Review: [untitled]

Author(s): Mabel Berezin

Source: Social Forces, Vol. 77, No. 1 (Sep., 1998), pp. 365-367
Published by: University of North Carolina Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3006024
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 Book Reviews/ 365
Wallersteinon whyhe thinks thewholeattempt to extend theworld-system
framework tothepre-1500 periodisinappropriate. Atthevery least,
hiscautionary
statementofthepotential usesandabusesofworld-system concept issomething
everyonewhoseekstoextend theapplicability ofworld-system andanalysis needs
tocarefullyconsider.
Thisbookisforthose wholiketheir theory historically
grounded andgrand in
scope.Thoseofuswhonever quitegotoverreading Sorokin orToynbee willbein
their
element here. Trying toimpose orderandcreate ananalyticalframework to
makesenseof4,000years ofhistory isaninherently fascinatingenterpriseforsome
ofus.Insociology, mostsuchpeoplealready work within world-system analysis,
conduct otherforms ofhistoricalcomparative analysis,orcountthemselves as
sympathetic observers oftheworld-system approach. Applying world-system
analysisto thepre-1500periodwillseemto thema logicaland interesting
theoretical
direction. Iftheyhavenotbeenkeeping upwiththisliterature, this
volume isa goodplacetostart.
Tothose notfamiliar withornotsympathetic toworld-system theorythewhole
enterprise
outlined inthisbookmayseemarcane anddubious. Thatisunfortunate.
Theissuesraised hereultimatelybearonsomeofthequestions raisedbythemajor
early
theorists (e.g.,Marx, Weber) inregard totheascendance ofEurope after1500.
In particular,thisworkcallsintoquestion conventional notions ofEuropean
"exceptualism," theorigins andriseofcapitalism, andtheriseanddeclineof
civilizations
(including ourown).It is possible to faultthetheoretical strategy
employed, asWallerstein himself in
does thispages, buttheissuesarebasicand
theoretically
important.
Thematerial contained inthisbookisdifficult. Theeditor's introductions to
areconsistently
articles He makesclearwhatproblems
useful. areat issueand
providesbriefsummaries ofthearticles.Still,
thearticles presuppose someworking
familiaritywiththeworld-system perspective. Thisbook'susefulness as a
supplemental reader isprobably limited toa fairlysophisticatedstudent audience
witha background inworld-system theoryanda passing familiaritywithworld
history.

inThought
PublicandPrivate andPractice: ona Grand
Perspectives Dichotomy.
EditedbyJeff
Weintraub
andKrishanKumar.University
ofChicagoPress,1997.
380pp.Paper,
$19.95.

