Traditions, Tyranny and Utopias

Essays in the Politics of Awareness

• Author(s): Ashis Nandy,
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 168
• ISBN_10: 019563067X
  ISBN_13: 9780195630671
  
• Language: en
• Categories: History / Civilization , Political Science / General , Political Science / History & Theory , Psychology / General , Psychology / Social Psychology , Science / Life Sciences / Botany , Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social ,

Description:... These six essays present an outsider's view of Western norms of progress, rationality, and maturity, and offer an alternate perspective on oppression in modern times. Well-known psychologist and social theorist Ashis Nandy stresses the importance of considering world views held by the "non-modern" cultures of the Third World in formulating a more humane and less technologically preoccupied vision of progress. Institutionalized oppression is seen as a process which co-opts the physical and psychological worlds of its victims and destroys the basis of all dissenting visions of a just world. Concluding with an essay on Gandhi and his critical reaction to Western civilization, this book is an important contribution to political science, sociology, psychology, and South Asian studies.