Showing papers on "Social theory published in 1993"
Book•
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: The Body in Sociology The Naturalistic Body The Socially Constructed Body The Body and Social Inequalities The Body, Self-Identity and Death Concluding Comments as discussed by the authors
Abstract: Introduction The Body in Sociology The Naturalistic Body The Socially Constructed Body The Body and Social Inequalities The Body and Physical Capital The Civilized Body The Body, Self-Identity and Death Concluding Comments
2,066 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the notion of studied or vigilant trust based on the core conclusions of 20th century analytic philosophy as a way of squaring theory and stylized facts is ill-captured by mainstream theory.
Abstract: The understandings of individuality and sociability characteristic of modern liberal and sociological social theory are fatalistic about the potential for the creation of trust in economic relations. These understandings are reconsidered in light of the recent evolution of state-level industrial policy in the United States, focusing on the experience of the state of Pennsylvania where the state's efforts have shown early success in breaking down barriers of mistrust that block economic adjustment in the state's traditional manufacturing industries. Arguing that the sort of cooperation-in-the-making that characterizes the Pennsylvania case is ill-captured by mainstream theory, the paper proffers a notion of studied or vigilant trust based on the core conclusions of 20th century analytic philosophy as a way of squaring theory and stylized facts. Government-instigated discussion among key economic actors has the potential to spur reformulations of collective identities and common histories, resulting in the ...
831 citations
TL;DR: White as mentioned in this paper argues that the widely held notions of "person" and "goal" grounded in traditional political economy do not provide a basis for social theory that is either coherent or consistent with current developments in psychology and anthropology.
Abstract: In proposing a comprehensive network theory that cuts across the range of social sciences, Harrison White rejects conventional hierarchical models and focuses instead on efforts of control in a social structure described as a tangle of locked-in practices. He argues that the widely held conceptions of "person" and "goal" grounded in traditional political economy do not provide a basis for social theory that is either coherent or consistent with current developments in psychology and anthropology. White replaces "person" with "identity", which, in a distinctively human sense, emerges from frictions and social noise across different levels and disciplines in networks. Likewise, he reshapes the notion of "goals", maintaining that they merely inhabit sets of stories used to explain agency and that action itself comes through selective strategies to break through formal organization. As his main empirical basis, White uses case studies covering a wide range of topics, including tribal religions, changing rhetorics of industrial administration and the premodern Church, practices of state-building and changes of style in popular music. His analyses draw from English social anthropology, n
815 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a modified version of the theory of social representations is used to define the rural in terms of the disembodied cognitive structures which we use as rules and resources in order to make sense of our everyday world, through both discursive and non-discursive actions.
729 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a review of the first edition of Theology and Liberalism: Theology I: From Malebranche to Durkheim, Theology II: From Kant to Weber and Theology III: For and Against Marx.
Abstract: Acknowledgements for the First Edition. Preface to the Second Edition. Introduction. Part I: Theology and Liberalism:. 1. Political Theology and the New Science of Politics. 2. Political Economy as Theodicy and Agonistics. Part II: Theology and Positivism:. 3. Sociology I: From Malebranche to Durkheim. 4. Sociology II: From Kant to Weber. 5. Policing the Sublime: A Critique of the Sociology of Religion. Part III: Theology and Dialectics:. 6. For and Against Hegel. 7. For and Against Marx. 8. Founding the Supernatural: Political and Liberation Theology in the Context of Modern Catholic Thought. Part IV: Theology and Difference:. 9. Science, Reality and Power. 10. Ontological Violence or, The Post-Modern Problematic. 11. Difference of Virtue, Virtue of Difference. 12. The Other City: Theology as a Social Science. Index of Names.
586 citations
TL;DR: This reformed medical geography will analyze issues such as the consequences of illness and health service provision for both personal well-being and the collective experience of place by communities.
Abstract: An engagement with public health concerns and aspects of social theory such as the structure/agency debate is crucial to medical geography. The imperatives underlying this engagement center on place, a geographical concept which is prominent in both social theory and recent health philosophy. Without detracting from its distinguished heritage, this reformed medical geography will analyze issues such as the consequences of illness and health service provision for both personal well-being and the collective experience of place by communities.
479 citations
Book•
08 Dec 1993
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present three grand visions of history: classical evolutionism, Neo-evolutionism, and alternative vision of making history, which is the essence of social change.
