Anthropological Theory PDF

Learning Objective Understand the historical trajectory of theory in anthropology.  Anthropological Theory (within Cultural Anthopology) 19th Century Evolutionalism Functionalism Cultural Ecology Cultural Materialism Structura...

Learning Objective Understand the historical trajectory of theory in anthropology.  Anthropological Theory (within Cultural Anthopology) 19th Century Evolutionalism Functionalism Cultural Ecology Cultural Materialism Structuralism Symbolic & Interpretive Anthropology Feminism & Anthropology Postmodernism p p p p p p p p  19th Century Evolutionalism Degenerationsim - biblical cause for variation in human society - prior to Tower of Babel, all people belonged to same culture Progressivists all societies started out primitive, but were progressing to a more advanced state of being = towards civilization  Unilinear Evolutionists Universal evolutionary stages of cultural development (from primitive to complex) Psychic unity of humankind = fundamental similarity of human thought throughout the world Heavily influenced by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) – American Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917) - English  Lewis Henry Morgan (1818 – 1881) Stages of human cultural development - savagery (lower, middle, upper) - barbarism (lower, middle, upper) - civilization correlated with: - family structure - subsistence - technology  Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832 – 1917) Construct earlier stages of cultural evolution by studying “survivals” = everything in contemporary society that did not have a function was a survival from a previous stage of cultural evolution Evolution of religion: - animism (souls or spirits to animals, plants…) - polytheism (multiple gods) - monotheism (one god)  Functionalism How culture functioned as a system (to keep culture intact) Psychological functionalism (Bronislaw Malinowski, 1884-1942) cultural institutions function to meet the basic physical & psychological needs of people in society seven basic human needs (nutrition, safety, reproduction, bodily comforts, relaxation, movement, growth)  (continued) Structural Functionalism (A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, 1881-1955) cultural institutions maintained the equilibrium & cohesion of a society deriving social laws governing human behavior based on comparative study of different cultures  Cultural Ecology Socio-cultural adaptation occurs through interaction of humans with their natural environment ecology: interaction of living things with their environment cultural ecology: how humans use culture to adapt to their environment  Julian Steward (1902 – 1972) Cultures in similar environments follow similar cultural development culture core = subsistence & productive strategies culture type = cultures sharing similar (cultural) core features  Cultural Types Hierarchy of cultural types: Band Tribe Chiefdom State  from least complex to most complex  Leslie White (1900 – 1975) “the purpose of culture is to serve the needs of man” (White 1943) Culture advances as more energy is captured E (energy) x T (technology) = P (product)  Cultural Materialism Based on scientific explanations to explain culture Material (not ideological) processes & constraints cause social action mode of production (culture, environment, technology) mode of reproduction (things that affect size of population = birth + death rate, migration)  Marvin Harris (1927 – 2001) “Human social life is a response to the practical problems of earthly existence” (Harris 1979) 3 levels of all human societies: 1. infrastructure (mode of production and mode of reproduction) 2. structure (social and political relations) 3. superstructure (beliefs and value systems)  Infrastructure Infrastructure: Mode of production = technology, tools, and use of natural environment - hunting & gathering - pastoralism - agriculture - industrial & post-industrial basic subsistence and energy capture p  Mode of Reproduction Mode of reproduction = practices that affect population size - demography - fertility - mortality p  Structure Structure: domestic economy = organization of family & household life, division of labor, gender roles political economy = political organizations, military, police, corporations economic, political, social organization of people into groups  Superstructure Superstructure: belief & value system of each cultural group - religion - ideology - myths - art - popular culture  Materialist vs. Idealist Theories of Culture Materialism – how we live (what we have or do not have) determines how we think Idealism – how we think determines how we live  These are competing theoretical frameworks  Structuralism Universal structures in human thought have similar characterizes in all cultures  social interaction (actions, beliefs, values) is the result of these structures Opposed to cultural materialism  Claude Levi-Strauss (1908 – 2009) Universal aspect of classification is opposition or contrast (binary opposition) Man Woman West East Good Evil White Black Spiritual Profane God Devil  Symbolic (Interpretive) Anthropology “Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun” (Geertz 1973) Anthropology is an interpretive discipline in search of meaning, not an experimental science in search of law Cultures construct their reality via symbols that each culture attaches meaning to  Clifford Geertz (1926 – 2007) Symbols “operate as the vehicle of culture” “thick description”: sorting through layers of significance to derive meaning from a native’s perspective (cultural) meanings deciphered in particular historical and cultural contexts  Feminism & Anthropology Believed anthropology based on male-centered bias (androcentric) Gender as a key analytical tool in the understanding of culture gender = social/cultural construction of difference between men and women Historically women’s lives/concerns/desires have been subordinate to those of men (gender inequality)  Postmodern Anthropology Belief that an objective (“neutral”) knowledge of another culture is impossible since humans are subjective creatures, total objectivity is never possible Cultures construct their own meaning which can never be accurately translated in meaningful ways to (an)other cultures  (continued 2) Ethnographic accounts are seen as “texts” = creations by their author Foucault: social relations characterized by dominance and subjugation (power) Bourdieu: habitus = systems of practice (habits) that peoples/cultures develop over time Lyotard: death of metanarratives = comprehensive explanations of historical knowledge & human experience ex. Democracy, Marxism, capitalism