Reviewer:
MABELBEREZIN, University atLosAngeles
ofCalifornia

Inthelasttenyears, as antipodean
andprivate,
public terms,havecrept
intothe
socialscience withmorefrequency
lexicon thanprecision.
Jeff
Weintrauband
Krishan Kumar'santhology
aimstolifttheconceptual
cloudthathasenveloped
366/SocialForces77:1,September 1998
the"grand dichotomy" ofmodernity (a phrasethattheeditors borrow from Italian
politicaltheorist Norberto Bobbio)andtoenhance itsanalytic power.
Toensure thematic unity, Weintraub andKumar solicited 12original essays
from senior andjuniorscholars. Theessays range from theexpressly theoretical
(i.e.,Silver,Wolfe) toa blendoftheory andempirical discussion (i.e.,Kumar) to
theexplicitly historical (i.e.,Garcelon).Theessays cohereexceptionally around
thecentral theme andnonestandoutasglaringly weaker thantheothers. A short
review onlysuggests their richnessandcomplexity.
Weintraub's opening essaylaysoutfourdimensions ofthepublic/private
dichotomy andlinks these dimensions tovarious tendencies insocialandpolitical
thought (i.e.,classicalliberalism; republican virtue;"sociability," themost
questionable as a category; andfeminism). Ofthefour, classicalliberalism isthe
onlyonethatdoesnotcomeintoplayin thevolume's essays. In addition to
underscoring thevarious waysthatscholars tendtousetheterms public/private,
Weintraub makes animportant, iffrequentlyoverlooked, pointthatno"necessary
connection" exists between thepublicandthepolitical - orforthat matter,as
someoftheessayssuggest, between theprivate andthepolitical. JeanBethke
Elshtain's lucidessay, "TheDisplacement ofPolitics,'suggests thattheconflation
ofthepublicandprivate andtheir submersion inthesphere ofpolitics mayhave
anything butdemocratic results.
AllanSilver's essay illustrateshow"friendship' a relationship basedonneither
bloodnormoney, kinnorcommerce, isnotexclusivelyprivate orpublic. Heargues
thattheimpersonal sphere ofmarket societycreatesa spaceforpersonal relations
suchasfriendship. Invoking Simmell'snotion of"substitutability" asthehallmark
ofthepublicand impersonal, Silverpointsout thatthedegreeto which
"replacement" isconsequential determines thepersonal character ofrelationships.
Thesuggestion underlying Silver's
analysisthatequality (i.e.,substitutability)is
notpossible in private relations hasfairly stunning consequences forcurrent
debatesaboutgender. CraigCalhoun's innovative discussion ofnationalism
conceptualizes nations as culturalbridges between the publicandprivate.
Underscoring thelimitsof state-centered approaches to nationalism, he
differentiates among"public,people,and nation"and arguesthatpolitical
communities represent cultural processesandnotsimply bounded institutions.
According to Calhoun, a nationbecomes possible whenan "identity forming
collectivediscourse" in
emerges thepublicsphere. Jean Cohen's discussion ofthe
"abortion controversy" interms oftheright toprivacy isa tourdeforce. Cohen
challenges feminist debates aboutprivacy astherealm ofviolence andsubjugation
andemphasizes "inviolate Sheargues
personality." thattheintegrity oftheself,
contained inthephysical body, mustbe protected atallcostsandthatwomen
should beallowed tomakedecisions aboutabortion - whatever they maybe-
basedontheir "private" relationtotheir bodies.
 Book Reviews/ 367
Thethreeessayson dimensions ofhomeexplorea realmwherethepublicand
privateintersect.KrishanKumardiscusseshistorical changesin themeaningof
thehomeas a physical localethatguardstheprivate nuclearfamily. DavidBrain
exploresthephysicalembodiment ofhomein hisessayon publichousingby
focusingon thewaythatarchitecture mediatespublicand private space.Brain's
intothespatialpermutations
insight thatthepublic/privatedividehasengendered
istheconnection heperceives between thedesigned communities ofpost-modernist
urbanplanning andearlypublichousing ventures.KarenHansen's "Rediscovering
theSocial"offers a novelslanton theissueofhome.Shefocuses herarticle
on the
"visiting"
practices ofwomeninpre-Civil WarNewEngland.
"Visiting"
provides a wayforwomentobridge thepublic/private
divide.
Women
leavetheirhomesandenterotherwomen'shomes;in so doing,theyceaseto be
trulyprivatewomenand becomepublicmembersof theircommunity. Oleg
Kharkhordin's essayon"Private LifeinSovietRussia" thevarious
describes methods
thattheSovietstateemployed toregulate privatelifefromthecontrol of"manners"
totheproscriptions forconducting an appropriate Sovietloveaffair.
Asan anthology, PublicandPrivate inThought andPracticeisina leaguewith
classics
sociological suchasThedaSkocpol, PeterEvans,andDietrich Rueshemeyer's
Bringing theStateBackIn and Paul DiMaggioand WalterPowell'sTheNew
Institutionalism. In a similarmanneras its distinguished predecessors, this
extraordinary has the
collection mapped parameters ofthe debate
public/private
foryearsto come.Myonecomplaint is thatI wouldhavepreferred a concluding
essaythattieditalltogether.Theeditors do thisinthe"Preface' butsynthesiswould
haveworked better attheend.In short, I wantedmore,rather thanless,andthat's
quitean accoladefora 363-pagebook.

SocialMovements
WavesofDemocracy: andPoliticalChange.
ByJohn Pine
Markoff Forge Press,
1996.174pp.

SUZANNE
Reviewer: DukeUniversity
SHANAHAN,

Thereis muchto recommend thisthoughtful student primeron democracy. In

WavesofDemocracy: SocialMovements andPoliticalChange, JohnMarkoff makes
an enormouseffortto providea freshperspective on a familiar and oftentired
topic.Twoaspectsofhisapproacharenoteworthy. First,Markoff triesto situate
democracy within He presents
history. democracy as an idea,as an inventionthat
is continually andreconfigured.
recrafted ForMarkoff, contemporary democracy
- parliamentary competitive
bodies,elections, parties, andsuffrage
civilliberties,
- wouldbe unrecognizable to eighteenth-centurydemocrats. WithinMarkoff's
analyticframework,democracy is explicitly
and inextricably linkedto process
democratization.