Categories of Self

Drawing on anthropological, socio-psychological, religious, and philosophical material, this book engages in a discussion of what it means to be an individual in relation to notions of selfhood, personality, and social role. This theme is explored with reference to the investigations of Louis Dumont into Hindu and other Indian ideologies, and with regard to the dominant threads of Western individualism. Clarifying and at times building upon his analyses, the author follows Dumont in a consideration of Indian ideology (Hindu non-individualism, the dividual, social personhood); French ideology (sociopolitical individualism); German ideology (subjective individualism); and Western ideology (the Christian beginnings of individualism, political and economic individualism, the philosophical categorisation of self). While most commentators have tended to focus primarily on one aspect of Dumont's work either his views on Indian hierarchy or writings on modern individualism the author reveals considerable continuity throughout Dumonts entire oeuvre based around the notion of 'categories' and the concept of the 'individual. Dumonts intellectual background is explored with reference to the Durkheimian tradition, with Marcel Mauss being highlighted as the principal architect in his thinking. In particular, Dumonts interest in the category of the individual is shown to be an extension of Mausss concern with the category of the person. The distinctiveness of Dumonts structuralist approach is thrown into full relief through comparison with that of others acknowledging an intellectual dept to Mauss, namely, Claude Lvi-Strauss and Fernand Braudel. The book covers an assessment of general approaches to the study of individualism, with the relevant perspectives of other thinkers discussed and related to Dumonts approach as appropriate.