Good Gossip - Couverture souple

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 070060670X ISBN 13 : 9780700606702

Editeur : University Press of Kansas, 1994

Synopsis

As ubiquitous and influential as gossip is, it has been surprisingly downplayed as a topic of philosophical, psychological, and sociological investigation and debate.

In Good Gossip, twenty-two scholars from several disciplines turn a professional eye to that much-maligned yet heavily practiced form of conversation. Going beyond merely trying to explain a previously ignored human behavior, many of them argue that gossip has unexpected virtues. They show how it contributes to community cohesion and helps individuals better understand their own predicaments, problems, and personal idiosyncrasies in light of knowledge about the life experiences of others. Without gossip, the authors show, we would have no access to such knowledge.

Gossip also serves as a mode by which people resist and subvert power in a world that would otherwise seem overpowering. People gossip about the rich and famous in order to "cut them down to size," and informal gossip networks help overcome the depersonalizing tendencies of modern society.

Provocative and varied, this book looks at gossip from diverse angles by including essays on gossip and humor, logic, morality, privacy, legal and medical issues, feminism, history, rumors, and reputation. Although many of the authors conclude that gossip has a positive aspect that ought to be encouraged rather than prohibited, the collection as a whole does not constitute an unqualified vindication of gossip, but rather paves the way for future debate on this omnipresent pastime.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Robert F. Goodman is coauthor of Deadlock in School Desegregation and coeditor of Rethinking Knowledge and Values: Reflections Across the Disciplines.

Aaron Ben-Ze'ev is author of The Perceptual System: Philosophical and Psychological Considerations and Aristotle's On the Soul.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University Press of Kansas
• Date d'édition: 1994
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 070060670X
• ISBN 13: 9780700606702
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 224
• Éditeur: Goodman Robert F., Ben-Ze'ev Aaron
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible