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Culture and Conflict in the Middle East Hardcover – February 27, 2008

by Philip Carl Salzman (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 27 ratings
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In an era of increasing interaction between the United States and the countries of the Middle East, it has become ever more important for Americans to understand the social forces that shape Middle Eastern cultures. Based on years of his own field research and the ethnographic reports of other scholars, anthropologist Philip Carl Salzman presents an incisive analysis of Middle Eastern culture that goes a long way toward explaining the gulf between Western and Middle Eastern cultural perspectives.Salzman focuses on two basic principles of tribal organization that have become central principles of Middle Eastern life―balanced opposition (each group of whatever size and scope is opposed by a group of equal size and scope) and affiliation solidarity (always support those closer against those more distant). On the positive side, these pervasive structural principles support a decentralized social and political system based upon individual independence, autonomy, liberty, equality, and responsibility. But on the negative side, Salzman notes a pattern of contingent partisan loyalties, which results in an inbred orientation favoring particularism: an attitude of my tribe against the other tribe, my ethnic group against the different ethnic group, my religious community against another religious community. For each affiliation, there is always an enemy.Salzman argues that the particularism of Middle Eastern culture precludes universalism, rule of law, and constitutionalism, which all involve the measuring of actions against general criteria, irrespective of the affiliation of the particular actors. The result of this relentless partisan framework of thought has been the apparently unending conflict, both internal and external, that characterizes the modern Middle East.
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  1. Print length
    224 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Humanities Press
  4. Publication date
    February 27, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    6.34 x 0.89 x 9.3 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1591025877
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1591025870
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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"...argues that the confrontation that has erupted across the globe may have as many Arab as Islamic roots. Culture and Conflict in the Middle East defines the patterns intrinsic to Arab culture and shows how they shape behavior in ordinary daily interactions in the region as well as in broad-based political confrontations. This lucidly written study should be on the reading list of every introductory course on the Middle East. Salzman's book blends fascinating case studies with a deep understanding of how culture functions across time and space in the Middle East." -- Donna Robinson Divine, Morningstar Family Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Government, Smith College, author of Women Living Change and Politics and Society in Ottoman Palestine

"Salzman, an anthropologist, has peered deeply into the social structure of Middle Eastern societies to develop an original, powerful, and persuasive theory about the reluctance of peoples from that region to accept modern ways. In a nutshell, he points out that they overwhelmingly divide into tribal members or the subjects of despotism; they are not citizens. The insights are deep and the implications plentiful. It's one the handful of most important books I've read during nearly four decades of studying the Middle East." -- Daniel Pipes -- Director, Middle East Forum

About the Author

Philip Carl Salzman (Montreal, Canada) is professor of anthropology at McGill University; the founding chair of the Commission on Nomadic Peoples of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences; the founding editor of Nomadic Peoples; and the author of Black Tents of Baluchistan; Pastoralism: Equality, Hierarchy, and the State; Thinking Anthropologically; and Understanding Culture.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Humanities Press; Illustrated edition (February 27, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1591025877
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1591025870
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.08 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.34 x 0.89 x 9.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 27 ratings

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Philip Carl Salzman

Philip Carl Salzman

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Philip Carl Salzman, B.A. (Antioch), M.A., Ph.D. (Chicago)

Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, McGill University (1968-present)

Houtan Senior Visiting Fellow, University of St. Andrews, Scotland (2010)

Erasmus Mundus International Fellow, University of Catania, Sicily (2012)

Open Society Academic Fellowship Program International Scholar, American University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan (2011-2012)

Visiting Professor, China Studies Centre, University of Sydney (2013):

As a sociocultural anthropologist, I had the good fortune to carry out ethnographic field research for 27 months among nomadic tribes and settled cultivators in Iranian Baluchistan during the period 1967-76. My findings have been reported in Black Tents of Baluchistan (Smithsonian, 2000; winner of the Premio internazionale Pitré-Salomone Marino), and have contributed to a more general treatment of pastoral nomads and tribes, discussed in Pastoralists: Equality, Hierarchy, and the State (Westview, 2004). My interests in nomadic peoples led me to organize the Commission on Nomadic Peoples of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, and to found the international journal, Nomadic Peoples (currently published by Berghahn), for which the IUAES granted me their "Gold Award."

