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History of Theory So Far • 19th -century evolutionists – Comte – organic analogy – Darwin – biological evolution, adaptation – Spencer – organic analogy, social progress, evolution of social systems toward more complexity, 'survival of the fittest' – Marx & Engels – materialism, infrastructure (economic base/means & relations of production/subsistence) determines superstructure (social organization, ideology) societies evolve through stages based upon modes of production class struggle is the underlying dynamic – Morgan & Tylor – unilineal cultural evolution, savagery-barbarism-civilization Boas: American Historicism • • • • • Cultural relativism Rejected evolutionism Inductive (vs. deductive) Emic Historical particularism/American Historicism: – Detailed descriptions of particular peoples within their own historical contexts • Anti-theory • Methodological rigor in ethnography • Famous Columbia students: – Lowie, Kroeber, Benedict, Mead • Anti-racist • Culture concept: – Culture, not biology, determines behavior British Social Anthropology Functionalism A. R. Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955) Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) Organic analogy: ComteSpencerFunctionalists Society: Harmonious composition of structures functioning together Maintain social solidarity Satisfy needs All parts interrelated Functionalism • Bronislaw Malinowski – Elements of culture satisfy individual needs – Everything has a useful function for individuals • A. R. Radcliffe-Brown – Structural functionalism – Elements of culture contribute to well-being of society • Every part of a culture has a function • Interrelated parts in equilibrium – Change in one part produces changes in other parts • Robert Merton – Dysfunction – Critiqued functional unity • Critiques: It did not address – Social and historical change – Individuals as innovators The Boasian School • Alfred Kroeber, Edward Sapir, Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict • Culture and the individual • Enculturation and personality Personality Culture Child-rearing Psychological Anthropology Culture and Personality • Freud: Phases of human psychological development (oral, anal, genital, etc.) fixed by nature and universal • Boas: Psychology varies, influenced by culture Margaret Mead • Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) – Adolescence experienced differently in different cultures – Enculturation vs. biological determinism – Developmental stages not biologically determined, not universal • Sex & Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935) – Gender roles and temperaments vary in different cultures – ‘Masculine’ and ‘feminine’ not biologically determined, not universal – Gender is culturally constructed • Mead brought anthropology into popular culture • Cultural relativism Neoevolutionism and Cultural Ecology Late 1940s-50s • Cross-cultural generalizations • Some used HRAF (Human Relations Area Files) • Based on environmental factors • Reformulated 19th-century cultural evolutionism • Leslie White & Julian Steward – Materialist, influenced by Marx – Foundation for • Cultural ecology • Cultural materialism Leslie White Neoevolutionism • Culture evolves from simple to complex – Control of energy key – Driven by technology – Harnessing greater amounts of energy • Thermodynamic law: E x T = C – Energy captured with Technology = Culture – Culture evolves as energy extraction & efficiency increases • Human animal steam & internal combustion nuclear • 4 stages of cultural evolution – – – – Invention of tools Domestication of plants & animals Fossil fuels Atomic energy Leslie White’s Layer Cake Change/Cultural evolution driven by: Marx: relations of production, class conflict White: technology and extraction of energy Ideology Social and Political Organization Technology and Economy Julian Steward Cultural Ecology • Specific cultures’ adaptations to particular environments • 3 Types of Evolutionary Theories – Unilineal evolution (Tylor and Morgan) • Places cultures into certain evolutionary stages – Savagery barbarism civilization – Universal evolution (White) • Develop general laws that apply to all cultures – EXT=C – Multilinear evolution (Steward) • Evolution of individual cultures • No single evolutionary trajectory Cultural Ecology • Cultural adaptation to environment • Similar environments similar technological solutions social & political institutions • White: general, universal paradigm • Steward: specific, relativistic, multilinear • Materialist analyses influenced by Marx Cultural Materialist Model of Society Causality Infrastructure (means & mode of production + reproduction ) development of culture in certain directions Cultural Materialism Marvin Harris • Provide causal explanations • Infrastructural determinism – Causes for institutions and behavior