Explanation of Ideology: Family Structures and Social Systems (Family, sexuality, and social relations in past times) [Hardcover]

Emmanuel Todd (Author), D. Garrioch (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Blackwell Publishers; 1st edition (October 3, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631137246
• ISBN-13: 978-0631137245
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,106,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brief Note on Anthropological Determinism, April 28, 2007

By 

Joseph Martin "pomonomo2003" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Explanation of Ideology: Family Structures and Social Systems (Family, sexuality, and social relations in past times) (Hardcover)

Most people, I really should stress the very few people, that have actually read Todd take him to be something of an anthropological determinist. But this is not entirely true. For instance, Todd, in writing of Anglo-Saxon individualism (the Absolute Nuclear Family) says:

"An egalitarian culture seeks equality between peoples. An inegalitarian culture tends to decree them superior or inferior. The absolute nuclear family is vague in its choices, a hypothesis confirmed by the history of the Anglo-Saxon world which has never aligned itself either with Russian and French universalism or with the German cult of difference. (p. 130)"

After discussing two 'choices' that were made by the 'Anglo-Saxons' -by choice Todd here means that the direction taken was not anthropologically determined- Todd says:

"Anglo-Saxon universalism is not a 'natural' tendency, as in France or Russia, and is not determined by a clear anthropological structure. It results from a conscious effort to recognize the equality of others. (p. 131)"

The two choices Todd was speaking of (pages 130-131) are the American Civil War and the Second World War. Anthropologically speaking, or so Todd maintains, Anglo-Saxon culture had no reason to prefer either universalism or particularity. In both these cases it chose universalism.

Anthropology is not destiny; but I would add that this 'freedom' comes at a price. Any course of action freely chosen can later be freely repudiated...

The anthropological structure, by the way, that gives the Anglo-Saxon world such flexibility is its indifference to inheritance rules. There is neither the universal solidarity engendered by egalitarian inheritance rules nor the particularism caused by rules that foster inequality between brothers, that is, the transfer of patrimony to one son. Curiously, the only other anthropological family that displays this indifference is what Todd calls the "Anomic Family", which is centered in south-east Asia.

Since this book is not readily available I include the Table of Contents (to my 1988 paperback edition):

Preface to the English Edition, vii;
Maps viii;

Introduction: democracy and anthropology, 1;

1. The Seven Families, 19;
2. Community, 33;
3. Authority, 55;
4. The two forms of individualism, 99;
5. Endogamy, 133;
6. Asymmetry, 155;
7. Anomie, 171;
8. African Systems, 191;

Conclusion, 196;
Bibliography, 200;
Index, 226;