Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #495362 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Synopsis
The way we think - or fail to think - about culture from America's most engaging political analysts. Parenti, one of America's most astute and engaging political analysts, demonstrates that culture is a changing process and the product of dynamic interplay between a wide range of social and political interests. To Parenti, it is necessary to understand the problem of culture as well as that of power in order to understand a society. Drawing from cultures around the world, Parenti shows that beliefs and practices are readily subjected to political manipulation and that many parts of culture are being commodified, separated from their group or communal origins, to be packaged and sold to those who can pay for them. Art, science, medicine and psychiatry can be used as instruments of cultural control and even marriage, the "foundation of society", has been misused by heterosexuals across the centuries. Using vivid examples and riveting arguments throughout, "The Culture Struggle" ranges from the everyday to the esoteric. Richly informed, penned with eloquence and irony, this makes for a fascinating collection of snapshots of our time.

Customer Reviews

An introduction to ideology
Michael Parenti's "The Culture Struggle" is quite short, but lively and written in a crisp and clear style. In this booklet, he discusses the role and function of culture within our societies as well as those of the past, showing how culture is a battleground of ideology. Parenti engages not just the role of ideology in science and in popular culture, but also in medicine, psychiatry, New Age and cults, marriage, and so forth, all issues relevant to current events.

None of the things he points out will be at all new to anyone who is familiar with radical left critiques, but that does not mean this book is useless or preaching to the choir. Quite the opposite: I think it can play a good role as one of those books that one can give to friends or family members with very little political interest or awareness and to people who are not familiar with or good at reading academic style monographs, but who want to understand the leftist critique of our society. Parenti occasionally still uses terminology that might be difficult for readers of a less educated background (such as "plutocratic" and "monopolistic"), but generally the book is extremely easy to read and still makes a lot of good and important points. So, pass it on to your coworkers or grandparents and anyone else who could use a confrontation with a critical look at society.