Transcript Pioneers of Anthropology

Pioneers of Anthropology
Social Darwinism
• Darwin’s theory of natural selection was mis-applied to the social world, creating the idea of
“survival of the fittest”: those peoples less
technologically “advanced” were inferior, and
would be conquered or replaced by their
“superiors”; the “inferior” races could
contaminate the superior western white
people! (resulting in Hitler’s death cult).
• This theory of racial superiority was the
background on which anthropology developed,
before it became more objective and sciencebased.
Henry Louis Morgan
U.S. 1818-1881
- 1st to research aboriginal peoples of North America
- came up with a “Theory of Social Evolution”:
The idea that social evolution occurred in 3 stages,
a) savagery :
b) barbarism :
c) civilization:
- once widely accepted, now the assumption of social or
cultural evolution is considered ethnocentric: Morgan
was “judging other cultures according to one’s values”,
his being the white, European-based culture.
Franz Boas
U.S. 1858- 1942
• the founder of American anthropology
(studied the language and culture of Inuit and West Coast natives – don’t write this!)
• Believed in:
a) - accurate records and a large data base (the scientific method)
b) – believed in cultural relativism: “cultures should be judged
by their own values, as successful adaptations to their own
environments.”
c) - established the importance of ethnology: “the study of
the origins, similarities, differences between races and cultures”.
Ruth Benedict
U.S. 1887 – 1948
• Patterns of Culture, (on Plains native cultures)
and The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (on Japanese culture:
life should be highly ritualized and perfectly executed…)
• looked at how culture and religion shape personality
• concluded that cultures have personalities: some cultures believed
in restraint, and others might believe in fierceness.
→ Main idea: the main personality traits of the culture become the
main personality traits of persons of that culture.
Margaret Mead
U.S. 1901-1978
• student of Franz Boas.
•
worked in the south Pacific islands of Polynesia and New Guinea.
• broke the gender barriers of her time.
* Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) compared
adolescence in Samoa and America, saw it didn’t
seem to exist in Samoan culture, so she concluded
adolescence isn’t a universally distinct or difficult
stage, unlike many cultures (i.e., it’s “nurture”)
* her studies of 3 cultures in the south Pacific resulted in
her conclusion that, “nurture” (socialization) was
more influential in development than nature.
This is where the Nature –Nurture debate began.