Se e s s s s i io o n n 1 1 S Pa ar rt t I I: : P Pr ro o b bl le e m m s s i in n / / w w i it th h P Po o l li it ti ic ca al l A An n t th h r ro o p po o l lo o g gy y P Lecture points: � Problems of political anthropology � The subject matter of political anthropology � Purposes of political anthropology � Apathy, democracy, the state, and social/ political movements 1
Gledhill, John. (2000). Power and Its Disguises: Anthropological Perspectives on Politics . 2 nd ed. London: Pluto Press. Chapter 1: Locating the political: a political anthropology for today, pp. 1-21. List of issues cov ered in Gled hill’s Ch. 1: � colonialism and political anthropology � ordered anarchy, fission and fusion � developm ent, neocolonialism , dependency � what political anthropology ought to be about, how it should be done � problem of Eurocentric analyses of power as coercion, statelessness as an absence � the m odern state & surveillance � repressive states as weak states � locating power, politics in the everyday Questions from Gled hill, Ch. 1: � What were some of the limitations of early political anthropology in Gledhill’s view? What was its “ethnocentric baggage” and how did that shape and limit understandings? � How have “stateless societies” been understood in early political anthropology? � Is power to be found in stateless societies? Is politics to be found in bands and tribes? What are politics rooted in if there is “relative egalitarianism”? � What is distinctive about the state? � Is the power of the state total and absolute, does it operate everywhere? � For anthropologists to make a valuable contribution to the study of politics, along what directions should their studies proceed, in Gledhill’s view? 2
AP PA AT TH H Y Y A • What is it? • Is it to be condemned? • What are different ways of possibly understanding apathy? Wikipedia: “In 1950, US novelist John Dos Passos wrote: ‘Apathy is one of the characteristic responses of any living organism when it is subjected to stimuli too intense or too complicated to cope with. The cure for apathy is comprehension.’ US educational philosopher Robert Maynard Hutchins summarized the concerns about political indifference when he claimed that the ‘death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment’.” 3
Random House Dictionary: ap•a•thy noun, plural ap•a•thies. 1. absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement. 2. lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting. 3. Also, ap•a•thei•a, ap•a•thi•a [ap-uh-thee-uh] Stoicism. freedom from emotion ofany kind. Origin: 1595-1605; (< F) < Latin apath ī a < Greek apátheia insensibility to suffering, equivalent to apathe- (stem of apath ḗ s ) unfeeling ( a- a-6 + pathe-, variant stem of páthos pathos) + -ia -ia Synonyms 1. coolness. 2. See indifference. Antonyms 1. ardor, fervor. 4
Encyclopaedia Britannica: apathy in Stoic philosophy, condition of being totally free from the pathe , … which roughly are the emotions and passions, notably pain, fear, desire, and pleasure. Although remote origins of the doctrine can probably be found in the Cynics (second half of the 4th century BC), it was Zeno of Citium (4 th —3rd century BC) who explicitly taught that the pathe were to be extirpated entirely. � lack of awareness � lack of social concern � lack of action, involvement � spectatorship � submission, rather than initiative 5
Deluca, Tom . The Tw o Fa ces of Politica l Ap a thy . Philadelphia, PA: Tem ple Unversity Press, 1995. Synopsis: “ ‘the two faces of political apathy.’ The first, rooted in free will, properly places responsibility for nonparticipation in the political process on individuals . Political scientists and journalists, however, too often overlook a second, more insidious face of apathy—a condition created by institutional practices and social and cultural structures that lim it participation and political awareness . The public blames our most disenfranchised citizens for their own disenfranchisement. Apathetic citizens blame themselves… .overcoming the second face of apathy requires a strategy of ‘real political equality,’ which includes greater equality in the availability of political resources, in setting the political agenda, in clarifying political issues, and in developing a public sphere for more genuine democratic politics.” 6
� Samuel Huntington, former president of the American Political Science Association: “the effective operation of a democratic political system usually requires some measure of apathy and noninvolvement on the part of some individuals and groups… .In itself, this marginality on the part of some groups is inherently undemocratic, but it has also been one of the factors which has enabled democracy to function effectively.” [Huntington, Samuel P. (1975). “The United States.” In Michel J. Crozier, Samuel P. Huntington, and Joji Watanuki (Eds.), The Crisis of Democracy . New York: NYU Press, 114] George Will: the Nazis were brought to power in 1933 in an election in which turnout hit nearly 89 percent… implying acute instability. Low rates, therefore, may be explained by the health and maturity of a political order. [Will, George. (1983). “In Defense of Nonvoting.” Newsweek , October 10, 96.] Charles Krauthammer: low voter turnout (frequently [mis]taken as a sign of political apathy), is “a leading indicator of contentment” + Heinz Eulau’s comment that apathy indicated the “politics of happiness.” 7
Nonvoting makes “more room for the things that really count: science, art, religion, family and play.” [Krauthammer, Charles. (1990). “In Praise of Low Voter Turnout.” Time , May 21, 88.] “The history of American democracy and political thought is, in part, a history of the fear of democracy” (Deluca, 1995, p. 2) “In the United States activists come disproportionately from the better educated and more affluent” [Verba, Sidney, & and Orren, Gary R. (1985). Equality in America: The View from the Top . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 17.] “Apathy and lack of political skill are a consequence, not a cause, of the party structure and political culture… .The political system determines whether participation is predicated on class-related resources and attitudes.” [Piven, Frances Fox, & Cloward, Richard A. (1989). Why Americans Don’t Vote . New York: Pantheon, 119.] For a selection of journal articles in anthropology, sociology and political science, dealing explicitly with “apathy,” see: http://tinyurl.com/boyoo7k 8
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