Authority

Authority Construction and Corrosion

by Bruce Lincoln

University of Chicago Press, 1994
Cloth: 978-0-226-48197-5 | Paper: 978-0-226-48198-2 | Electronic: 978-0-226-68251-8
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226682518.001.0001

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ABOUT THIS BOOKAUTHOR BIOGRAPHYTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

What is authority? How is it constituted? How ought one understand the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) relations between authority and coercion? Between authorized and subversive speech? In this fascinating and intricate analysis, Bruce Lincoln argues that authority is not an entity but an effect. More precisely, it is an effect that depends for its power on the combination of the right speaker, the right speech, the right staging and props, the right time and place, and an audience historically and culturally conditioned to judge what is right in all these instances and to respond with trust, respect, and even reverence.

Employing a vast array of examples drawn from classical antiquity, 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 role of religion in the construction of authority; the question of whether authority in the modern and postmodern world differs from its premodern counterpart; and a critique of Hannah Arendt's claims that authority has disappeared from political life in the modern world. He does not find a diminution of authority or a fundamental change in the conditions that produce it. Rather, Lincoln finds modern authority splintered, expanded, and, in fact, multiplied as the mechanisms for its construction become more complex—and more expensive.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Bruce Lincoln is the Caroline E. Haskell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Religions in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, where he also holds positions in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and on the Committee on Medieval Studies, with affiliations in the Departments of Anthropology and Classics.

Acknowledgments

Buyers, Sellers, and Authorities

Authority and Authorities

Between Coercion and Persuasion

Authorized and Authorizing Objects, Times, and Places

Authorized Speech and Significant Silence

Conjunctions and Disruptions

The Homeric Assembly: Forms and Procedures

A Jointly Hosted Assembly

The Flight to the Ships

The Basest, Most Hated of Men

The Taming of the Scold

The Sweetness of Laughter

The Halt and the Lame

Silenced Speakers and Erased Traditions

Odysseus's Weapon and the Legitimacy of Kings

Power and Authority in the Making of Kings

Attempts at Prompting the Voice of the People

Strategic Maneuvers: Military and Political

Enlisting the Voice of the Gods

The Sixteenth Quindecemvir and the Asian King

Prophecies and Rumors

Things Said and Unsaid

Violence and the Voice of the Law

The Disputed Inheritance of Bjom Brynjolfsson

The Raw, the Cooked, and the Royal

In the Sacred Sphere of the Law

The Contested Marriage of Thora Lace-Sleeve

King, Queen, Knave

Toward the Fifth Voice

Epilogue

Challenges to Authority and Violent Ripostes

Attack and Counterattack: Authority and Its Corrosion

Not to Praise, but to Bury

Fire, Sword, and Invective

Crime and Punishment

The Tears of a Clown

Queens and Lovers

The Wise Woman and the Dummy

Dreams and Nightmares

Corrosive Discourses Again

Gods and Gold

Rape, Inspiration, and Effluvial Fumes

Gods, Oaths, Bluffs, and Curses

A Woman Speaks with Authority Regarding Its Disappearance

Right Speech and Speaker

Right Time and Place

And an Audience That Judges Just What Is "Right"

Stages and Stage Management

Shattered Eagles and Resourceful Monkeys

Other Peoples' Stages

Stages

A: Mailing from the "Hundredth Monkey" Project

B: Remarks by President Ronald Reagan at the National Association of Broadcasters' 70th Annual Convention, 13 April 1992

C: Interview with Rick Springer, "CBS This Morning," 17 April 1992

D: "The Hundredth Monkey Speaks": An Editorial from the Wall Street Journal, 21 April 1992

E: "Excuse Me, Mr. President": Excerpts from an Article by Rick Springer

F: United States vs. Springer: Excerpt from the Federal Court Record

Notes

Index