Book Reviews

The Western Isles Today by Judith Ennew. Pp. I2O, Cambridge Uni-
versity Press,Cambridge, 1980. Price: £8.95.
In the prologue to this book Judith Ennew states that she is attempdng 'to
describe the Western Isles as an integral part of the United Kingdom, rather
than as an isolated tradidonal Community' (p. xiv). In that sense this is
another in a series of recent works which approach remote or rural regions of
Britain from the standpoint of implicit or explicit cridcism of any notion of a
rural-urban or tradidonal-modern dichotomy. Similarly Ennew dismisses the
idea of engaging in a community study because of the confusions that 'result
from tr>'ing to demarcate Community as a concrete entity or a representative
sample' (p. 2). The approach seems to square fairly closely with works of Ian
Carter and Howard Newby in Britain, and a host of 'cridcal perspecdves' in
rural sociology recendy appearing in the States. But there, in many ways, the
similarides must end, for the book gives us little of the medculous use of
interview surveys, agricultural censuses and parliamentary^ papers that one
would expect in a study in sociology. Rather the method is, appropriately for a
department of Social Anthropology, unashamedly ethnographic. When official
reports are used they are well spiced with 'local' histories and comment.
However there is no pretence that such sources can be left to speak endrely
for themselves. For example after a rich, but essendally descripdve, secdon on
the development of the fishing and Harris tweed industries in the island we
are boldly informed that 'there is no evidence of a stadc tradidon. Both in-
dustries have a dynamic history determined pardy by State intervendon and
partly by the influence of external capitalist agencies' (p. 46), If one can be
cridcal of the theoretical perspecdve adopted in the book it must be that
'capitalism' and the 'State' are never fully defined. It seems strange that the
notion of 'community'' should be subject to a powerful critical de-bunking, but
that the 'State' which appears in its place as a key element in the conceptual
framework should appear in unproblematic guise certainly until the final
epilot?ue.
Inspite of that, the book is a success. Any theoredcal inadequacies are
minor compared to the strength of an approach which in a short space
manages to provide a graphic descripdon of the crofdng and local economy,
local polides, and cultural, family and religious changes in the Isles. Pardcul-
arly fascinating are the secdons on religious life. The study concentrates on
Protestant Lewis rather than Roman Catholic Barra, and gives an account, not
only of the characterisdcs of a puritanical, evangelical Clirisdanitv', but also
its integration and embeddedness in economic and polidcal Ufe. What is re-
freshing here is that the 'religious' is not reduced to a cultural form determined
by econon-iics. The Ur\ks are explored but in an open-ended way. It is perhaps
a function of the ethnographic method that 'agents' are seen as people and
are treated with sympathy and respect. For example: 'one factor often
ignored by cridcs of the puritan faith in Lewis is the piety with which
religious tenets are observed and held. This is as important as the much
discussed 'hypocrisy' (p. 68).
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 Book Reviews
It is in that context that the debates on the Sabbath, the influence of
puritan thought in local politics and the problem of alcoholism are discussed.
Another area which is explored is the history of politics in the isles, and in
particular the recent development of the Scottish National Party as the
alternative to the Labour Party as the apparently 'natural' party of local
leadership. This is linked to a decline in class-based politics tvithin the
islands, and the growth of feelings of ^deprivation' or even 'proletarianization'
of the entire island population in its relations with the national State. The
idea is an attractive, and of course not entirely new, explanation of the re-
surgence of Celtic nationalism. I would like to have had a little more elabora-
tion of the ramifications of the idea.
Again a rather more critical notion of the state might have been adopted,
one that dealt with the idea of fractions of capital both locally and nationally.
Ennew concludes by speculating on 'conimunity development' in the islands
and the reconstruction of a 'Hebridean identity'. 'The aim is to give Hebrideans
the opportunity to stand at the centre of their own history. If this is achieved
the social problems of the area can be approached without the protecting veil
of the old myth of "tradition" ' (p. 120)- It's a big :'/ and one that Ennew
does not attempt to tackle, but it's an aim that must be helped by this clear
and readable study.

The Open University. MICHAEL WINTER.

Access to Power. Cross-National Studies of Women and Elites by

Cynthia Fuchs Epstein and Rose Laub Coscr (eds.). Pp. 259, George
Allen & Unwin, London^ 1980, £18.00.
In 1941, a period of social disruption when values of social justice and
egalitarianism were salient components of the British war effort, Edith
Summerskill wrote in the bulletin of the Women's Freedom League: *As I sit
in the House of Commons and observe the apathy of the 600 male members
concerning women's questions, I want to rush out into the highways and
byways and tell my fellow women that they cannot hope to get a square deal in
life until they come and help the very small group of twelve women M.P.s at
Westminster'.
Forty years on, despite the optimism of some contributors, this volume
attests the tenacious masculine hold upon power in the United States and
selected western and eastern European countries; societies differing in culture
and structure but ail characterised in varying degrees by an ideological
egalitarianism.
The sixteen papers, largely delivered to a conference on the same theme in
1976, address the problem of the participation in, and access to, decision-making
positions in elite occupations—political, business and professional. An under-
lying converse theme is the distribution of power within the family. The
function of the cross-national comparison is to alert us to both the ubiquity-
568