Drawing on my appreciation of tribal organization, I have tried in Culture and Conflict in the Middle East (Humanity, 2008) to explain what appear to be structural problems underlying the seemingly endless conflicts and counterproductive movements in the contemporary Middle East. At the same time, in Postcolonial Theory and the Arab-Israel Conflict, P. C. Salzman and D. R. Divine, eds. (Routledge, 2008), my collaborators and I have tried to demonstrate that alternative, postcolonial explanations of current problems in the Middle East are ill-conceived and unfounded. For this and other related work, in 2009 Scholars for Peace in the Middle East honored me with their Presidential Award.

Complementing my study of tribes with field research among peasants, I carried out ethnographic field research among pastoralists in Gujarat and Rajasthan (1985) and, leading a team of researchers, among shepherds and others in highland Sardinian communities (1990-95), the latter reported in The Anthropology of Real Life: Events in Human Experience (1999).

My current research on the compatibility of ultimate value objectives focuses on freedom and equality, and the ways in which these are reconciled or balanced in societies around the world, among tribes, peasants, farmers, and urbanites.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
27 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars This book explains a lot
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2023
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What is demonstrated in this book should be more widely known. This is the real Middle East and not an idealized one.
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Stephanie Weinert
5.0 out of 5 stars 100% Accurate
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2008
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Dr. Salzman has hit a home run with this book. I have spent a number of years in the Middle East and have dealt with virtually every segment of the population there, from nomads to farmers to businessmen to politicians, engineers, doctors, women, soldiers, and even insurgents. What I saw while I was there coincides completely with the information contained in this work. Not only does he draw from personal experience, Dr. Salzman also pulls from expert research in the field of Middle Eastern Studies to weave a masterpiece.

Be advised: Dr. Salzman does not pull his punches regarding the shortcomings of Middle Eastern culture. While much of what he writes may be difficult for some to swallow, it is true. Other reviewers may fault him for not conducting a similar review of Western culture, but please note the title; this is a survey of Middle Eastern culture, not Western culture or even culture in general. There are many similarities among cultures across the world, but each culture stresses certain qualities and attributes differently, and Dr. Salzman's expertise in the field of Middle Eastern culture enables him to make an excellent analysis of its particular strengths and weaknesses. Those who take issue with his work will do so along emotional lines because his writing is not "polite" or flattering. When any culture is exposed to the harsh light of educated analysis, the warts will show; Middle Eastern culture is no different from any other in that respect.

In conclusion, for any potential reader, I would like to make this comment. If Dr. Salzman had published this work in 2001, and every American and Allied officer had been required to read this before the invasion of Iraq, the current Iraqi conflict would have ended 3-4 years ago. This book is that accurate, powerful, and insightful. Everyone who has any contact with the Middle East should read it, or ignore it at their own peril.
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dune cruiser
5.0 out of 5 stars very insightful and revealing
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2010
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there is not a lot i can say about this book, apart from it is a ground breaking, extremely insightful discussion on the tribal mind that still largely determines middle eastern thought patterns

sometimes verging on antagonism towards his subject, especially when he discusses the aspects of tribalism that had found their way into islam (which part i believe is a bit out of proportion and reactionary), mr salzman gradually builds up his thesis about what he calls 'balanced opposition' as the prevalent ideology of the middle east. his writing, occasionally rambling, occasionally winding, is a powerful piece of rigorous scientific enquiry into the middle eastern mind

the book needs some reflection, though, as it focusses on the 'big picture' rather than on minute detail

a true masterpiece, it should be on the bookshelf on everyone who cares about middle eastern affairs, either as a scientist, or as a traveller, or as an ideologist, or in any other capacity. also a very timely and accessible addition to literature about the middle east, and, generally, an enjoyable read
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RD_C_4_life
3.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book, Spoiled
Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2008
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Salzman's book gets an qualified good review from me; I think he has made a strong case for his analysis of a very unfortunate dynamic of Arab tribal culture. I suspect that the positioning in time and space of this culture at this time presents dangers which may be heightened more by the time and place than by supposing inherent and unique faults within that culture. That, while it is strictly an academic and logical objection, is nevertheless a key objection that Salzman appears to have "set aside." It is up to the individual reader to decide if this was done in order to "narrow the scope" or to "ignore inconvenient aspects of the truth." This reader feels that it is narrowing the scope; but I am not at all certain that at least a nod to general tribal structures in an anthropological sense might have helped Salzman to more clearly define the target tribal culture.

That said, there are a couple of other ringers: one is Islam and the other is oil. It would be consistent with Salzman's reasoning to say that any threat posed by pan-Islamism is a threat also of pan-Arabism. I will not bother to address the well-known role of oil beyond referring back to Salzman's own comments in the book, which were brief, but adequate.

