Society Against the State: Essays in Political Anthropology [Paperback]

Pierre Clastres (Author), Robert Hurley (Translator), Abe Stein (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 1989

"The thesis is radical," writes Marshall Sahlins of this landmark text in anthropology and political science. "We conventionally define the state as the regulation of violence; it may be the origin of it. Clastres's thesis is that economic expropriation and political coercion are inconsistent with the character of tribal society - which is to say, with the greater part of human history."Can there be a society that is not divided into oppressors and oppressed, or that refuses coercive state apparatuses? In this beautifully written book, Pierre Clastres offers examples of South American Indian groups that, although without hierarchical leadership, were both affluent and complex. In so doing he refutes the usual negative definition of tribal society and poses its order as a radical critique of our own Western state of power.Born in 1934, Pierre Clastres was educated at the Sorbonne; throughout the 1960s he lived with Indian groups in Paraguay and Venezuela. From 1971 until his death in 1979 he was Director of Studies at the fifth section of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris and held the Chair of Religion and Societies of the South American Indians there.Robert Hurley is the translator of the History of Sexuality by Michel Foucault and cotranslator of Anti-Oedipus by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas S. Stroik is Professor of English and Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is the author of Syntactic Controversies; Minimalism, Scope, and VP Structure; Path Theory and Argument Structure; and The Pragmatics of Metaphor.

Product Details

• Paperback: 218 pages
• Publisher: Zone (October 4, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942299019
• ISBN-13: 978-0942299014
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye-opener, May 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Society Against the State: Essays in Political Anthropology (Hardcover)

Although a work of anthropology, it helps if you have a background in philosophy, as Pierre Clastres clearly does. Using the "primitive" tribes of South America, Clastres raises fascinating questions about the nature of society. According to him, not all societies are constructed on a foundation of power-play. A sensitive reading of this book will force you to re-evaluate the society you're sitting in (and if you're reading this, it doesn't matter who you are: Clastres' has us pinned.)

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not For the Faint of Heart, December 9, 2005

By 

J. Merritt - See all my reviews

This review is from: Society Against the State: Essays in Political Anthropology (Paperback)

Like all of Clastres' work, this is a highly academic, non-casual read. He dives headlong into his topic, with very little attempt to lay any kind of theoretical foundation for his examination of politics, power, and how the two are (or are not) exercised in primitive and "developed" cultures, so it helps to come to the table with a background in the subject. For those who bring that knowledge, this is a very rewarding read.

1 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars review of Society Against the State, September 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Society Against the State: Essays in Political Anthropology (Paperback)

For those interested in international law, a must.