Publisher's Synopsis
Gossip is a much maligned human activity. It has a reputation for being a trivial, if not down-right destructive, activity, a preoccupation of superficial, possibly malicious - and usually female - mentalities.;This book delves behind the myths and public attitudes about gossip to reconsider its nature and function in everyday life. It brings together evidence from a wide range of sources to demonstrate that gossip serves vital social functions for human communities and the individuals who dwell in them. Indeed, contends the author, it is the principal means for conducting the politics of everyday life. The unique human capacity for speech is the means by which all humans organize their social life, and revolutions in communication, technology and economy have done little to alter its central significance. The survival of communities of individuals is dependent upon making the best use of the human resoures it contains, particularly capacities for leadership. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that so much social exchange revolves around the promotion and appraisal of reputations.;But gossip is much more than the exchange of information about individual reputations. It is also the manipulation and control of opinion which, claims the author, explains why gossips are often stigmatized.;Historically, this reaction had served to exclude or handicap a large segment of the population, namely women, from effective entry into the political arena of society.