are found in infrastructure (subsistence based upon resources in the environment & technology) • Material aspects cultural variation • Emphasized etic, scientific, objective – Environment, material circumstances – Like cultural ecology but less concerned with evolution – Functionalist • Synchronic • Practical adaptations • Function in context of whole • The Cultural Ecology of India’s Sacred Cattle – Materialist: ideology result of economic rationale – Functionalist: practical function of cattle Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009) French Structuralism • Universal structures of human mind • Linguistics – binary opposition – Words get their meanings by contrasts • E.g., up/down, male/female, raw/cooked, sacred/profane • Human brain – Programmed to think in pairs of opposites – These dichotomies give shape to culture • Psychic unity of humankind Ethnoscience 1950s-60s • • • • • Influenced by linguistics Emic How language classifies things Classificatory logic that creates meaning Different cultures have different meaning systems, world view Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • Influence of language on culture • English vs. Hopi concepts of time & space – English time • Objectified, quantified, linear, past, present, future • Separate from space – Hopi Time • Manifested – past and most of present • Manifesting – coming-to-be, future, hoped for, intended, expected, in the heart • Same as space • Language shapes perceptions, world view Symbolic Anthropology • • • • • • • Cultural meanings Culture as mental phenomenon Ways people interpret and give meaning to their world How this world is expressed in cultural symbols Interpretation of symbols cultural meaning Agency = potential to act creatively Victor Turner, Clifford Geertz Victor Turner (1920-1983) • British social anthropology – Structural-functionalism – Maintenance of social order • Marx: normal state of society is conflict and contradiction • Social unity is problematic – Not primordial need for togetherness – Must be continually maintained through effort • Centrality of ritual symbols – Symbols create social solidarity out of conflict – E.g. national flag, singing national anthem, statue of liberty – Function to reproduce of social order Victor Turner – Anti-structure • ‘Anti-structure’ & ‘communitas’ – Van Gennep • Rituals of rebellion – E.g. Mardi Gras, Carnival, Holi – Expressions outside of structure – Communitas = emotional connection and equality – Safety valve that enables maintenance of social solidarity Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) • American cultural anthropology • Emphasis on culture and meaning • Symbols – Carriers of cutural meanings – Communicate worldview, values, ethos – Shape and reflect how people see, feel, and think about the world • Culture embodied in public symbols – e.g. flag, 4th of July • Turner: function to reinforce social solidarity • Geertz: represent cultural values – History, independence, patriotism, democracy, freedom, etc. • “Actor-centered” • Emic Interpretive Anthropology • How people themselves explain and interpret their own values and behaviors • Ideas, meanings • Reflexivity – Ethnographer’s position vis-à-vis informants included in description – Combines self-knowledge with knowledge of the people studied • Emic, relativistic, reflexive • Interpretivism vs. Cultural Materialism – Meaning, beliefs, emic vs. material environment, economic system, etic Feminist Anthropology • ‘Radical’ movements of 1960s and 1970s • Internal critiques in anthropology • Androcentric bias – – – – • • • • Most anthropologists were male Limited access to women in cultures studied Emphasis on men, war, politics, economics, religion Women only described in passive terms & relationships with men 1970s focus on women & subordination Gender socialization, cultural construction Differences (race, class, ethnicity, etc.) Gender and power Contributions of Feminist Anthropology • Importance of gender in all aspects of social life • Power relations – Critique of all inequalities • Overlap with postmodernism • Rejection of positivism (objective, scientific) • Subjective, reflexive ethnography – Mitigate power relations, – Collaborative, qualitative, emic • Promote interests of women, oppressed • Multivocality (variety of viewpoints) – E.g. Weiner’s vs. Malinowski’s Trobriand fieldwork Postmodernism • Modernism – – – – 1920s-70s Detachment, objectivity Scientific neutrality Rationalism • Postmodernist critique/rejection of: – Grand theories (e.g., evolutionism, cultural materialism) – Positivism: Idea that human progress is based on scientific knowledge – Idea that objectivity is possible • Extreme relativism – We can never be value-free • Ethnography – Always subjective – Cannot discover ‘truth’ – Reflexive approach • Dialog, collaboration • Take account of power relations, class, gender, etc. Tannen