Oriental Despotism

Karl August Wittfogel (6 September 1896, in Woltersdorf, Germany – 25 May 1988, in New York, USA) was a German-American playwright, historian, and sinologist. Originally a Marxist and an active member of the Communist Party of Germany, after the Second World War Wittfogel was an equally fierce Anticommunist.

出版者:Yale University Press

作者:Karl A. Wittfogel

页数:556

出版时间:1957-12

价格:GBP 47.00

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780300010541

图书标签:魏特夫治水社会历史政治学近代史英文东亚sociology

Starting from a Marxist analysis of the ideas of Max Weber on China and India's "hydraulic-bureaucratic official-state" and building on Marx's sceptical view of the Asiatic Mode of Production, Wittfogel came up with an analysis of Oriental despotism which emphasized the role of irrigation works, the bureaucratic structures needed to maintain them and the impact that these had on society, coining the term "hydraulic empire" to describe the system. In his view, many societies, mainly in Asia, relied heavily on the building of large-scale irrigation works. To do this, the state had to organize forced labor from the population at large. As only a centralized administration could organize the building and maintenance of large-scale systems of irrigation, the need for such systems made bureaucratic despotism inevitable in Oriental lands. This structure was uniquely placed to also crush civil society and any other force capable of mobilizing against the state. Such a state would inevitably be despotic, powerful, stable and wealthy. Wittfogel's anticommunism led in "Oriental Despotism" to extend the hydraulic hypothesis to Russia, where it hardly is applicable.

读后感

最近写论文需要，看了这本书。水治社会的说法虽然站不住脚，但分析的角度还是很独特的，不失为比较东西方政治制度起源的一个因素~  

在任不寐的 灾变论中的 绪论有关于魏特夫治水社会的评论 各位可以参考下。 历史决定论是一种很简单粗暴的理论 书中各种低级的错误显示出那个时代的背景 这本书没有再版的必要了  

在任不寐的 灾变论中的 绪论有关于魏特夫治水社会的评论 各位可以参考下。 历史决定论是一种很简单粗暴的理论 书中各种低级的错误显示出那个时代的背景 这本书没有再版的必要了  

单是目录里的观点，就已经够一针见血了~ 01、治水专制主义，国家比社会强有力 02、治水国家国家权力贪得无厌 03、治水国家，私人财产是软弱的财产，被国家通过财政、司法、法律和政治措施进行了限制。 04、治水政权使国家中占优势地位的宗教附属于它。 05、专制权力——极...