THE LITTLE COMMUNITY & PEASANT SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Book Details

• Publisher: Rawat Publications

• Author: Robert Redfield

• Language: English

• Edition: 2018

• ISBN: 9788131609699

• Pages: 284

• Cover: Hardcover

About the Book
This volume brings together two seminal works of anthropology by Robert Redfield: The Little Community and Peasant Society and Culture. These works explore the intricate dynamics of human communities, examining the way anthropologists interpret and study these social structures.

In The Little Community, Redfield draws on his fieldwork in the villages of Tepoztlan and Chan Kom to examine human communities as complex ecological systems. This work is considered by many, including Margaret Mead, to encapsulate the core of Redfield's contributions to community studies in social science. The book discusses the community as a whole, its social structure, the kinds of people within it, and how it views life, history, and its position within larger societal systems.

In Peasant Society and Culture, Redfield expands on his concepts of the "Great" and "Little" Traditions. Drawing on his study of China and India, he discusses the relationship between folk traditions and the broader cultural systems, offering a speculative foundation for anthropology's roots in the study of isolated primitive tribes. This work provides insights into the social organization of tradition, the peasant view of life, and the nature of peasantry as part-societies.

Contents
The Little Community As

• i. A Whole

• ii. An Ecological System

• iii. Social Structure

• iv. A Typical Biography

• v. A Kind of Person

• vi. An Outlook on Life

• vii. A History

• viii. A Community within Communities

• ix. A Combination of Opposites

• x. Whole and Parts

Peasant Society and Culture

• i. Anthropology and the Primitive Community

• ii. Peasantry: Part-Societies

• iii. The Social Organization of Tradition

• iv. The Peasant View of the Good Life

About the Author
Robert Redfield (1897–1958) was a pioneering U.S. cultural anthropologist, known for his work on the relationship between folk and urban societies. He was associated with the University of Chicago throughout his career, where he began as a faculty member in 1927 and later served as Dean of Social Sciences from 1934 to 1946. Redfield's work has had a lasting impact on cultural anthropology, especially in the study of social change and community dynamics.