Publications

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE by M. G. Smith

In The Study of Social Structure, M.G. Smith reformulates and then synthesizes important notions about social structure into a comprehensive and methodologically useful conception of the empirical underpinnings of societies, large and small. He critically examines the development of the concept of social structure beginning with Plato, Ibn Khaldûn and Vico and working his way through those French, British, German, and Scottish social philosophers and social scientists as well as American sociologists and anthropologists who contributed significantly to our intellectual and theoretical understanding of societal function, organization, change, and disorder. Based on this exploration of strengths and weaknesses of past concepts and theories, Smith weaves a brilliantly cogent argument as to how to study social structure free of reliance on unverifiable principles or suppositions. He provides a logical but fluid framework of analytic categories by which the empirical manifestation and operation and change in societies can be fruitfully investigated in a comparative manner. To this end, Smith sets out, defines, and elaborates the basic elements of an inclusive conceptual framework of social structure and their complex interrelations. By drawing on a wide range of ethnographic illustrations, he demonstrates how these may be applied to the comparative study of stasis and change in human society. As the concluding theoretical exposition of a major figure in anthropology, this volume is an important addition to the library of the professional anthropologist and sociologist and a useful text for graduate courses in theory and methods in anthropology and sociology.

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Type - ISBN	Title and Author	Unit Price
Paper - 0-9633741-5-X	The Study of Social Structure - M.G. Smith	US$15
Cloth - 0-9633741-6-8	The Study of Social Structure - M.G. Smith	US$25

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