Wild West - The Mythical Cowboy and Social Theory

Informationen zum Autor Will Wright is Professor and Chair of Department of Sociology at the University of Southern Colorado Klappentext 'An extremely accessible, well structured and imaginative reading of market and social theory in terms of the myth of the Wild West frontier' New Formations This book, written by the author of the celebrated volume Six Guns and Society, explains why the myth of the Wild West is popular around the world. It shows how the cultural icon of the Wild West speaks to deep desires of individualism and liberty and offers a vision of social contract theory in which a free and equal individual (the cowboy) emerges from the state of nature (the wilderness) to build a civil society (the frontier community). The metaphor of the Wild West retained a commitment to some limited government (law and order) but rejected the notion of the fully codified state as too oppressive (the corrupt sheriff). Compelling and magnificently suggestive, the book unpacks one of the core icons of our time. It is a unique discussion of market and social theory using cultural myth. Will Wright fully explores how issues of individualism, freedom and inequality in the myth of the Wild West connect up with questions of white, male superiority and environmental degradation. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction The Individualist Cowboy PART ONE: INDIVIDUALISM The Social Contract `Natural¿ Individuals The Invisible Hand PART TWO: INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS Marx The Revolutionary and the Cowboy Weber Bureaucracy and the Cowboy Durkheim Endless `Frontiers¿ PART THREE: MYTHICAL INSIGHTS Separating the Women Removing the Indians Sustaining the Wilderness Conclusion The Wild Individualist West

Product details

• Authors: Will Wright, Wright Will
• Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 18.06.2001
• EAN: 9780761952336
• ISBN: 978-0-7619-5233-6
• No. of pages: 206
• Series: Cultural Icons series
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, Cultural Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, HISTORY / United States / 19th Century, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Sociology & anthropology, History of the Americas, Sociology and anthropology, US Midwest, North Central & Mid-West States, Cultural Theory;Social Theory