The Logic Of Writing And The Organization Of Society

Cover Type: Softcover
Book Condition: Fine
Jacket Condition: None Issued
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publisher Place: Cambridge
Publisher Year: 1992
Edition: Reprint

Description: 213 pages. Book appears to have hardly been read and is in Fine condition throughout.

Publishers Description: This book assesses the impact of writing on human societies, both in the Ancient Near East and in twentieth-century Africa, and highlights some general features of social systems that have been influenced by this major change in the mode of communication. Such features are central to any attempt at the theoretical definition of human society and such constituent phenomena as religious and legal systems, and in this study Professor Goody explores the role of a specific mechanism, the introduction of writing and the development of a written tradition, in the explanation of some important social differences and similarities. Goody argues that a shift of emphasis from productive to certain communicative processes is essential to account adequately for major changes in human societies. Whilst there have been previous descussions of the effect of literacy upon social organisation, no study has hitherto presented the general synthesis developed here.

ISBN: 9780521339629