Abstract: Preface. Part I: Concepts and Categories:. 1. Fundamental Concepts in the Study of Change. 2. Vicissitudes of the Idea of Progress. 3. Temporal Dimension of Society: Social Time. 4. Modalities of Historical Tradition. 5. Modernity and Beyond. 6. Globalization of Human Society. Part II: Three Grand Visions of History:. 7. Classical Evolutionism. 8. Neo--evolutionism. 9. Theories of Modernization: Old and New. 10. Theories of Historical Cycles. 11. Historical Materialism. Part III: Alternative Vision: Making History:. 12. Against Developmentalism: Modern Critique. 13. History as a Human Product: Evolving Theory of Agency. 14. New Historical Sociology: Concreteness and Contingenc. 15. Social Becoming: the Essence of Historical Change. Part IV: Aspects of Social Becoming:. 16. Ideas as Historical Forces. 17. Normative Emergence: Evasions and Innovations. 18. Great Individuals as Agents of Change. 19. Social Movements as Forces of Change. 20. Revolutions: the Peak of Social Change. Bibliography
400 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1993TL;DR: In this paper, a critique of traditional Marxism is presented, focusing on the limits of traditional Marxian Marxism and the pessimistic turn of Critical Theory. But the analysis is limited to the case of the Commodity Critique.
Abstract: Part I. A Critique of Traditional Marxism: 1. Rethinking Marx's critique of capitalism 2. Presuppositions of traditional Marxism 3. The limits of traditional Marxism and the pessimistic turn of Critical Theory Part II. Toward a Reconstruction of the Marxian Critique: The Commodity 4. Abstract labor 5. Abstract time 6. Habermas's critique of Marx Part III. Toward a Reconstruction of the Marxian Critique: capital 7. Toward a theory of capital 8. The dialectic of labor and time 9. The trajectory of production 10. Concluding considerations.
377 citations
TL;DR: The authors make a distinction between a negative and a positive conception of ideology and argue that the two concpets are used interchangeably and at other times they are counterposed, and suggest that our two key terms form distinct theoretical traditions which can both be made good use of.
Abstract: Modern social theory is awash with talk of discourse and ideology. Sometimes the two concpets are used interchangeably and at other times they are counterposed. The paper seeks to make sense of the part played by these concepts in contemporary debates. It proposes an exercise on retrieval which suggests that our two key terms form distinct theoretical traditions which, while they can be distinguished, can both be made good use of. The AA. review : 1) Larrain's distinction between a negative and a positive conception of ideology ; 2) Foucault's version of discourse theory ; 3) Laclau's and Mouffe's position for a rupture between discourse and ideology, contrasted with the Gramscian position espoused by Stuart Hall. The theory of ideology proposed by the AA. supplements discourse theory rather than opposing it. It is a version of ideology theory that is different from that bequeathed by Marx.
352 citations
TL;DR: One of the most influential trends in social theory in the late 20th century has been the collapse of the academic division of labor erected in the beginning of the century (Wolf 1982), which conceded the capitalist marketplace to the new science of economics but defended the realms of the "social," hence noneconomic, as the territory of sociology, political science, and anthropology as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: One of the most influential trends in social theory in the late 20th century has been the collapse of the academic division of labor erected in the beginning of the century (Wolf 1982), which conceded the capitalist marketplace to the new science of economics but defended the realms of the "social," hence noneconomic, as the territory of sociology, political science, and anthropology (Friedland and Robertson 1990; Marcus 1990) Neoclassical economic theory has been extended to the social realms through innovative work in public choice theory, transaction cost analysis, game theory, human capital theory, and the study of rent-seeking (Oberschall and Leifer 1986) All of these apply neoclassical methods to the explanation of social phenomena that are not conventional parts of the market economy From the other direction, sociologists and anthropologists have extended social and cultural analysis to the heartland of the economic empire: capitalist organization and decision making (Granovetter 1990; Hirsch et al 1990; Zukin and DiMaggio 1990) Studying the ways in which capitalist markets, enterprise organizations, and entrepreneurial activity are themselves social and cultural forms that draw their efficiency partly from sociocultural resources is a welcome departure from the strategy utilized by substantivist economic anthropologists Substantivism conceded the adequacy of neoclassical models to market economies, but denied their applicability to nonmarket economies traditionally studied by anthropologists The collapse of the traditional academic division of labor has led to attempts to overcome dichotomies of the economic and the noneconomic by recognizing the calculative dimension in all forms of exchange and the neglected cultural dimension of market exchanges (Appadurai 1986:12-13) One of the most influential efforts to reintegrate social and economic analysis has been Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical project to develop a "general science of the economy of practices" Such a science would recognize market exchange and capi-
Book•
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a survey of the history of social class in the United Kingdom, including the origins and development of the concept of race and nationality, as well as a discussion of the growing critique of "class analysis".
