Philip Carl Salzman

Salzman graduated from Antioch College in Ohio, United States in 1962, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1972 (Adaptation and change among the Yarahmadzai Baluch). He did field research among pastoral peoples, first the Shah Nawazi nomadic tribe in Baluchistan (Iran), then with the Bharawadin Reika pastoralists in Gujarat and Rajasthain (Rajasthan) in (India), and in Villagrande Strisaili, Sardinia (Italy).[1] He is retired from McGill University, and is a senior fellow of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a Canadian thinktank associated with free-market and conservative political thought.

Salzman has a particular interest in the study of social change, and in "the ways in which particular groups have transformed over time." He perceives change as "part of social organization rather than extraneous to it."[1] His book Culture and Conflict in the Middle East[2] elucidates this approach, arguing that Western colonial influences are less important in explanations of change than the culture and social dynamics of the region's societies.[3]

Much of his work is on tribal societies and their contemporary conflicts. He demonstrates "how the dual pattern of tribal self-rule and tyrannical centralism continues to define life in the Middle East, and using it to explain the region's most characteristic features, such as autocracy, political mercilessness, and economic stagnancy. It accounts [...] for [...] Islam's 'bloody borders' - the widespread hostility toward non-Muslims."[4]

He says "The Arab Middle East has remained largely a pre-modern society, governed by clan relationships and violent coercion. People... tend to trust only their relatives, and then only relative to their degree of closeness... A pervasive cult of honour requires that people support their own groups, violently if necessary, when conflict arises." "What is missing in the Arab Middle East are the cultural tools for building an inclusive and united state. The cultural glue of the West and other successful modern societies --consisting of the rule of law and constitutionalism, which serve to regulate competition among unrelated groups -- is absent in the Arab world. The frame of reference in a tribalized society is always "my group vs. the other group." This system of "balanced opposition" is the structural alternative that stands in stubborn opposition to Western constitutionalism [...] Islam [...] has failed as a political organizing principle."[5]

Salzman has adopted a conservative stance in policy debates in North America, saying he holds "classical liberal values".[6] He is strongly opposed to affirmative action on grounds of gender and race in higher education.[7] He argues in a 2020 commentary that "The Woke Revolution is really about a power grab, through destroying liberal American institutions and culture and replacing them with a Marxist-inspired identity class struggle, socialism, and a totalitarian culture that cancels any opposition. This is now the agenda of our universities, of “progressive” politicians and office holders, and of the rioting mobs in the streets."[8] He is opposed to socialist government: "Socialism's sham absolute equality destroys prosperity, freedom and democracy."[9] His 2019 book, Feminism and Injustice. challenges the social construction of gender, women's right to abortion, single motherhood, and commonly held visions of "social justice".[10] Salzman's views have been contested.[11]

• Official website