Reading Castaneda: A Prologue to the Social Sciences

by David Silverman

Carlos Castaneda’s accounts of his meeting with the Yaqui Indian magician Don Juan are well known to sociologists both in Britain and in America. Using material largely from Castaneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan, David Silverman here seeks to introduce the student of Sociology to some of the central epistemological concerns of social science. First published in 1975, the title assumes no previous knowledge of Castaneda but instead uses his work as a springboard to wider issues, in particular making sense of our reality and understanding each other by using language and communication. This is an interesting reissue, which will be of particular value to students of the sociology of language and communication, as well as Communication Studies more generally.

113 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 1975

About the author

David Silverman is Visiting Professor in the Business School, University of Technology, Sydney. He has lived in London for most of his life, where he attended Christ's College Finchley and did a BSc (Economics) at the London School of Economics in the 1960s. Afterwards, he went to the USA for graduate work, obtaining an MA in the Sociology Department, University of California, Los Angeles. He returned to LSE to write a PhD on organization theory. This was published as The Theory of Organizations in 1970.

He pioneered and taught MA in Qualitative Research at Goldsmiths in 1985. Since becoming Emeritus Professor in 1999, he has continued publishing methodology books.

His main teaching career was at Goldsmiths College. His three major research projects were on decision making in the Personnel Department of the Greater London Council (Organizational Work, written with Jill Jones, 1975), paediatric outpatient clinics (Communication and Medical Practice, 1987) and HIV-test counselling (Discourses of Counselling, 1997).

Reviews

[Todd R · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few reasons to read this book. If you are interested in how sociologists perceive culture, language, and belief you will get a certain sociologists view of these things - which I am and found the reading stimulating.
Also, if like me, you at one point were interested in the adventures of Castaneda but do not want to return to his obvious fictions which may or not have merit, this work is a good way to revisit his concepts without investing in the labyrinthine world that he created.
Ultimately this is an analysis of some of the ways Castaneda forged his vision, the ways he manipulates language and social realities in order to garner devotees willing to suppress the 'norms' of the umbrella culture.