The Protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism / Edition 1

by Rey Chow

Overview

In late-capitalist Western society, cross-ethnic cultural transactions are an inevitable daily routine. Yet, according to acclaimed cultural critic Rey Chow, the notion of ethnicity as it is currently used is theoretically ambivalent, confusing, indeed self-contradictory, straddling as it does an uneasy boundary between a universalist rhetoric of inclusion on the one hand, and actual, lived experiences of violence and intolerance on the other. To drastically reconceptualize ethnicity in the contemporary world, Chow proposes that it be examined in conjunction with Max Weber's famous theory about the Protestant work ethic and capitalism, which holds that secular belief in salvation often collaborates effectively with the interpellation, disciplining, and rewarding of subjects constituted by specific forms of labor. The charged figure that results from such a collaboration, resonant with the economic, psychological, and spiritual implications of the word "protest, " is what she refers to as the protestant ethnic.

Chow explores the vicissitudes of cross-ethnic representational politics in a diverse range of texts across multiple genres, including the writings of Georg Lukacs, Michel Foucault, Max Weber, Jacques Derrida, Fredric Jameson, Etienne Balibar, Charlotte Brontë, Garrett Hongo, John Yau, and Frantz Fanon; the films of Alfred Hitchcock, Marguerite Durgaas, and Alain Resnais; and the cartoon drawings of Larry Feign. Tracing out hauntingly familiar scenarios from stereotyping and coercive mimeticism to collective narcissistic abjection, the rise of white feminist racial power, and intraethnic ressentiment, Chow articulates a series of interlocking critical dialogues that challenge readers into hitherto unimagined ways of thinking about an urgent topic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231124218
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	10/02/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 6.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1710L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rey Chow is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Brown University. She is the author of many books, including Primitive Passions, which dealt with contemporary Chinese cinema and won the James Russell Lowell Prize, the most prestigious book award given by the Modern Language Association. She lives in Providence, RI.

Table of Contents

Introduction: From Biopower to Ethnic Difference
Chapter 1. The Protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Chapter 2. Brushes with the-Other-as-Face: Stereotyping and Cross-Ethnic Representation
Chapter 3. Keeping Them in Their Place: Coercive Mimeticism and Cross-Ethnic Representation
Chapter 4. The Secrets of Ethnic Abjection
Chapter 5. When Whiteness Feminizes... : Some Consequences of a Supplementary Logic
Postscript: Beyond Ethnic "Ressentiment"?

What People are Saying About This

Dorothy Ko

This book makes me laugh, cry, and think harder than any other. Never an inscrutable Chinese, far more than a protestant ethnic, and always ruthlessly honest, Rey Chow deserves a gold star for taking on the sacred cows of our academic and public lives. This disarming book should be read by all who are concerned with the future of human rights, liberalism, multiculturalism, identity politics, and feminism.

— Dorothy Ko, professor of history, Barnard College

Fredric Jameson

In this wide-ranging, theoretically rich, and provocative book, Rey Chow completely restructures the problem of ethnicity; all future discussions and debates will have to come to terms with it.

— Fredric Jameson, author of Postmodernism

Editorial Reviews

Chow's discussion of the concept of 'ethnicity' in a late-capitalist Western society presents a creatively refreshing perspective on the contradictions and conflicts of this taken-for-granted concept. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism... should challenge others who have long studied race and ethnic relations.

International Migration Review - Susan R. Takata

There is nothing consolatory...one is faced simply with the imperative to think harder and better about the problems that face back from the surface of the world.

Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews - Eric Hayot

Chow's critical vigilance results in a welcome and acute exposure of the invidious endorsements of racism that can characterize contemporary multiculturalism: tolerance, demeaning inclusion and tokenistic recognition... the book... illuminate[s] and enliven[s] ongoing debates.

Ethnic and Racial Studies - David Parker

Chow's critical vigilance results in a welcome and acute exposure of the invidious endorsements of racism that can characterize contemporary multiculturalism: tolerance, demeaning inclusion and tokenistic recognition... the book... illuminate[s] and enliven[s] ongoing debates.

— David Parker

Ethnic and Racial Studies

Chow's discussion of the concept of 'ethnicity' in a late-capitalist Western society presents a creatively refreshing perspective on the contradictions and conflicts of this taken-for-granted concept. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism... should challenge others who have long studied race and ethnic relations.

— Susan R. Takata

International Migration Review