The Materiality of Social Power: The Artifact-Acquisition Perspective

This paper explores the materiality of social power relationally through study of social interactions with artifacts. Specifically, it is argued that acquisition of an artifact instantiates social power by imposing interactions on groups taking part in that artifact's life-history activities. We introduce the “performance-preference matrix,” an analytic tool for systematically studying the effects of such acquisition events on activity groups. The use of the performance-preference matrix is illustrated through an example: the acquisition of electric-arc lights for lighthouses in the 19th century. Suggestions are offered for analyzing culture-contact situations and for handling singularized artifacts such as heirlooms and monuments.class="Contact">

The Historic Port of El Real de Salinas in Campeche, and the Role of Coastal Resources in the Emergence of Capitalism in Yucatán, México

The emergence of capitalism in the peninsula of Yucatán is generally presented as a process resulting from the capitalization of the agricultural sector and the export of products from its sugar, cotton, and henequén plantations in the nineteenth century. In addition to these products, the peninsula also had a dynamic coastal economy in which the harvesting of salt and the extraction of logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum), played a major role and contributed to the flow of goods to international markets. We present a preliminary archaeological survey and historical documentation of El Real de Salinas, a salt-producing port on the north coast of Campeche, which was also involved in the extraction of other coastal products and closely linked to the inland plantation system. class="Contact">

中产阶级在特立尼达和多巴哥政治现代化中的作用

在特立尼达和多巴哥政治现代化过程中,作为特立尼达和多巴哥多等级、多种族社会中的一个阶层,中产阶级既是联系社会上层又是沟通工人阶级下层的黏合剂。正是由于中产阶级的努力,特立尼达和多巴哥才建立起西方化的政治民主制度。特立尼达和多巴哥的政治现代化实践,为第三世界国家的政治现代化提供了新的启示。     

Civilisation Versus Civitas? La Cité Grecque à L’Épreuve de la Civilisation

How does the Greek city-state attain its position as the cradle of European civilization? Such a position became possible only since civilization was conceived as a homogenous, irreversible historical process, identified with the historical progress of Europe. This is what concerned Guizot’s era. Yet, in the class="a-plus-plus emphasis type-small-caps">xix ^th century, civilization referred to a plethora of historical processes that permitted one to regard the course of the different people of Antiquity and modernity, ranging from the primitive to a state of refinement. My hypothesis is that civilization functions in this case as a differentiating concept: it makes possible the distinction between the Ancients and the Ancients, between the Moderns and the Moderns, between Antiquity and modernity as a whole. In this article, I focus on the desiderata and risks concomitant with the integration of Greece into the history of European civilization.     

In the front line: women,work and new spaces of labour politics in Poland

Pessimistic accounts of women's lives in post-communist Poland view women as powerless and passive victims of the transformation process. In contrast, this article argues that while political change and the restructuring of the economy have closed down some spaces of articulation and organisation, others have opened up. The article focuses on the way in which women in their spheres of work are shaping and actively resisting change through new organisations and individual and collective actions, which are in some ways a break with the past, but in other ways build on previous forms of activity. The work draws on qualitative research conducted over the last decade across Poland. This has coupled extensive interviews with women workers, national and regional trade union leaders, activists and feminists in a number of major Polish cities with reviews of Polish media and policy. We examine the economic and ideological context in which these new articulations are taking place, against the background of Poland's post-war communism and the rise of opposition movements. We look at the neoliberal restructuring of the economy and the implications for women within the labour market and in their domestic lives. In particular, we examine initiatives from below in workplace organisation, by focusing on new unions and new actions in the public sector, and the beginnings of organisation in the new areas of the economy such as supermarkets. Finally, we look at how women are articulating their interests beyond formal workplaces. We conclude that we should be optimistic about these new spaces of activism. While some are well established, others are embryonic but provide a strong foundation on which women can increase their participation in spaces that promote their varied interests.     

Class Interests in Brazilian Archaeology

Archaeology is a practice that exists within various social contexts. As such, the way it is practiced is dependent upon the class interests of those who fund and undertake archaeological investigations. These interests in turn can be influenced by existing political regimes. In this article, I discuss how class interests have influenced the direction of Brazilian archaeology for the past century and a half.     

The Idea of Socialism: From 1968 to the Present‐day Crisis

Abstract: In 2008 the 40th anniversary of that iconic year, 1968, was celebrated in the media in relation to student uprisings and cultural revolts, largely neglecting the very significant movements of workers and peasants who were challenging power structures around the world at that time. This omission reflects the failures of socialism in the twentieth century, which are explored in this essay. Beginning from a more complete picture of 1968, the essay examines the history of socialism, identifying the main sources of failure in its theory and practice, in particular that of the revolutionary left. If the failure lies in the elite character of socialist politics and its focus on distribution rather than production, it is to be remedied by a firm focus on the politics of the workplace and the goal of substantive equality. The concluding section reviews the prospects for such an alternative in the current circumstances of global crisis.     

Childbirth and Social Class in Contemporary Japan

This paper presents data from a larger ethnographic research project on intimacy and reproduction in Japan, a country that faces a “crisis of ultra-low fertility rates” (Jones, Straughan, & Chan, 2009). Proceeding from a symbolic interactionist perspective, the paper analyses the outcomes of interviews with 56 Japanese mothers aged between 29 and 45 from Tokyo and Kanagawa. The analysis identified “maternal instincts” (honnō), children’s schooling, and marriage as three major axes along which an understanding of how social class concerns influence the childbirth experiences and decision-making processes of these mothers could be gained.     

Immaculate Consumption: A Critique of the “Shop till you drop” School of Human Behavior

Consumer behavior and choice models have assumed a major role in historical archaeology. Recent interest in consumption is an honest attempt to move beyond an emphasis on production. Consumer models have clear material referents, making them useful in historical archaeology. These models, however, separate production from consumption, and privilege the autonomous individual as the preferred unit of analysis. They also reinforce and validate ideologies that obscure inequalities and power relations in modern society. For us the important issue is how people reproduce themselves as social beings. Focusing on social reproduction integrates both production and consumption.     

马克思主义政党先进性与阶级基础的互动脉络——基于对马克思主义经典作家党的先进性思想进行探究的视角

马克思主义政党的阶级基础是其具有先进性的总根源,对阶级基础不同程度的把握使党的先进性呈现出不同的特点。马克思、恩格斯从党的阶级基础的内涵上去论证党的先进性,列宁将这一思想具体化为从阶级构成成分上去论证党的先进性,毛泽东为加强党的先进性提出旨在“再造党的阶级基础”的建党理论。邓小平认为保持党的先进性的路径是扩大党的阶级基础,江泽民提出保持党的先进性必须巩固党的阶级基础和扩大党的群众基础。