Hierarchies of Choice

The social construction of rank in Jane Austen

Bibliographic Data

ID3028096
AuthorsR Handler (0000-0002-8742-9533, Lake Forest College), Daniel A Segal (University of Chicago)
Year1985
Volume12
Issue4
Pages691-706
Publication date1985-11-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Ethnologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-0496 • E-ISSN: 1548-1425
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/ae.1985.12.4.02a00060
OpenAlexW2124804193
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited11

This analysis of hierarchy in the world interpreted by Jane Austen focuses on cultural principles and actors' pragmatic use of them. Austen's most highly ranked individuals are those "naturally" most "independent": the male heads of landed families, who can make choices without deference to others. However, those who are independent have dependents-and depend on them to be able to express their own high status. Austen's novels exploit the irony of a hierarchy grounded in a concept (independence) that contains its own negation-since completely independent persons could have no connections to others. Moreover, the native understanding of rank as based on the unchanging, natural facts of birth and blood is belied by Austen's depiction of the performance of rank. Austen shows that relative status is not natural but is continually recreated through symbolic interactions. By focusing on the ongoing negotiation of status, Austen's novels suggest the ability of fictional narratives to illuminate political and social debates by exploring rather than ignoring cultural ambiguity and diversity. [ethnography and literature, social hierarchy, cultural pragmatics, exchange theory, 19th-century England

Aesthetics · Ambiguity · Deference · Depiction · Epistemology · Hierarchy · Irony · Linguistics · Narrative · Natural (archaeology · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Irish and British Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Scottish History and National Identity · Social Psychology

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