Symbolizing America Varenne Paperback John Wiley & Sons 9780803296039

Symbolizing AmericaAuthor(s): Herve Varenne\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: University of Nebraska Press, United States\nImprint: University of Nebraska Press\nISBN-13: 9780803296039, 978-0803296039\nSynopsis\nAnthropologists since Franz Boas and Margaret Mead have traditionally gone off to study \""primitive\"" cultures. This collection of original essays breaks new ground in showing how anthropological theories and techniques can be applied to the culture of contemporary middle-class Americans.\n\nIn Symbolizing America, ten well-known anthropologists pursue self and identity as cultural rather than psychological matters. Looking homeward, they ask \""What Is American about America?\"" \""How do we know?\"" and \""What difference does it make?\"" They analyze such aspects of American culture as advertising, mass-audience movies, patriotic and ethnic parades, church minutes, college parties, greetings, and the dilemmas of adolescent sexuality. Concerned with familiar interactions, they arriv.