The Terms of Order [NC LIVE HomeGrown Ebook Collection via Biblioboard] : Political Science and the Myth of Leadership

Do we live in basically orderly societies that occasionally erupt into violent conflict, or do we fail to perceive the constancy of violence and disorder in our societies? In this classic book, originally published in 1980, Cedric J. Robinson contends that our perception of political order is an illusion, maintained in part by Western political and social theorists who depend on the idea of leadership as a basis for describing and prescribing social order. Using a variety of critical approaches in his analysis, Robinson synthesizes elements of psychoanalysis, structuralism, Marxism, classical and neoclassical political philosophy, and cultural anthropology in order to argue that Western thought on leadership is mythological rather than rational. He then presents examples of historically developed "stateless" societies with social organizations that suggest conceptual alternatives to the ways political order has been conceived in the West. Examining Western thought from the vantage point of a people only marginally integrated into Western institutions and intellectual traditions, Robinson's perspective radically critiques fundamental ideas of leadership and order. **Cedric J. Robinson** is professor of Black Studies and political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. His books include __Black Marxism__, __Forgeries of Memory and Meaning__, and __The Anthropology of Marxism__. Do we live in basically orderly societies that occasionally erupt into violent conflict, or do we fail to perceive the constancy of violence and disorder in our societies? In this classic book, originally published in 1980, Cedric J. Robinson contends that our perception of political order is an illusion, maintained in part by Western political and social theorists who depend on the idea of leadership as a basis for describing and prescribing social order. Using a variety of critical approaches in his analysis, Robinson synthesizes elements of psychoanalysis, structuralism, Marxism, classical and neoclassical political philosophy, and cultural anthropology in order to argue that Western thought on leadership is mythological rather than rational. He then presents examples of historically developed "stateless" societies with social organizations that suggest conceptual alternatives to the ways political order has been conceived in the West. Examining Western thought from the vantage point of a people only marginally integrated into Western institutions and intellectual traditions, Robinson's perspective radically critiques fundamental ideas of leadership and order. Cedric J. Robinson is professor of Black Studies and political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. His books include Black Marxism , Forgeries of Memory and Meaning , and The Anthropology of Marxism . Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Foreword by Erica R. Edwards Preface to the First Edition Acknowledgments 2016 Introduction 1. The Order of Politicality Democracy and the Political Paradigm Consciousness of Politicality as Ideology Authority Order 2. The Parameters of Leadership The Leader as Manifest Idea The Relationship of Political Leadership to Political Authority The Leader as Deviant The Conceptual Imprint of the Market Society The Decision as a Logical-Positivist Event 3. The Question of Rationality The Quest for the Intelligibility of Mass Movements Rudolph Sohm The Irrational as the Psychologic Subconscious The Irrational as the Psychoanalytic Subconscious The Historicization of the Analyses of the Subconscious History as the Subconscious The Subconscious and Analytic Terror 4. The Messiah and the Metaphor Concepts of Time Time and Authority in Weber The Meaning of Myth Functional Mythologists Structural Mythologists The Mythology of Political Thought Messianism and Charisma 5. On Anarchism Anarchy and Anarchism William Godwin and the Authority of Reason The Individualists and the Anarcho-Socialists The “Stateless” Society The Ila-Tonga and the Social Authority of Kinship The Principle of Incompleteness The Instruction of the Tonga Jokester 6. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index Using a variety of critical approaches in his analysis, Robinson synthesizes elements of psychoanalysis, structuralism, Marxism, classical and neoclassical political philosophy, and cultural anthropology in order to argue that Western thought on leadership is mythological rather than rational. He then presents examples of historically developed 'stateless' societies with social organizations that suggest conceptual alternatives to the ways political order has been conceived in the West. The order of politicality -- The parameters of leadership -- The question of rationality -- The messiah and the metaphor -- On anarchism. Cedric J. Robinson ; foreword by Erica R. Edwards. Includes bibliographical references and index.