Download or read book Authority written by Bruce Lincoln and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Employing examples drawn from classical antiquity, medieval Scandinavian law, Cold War scholarship, and American presidential politics, Lincoln offers a telling analysis of the performance of authority, and subversions of it, from ancient times to the present. Using a small set of case studies that highlight critical moments in the construction of authority, he goes on to offer a general examination of "corrosive" discourses such as gossip, rumor, and curses; the problematic situation of women, who often are barred from the authorizing sphere; the changing role of religion in the construction of authority; the question of whether authority in the modern and postmodern world differs from its pre-modern counterpart; and a critique of Hannah Arendt's claims that authority has disappeared from political life in the modern world.