Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens:Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People

基本信息

Format:Paperback / softback 408 pages

Publisher:Princeton University Press

Imprint:Princeton University Press

ISBN:9780691028644

Published:29 Jul 1991

Weight:602g

Dimensions:234 x 157 x 26 (mm)

頁面參數僅供參考，具體以實物為準

書籍簡介

本書提出了一個經常被古代歷史學家和政治學家忽視的重要問題。為什麼雅典的民主制度能夠運行得如此之好、如此之久？約西亞·奧伯通過分析雅典政治的社會學以及精英和非精英公民之間溝通的性質來尋求答案。在對雅典“憲法”的發展進行了初步調查後，他將重點放在政治和法律修辭的作用上。作為法學家和議員，雅典的公民羣眾保留了重要的權力，雅典的精英政治家和訴訟人需要用聽眾可以理解和接受的語言來對待這些龐大的普通公民羣體。本書探究了精英演講者採用的修辭策略背後的社會戰略。

對演講的仔細解讀暴露了雅典大眾意識形態中的平等主義和精英主義因素。奧伯表明，公共演講的詞彙構成了一種民主話語，使雅典人能夠解決政治平等的理想和社會不平等的現實之間的矛盾。他對古典雅典的領導力和政治權力進行了激進的重新評估，恢復了第一個西方民主國家的社會和意識形態背景的關鍵因素。

This book asks an important question often ignored by ancient historians and political scientists alike: Why did Athenian democracy work as well and for as long as it did? Josiah Ober seeks the answer by analyzing the sociology of Athenian politics and the nature of communication between elite and nonelite citizens. After a preliminary survey of the development of the Athenian “constitution,” he focuses on the role of political and legal rhetoric. As jurymen and Assemblymen, the citizen masses of Athens retained important powers, and elite Athenian politicians and litigants needed to address these large bodies of ordinary citizens in terms understandable and acceptable to the audience. This book probes the social strategies behind the rhetorical tactics employed by elite speakers.

A close reading of the speeches exposes both egalitarian and elitist elements in Athenian popular ideology. Ober demonstrates that the vocabulary of public speech constituted a democratic discourse that allowed the Athenians to resolve contradictions between the ideal of political equality and the reality of social inequality. His radical reevaluation of leadership and political power in classical Athens restores key elements of the social and ideological context of the first western democracy.

作者簡介

喬賽亞·奧伯是斯坦福大學的政治學和古典文學教授。他的書包括《民主與知識》、《民主雅典的政治異議》、《雅典革命》和《民主雅典的羣眾與精英》（均為普林斯頓大學）。

Josiah Ober is professor of political science and classics at Stanford University. His books include Democracy and Knowledge, Political Dissent in Democratic Athens, The Athenian Revolution, and Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens (all Princeton).