James D. Faubion is a professor in the department of anthropology at Rice University.

Part One Cultured Bodies, 1. Structures, Habitus, Practices,, 2. Gender and Identity in the New Guinea Highlands, 3· Discipline, Part Two Matters and Ideas, 4· Politics Unbound,, 5· Progress Exposed as Fate?, 6. Modernity and the Planes of Historicity, 7· The Totalitarian Disease,, 8. Individualism and the Ideology of Romantic Love, 9· The Contemporary Codification of Intimacy, Part Three Acts and Reasons, 10. Communicative Versus Subject-Centered Reason, 11. The Contemporary Pragmatics of Scientific Knowledge, Part Four Economies and Societies, 12. Post-Industrial Classes, 13. On Consumer Society

This book traces the lineaments of a still inchoate intellectual movement, of which the anthology's contributors are the vanguard. It is concerned with the nature and modalities of power and legitimacy in society, and deals with the nature and modalities of the "self" or "subject."