This compelling account of the effect of technology and development on indigenous peoples throughout the world examines major issues of intervention: social engineering, economic development, self-determination, health and disease, and ecocide. Victims of Progress provides a provocative context in which to think about civilization and its costs.
We live in a time of global mega-problems of unsustainable growth and consumption, resource depletion, ecosystem degradation, global warming, escalating energy costs, poverty, and conflict. Cultural anthropologist John H. Bodley trenchantly critiques these most pressing issues and shows how anthropology makes it possible to find solutions. The focus on culture scale suggests that many solutions may be found by developing local communities supported by regional markets and ecosystems, rather than by making the continuous accumulation of financial capital the dominant cultural process throughout the world. Now in its sixth edition, this classic textbook continues to have tremendous relevance and is more timely than ever in light of the recent global economic crisis. It exposes readers to the problems of a world out of balance with misdirected growth by the elite.Bodley offers examples from prehistoric and modern tribal societies along side of ancient imperial and contemporary commercial societies. Students will find this to be the trusted source to build a world view. Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems is ideal for adoption in anthropology and sociology courses on globalization, cultural ecology, social class and inequality, the environment, sustainability, and development.
John Bodley’s Cultural Anthropology provides students with the anthropological tools to question and understand their own culture and the world. The sixth edition of this dynamic book has been updated and revised throughout, with a shorter length and a more streamlined focus. Updates include material on China and Hindu South Asia combined into a single chapter, a new chapter assessing the imperial world and the breakdown of states, and new examples throughout. In this introduction to the basic concepts of cultural anthropology, Bodley challenges students to consider “big questions” about the nature of cultural systems: What is “natural” and what is “cultural” about humans? What is it like to be human under different cultural conditions, and how do socio-cultural systems of different cultural scales satisfy basic human needs? Are race, language, and environment determinants of culture? What are the human costs and benefits of socioeconomic growth? What have been the major turning points in human history? What role do individuals play in shaping culture? Employing a scale and power approach, the text examines a representative sampling of the world’s major cultural areas and dominant civilizations, from Australian Aborigines, Amazonia, and East African pastoralists to Pacific Islanders, Mesopotamia, China, Hindu India, the British Empire, and the United States; these cultures are shown in depth, as adapting, integrated systems—and as part of regional, continental, and global systems. He concludes the text with a wide-ranging assessment of human problems in the contemporary commercial world, emphasizing inequality, poverty, environmental degradation, and sustainability. A complimentary instructor’s manual, test bank, and companion website are available to enhance teaching and learning. See “Resources” tab for additional information.
In The Small Nation Solution, eminent anthropologist John H. Bodley argues that the contemporary global problems of poverty, conflict, and environmental degradation are problems of scale and power. Bodley’s solution involves keeping nations small so as to limit the power of elite directors. It is a simple idea with profound implications. He spotlights successful small nations around the world as the best working models of sustainable sociocultural systems and shows how these diverse small nations can be the building blocks of a transformed global system that could save the world.
Throughout history, the natural human inclination to accumulate social power has led to growth and scale increases that benefit the few at the expense of the many. John Bodley looks at global history through the lens of power and scale theory, and draws on history, economics, anthropology, and sociology to demonstrate how individuals have been the agents of social change, not social classes. Filled with tables and data to support his argument, this book considers how increases in scale necessarily lead to an increasingly small elite gaining disproportionate power, making democratic control more difficult to achieve and maintain.
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