Once in 2006 and again a few days ago, I linked to Emmanuel Todd. Recently I found some introductory material about his ideas which seem to complement more abstract theories. From On anthropological roots of modern conflicts, (Message 391, third from the top) "We are in the habit of thinking of the various contemporary conflicts in ideological, economic or linguistic terms. According to historian Emmanuel Todd there is also an anthropological aspect to the problem.
His book, The Explanation of Ideology came out in the late eighties and discusses, in an amazing way, the anthropological base, or bases, of culture. The author, like, anthropologists in general, is interested in (or focused on) the 3 categories, (perhaps it is better to say 3 sets of rules) that generate the several possible human families and how these families underlay our sophisticated ideologies......
In this book Todd was trying to argue that ideological formations are (partially?) determined by family structure—not (only?) economics or linguistics So, for instance, by looking at the Authoritarian family we see people that are not easily assimilated because they have no sense of equality thanks to the favoring of the chosen son and inegalitarian inheritance rules. Therefore they do not become (fanatical) devotees of universal movements like communism and resist assimilation into other groups."
A longer introduction, including biographical details, in America, England, Europe-Why do we differ via Brian Micklethwait.
Brian Micklethwait has several posts on Emmanuel Todd. In this post. he links to some of his introductory posts about Todd:
Many other links in Brian Micklethwait's blog.
A recent interview relating to Ukraine.
All seem worth looking.
His book, The Explanation of Ideology came out in the late eighties and discusses, in an amazing way, the anthropological base, or bases, of culture. The author, like, anthropologists in general, is interested in (or focused on) the 3 categories, (perhaps it is better to say 3 sets of rules) that generate the several possible human families and how these families underlay our sophisticated ideologies......
In this book Todd was trying to argue that ideological formations are (partially?) determined by family structure—not (only?) economics or linguistics So, for instance, by looking at the Authoritarian family we see people that are not easily assimilated because they have no sense of equality thanks to the favoring of the chosen son and inegalitarian inheritance rules. Therefore they do not become (fanatical) devotees of universal movements like communism and resist assimilation into other groups."
A longer introduction, including biographical details, in America, England, Europe-Why do we differ via Brian Micklethwait.
Brian Micklethwait has several posts on Emmanuel Todd. In this post. he links to some of his introductory posts about Todd:
Check also Craig Willy: Emmanuel Todd’s L’invention de l’Europe: A critical summary
Many other links in Brian Micklethwait's blog.
A recent interview relating to Ukraine.
All seem worth looking.
Cli
1 comment:
I wrote a review of Todd's "Explanation of Ideology" in March 2015, here:
https://www.amazon.com/troisie-x300-plane-Structures-familiales/dp/2020063417/ref=cm_cr-mr-title
In it I question some of Todd's understanding of the trajectory of Islam in the modern world. I think he is too optimistic. I also try to briefly show how Todd's understanding of Kinship and geopolitics compliment each other. I think this last would be a fruitful area of study.
Joe
PS. I cannot understand why people aren't writing about Todd. I think his contribution to our understanding of history is as important as Braudel, Marx and Max Weber.
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