Introduction: initial observations
Owen Davies
in Magic: A Very Short Introduction
What does magic mean to scholars, non-scholars, scientists, writers, primitive societies, and modern cultures? ‘Introduction: initial observations’ asks How do you define magic? The Ancient ...
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3. Given or constructed? Identity in cultural anthropology
Florian Coulmas
in Identity: A Very Short Introduction
‘Who are we?’ is just as tricky a question as ‘Who am I?’ Humanity is one, but at the same time divided into multiple groups. Humans exhibit many variations, notably race, language, and ...
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9. Stimuli and responses: seeing and feeling ideology
Michael Freeden
in Ideology: A Very Short Introduction
Ideology has been dealt with as it is found in written and spoken languages but in ‘Stimuli and responses: seeing and feeling ideologies’ three further themes are introduced. Firstly, ...
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7. A Drought in Bima: People and Their Gods
John Monaghan and Peter Just
in Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction
‘Drought in Bima’ uses the differing responses of the Dou Donggo and Bimanese to the drought crisis on Sumbawa in 1982 to illustrate the complex interplay between religion and society. ...
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2. Organizational governance
Mark Bevir
in Governance: A Very Short Introduction
How have organization theories influenced reform of the governance of corporations, public bodies, and global affairs? ‘Organizational governance’ explains how organization theory typically ...
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5. System-related explanations
Leslie Holmes
in Corruption: A Very Short Introduction
Explanations of corruption that focus just on the individual are incomplete; we are all subject to and conditioned by the context in which we live and work. ‘System-related explanations’ ...
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1. Introduction
Simon Yarrow
in Saints: A Very Short Introduction
Saints are persons who by various means have demonstrated such worth in their lifetimes as to posthumously merit the company of God. The saint is a ‘holy one’, someone whose exemplary and ...
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Magic: A Very Short Introduction
Owen Davies
Magic: A Very Short Introduction describes the many manifestations of magic — the supernatural, superstition, simple illusions, religious miracles, and fantasies of the ...
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6. ‘Your station in life’: social identities in our time
Florian Coulmas
in Identity: A Very Short Introduction
Social identity is to do with membership in groups that are horizontally and vertically structured, internally and in relation to each other. Taken together these groupings constitute a ...
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4. Living the puritan life
Francis J. Bremer
in Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction
‘Living the puritan life’ asks: What did it mean for a puritan to live a godly life? How was sinfulness defined? Did puritanism make individuals joyless and repressed as the popular ...
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Work: A Very Short Introduction
Stephen Fineman
Work: A Very Short Introduction tells the story of work — how we strive for security, reward, and often, meaning. The image of a job captures our imagination from an early age, ...
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1. Why work?
Stephen Fineman
in Work: A Very Short Introduction
We can look at the concept of work in broad terms. We all work. Unravelling the reasons why we work has long challenged philosophers and social scientists. On one level, the concept of what ...
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6. Emotion at work
Stephen Fineman
in Work: A Very Short Introduction
It might seem strange to connect work with emotions if we think of the traditional bureaucrat. However emotions can be seen as an indelible feature of working life, shaping and lubricating ...
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3. A Brief Encounter: Society
John Monaghan and Peter Just
in Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction
‘A Brief Encounter’ considers ‘society’. The organized nature of social life became the principal focus of British social anthropologists between the 1920s and 1950s. Employing the concept ...
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3. The secularization of superstition
Stuart Vyse
in Superstition: A Very Short Introduction
The five centuries beginning with the 14th and ending with the 18th took European history from the Middle Ages, through the Enlightenment, and into the first two centuries of the scientific ...
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Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction
John Monaghan and Peter Just
What is unique about human beings? How are groups of people formed and what holds them together? What is the nature of belief, economic exchange, the self? Social and Cultural Anthropology: ...
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3. Membership and belonging
Richard Bellamy
in Citizenship: A Very Short Introduction
Citizenship involves a sense of belonging to a given political community. Does this link with membership render citizenship ‘exclusive’? This notion has become increasingly controversial of ...
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5. Liberal luminaries
Michael Freeden
in Liberalism: A Very Short Introduction
‘The liberal canon’ explores the views of some major thinkers and philosophers who shaped and refined liberal thinking since the early 19th century, when liberalism emerged as a distinct ...
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1. Then and now
Robert C. Allen
in The Industrial Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
‘Industrial Revolution’ refers to the far reaching transformation of British society that occurred between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries. The Industrial Revolution saw great progress, ...
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The Industrial Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
Robert C. Allen
The Industrial Revolution was a pivotal point in British history that occurred between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, and led to far reaching transformations of society. The ...
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