The Terms of OrderDo we live in basically orderly societies that occasionally erupt into violent conflict, or do we fail to perceive the constancy of violence and disorder in our societies? Cedric J. Robinson contends that our perception of political order is an illusion, maintained in part by Western political and social theorists who share a dependence on the concept of leadership as a basis for describing and prescribing social order. Robinson uses a variety of critical approaches in his analysis: he synthesizes elements of psychoanalysis, structuralism, Marxism, classical and neoclassical political philosophy, and sociology to support his case for considering Western thought on leadership to be mythological rather than rational. He then presents examples of historically developed "stateless" societies with social organizations that suggest conceptual alternatives to the ways political order has been conceived in the West. As an American Black political theorist, Robinson examines Western thought from the vantage point of a people only marginally integrated into Western institutions and intellectual traditions. His perspective on the conceptualization that structures Western thinking on the most basic levels contributes to the questioning on how our conduct, values, and even perceptions may be shaped by our symbolization. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
THE ORDER OF POLITICALITY | 7 |
THE PARAMETERS OF LEADERSHIP | 40 |
40 | 63 |
The Quest for the Intelligibility of Mass Movements | 79 |
The Irrational as the Psychologic Subconscious | 87 |
The Historicization of the Analyses of the Subconscious | 96 |
Concepts of Time | 106 |
Structural Mythologists | 131 |
Other editions - View all
The Terms of Order: Political Science and the Myth of Leadership Cedric J. Robinson Limited preview - 2016 |
The Terms of Order: Political Science and the Myth of Leadership Cedric J. Robinson No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
alien analysis analytical anarchism anarchist Anchor Doubleday argued Bakongo Beacon Press Books Cartesian Linguistics charismatic authority charismatic figure Claude Levi-Strauss concept consciousness construction Crisis critical culture David Apter democracy democratic dialectic Doubleday economic ego ideal epistemological eschatological essay experience Foucault Free Press Freud fundamental Godwin Greek Harper Torchbooks Hegel human Ibid ideology individual institutions instrument integration intellectual irrational J. G. A. Pocock Jacob Burckhardt James Karl kinship knowledge Kropotkin Kuhn Kuhn's Lakatos language leader Levi-Strauss logical London Marx Max Weber meaning metaphysics movement mukowa myth nature Norman Norton and Company numbers order of things organization Oxford University Press paradigm phenomena phenomenon Philosophy Plato political authority political leadership political order political science political society Popper presumption primitive Psychoanalysis Psychology rational reality relationship Review scientific Sigmund Freud social Sociology Sohm structure suggested theory thought Tonga tradition W. W. Norton Western York