Research Catalog

Title

Grovelling and other vices : The sociology of sycophancy / Alphons Silbermann ; translated by Ladislaus Löb.

Author

Silbermann, Alphons.

Publication

New Brunswick, NJ : Athlone Press, 2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

x, 184 pages : illustrations; 23 cm

Summary

• "Grovelling receives its first sociological treatment in this widely acclaimed work by the eminent German sociologist, Alphons Silbermann. According to Silbermann, grovelling, or arse-licking, is not a character trait but a model for action. It operates at the very centre of social mechanisms; and it is a process upon which any attempt to understand human arrangement must focus.".
• "Furthermore, from analysing the arts of grovelling, sycophancy, duplicity and obsequiousness, we learn much about society, its ways of lies and flattery, cunning and deception, hypocrisy and baseness, false adulation and deliberate self-degradation. The author explains the purpose of grovelling and what you can do to protect yourself from it, and the methods of taking and avoiding the groveller's role."--BOOK JACKET.

Uniform Title

Von der Kunst der Arschkriecherei. English

Alternative Title

Von der Kunst der Arschkriecherei.

Subjects

• Arts and society
• Power (Social sciences)
• Symbolism in art
• Manipulative behavior
• Allegories
• Toadyism

Note

• Includes index.

Contents

I. Setting the Mood: Knigge, 'On Social Intercourse' -- II. Concepts: The gentleman is kindly requested to kiss Satan's backside -- III. Virtue and Vice: Human, All-too-Human -- IV. Purposive Ideology: Neither good nor evil -- V. Opportunism: When to submit -- VI. Interlude; Not a question of character -- VII. Lies, Hypocrisy, Flattery: the basics of deception -- VIII. Intrigue and Perfidy: Secret machinations -- IX. Love: Mightier than man -- X. Family Life: The gateway to happiness -- XI. Education, Louts and the Permissive Society: We only want what is best for you -- XII. Adaptation: Avoidance of conflict, voluntary and enforced -- XIII. Guilt-Shedding: Of perpetrators and victims.

ISBN

0485115441 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

99037793

OCLC

• ocm41662605
• SCSB-3884743

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries