Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens: Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People
Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens: Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People
复制标题
民主雅典的大众和精英：言论、意识形态和人民的力量
DOI：
--
复制
发表时间：
1989
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Josiah Ober
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Josiah Ober
本书提出了一个经常被古代历史学家和政治学家忽视的重要问题：为什么雅典的民主制度能够运作得这么好，而且能持续那么久？约西亚·奥伯通过分析雅典政治的社会学以及精英与非精英公民之间沟通的本质来寻求答案。在对雅典“宪法”的发展进行了初步考察后，他重点讨论了政治和法律修辞的作用。作为陪审员和议员，雅典的公民群众保留了重要的权力，雅典的精英政治家和诉讼当事人需要以观众可以理解和接受的方式向这些庞大的普通公民群体发表讲话。本书探讨了精英演讲者所采用的修辞策略背后的社会策略。仔细阅读这些演讲，揭露了雅典流行意识形态中的平等主义和精英主义元素。奥伯证明，公共言论的词汇构成了一种民主话语，使雅典人能够解决政治平等理想与社会不平等现实之间的矛盾。他对古典雅典的领导力和政治权力进行了彻底的重新评估，恢复了第一个西方民主社会和意识形态背景的关键要素。
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.