Abstract: Introduction to the Second Edition. Introduction to the First Edition. Part I: Explaining Inequality: Introduction. Social Order and Theories of Social Differentiation. Stratification and the Debate on Social Class. The Growing Critique of 'Class Analysis'. Concluding Summary. Part II: The Classic Inheritance and its Development: Introduction. Marx. Weber. Class and Sociology after the Second World War. Culture, Class and History. Once Again, the Indivisibility of Structure and Action. Social Class, Urban Sociology and the Turn to 'Realism'. Conclusions. Part III: Measuring the 'Class Structure': Goldthorpe and Wright: Introduction. Occupations. Conclusions. Part IV: Problems of Class Analysis: Introduction. Changes in the Structure of Work and Employment. The Expansion of Women's Employment. Class, Politics, and Action. Gender and Class. Are Social Classes Dying? Converging Approaches. Conclusion. Part V: Farewell to Social Class?: Introduction. Bringing Status Back In. Recent Social Theory. Farewell to Class Societies? Discussion and Conclusions. Part VI: Lifestyle, Consumption Categories and Consciousness Communities: Introduction. Consumption-sector Cleavages. Culture, Class and Occupation. From 'Abstract Labour' to 'Customer Care'. Summary and Conclusions. Part VII: Citizenship, Entitlements and the 'Underclass': Introduction. T H Marshall and the Development of the Concept of Citizenship. Women and Citizenship. Race and Citizenship. Social Citizenship and the 'Underclass'. Conclusion. 8. Retrospect and Prospect. Introduction. Social Mobility. Social Polarization. Conclusions. References. Index.
TL;DR: The authors argue that a rather fundamental reassessment of social scientific approaches to the rural is required if these "neglected others" are to be satisfactorily considered, and they call for an end to the use of universal or global concepts such as "rural" (or "urban") and for a concern with the way places are made.
Book•
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: In this paper, Joas traces the influence of pragmatism on American sociology and social research from 1895 to the 1940s and traces its reception by French and German traditions during this century.
Abstract: Rising concerns among scholars about the intellectual and cultural foundations of democracy have led to a revival of interest in the American philosophical tradition of pragmatism. In this book, Hans Joas shows how pragmatism can link divergent intellectual efforts to understand the social contexts of human knowledge, individual freedom, and democratic culture. Along with pragmatism's impact on American sociology and social research from 1895 to the 1940s, Joas traces its reception by French and German traditions during this century. He explores the influences of pragmatism--often misunderstood--on Emile Durkheim's sociology of knowledge, and on German thought, with particularly enlightening references to its appropriation by Nazism and its rejection by neo-Marxism. He also explores new currents of social theory in the work of Habermas, Castoriadis, Giddens, and Alexander, fashioning a bridge between Continental thought, American philosophy, and contemporary sociology; he shows how the misapprehension and neglect of pragmatism has led to systematic deficiencies in contemporary social theory. From this skillful historical and theoretical analysis, Joas creates a powerful case for the enduring legacy of Peirce, James, Dewey, and Mead for social theorists today.
TL;DR: A variety of examples informed the conceptualization of "new social movements" as mentioned in this paper, which emphasized lifestyle, ethical, or "identity" concerns rather than narrowly economic goals, and were new even by comparison with conventional liberalism with its assumption of fixed individual identities and interests.
