-
ciety. ate the modern citizen.
30. Women and Capitalism: 34. Educational Qualificationism
Oppression or Emancipation? 306 and the Late-Development Effect 355
Janet Thomas Ronald Dore
Compares the view that capitalism bene- Explains the logic behind educational ex-
fited women with the argument that capi- pansion and shows how this logic has spe-
talism led to a deterioration in women's cial consequences for the world's less-devel-
status. oped societies.
31. A General Theory of Gender PART IX: METHODS OF
Stratification 315 COMPARATIVE SOCIAL RESEARCH
Rae Lesser Blumberg
Argues the position that women's level of
35. The Distinctiveness of Comparative
economic power is the most important de-
Social Science 362
terminant of their relative position in soci-
Charles C. Ragin
ety.
Demonstrates the uniqueness of the so-
called comparative method in social science
PART VIH: EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
by showing how it involves the qualitative
analysis of a small set of cases rather than
32. Some Comparative Principles
quantitative or statistical analyses of a large
of Educational Stratification 330 sample of cases.
Randall Collins
Distinguishes three different types of edu- 36. Cross-Cultural Research 371
cational systems and identifies the condi- David Levinson and Martin /. Malone
tions under which each tends to be found. Discusses the advantages and disadvan-
tages of cross-cultural research involving
relatively large samples of preindustrial so-
cieties, and responds to criticisms of this
type of comparative research.
ν
PREFACE
An the nineteenth century, the disciplines of soci- the broadest historical transformations that have
ology and anthropology were closely related. In- occurred in human societies over the millennia.
deed, there was often no strongly felt need to One of the most important of these changes is the
distinguish them sharply. Anthropology has always transition to modern capitalist and industrial soci-
been a highly comparative discipline—that is, one ety which began, according to some sociologists,
devoted to the analysis of a wide range of human as early as the sixteenth century, and certainly no
societies and cultures—but in the nineteenth cen- later than the eighteenth century. The transforma-
tury sociology generally was too, and the intellec- tion of preindustrial societies into modern indus-
tual concerns of both fields intermingled. trial societies has profoundly affected all of their
Unfortunately, sometime during the twentieth cen- basic features, from the economic system to the
tury sociology lost most of its comparative focus, class structure, the political system, the patterns of
and the disciplines of sociology and anthropology racial and ethnic differentiation, the system of gen-
came to be sharply separated. Sociology had also der relations, and educational structures. Many
once had a strong historical outlook, and the great brilliant men and women have contributed might-
founders of the discipline—Karl Marx, Emile Durk- ily to our understanding of how and why societies
heim, and Max Weber especially—could not con- differ and how and why they have been trans-
ceive of analyzing human societies without putting formed over time. It is a real pleasure for me to be
them in some sort of historical context. For Marx able to assemble portions of some of the very finest
and Weber in particular, history and sociology were contributions that these scholars have made.
not two separate fields, and sociological analysis The selections represent no orthodoxy or single
had no meaning unless it were historically guided. point of view. Most have been chosen in order to
In fact, both scholars contributed important socio- give readers a feel for the historical development of
logical theories of historical development. But, the basic institutional features of human societies.
alas, sociology lost most of its historical perspec- I myself feel that a broad evolutionary approach to
tive as well in the twentieth century, and many historical development is justified, but those who
sociologists began to pride themselves on rejecting feel otherwise should not be troubled by the arti-
what they thought was the needless concern with cles selected or the way in which they have been
the historical. Societies came to be analyzed as if organized. Moreover, although not every single
they had appeared out of thin air or dropped down theoretical or methodological viewpoint has been
on strings from the sky. represented, the selections do represent a fair
Fortunately, in the last twenty-five years things range of views, or at least of the views that are
have changed considerably. There began sometime today most characteristic of comparative and his-
during the early to mid-1970s what I should like to torical sociological writing. To assist the reader, for
call a modern "comparative-historical revolution" each selection I have written a short introduction
in sociology. Many sociologists—by no means a focusing on key ideas. The selections vary in their
majority, but at least a healthy minority—started to level of difficulty, and I have tried to provide more
return to the comparative and historical practice of pointed and detailed introductions for the more
sociology. They saw that the study of a single soci- difficult pieces. Every selection is also accompa-
ety at a single point in time yielded a modest nied by a few discussion questions that any reader
amount of information relevant to generating com- should be able to answer once the selection has
prehensive theories about how societies were put been read.
together and how they changed. There dawned Many worthy writings could not make their
what Randall Collins has called the Golden Age of way into Sociological Worlds for the simple reason
comparative-historical sociology, and we are still of space limitations. There is much more going on
living in that golden age. Have we learned a lot as in contemporary comparative-historical sociology
a result? I would say yes, without a doubt. Entire than can possibly be represented by these 36
subfields of sociology have been born anew and pieces, but the bulk of the most important and
have gained a level of intellectual sophistication widely discussed work is here.
that was sadly missing in earlier times. I am grateful to the following scholars and col-
This book attempts to present a comprehensive leagues for providing feedback on a first draft of
picture of human social life. It samples some of the the outline for this book: Christopher Chase-Dunn,
best theoretical and empirical work that is now Johns Hopkins University; Randall Collins, Univer-
being done by comparative-historical sociologists, sity of California, Riverside; Joel A. Devine, Tulane
as well as some work by their close cousins, socio- University; Leah Duskin, Kansas State University;
cultural anthropologists. From this work, readers Eric P. Godfrey, Ripon College; Jack A. Goldstone,
will gain a picture of the major ways in which hu- University of California, Davis; Thomas D. Hall,
man societies differ. They will also gain a picture of DePauw University; Jonathan F. Lewis, Illinois
vi
Benedictine College; Frank R. Scarpitti, University of this book together, and George Walsh of Fitzroy
of Delaware; and Richard A. Wright, University of Dearborn for bring out the reissue. This reissue
Scranton. I would also like to thank Claude Tew- remains the same as the original version except for
eles of Roxbury Publishing Company for persisting the addition of two articles on comparative re-
in his attempt to get me to put the original version search methods.
Stephen Κ Sanderson
Indiana, Pennsylvania
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