Ray Abrahams - Böcker

Based on field research in eastern Finland not far from the Russian border, this book is an account of the main features of rural society in the area. It pays detailed attention to the adaptability of farming families in a rapidly changing world. Subjects treated include marriage and the family, work and mechanization, succession to farms, and the paradoxical combination of fierce individualism and co-operation. Two major themes of the book are the relation between law and custom, which is not always what it seems on the surface, and the complex interlocking of farm, family and the wider society.

Based on field research in eastern Finland not far from the Russian border, this book is an account of the main features of rural society in the area. It pays detailed attention to the adaptability of farming families in a rapidly changing world. Subjects treated include marriage and the family, work and mechanization, succession to farms, and the paradoxical combination of fierce individualism and co-operation. Two major themes of the book are the relation between law and custom, which is not always what it seems on the surface, and the complex interlocking of farm, family and the wider society.

Vigilantes operate in the shadows rather than the bright lights of mainstream political consensus. They have arisen at many times in different regions of the world as defenders, often by force, of their view of the good life against those they see to be its enemies. Recent reports of their activities in Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe, Africa, and America have appeared in the press. Yet they have been relatively little studied outside the United States, where they hold a special if at times romanticized position in the nation's history. It may be that their common involvement in the defence of power, property and other "bourgeois" interests has been less attractive to scholars than the more radical activities of bandits and revolutionaries. Nonetheless, it is surprising that their often independent stance towards the State has not received more attention from both critical and friendly analysts of that institution. The book explores the "frontier" conditions in which vigilantism emerges as a solution, full of ambiguities, to problems of perceived disorder which official instruments of law and order do not handle to the vigilante's satisfaction. Contemporary and historical case material - from Africa, North and South America, the Philippines, Europe and Britain - is examined within an analytic and comparative framework, as are the often fuzzy boundaries between vigilantism and other forms of "informal sector" activity, such as state death squads, mafia, and banditry.This book will be of value to undergraduates and graduates in anthropology, political sociology, criminology and history. It will also provide stimulating reading for all who are interested in issues of law and order.

Vigilantes operate in the shadows rather than the bright lights of mainstream political consensus. They have arisen at many times in different regions of the world as defenders, often by force, of their view of the good life against those they see to be its enemies. Recent reports of their activities in Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe, Africa, and America have appeared in the press. Yet they have been relatively little studied outside the United States, where they hold a special if at times romanticized position in the nation's history. It may be that their common involvement in the defence of power, property and other "bourgeois" interests has been less attractive to scholars than the more radical activities of bandits and revolutionaries. Nonetheless, it is surprising that their often independent stance towards the State has not received more attention from both critical and friendly analysts of that institution. The book explores the "frontier" conditions in which vigilantism emerges as a solution, full of ambiguities, to problems of perceived disorder which official instruments of law and order do not handle to the vigilante's satisfaction. Contemporary and historical case material - from Africa, North and South America, the Philippines, Europe and Britain - is examined within an analytic and comparative framework, as are the often fuzzy boundaries between vigilantism and other forms of "informal sector" activity, such as state death squads, mafia, and banditry.This book will be of value to undergraduates and graduates in anthropology, political sociology, criminology and history. It will also provide stimulating reading for all who are interested in issues of law and order.

The collapse of Soviet influence and the disillusionment with socialism in the early 1990s led to ambitious programs of economic reform throughout Eastern Europe. The papers in this volume, written by anthropologists and sociologists with detailed first-hand knowledge of the rural areas concerned, explore the situation in several countries; account is also taken of the differences between them. Not only are reform policies considered in the light of actual developments and reactions of villagers to changing circumstances; actual processes of land reform, the emergence of new family farms, and the creation of new forms of co-operative and joint stock company are described and examined well.