Abstract: Sometime After 1968, analysts and participants began to speak of “new social movements” that worked outside formal institutional channels and emphasized lifestyle, ethical, or “identity” concerns rather than narrowly economic goals. A variety of examples informed the conceptualization. Alberto Melucci (1988: 247), for instance, cited feminism, the ecology movement or “greens,” the peace movement, and the youth movement. Others added the gay movement, the animal rights movement, and the antiabortion and prochoice movements. These movements were allegedly new in issues, tactics, and constituencies. Above all, they were new by contrast to the labor movement, which was the paradigmatic “old” social movement, and to Marxism and socialism, which asserted that class was the central issue in politics and that a single political economic transformation would solve the whole range of social ills. They were new even by comparison with conventional liberalism with its assumption of fixed individual identities and interests. The new social movements thus challenged the conventional division of politics into left and right and broadened the definition of politics to include issues that had been considered outside the domain of political action (Scott 1990).
Book•
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the difficulty of keeping faith and the difficulty in keeping faith in the new cultural politics of difference and race in the United States, as well as the role of law in progressive politics.
Abstract: Preface: The Difficulty of Keeping Faith. Cultural Criticism and Race 1. The New Cultural Politics of Difference 2. Black Critics and the Pitfalls of Canon Formation 3. A Note on Race and Architecture 4. Horace Pippin's Challenge to Art Criticism 5. The Dilemma of the Black Intellectual. Philosophy and Political Engagement 6. Theory, Pragmatisms and Politics 7. Pragmatism and the Sense of the Tragic 8. The Historicist Turn in Philosophy of Religion 9. The Limits of Neopragmatism 10. On Georg Lukacs 11. Fredric Jameson's American Marxism. Law and Culture 12. Reassessing the Critical Legal Studies Movement 13. Critical Legal Studies and a Liberal Critic 14. Charles Taylor and the Critical Legal Studies Movement 15. The Role of Law in Progressive Politics. Explaining Race 16. Race and Social Theory 17. The Paradox of the African American Rebellion Notes Index
Book•
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01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a critical interpretation of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim's political sociology, focusing on the production and reproduction of social life and the question of action and structure.
Abstract: Acknowledgements - Abbreviations - Introduction - PART 1 ENCOUNTERS WITH THE CLASSICAL TRADITIONS - Critical Interpretations of Marx - The Political Context of Max Weber's Sociology - Durkheim's Political Sociology - Marx, Weber and Capitalism - PART 2 PROBLEMS OF ACTION AND STRUCTURE - Social Theory and the Question of Action - The Production and Reproduction of Social Life - The Concept of Structure - Structure, Action, Reproduction - Lay Knowledge and Technical Concepts - Structural Theory and Empirical Research - PART 3 TIME, AND SPACE - Time-Space, Structure, System - Time-Space Distanciation - Analysing Social Change - The Production of Everyday Life - PART 4 DOMINATION AND POWER - Parsons on Power - Critique of Foucault - Class Structuration - Class and Power - Administrative Power and the Nation-State - The Nation-State and Military Power - PART 5 THE NATURE OF MODERNITY - A 'Discontinuist' Approach - Dynamic Tendencies of Modernity - Trust and Risk in Social Life - Modernity and Self-Identity - Love and Sexuality - PART 6 CRITICAL THEORY - Max Weber on Facts and Values - Critical Theory Without Guarantees - Utopian Realism - Emancipatory and Life Politics - Selected Bibliography - Index
TL;DR: It is argued that advancing a recursive understanding of space and place is an appropriate direction in medical geography, which will include both an understanding of the ways in which space shapes the character of places and how the particularities of places resist or set in motion (orthodox) spatial processes.
Book•
08 Dec 1993
TL;DR: Masculinity, modernity and social theory as discussed by the authors have been identified as three major factors in the development of modernity, power and modernity in the human brain, and they have been studied extensively in the literature.
Abstract: 1. Introduction - Masculinity, Modernity and Social Theory 2. Nature 3. Reason 4. Morality 5. Freedom 6. Identity 7. Modernity 8. Experience 9. Feminism 10. Masculinity 11. Histories 12. Relationships 13. Language 14. Sexuality 15. Dependency 16. Conclusion - Masculinity, Power and Modernity
Book•
16 Dec 1993
TL;DR: Social work and social movements in late twentieth century Europe as mentioned in this paper have been studied in the context of social work in a multi-cultural society and anti-racist practice, and emerging issues and conclusions.
