Philosophers and social theorists since the Enlightenment have pondered how to define the principal locus for the construction of inequality in human society. In Constructing Inequality: The Fabrication of a Hierarchy of Virtue Among the Etoro , Raymond Kelly criticizes existing theories of social inequality in egalitarian societies by examining the Etoro of Papua New Guinea. Professor Kelly challenges anthropologists who focus on age and gender in their explanations of social inequality in Melanesian societies, arguing instead that inequality among the Etoro is based on moral evaluations.
Receiving critical acclaim, Constructing Inequality has been described as a “stupendous work of analysis, a model for future researchers, and a contribution to the discourse on gender inequality that will be cited and debated for some time to come,” as well as “the best thing written so far in the cultural anthropological debate over gender and inequality in simple societies.”
Raymond Kelly has long been considered the foremost authority on the Etoro of Papua New Guinea. His Etoro Social Structure: A Study in Structural Contradiction is the standard source for understanding the Etoro. He is also the author of The Nuer Conquest: The Structure and Development of an Expansionist System, which won the University of Michigan Press Book Award in 1986.
The University of Michigan is proud to present Raymond C. Kelly with the 1994 University of Michigan Press Book Award for Constructing Inequality: The Fabrication of a Hierarchy of Virtue Among the Etoro.
