This useful reader assembles eighteen essays from the prestigious Journal for the Study of the Old Testament which illustrate a variety of approaches to the Old Testament falling in some way into the category of 'social-scientific criticism' as it has been conceived by biblical scholars over the past twenty years. Divided into six sections, this volume presents essays on the central methodological and theoretical issues as well as a series of applications to the study of early Israelite social forms, the formal and informal regulation of life, the distribution of power and justice, the performance of social roles and the process of group formation. The volume brings home how indispensable a social-science approach is for the reconstruction of the Israelite social world - not to say our own worlds and productions as well, hence keeping alive the finest traditions of classical social theory and the interface with exciting new developments.