Abstract: 1. Social work within different welfare regimes 2. Ideological positions and the origins of social work 3. Social work, fascism and democratic re-construction 4. Social work and academic discourses 5. Social work and social movements in late twentieth century Europe 6. Social work in a multi-cultural society 7. Social work and anti-racist practice 8. Emerging issues and conclusions.
Book•
28 Feb 1993
TL;DR: Oberschall as mentioned in this paper argues that social movements are central to contemporary politics in both Western and Third World nations, and that collective action by the citizenry, spilling beyond the boundaries of routine politics is an integral part of the process of creative destruction that Joseph Schumpeter ascribed to modern capitalism.
Abstract: More than any other topic in social science, the study of social movements provides an opportunity to combine social theory with political action. Such study is a key to understanding the motivations, successes, and failures of thousands who aspire to high ideals of justice, but who sometimes aid in perpetuating inhumane political acts and systems. Building upon the past twenty years' developments in theory and research, Social Movements combines original theoretical and methodological approaches with penetrating analyses of contemporary movements from the sixties to the present.Anthony Oberschall argues that social movements are central to contemporary politics in both Western and Third World nations. They are not quaint stepchildren to public policy and social change that disappear as nations modernize. Collective action by the citizenry, spilling beyond the boundaries of routine politics is an integral part of the process of creative destruction that Joseph Schumpeter ascribed to modern capitalism and all dynamic, modern societies.Among the subjects that OberschaU examines in Social Movements are the Civil Rights movement, decline of the New Left, the feminist movement, the New Christian Right, the tobacco control movement, collective violence in U.S. industrial relations, and some comparative historical movements, including the Cultural Revolution in China, the abortive 1968 revolution in Czechoslovakia, political strife in postcolonial Africa, and the sixteenth-century European witch craze.In looking beyond the immediate political circumstances of these social movements, Oberschall points the way to achieving the next major task of social movement theory: a more satisfactory understanding of the dynamics and course of social movements and counter movements and a method of accounting for the outcomes of public controversies. Free of jargon and technical terminology, Social Movements is written for sociologists, political scientists, historians, professionals dea
TL;DR: The authors discuss the strengths and limitations of the theoretical traditions within which they have worked: Marxism, world system theory, macrostructural theories, rational choice theory, neofunctionalism, psychoanalysis, ethnomethodology, expectation states theory, poststructuralist symbolic interactionism, and network theory.
Abstract: How do various social theories explain gender inequality? In this collection of original essays, prominent sociologists discuss the strengths and the limitations of the theoretical traditions within which they have worked: Marxism, world system theory, macrostructural theories, rational choice theory, neofunctionalism, psychoanalysis, ethnomethodology, expectation states theory, poststructuralist symbolic interactionism, and network theory.
Book•
13 Sep 1993
TL;DR: Social Theory: Its Uses and Pleasures * Modernity's Classical Age, 1848-1919 Estranged labour Camera Obscura (Karl Marx) Class Struggle (K. Marx and Friedrich Engels) The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte On Imperialism in India The Values of Commodities The Fetishism of commodities Labour-Power and Capital (K Marx) The Patriarchal Family (F. Engels) Anomie and the Modern Division of Labor Sociology and Social Facts Suicide and Modernity (Emile Durkheim) Primitive
Abstract: Social Theory: Its Uses and Pleasures * Modernity's Classical Age, 1848-1919 Estranged Labour Camera Obscura (Karl Marx) Class Struggle (K. Marx and Friedrich Engels) The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte On Imperialism in India The Values of Commodities The Fetishism of Commodities Labour-Power and Capital (K. Marx) The Patriarchal Family (F. Engels) Anomie and the Modern Division of Labor Sociology and Social Facts Suicide and Modernity (Emile Durkheim) Primitive Classifications and Social Knowledge (E. Durkheim and Marcel Mauss) The Cultural Logic of Collective Representations (E. Durkheim) The Spirit of Capitalism and the Iron Cage The Bureaucratic Machine What Is Politics? The Types of Legitimate Domination Class, Status, Party (Max Weber) The Psychical Apparatus and the Theory of Instincts Dream-Work and Interpretation Oedipus, the Child Remembering, Repeating, and Working-Through The Return of the Repressed in Social Life Civilization and the Individual (Sigmund Freud) Arbitrary Social Values and the Linguistic Sign (Ferdinand de Saussure) The Self and Its Selves (William James) Double-Consciousness and the Veil The Spirit of Modern Europe (W.E.B. Du Bois) The Yellow Wallpaper Women and Economics (Charlotte Perkins Gilman) The Colored Woman's Office (Anna Julia Cooper) The Stranger (Georg Simmel) The Looking-Glass Self (Charles Horton Cooley) * Social Theories And World Conflict, 1919-1945 The Psychology of Modern Society The New Liberalism (John Maynard Keynes) The Irrational Chasm Between Subject and Object (Georg Lukcs) Notes on Science and the Crisis (Max Horkheimer) The Unit Act of Action Systems (Talcott Parsons) What Is to Be Done? (V. I. Lenin) The Sociology of Knowledge and Ideology (Karl Mannheim) Psychoanalysis and Sociology (Erich Fromm) The Self, the I, and the Me (George Herbert Mead) Social Structure and Anomie (Robert K. Merton) Moral Man and Immoral Society (Reinhold Niebuhr) The Negro Problem as a Moral Issue (Gunnar Myrdal) Disorganization of the Polish Immigrant (William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki) Personality
TL;DR: The traditional method of studying families has often focused on the pathological rather than on the strong family, and accentuating positive aspects could prove to be more important in a long-term basis than simply solving problems and weathering crises.
