Sociality against the state: the anthropology of Pierre Clastres

摘要

Clastres ‘de-substantializes’ the state, which is not ‘the Elysium, the White House,the Kremlin,’ but ‘an actualization of a relation of power.’ There is no reason, therefore, tobelieve that, in a Durkheimian mood, he has reified society. Even though he makes no use ofthe concept, I believe there is already a concept of ‘sociality’ at work in Clastres: hence, theidea of sociality against the state. In the three sections of this study, I show the role played by‘society,’ the ‘state’ and ‘against’ in Clastres’s writings. In this way, I aim to demonstrate thathis ethnography is filled with indications about how to deal with some of the continuingdilemmas of anthropology, such as: how can we avoid methodological individualism withoutbecoming spellbound by a transcendental holism or vice-versa? How can we erect models ofintentionality without a subject? How can we conceive of social relations without a society?And finally, how does the ‘objectivity’ of sociality work through the ‘subjectivity’ of personsin-interaction?