Feudal America

Vladimir Shlapentokh is Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University.Joshua Woods is Assistant Professor, Division of Sociology and Anthropology, at West Virginia University.

• ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments1.The Feudal Model in Social Analysis: From Medieval Europe to Contemporary America2.Feudal, Liberal, and Authoritarian Models as Tools for Analyzing the Middle Ages and Contemporary American Society3.Big Money and Corporations as Promoters of Feudal Tendencies4.The Feudal Model and the Organizational Level of Analysis5.Private Coercion: A Feudal Aspect of Contemporary American Society6.Personal Relations in American Politics and Business: A Feudal PhenomenonConclusionReferencesIndex

“Shlapentokh and Woods have not merely shed new light on American society, but have also contributed to an emerging way of theorizing. What they have done is analogous to what Impressionism did for art, showing that the same landscape might be revealed in different ways when viewed from multiple perspectives. And, like those of the Impressionists, their insights will challenge the status quo in sociological theory. In particular, they argue against the totalizing tendencies of most theorists. In place of an all-encompassing theory, they propose a ‘segmented’ neo-Weberian approach that is historically grounded but also self-limiting. Thus, the feudal model is proposed as one among several ideal types—other major types are authoritarian and liberal—that might fruitfully be used to interrogate American society.”—Lawrence Busch, Michigan State University and Lancaster University