Small places, large issues
Subtitle: an introduction to social and cultural anthropology
By: Thomas Hylland Eriksen.
Edition: 2nd ed.
Series: Anthropology, culture, and society
Publisher: Pluto Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Sterling, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 342
Subjects: Ethnology.
Description: "Small Places, Large Issues is a clear and accessible overview of social and cultural anthropology. In this thoroughly revised and updated edition, Thomas Eriksen focuses on the central topics such as kinship, ethnicity, ritual and political systems, and offers a wealth of examples that demonstrate the enormous scope of anthropology and the importance of a comparative perspective.".

"Ranging from the Pacific Islands to the Arctic north and from small villages to modern nation states, this concise introduction reveals the rich global variation in social life and culture. Eriksen emphasises the need to establish interrelation between action and social structure and between social organisation and cognitive aspects of culture.

He broadens the study to incorporate the anthropology of complex modern societies, thus providing a key text for all students of social and cultural anthropology."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 314-331) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : comparison and context; title: A brief history of anthropology; title: Fieldwork and its interpretation; title: The social person; title: Local organisation; title: Person and society; title: Kinship as descent; title: Marriage and alliance; title: Gender and age; title: Social hierarchies; title: Politics and power; title: Exchange and consumption; title: Production and technology; title: Religion and ritual; title: Modes of thought; title: Complexity and change; title: Ethnicity; title: The politics of identity : nationalism and minorities; title: The global, the local, and the glocal; title: Epilogue : and so what?