Book Notes
| Published date | 01 January 1956 |
| Date | 01 January 1956 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1956.tb00958.x |
| Subject Matter | Book Notes |
BOOK
NOTES
Professor Gluckman’s
Cirstoni
ad
Conpict
in
Africa
(Blackwell, pp. ix+
173,
12s.
6d.)
is
a
print
of
six lectures the author gave on the
B.B.C.’s
Third Programme last year. His
central theme
is
‘how men quarrel in terms
of
certain
of
their customary alliances, but are
restrained from violence through other conflicting allegiances which are also enjoined on
them by custom’, with the result that ‘conflicts in one set
of
relationships, over a wider
range
of
society or through
a
longer period
of
time. lead
to
the re-establishment
of
social
cohesion’. This is exhibited by reference to the feud, hostility to authority, estrangements
within the elementary family. witchcraft accusations and ritual, and the colour bar. The
political scientist. even
if
he is not directly interested in the case-material cited, may be
interested to consider the author’s claim that
it
is
useful to look at more developed systems
In
tcrms
of
certain hypotheses connecting with his central theme-that until
a
state has
.~n
integrated economic system, rebellions against the king and struggle for kingship serve
:is
unifying factors; that the ‘position
of
the lowermost man in a hierarchical system can
be
traced in situation after situation’ -for instance. in the situation of the shop-steward;
that the ’logic in witchcraft’ may help to explain some ways in which men tend to think in
niore
developed societies; that the ceremonial expression
of
conflict may perhaps be found
in
various ‘squabbling activities
in
our
social life, which are usually assumed to lie realities’,
for
instance, in ‘parliamentary debates and election campaigns’.
Dernocrrrcg
und
Dictatorsllip
by Zevedei Barbu (Routledge and Kegan Paul, pp. vii
+
275.
18s.)
considers these ‘ways of life’ from the standpoints of both sociology and psychology.
Democratization is found to be ’associated with a series
of
processes by which the common
pattern
of
life
of
a
group
of
individuals becomes flexible’ and also individualized, rational-
ized. and prosperous; while at the same time there is increased flexibility, individualization.
rationality, and self-confidence in the mental structure
of
the men concerned.
Per
contra,
fascism and communism are reactions by societies (and men) unable to adjust to
a
flexible
pattern
of
life. The former rests on ‘primitive instinctive and emotional forces’, the latter
on exaggerated rationalization. Both lead to rigidity. The author agrees that he has con-
structed ‘ideal types’ and that he has a prejudice in favour
of
democracy; but he claims to
have worked from an examination
of
historical data, although he again admits that his
‘ability
to
deal with historical facts was often too limited’. There are. indeed. not many
references in the book to the writings
of
either historians
or
political scientists, although
the author is obviously widely read and has a good deal
of
general knowledge of what he
is
talking about. Much
of
what he has to say will be liable to strike the political scientist
certainly not
as
containing much that
is
new. and often not as expressing very critically
considered positions, but the political scientist may none the less benefit from looking at
familiar views in terms
of
a vocabulary different from that in which he usually finds them.
The Harvard Russian Research Center has published as
No.
20
of
its Studies
The
Permanent
Purge
by Zbigniew K. Brzezinski (Harvard University Press; London: Geoffrey
Cumberlege, pp.
256.
38s.).
A
complete picture
of
the Soviet purges can by no means yet be
drawn; but a good deal
of
evidence has accumulated and numerous attempts at elucidation
have been made.
Mr.
Brzezinski has not attempted to be definitive, but he has drawn
upon
a wide range
of
material, has noted sundry forms
of
purge and phases in purges, and has
sought
to
link various explanations that others have presented singly. The result
is
a
coherent and comprehensive account
of
the Soviet purge
as
bred
of
a
series of factors, such
as the isolation
of
leaders, the need
for
constant changes of goals and
so
for constant
stimulation of enthusiasm for new goals. the need for terror
as
an ultimate sanction, and
the exigencies in these circumstances
of
the road
to
power and the maintenance
of
power.
So
regarded.
Mr.
Brzezinski considers, the purge
is
revealed as being, in one
or
other
of
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