Using a vertical slice approach, anthropologists critically analyze the relationship between undemocratic uses and abuses of power and the survival of the human species. The contributors scrutinize modern institutions in a variety of regionsfrom Russia and Mexico to South Korea and the U.S.Up, Down, andSidewaysis an ethnographic examination of such phenomena as debtculture, global financial crises, food insecurity, indigenous land and resource appropriation, the mismanagement of health care, andcorporate surrogacy within family life. With a preface by Laura Nader, this isessential reading for anyone seeking solid theories and concrete methods to inform activist scholarship.
The case studies demonstrate that anthropology has much to offer to the study of power and that the study of power has much to offer to our grasp of contemporary society and culture. The selections range over a wide territory of countries and institutional settings, interestingly not dwelling on anthropology's customary 'traditional' societies but rather focusing on modern state and trans-state systems. It has much to offer the discipline and should inspire much more valuable research and theory.?????Anthropology Review Database
I really appreciate the way the authors combine the overall concept of social power with its actual application by decision-makers that impact the daily lives of ordinary people, and the way they perceive the realities that they experience in a very wide range of circumstances&This is a well-structured collection by authors who all share the same perspective, but they cover a wide-diversity of areas, both topically and geographically.??????John H. Bodley, Washington State University
This collection of essays uses the writings, methods, and ideas of Laura Nader to produce an important collection of essays& The clear thematic focus examining pathways of power colS°