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Modernity, Tradition and Nuances of Class in Lesotho
Author(s) -
TURKON DAVID
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
city and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1548-744X
pISSN - 0893-0465
DOI - 10.1111/j.1548-744x.2009.01016.x
Subject(s) - ideology , modernization theory , sociology , modernity , ethnic group , consciousness , class consciousness , gender studies , cultural identity , identity (music) , social class , class (philosophy) , class formation , salient , politics , class analysis , social science , epistemology , political science , anthropology , aesthetics , law , negotiation , philosophy
Anthropological studies of identity commonly focus on culture, religion and ethnicity as bases for self identification and affiliation. This focus has come at the expense of broader foci such as class. Based on fieldwork in culturally homogeneous Lesotho, in this article I demonstrate how, in the wake of economic and political modernization, class consciousness has become a salient criteria for identity formation among Basotho in ways that are linguistically marked and culturally reconciled. Analyzing class consciousness provides a framework for understanding ways that urban, state, regional and global ideologies inform rural culture. Social scientists, especially anthropologists, should compliment post‐modern analysis of incommensurable social identities with class analysis, as a basis for analyzing the cross cultural effects of modernization in national as well as localized settings.