I will note here that, despite Salzman's preemptive defense against us namby-pamby liberals who refuse to hold the west blameless in the conflict with Islamist Arabs, pan-Islamism would hardly exist today, in the virulent form it has taken, had it not been for the unfortunate CIA covert war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. That event literally forged today's steroidal pan-Islamism. It created its cast of characters, its weapons, its methods, and its propaganda in order to appeal to the the broader Muslim world to come help Charlie Wilson win his war of vengeance against the Soviets by arming and training Islamic hardliners. So, it isn't that would-be critics say, "Oh, the poor Arabs..." That is NOT what we're saying. We are saying, "Oh, the incredibly stupid, self-serving, revenge-seeking CIA meddlers we so recklessly and unconscionably turned loose on Afghanistan."

That much responsibility is clearly undeniable. The west has had a huge hand, in specific ways, in facilitating the current mess in the middle east. Sneering at imaginary liberals with imaginary tears cannot refute that. Obviously, Afghanistan is only one example of many, including the example now unfolding, or decomposing, in Iraq.

Someone, however, has inflamed the region, and I think I know who one of them is. He and the others bear some responsibility for the state of the middle east, a responsibility they have --typically and as per their habitual method -- giddily ignored.

Conservatives -- and Mr. Salzman -- love to say such things as, "Oh, those liberals who are wringing their hands and weeping over Arabs, do not understand the threat." It's a logical fallacy to begin with -- it is, in fact, a form of begging the question, because it actually presupposes, via invention, what reasonable liberal critics actually are not saying. It sets up straw men with little more purpose than to provide Salzman the relief of an occasional sneer.

I am a liberal critic of Bush and AIPAC policies and aims, and I do not wring my hands or tear up over Arabs, and I resent the characterization. I have a head on my shoulders, I do some reading, and I am perfectly capable of cold analysis. Some strains of that cold analysis point to a substantial element of Western responsibility, earned intentionally or by mere bungling, for the current middle east crisis. I don't blame Bush for Arab culture, nor do I blame him for the Arab's tribal system -- I do blame him and his crowd simply for failing to understand the culture and then recklessly meddling in it, anyway.

Despite that, the book is a tremendous contribution because of its central analysis of Arab tribal culture, its nature, its structure, and its challenge. The ideological taint this work bears is distinct, but it does not represent all that the book has to offer. Without this awareness of the structure of Arab society, one would be a fool to undertake any serious enterprise involving them without understanding that culture. Clearly, fools have been in charge of the program now, and for eight years.

In his final chapter, "Root Causes," Salzman resumes putting words into the mouths of straw men -- "cultural relativists" and "multiculturalists" -- and then sniping at them on the basis of his own, quite obvious, overgeneralizations. As I understand cultural relativism, it is a method or school of anthropology that discerns and observes cultural values without advocating them for anyone inside or outside of that culture . I believe the idea, from Levi-Strauss on, is the observation that what is "good" and "bad" will vary from culture to culture, and that, as scientists, the job of the anthropologist is not to judge, but to describe and account for existing cultural values. The assessment of what is good and what is bad is clearly relative from culture to culture. The right loves to view any sort of relativism as virtual capitulation to evil. I would venture to say that cultural absolutism is the real danger here, and the real culprit, precisely as it is advocated and practiced by al-Qaeda, as well as by the current incompetent, incumbent Executive branch of the United States.

The example of western meddling in Afghanistan, as a response to the Russian occupation, is enough to refute any implication that the west has had no hand in shaping the situation in Afghanistan, Iran, and now Iraq, as well as in the rest of the middle east and the world. "Post-colonialists," in pointing out that post-colonial problems have been exacerbated by historical acts by the former colonists, are not saying that colonialism is uniquely responsible for conflicts across Africa and the middle east. Perhaps some of these post-colonialists or cultural relativists do assert such things, but others may be more objective and comprehensive than that. The colonial formation of nations without regard to religion or tribal affiliation has had demonstrable, and disastrous, effects in previously colonized, artificial nations.

It is plainly not helpful to pretend that "multiculturalists" and "post-colonialists" ascribe post-colonial problems solely to the over-arching fact of western interference. By doing so, Mr. Salzman is indulging in bad faith in order to make his case. Is it not within reason to blame the west for the fall of Iran to Islamic conservatives? We overthrew their democratically elected government and replaced it with a king, for one thing. Twenty-six years later, we reaped the whirl-wind resulting from yet another CIA-created danger.