Abstract: The traditional method of studying families has often focused on the pathological rather than on the strong family. However, accentuating positive aspects could prove to be more important in a long-term basis than simply solving problems and weathering crises. Understanding the strengths of families has great potential for helping to solve many of the problems that families incur (Foster, 1983). Studies of family strengths have generally concentrated on traditional families rather than on nontraditional families such as
TL;DR: Habermas's concept of the public sphere, and its place within his theoretical and empirical studies, is commendably concerned with linking the social and historical work with normative political theorising and its usefulness for geographical investigation is applauded.
Abstract: This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion of the historical geography of modernity. It is argued that the exclusive focus on social theory has detrimental effects on the appreciation of normative political concerns and that it ignores the resurgence of normative political theory. Habermas's concept of the public sphere, and its place within his theoretical and empirical studies, is, by contrast, commendably concerned with linking the social and historical work with normative political theorising, and its usefulness for geographical investigation is applauded. However, the criticisms directed from, in particular, communitarian political theorists and contextualist social researchers would seem to make his attempt to bring a ‘strong’ theory of public political life back within the remit of a reconstructed social theory less plausible. One set of responses to this criticism comes in the form of the attempt to build geography into this normative political theory, turning public spheres into public spac...
Book•
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: The Place of Philosophy in Social Work as discussed by the authors is a survey of the place of philosophy in social work, focusing on the social sciences and social sciences in general, including philosophy, epistemology, and logic.
Abstract: Preface1. Political Philosophy2. Moral Philosophy3. Logic4. Epistemology5. AestheticsAfterword. The Place of Philosophy in Social WorkReferencesIndex
Book•
24 Jul 1993
TL;DR: Housing Culture as mentioned in this paper is an inter-disciplinary study of old houses that brings together recent ideas in studies of traditional architecture, social and cultural history, and social theory, by looking at the meanings of traditional architectures in western Suffolk, England.
Abstract: Housing Culture is an inter-disciplinary study of old houses. It brings together recent ideas in studies of traditional architecture, social and cultural history, and social theory, by looking at the meanings of traditional architecture in western Suffolk, England. The author employs in an English context many of the ideas of Glassie, Deetz and other writers on the American colonies. In so doing, the book forms an important critique and refinement of those ideas, and should prove an indispensable background text for American historical archaeologists in particular. The study spans the late medieval and early modern periods, looking at the layout and structural details of ordinary houses. It argues for a process of closure affecting both technical and social aspects of houses. The context of the process of closure is explored and related to wider social and cultural changes including the feudal/capitalist transition. Housing Culture embodies an innovative and exciting approach to the study of artefacts in an historic period. It will interest historians, historical geographers and archaeologists of the medieval and early modern periods in both England and America. It is also sure to be of interest to students of all areas and periods who seek a theoretically informed approach to the study of traditional architecture and material culture in general. This book is intended for archaeologists, historians (particularly of landscape, architecture, the medieval period, social and cultural) historical geographers, students and researchers of material culture; such groups are found within departments of archeaology, history and anthropology.