The Politics of Reproductive Ritual

"A highly controversial work. . . .But it will be recognized everywhere, I think, as the single most important work on the subject to date, the book with which any competing view must come to terms. It will attract wide attention, will give direction to any further research, and I guarantee that no one will forget it." --Morris Zelditch, Jr. "The 'political theory' of reproductive rituals presented by Paige and Paige rests on three insights that elevate their book above previous explanatory, cross-cultural studies; that ritual is a form of politics, that rituals can be explained only in terms of motives held by sponsors, not in terms of benefits accruing to such non-sponsors as youthful initiates, and that rituals are motivated by self-interest." --Science "With social scientists barely beginning to investigate reproductive beliefs and practices in the political and economic context of a developed society, the Paiges have opened the door to further examination of long-held views of circumcision, menstruation, pregnancy, and birth practices. Well worth reading." --Contemporary Psychology "This thought-provoking volume deserves to be required reading for anthropologists concerned with gender and its symbolic expressions." --Medical Anthropology Newsletter "This book is a dazzling achievement. . . .It has a deep vision that unites the basic politcal and economic concerns of a society with the central ceremonial and ritual concerns of its members, a vision that stays with the reader after having read the book. . . a vision akin to that offered by Marx and Weber. . . . Any scholar should be proud to accomplish in a lifetime what the Paiges have accomplished in this book." --Philip Brickman