Superb New Books
Brilliant new books helped me understand:
East Asian authoritarianism and resistance
Diversity between Muslim-majority countries
India’s stalled development
History as both structural shifts and story-telling
Eastern Europe’s authoritarian resurgence
Income inequality
US sexism
Religion
East Asian Authoritarianism & Resistance
Why is China so authoritarian? The two major theories are culture versus institutions.
In “The Rise and Fall of the East”, Yasheng Huang argues that the keju imperial examinations incentivised widespread rote learning of ancient Confucian texts. This suppressed scientific innovations and political dissent. Habituated to rule-following, Chinese people lack a culture of resistance. You might enjoy our podcast.
“Outsourcing Repression” takes a different tack. Rather than emphasise culture, Lynette Ong focuses on the CCP’s contemporary strategies. The CCP outsources repression to thugs and harnesses social networks for ideological persuasion. This includes groups with loudspeakers standing outside your house shaming you for defying development and selfishly refusing to move. These twin strategies enable the CCP to force massive evictions, without triggering unrest. Check out our podcast.
To me, China’s emergent feminist consciousness shows that Confucianism is being criticised. Chinese women are rejecting sexist traditions, decrying myriad abuses, and forging solidarity. Repression means that this is expressed sideways rather than upwards (against the state).
Now compare China and Korea. In both countries, imperial examinations instilled Confucian rote-learning. But Korea has since democratised. This culture of resistance has nurtured feminist activism.
“Flowers of Fire”. South Korea has the largest gender pay gap in the OECD. Large firms are overwhelmingly run by men, who harass with impunity. Alone and afraid, junior women felt powerless to shout back. Complaints are dismissed by male managers. Never seeing others speak out, inferring wider condemnation, victims remained silent. (I call this a “Despondency Trap”).
In this wonderful new book, Hawon Jung charts the emergence of Korea’s massive #MeToo movement. Fed up and frustrated, a few brave women came forward. Inspired and emboldened, Korean women have organised - testifying in public, sharing stories, publicly supporting each other. Decrying shame and stigma, they chorus “Not your fault”. Powerful men have been imprisoned for abuse.
“Violent Intimacy”. Patriarchal authoritarianism in China has given men total impunity to beat their wives. Tiantian Zhen shows that this goes back centuries, but has been turbo-charged by the CCP. Government data suggests 35% of Chinese women have been beaten. Strongly recommend; see my review.
Putting these two books together, we see that culture is not destiny. Patriarchy is enforced through institutions, but broken with feminist activism.
Islam and democracy
“Conquest and Rents”. Faisal Ahmed argues that the Islamic conquests had long run effects: compounding autocracy, undermining cohesion. These dictatorships are sustained by high rents, but falling rents trigger civil war. Muslim societies that were never conquered are far more cohesive (e.g. Indonesia).
It’s a clever argument: highlighting initial heterogeneity, tracing its long-run effects, as well as how this interacts with rises and declines in rents. Timur Kuran’s new book is much less persuasive. But
I’m not convinced that authoritarianism began with Muslim conquests. Ancient Egypt, the Sassanian empire and Byzantium were already authoritarian. Though I accept that military strength and bureaucratic technologies (like writing) enabled rulers to strengthen authoritarianism.
Ahmed focuses on rule by force (caliphs, rents and slave soldiers), but we might also consider how authoritarian institutions shaped culture. Muslim rulers leveraged authoritarianism to persecute minorities, institutionalise orthodoxy as well as patriarchy. See my review.
South Asia’s stalled development
“India is Broken” is an excellent diagnosis of its political and economic development. Ashoka Mody details how politics has merged with criminality. In Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath faces charges of criminal intimidation, attempted murder, and rioting. 45% of Yogi’s ministerial colleagues face serious criminal charges. Critics are bullied and violently silenced. In 2020, 50% of Tamil Nadu’s legislators had a pending serious criminal charge.
Rising electoral expenditure has fuelled corruption - argues Mody. Politicians then prioritise construction and mining franchises in rich forests, as these provide lucrative opportunities for self-enrichment. Safeguards and environmental protections are ignored. Although construction creates temporary jobs, it’s not enabling structural transformation. “In 2019, 12.5 million Indians applied for 35,000 jobs in the Indian railways. For each person who would eventually get a job, 350 would not”.
Since development is stalled, India remains 63% rural. Most women live in villages, beholden to close-knit networks that enforce ideals of status, seclusion and sacrifice. Since marriages are the lynchpin of the caste system, women are often socialised to please their in-laws and endure abuse.
What can be done?
Two brilliant new books emphasise the disruptive power of female solidarity.
“Capable Women, Incapable States”. While India has many progressive laws, these are rarely claimed or enforced. The over-burdened criminal justice system tends to dismiss female victims - unless they come with reinforcement. Strong, assertive brokers help women secure accountability by demanding state action - argues Poulami Roychowdhury. I’d add that since most women lack non-familial social capital, this mechanism remains rare. Read this book to become more pessimistic about state-protection.
“The Patriarchal Political Order”. In Madhya Pradesh, women vote but rarely attend village meetings. Men have greater political autonomy, political knowledge, collective efficacy, and social networks. Self-help groups (SHGs) and gender trainings are disruptive, however. Soledad Artiz Prillaman shows that when women build solidarity and recognise shared grievances, they assert their priorities.
