Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts

Format: Paperback Language: English ISBN: 0300056699 ISBN13: 9780300056693 Release Date: July 1992 Publisher: Yale University Press Length: 269 Pages Weight: 1.00 lbs. Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.3" "A splendid study, surely one of the most important that has appeared on the whole matter of power and resistance."--Natalie Zemon Davis Confrontations between the powerless and powerful are laden with deception--the powerless feign deference and the powerful subtly assert their mastery. Peasants, serfs, untouchables, slaves, laborers, and prisoners are not free to speak their minds in the presence of power. These subordinate groups instead create a secret discourse that represents a critique of power spoken behind the backs of the dominant. At the same time, the powerful also develop a private dialogue about practices and goals of their rule that cannot be openly avowed. In this book, renowned social scientist James C. Scott offers a penetrating discussion both of t