This original and provocative text provides an approach to understanding the emergence and development of social rank through race and caste. The struggles we face in race and ethnic relations today are explored through anthropological, historical and sociological lenses to understand the roots of social hierarchy drawing on examples from the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean, and mainland America.
About the Author
Chris Smaje is a Lecturer of Sociology at the University of Surrey. He holds degrees in anthropology, health policy, and sociology, and his research interests span the fields of medical sociology and the comparative historical sociology of race and colonialism. He is a member of the editorial boards of the journals Ethnic and Racial Studies and Sociology of Health and Illness.
Features
* Develops sociological theory of how race and status hierarchies are grounded in ideas of natural difference. * Provides detailed exposition of historical data from Europe, the Americas, and the Indian subcontinent * Offers critique of contemporary identity politics.
