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University of California Press

The Politics of Reproductive Ritual

by Jeffery M. Paige (Author), Karen Ericksen Paige (Author)
Hardcover Paperback eBook
Price: $49.95 / £42.00
Publication Date: Apr 2023
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 396
ISBN: 9780520311732
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 22 tables, 3 figures.
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About the Book

"A welcome addition. They argue that rituals of reproduction in preindustrial societies are essentially political. In these societies, they say, men need to control the reproductive power of women in order to establish political power; where there is no law or central government, ritual is used as a way of gaining control. The type of ritual will vary, they conclude, according to the economic base of the society. . . .for those whoa re interested in the subject, this book is indispensable. Its thesis is challenging and the documentation is excellent. Paige and Paige have mad ean essential contribution to a long debate, and their theory is sure to stir new and lively controversy." --Science Digest
 
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.

Reviews

"A highly controversial work. . . .But it will be recognized everywhere, I think, as the single most important work on the subject to date, the book with which any competing view must come to terms. It will attract wide attention, will give direction to any further research, and I guarantee that no one will forget it." --Morris Zelditch, Jr.
 
"The 'political theory' of reproductive rituals presented by Paige and Paige rests on three insights that elevate their book above previous explanatory, cross-cultural studies; that ritual is a form of politics, that rituals can be explained only in terms of motives held by sponsors, not in terms of benefits accruing to such non-sponsors as youthful initiates, and that rituals are motivated by self-interest." --Science
 
"With social scientists barely beginning to investigate reproductive beliefs and practices in the political and economic context of a developed society, the Paiges have opened the door to further examination of long-held views of circumcision, menstruation, pregnancy, and birth practices. Well worth reading." --Contemporary Psychology
 
"This thought-provoking volume deserves to be required reading for anthropologists concerned with gender and its symbolic expressions." --Medical Anthropology Newsletter
 
"This book is a dazzling achievement. . . .It has a deep vision that unites the basic politcal and economic concerns of a society with the central ceremonial and ritual concerns of its members, a vision that stays with the reader after having read the book. . . a vision akin to that offered by Marx and Weber. . . . Any scholar should be proud to accomplish in a lifetime what the Paiges have accomplished in this book." --Philip Brickman