This book is jam-packed with qualitative and quantitative data, so anyone interested in gender in India will definitely learn a great deal. Personally, however, I was not persuaded. As long as status beliefs persist, female power grabs will seem illegitimate. Challenging the patriarchal order provokes violent backlash. After gender trainings, women are more likely to be publicly humiliated by their husbands. Considering women’s lack of economic autonomy, rarity of help-seeking, and police disregard, one might be extremely cautious about triggering male anger.
History as structural shifts & story-telling
“Goodbye, Eastern Europe”. A wonderful cultural voyage of how structural shifts were experienced and remembered by diverse communities. What did people treasure? Who did they idolise? Mikanowski showcases the importance of story-telling, the myths that shape our outlook, and what people actually value. One of my favourite books of 2023: engrossing, enchanting, and hilarious. (Tyler Cowen liked it too, see their podcast).
Social scientists often neglect cultural production, but it is really cardinal - see my piece on East and South Asians’ ‘glorifying sacrifice’.
Eastern Europe’s Authoritarian Resurgence
“The Light that Failed”. After 1989, Eastern Europeans associated liberalism with freedom and justice. Elites were optimistic that their compatriots would Westernise. But liberalism’s legitimacy has waned with inequality, corruption and the crisis of 2008. Ideological persuasion has been equally important to the rise of illiberal authoritarianism in Poland and Hungary. Populists have fanned fears of immigrant threats and cultural loss.
This book raises a number of fascinating hypotheses, but does not always provide the requisite data. So the curious empiricist must simultaneously do a bit of hunting… On Eastern Europe, their theory seems valid. Where growth has been low, we see ‘zero sum mentalities’ and the economics of resentment, as well as the inverse of Acemoglu et al’s paper “(Successful) democracies breed their own support”. Where growth has been high (as in Poland), Confederation has just failed to secure an electoral majority.
“Putin vs. the People”. Greene and Robertson suggest the annexation of Crimea triggered a groundswell of national pride. Russians rallied for the flag. They saw Putin more positively, turned a blind-eye to corruption, and even became more economically optimistic. This motivated wider conformity and social policing. Capitalising on geopolitical glory and newfound loyalty, Putin then tightened the screws. (My review).
Income Inequality
“Power & Progress”. Innovations in Generative AI may be dazzling, but they aren’t improving productivity or prosperity. We need to rethink and restructure technology so that it actually benefits humans.
Acemoglu and Johnson also present a new theory of inequality. Rather than saying that elites monopolise opportunities (“Why Nations Fail”), or that social divisions inhibit collective resistance (“The Narrow Corridor”), they emphasise unquestioned acceptance and reverence for authorities. Daron is my great, kind and hilarious friend; we always have fun debates! I hope you enjoy our third podcast and transcript.
“Status”. Cecilia Ridgeway explains what determines status, the drivers of backlash, the persistence of racism, and why women are so nice. Status is elevated by:
Demonstrating competence at their shared goal
Membership of groups presumed competent (gender/race)
Associations with high-status people
Social policing ensures everyone kowtows and shows deference.
If a low-status person demands greater respect, this may trigger backlash since they are being uppity. At least half my Substacks reference her books. You may enjoy our podcast.
US Sexism
“Woman: The American History of an Idea” spans 400 years of patriarchy. Early Puritan leaders were determined to suppress women and assert their mastery. Troublesome women who challenged church strictures were punished, banished, and smeared. When Mary Oliver reproached church elders she was whipped and a cleft stick was put on her tongue. State papers perpetuated rumours that disobedient women gave birth to “monsters”. In 1672, the Massachusetts General Court passed a law that women who forgot womanly modesty were to be mortified in public by being “gagged or set in a ducking stool and door over the head and ears three times”. And that’s just the 17th century. It’s an engrossing read by Lillian Faderman.
I strongly recommend this book because it illustrates key mechanisms of patriarchy: male dominance of institutions, backed up by religious righteousness, and vilification of female dissidents.
Religion
“How Religion Evolved”. Human societies have innovated cultural mechanisms to promote large-scale social cohesion. Large communities can then co-exist peacefully, without resorting to homicides and being too anxious to reproduce. Mutual grooming, singing, feasting and the rituals of religion all support group bonding. Robin Dunbar (my jovial friend) and I recorded a fun podcast!
“Sacred Foundations”. Anna Grzymała-Busse argues that rivalry and emulation of the Church enabled European state-making. Medieval kings and popes were counterweights (unlike elsewhere in the world). Building on ecclesiastical innovations and competition, secular rulers collected taxes, improved record-keeping and cemented the rule of law. I hugely enjoyed our podcast.
“Unholy Catholic Ireland”. In the mid-20th century, Irish communities were pre-occupied with social respectability, public piety and sexual policing. In 1979, a whopping 37% of the population came to see the Pope. What explains subsequent cultural disruption? Prosperity has catalysed individualism and secularisation, while free media enables activists to denounce clergy as abusive hypocrites and campaign for the legalisation of abortion. I think the same mechanisms are true of Poland, where piety has likewise plummeted. Strongly recommend!
These books were published in the past year. Please see my website for a more comprehensive list of my favourite books on the global history of gender.