Is it not the case that society itself has created these "special groups" -- whether they be blacks, gays, Indians, immigrants, or women, simply by not extending to them, now or in the past, the same rights as the rest of the society? Perhaps there have been excesses in affirmative action and related programs -- but the way these "special groups" became "special" in the first place has been through official denial of their individual rights (the right to vote; the right to access public facilities; the right to marry the person they consider their mate, and so on) based on the group to whom they belong.

It is entirely hysterical to say that we in the west are "jettisoning...individualist traditions and universalistic standards, and granting collective rights and special privileges to particular groups and categories, justified in terms of multiculturalism." I would say that the right of gays to the benefits of legal marriage, the right of women to equal pay for equal work, the rights of the disabled or disadvantaged is due some consideration. Whatever "privileges" Mr. Salzman thinks are unjust are, in fact, positive aspects of those very "principles of individualism and universalism" that we in the west like to extend to those who have every right to be included within the scope of those principles. To say that the west is "jettisoning...universalistic and individualistic standards" is, I assert, an insupportable statement that flies in the face of the facts. It is both "universalistic" and "individualistic" to extend to groups who have been unjustly denied those universal and individual rights that society in general is pleased to enjoy. Frankly, I would love to learn from Mr. Salzman precisely what "groups" he claims are being favored by this imaginary "jettisoning."

Mr. Salzman has done a great job in describing a tribal social structure that remains static, refusing to adapt to or accept other cultural values or the rights of groups within the culture (women, non-believers, gays, etc.) -- a culture where change, tolerance, and a healthy regard for the indivdual's rights, the cultures and the religious views of others simply do not exist. But he then turns around and slams "cultural relativists" or "multiculturalists" for advocating redress of the inequality, oppression, and discriminatory treatment through which precisely the same groups have been disadvantaged in western society! He specifies no particular relativists or multiculturalists, so no response is possible from them, whoever they may be. He faults them only by means of his own characterization of them. (I cannot believe that he is unaware of the full range of opposing ideas. I do believe that he deliberately fails to address what other scholars or observers have actually written or said -- representing them only within a "narrowed scope" which is, in fact, too narrow.)

I am always disheartened when I read authors who understand logical thinking and scientific method and who possess the intellectual acumen to recognize reasonable, alternative views, but who nevertheless treat any opposing analyses as selectively and partially as possible, in order to make their own political points. Mr. Salzman's joy in knocking down straw dogs and his willingness to leave relevant factors out of his argument is, I think, a serious flaw in the book. "Narrowing the scope" of an argument is one thing -- narrowing the scope so much as not to fairly represent the full range of instances is simply unscholarly and in bad faith.

One can only wish that someone in the American Enterprise Institute, "scholars" that they (erroneously) claim to be, would have made themselves cognizant of Arab culture before doing the wrong thing, as opposed to the other way around. Or perhaps those "scholarly" meddlers and partisans that haunt that particular "institute" actually wanted a long-term quaqmire in Iraq, to gratify their corporate and foreign sponsors.

Salzman's book is a "good book spoiled," I believe, by an unscholarly and insupportable western absolutism -- every bit as admantine and stubborn as "balanced opposition."
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5.0 out of 5 stars Bold and brave. I wonder if 2020 would have seen such book being published
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2020
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I can say I know about Islam more than average westerner and never was naive about it (or other religions, being myself proud secularist and worshipping purity and clarity of human mind). Book opened for me culture of tribal societies in its balanced opposition, kinship, warrior culture, honor concept and attitudes towards authority of the state in meaningful depth. Knowing these important aspects of Middle East advances one’s understanding of its modern events. Also stories about biblical patriarchs come to be more colorful if one truly understands what a tribe stands for.
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SF
5.0 out of 5 stars A different perspective.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2021
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I highly recommend this book; Middle East problems of tule of law and democracy are far deeper than just having elections every now and then or sparkling moments of Arab Spring.
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observer100
5.0 out of 5 stars A highly valuable source on a culture which is hard for Westerners to understand.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 23, 2009
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The Product Description is accurate. Approaced from a Western perspective, the Middle East can appear maddeningly hard to understand. But Middle Easterners are no more irrational than we are; they live under different circumstances under which we would behave as they do. Salzman's book illuminates a central and dominant aspect responsible for much mutual failure of understanding. I would regard this short book as essential reading for any Westerner who wants to understand the Middle East and its people.
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