NOTES
- Geertz does not cite page numbers. It takes considerable work to locate the
precise citation in Bentham’sThe Theory of Legislation. In the 2009 reprint the dis-
cussion of “deep play” is on pp. 130132. Geertz does summarize Bentham’s utili-
tarian argument. In essence, in the brief passage Bentham writes as if there is a
perfect correlation between “wealth” and “happiness.” A person who gambles one
fourth of his or her fortune is only likely to lose one fourth of their wealth. But any-
one who gambles all of her or his wealth risks losing all. High-stakes gambling is
therefore, according to Bentham, a “pathology.” Bentham did really not follow the
implications of the nonprogressive evolutionary ideas ofDarwin (1871, 1872, 2006)
butinstead made an argument about social change from lesser to better in the man-
ner ofDawkins (2012 [2011]). - Thornton himself does not examine the global, finance capitalist system. But
hisdiscussion of “The International Fight against Barbarism” and looking at his-
tory “sideways” influenced the way I examined the assumptions I myself was mak-
ing about Balinese agama as a “vestige” rather than a vibrant “postmodern” reality,
every bit as viable as any other religious belief system (e.g., contemporary Judaism). - Anyone who wants to teach about “thick description” by giving an actual
example would do well to have students attempt to read Jane Belo’s marvelous,
detailed work on one village odalan. - It is necessary to add “to some extent” for two reasons. When we really start
to analyze the mass of the birth of the Messiah we run into those people from other
faiths who do not believe that Joshua ben Joseph of Nazareth was indeed the
promised messiah, including almost all Jews and Muslims. But it is also true that
even those who think of themselves as nominally “Christian” may do so for purely
cultural reasons. They may not really think of the holiday rush of shopping and
buying as a “holy day.” The holiest Christmas rituals have to do with the notion of
“resurrection” at Easter. SeeMcKnight (1978)onnarrative hermeneutics. The
deeper, sophisticated “hermeneutic” analysis of theTanakhand the New Testament
are often not considered.
5.Brown (2003),an expert on Southeast Asia, has a chapter in this book on
commercial fishing in the Mississippi River Delta in the United States. He has
applied his knowledge of rural sociology to many different settings. - Blumer himself does not make a distinction between “social theory” and
“sociologicaltheory.” But Blumer’s impact has been largely restricted to the disci-
pline of sociology. He has had very little impact on anthropology or geography. He
also is not read, by and large, by culture studies scholars. The debate within
Symbolic Interactionism concerning whether or not Blumer successfully interprets
Mead has not made a dent on academic philosophy. Indeed, it is remarkable that
although Mead was an academic philosopher he is now largely ignored by philoso-
phers altogether. - If everyone who read Geertz on the cockfight also read Geertz’s other work
about Bali, particularlyNegara, and also read his work on Indonesia generally,
then some of the criticisms made here would to some extent be irrelevant. It is
partly the misleading impression created for students and academics by reading
the cockfight essay in isolation from the more “sociological” work that Geertz did
as well that has inspired this discussion. The Balinese cockfight is still a form of
110 J. I. (HANS) BAKKER