A Sentimental Economy
Commodity and Community in Rural Ireland
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Berghahn Books, Incorporated
Published:1st Jul '96
Should be back in stock very soon
On the fringe of western Europe, yet fully integrated into the capitalist market, the rural economy of the west of Ireland seems to provide a fascinating object of analysis to the student of European folk cultures. This book concentrates on a particular aspect of that rural economy: the social organization and cultural construction of work in a community of family farms. The concept of work, which is primarily farm work, is taken here as a very elementary set of ideas, images and experiences that enable us to penetrate in the different cultural spheres that intersect life on an Irish family farm. Work, the author concludes, is to this farming community what the Kula ring is to the Trobriand islanders - a kind of Maussian "total social fact" the analysis of which incorporates a comprehensive description of a particular social system.
"... a valuable volume. Well researched and solidly argued ... Author and material are intriguinglymatched." · Choice
"... an important contribution toward an understanding of rural Irish culture and society." · Reviewers Bookwatch
ISBN: 9781571818874
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 435g
192 pages