Summary

What is a Mediterranean Agro-town? On the Sense and Nonsense of Anthropological Dichotomies

Anthropological and sociological theories are often based on purpose-made dichotomies. A few years ago, Chris Jenks even published an entire book titled Core Sociological Dichotomies with a critical presentation of the principal types. This text aptly argued that, for better or for worse, for the past 150 years dichotomies have been a fundamental aspect of sociological and anthropological thought. This article iillustrates how dichotomies, aside from the risk of essentializing, i.e. of creating static constructs of reality, are useful if not indispensable for a social analysis and for the creation of theoretical conceptions in social and cultural sciences.