{"product_id":"the-wild-west-the-mythical-cowboy-and-social-theory","title":"The Wild West: The Mythical Cowboy and Social Theory","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this ingenious new book  Wright offers an introduction to the theory of capitalist market individualism  from social contract theory via Adam Smith  Marx and Weber all the way to Keynes  by analyzing its projections in the myths of the frontier and the Western. The comparison is most illuminating  both for the reality and its ideology. Wrights valuable filmographies make this an excellent teaching instrument  Professor Fredric Jameson  Duke University  Durham  North Carolina \"To begin with  The Wild West is a lucid introduction to social and political theory  a book Id recommend to any student. But then it is also a witty meditation on the continuing power of Wild West mythology. Wright reverses the usual argument: he doesnt use sociology to explain the cowboy but  brilliantly  uses the cowboy to explain sociology. And  in the end  this is really a book about the USA  showing why a country rooted in European thought is so peculiar for Europeans  in its violence and its heroism  its destructiveness and optimism  in its racism and generosity\"  Professor Simon Frith  University of Strathclyde  Glasgow  U.K. This book  written by the author of the celebrated volume Six Guns and Society  explains why the myth of the Wild West is popular around the world. It shows how the cultural icon of the Wild West speaks to deep desires of individualism and liberty and offers a vision of social contract theory in which a free and equal individual (the cowboy) emerges from the state of nature (the wilderness) to build a civil society (the frontier community). The metaphor of the Wild West retained a commitment to some limited government (law and order) but rejected the notion of the fully codified state as too oppressive (the corrupt sheriff). Compelling and magnificently suggestive  the book unpacks one of the core icons of our time. It is a unique discussion of market and social theory using cultural myth. Will Wright fully explores how issues of individualism  freedom and inequality in the myth of the Wild West connect up with questions of white  male superiority and environmental degradation\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44963277570101,"sku":"ByrdShop_0761952330","price":49.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780761952336.jpg?v=1770410494","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-wild-west-the-mythical-cowboy-and-social-theory","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}