Fears and Symbols: An Introduction to the Study of Western Civilization

Elemér Hankiss

Published by Central European University Press 2001

Fears and Symbols

An Introduction to the Study of Western Civilization

Elemér Hankiss

https://doi.org/10.1515/9789633865170

Overview
Contents

About this book

Giving a panoramic view of Western civilisation, this study is based on the central role that the author believes fear and anxiety have played as the organising motives of human existence and social life.

Author / Editor information

Hankiss Elemér :

Elemér Hankiss (1928-2015), director of the Institute of Sociology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Reviews

Egon Matzner:

“Anxiety is an essential element of the human condition and mankind has invented many ways to live with it. Elemér Hankiss describes a wide range of practices employed in different cultural spheres and periods of history. His subtlety in doing so leaves each culture´s dignity intact.”

George Schöpflin:

"In all the clamor made by neo-Marxists, neo-Foucaldians, feminists, environmentalists, genderists and other emancipators to the effect that all power is evil and must be "unmasked", it is reassuring to hear the cool voice of reason from Elemér Hankiss. Power can be positive if it is deployed to ward off fear and humans create institutions, both concrete and symbolic, acting in reciprocal potentiation, to do just that. Dismissing the symbolic dimension of collective action, as so many do, leaves one's analysis weak and lame; with this book, they will have no further excuse for looking the other way when symbolic action is at issue."

N.J. Smelser:

“Hankiss gives us the most imaginative interpretations from religious, mythological, anthropological, philosophical, and literary traditions, and from everyday life. His areas of interest include jokes, play, myths, religious beliefs, housing and cities, shopping malls, rationality, and art—phenomena which have not been connected with one another by anyone else or in any other work…an ingenious creation, and should prove to be extremely provocative for scholars in many different disciplines and to educated readers in general.”

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	XV
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter One. Fear and the Social Sciences Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
Chapter Two. The World of Symbols Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
Chapter Three. An Alien World? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Chapter Four. The Garden of Eden Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
Chapter Five. The Image of the World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Chapter Six. The Moral Universe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
Chapter Seven. The World of Guilt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Chapter Eight. The Rational World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Chapter Nine. The World of Beauty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Chapter Ten. The World of Play Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Chapter Eleven. The World of Jokes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Chapter Twelve. The World of Trivialities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Chapter Thirteen. Symbols and Civilization Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299

Language: English
Publisher: Central European University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 333

eBook

Published: November 30, 2000
ISBN: 9789633865170