The popular notion that body language is merely a series of

unconscious signs which reveal a person s hidden [eelings is

[alse, says Dr. Albert Scheflen, a leading authority in the

science o[ kinesics. Through text and photographs in this

volume, Scheflen, with the assistance of Alice Scheflen,

shows that body language, combined with spoken language,

primarily serves to control human behavior and to maintain

the social order. The authar describes greeting, courting,

and other social behavior-which man displays in common

with the primates and other mammals-and analyzes how

territorial and dominance behavior determine the mobility

of individuals, and groups within the social hierarchy. In

such institutions as the government and corporations, body

language and related behavior are used for political control,

the indoctrination of people with institutional dogma, and

the maintenance of power by blaming individuals [or

problems which actually originate in the social order. The

effect of these communication controls, Dr. Scheflen reveals,

often places individuals and minority groups in inescapable

" binds," and, contrary to the desired result, creates stri[e

and deviancy which disrupt the social order.