Download Theories of Anthropology

THEORIES & METHODS OF
ANTHROPOLOGY
PART ONE: BUILDING THE
DISCIPLINE
AIM: Why did evolutionism fade away?
EVOLUTIONISM
Evolutionism



Dominate intellectual perspective in the middle of
the 19th century.
Evolutionism eventually overtaken by historical
particularism and structural functionalism.
Evolutionism, historical particularism, and structural
functionalism were most significant theoretical
orientations for almost 100 years.
Evolutionism – Early Controversies

Do all human beings have a common origin
(monogenesis) or different origins and
developments (polygenesis)?
 Much
of this theory contained racial predjudice
Basic Features of Evolutionism

Ethnocentric
 Tended
to evaluate cultures of the world in terms of model of
Victorian England
 Underlying assumption that evolutionism culminated in England
and Europe

Armchair Speculation
 Early
anthropologists did not do fieldwork
 Relied on data supplied by untrained amateurs
 Focus was the comparative method, with the assumption that
societies could be arranged into a taxonomy
Basic Features of Evolutionism


Assumption all cultures had gone through same stages of
evolution, in the same order
Inevitable Progress
 Emphasis
on progress, order, rationality
KEY FIGURES IN
EVOLUTIONISM
Edward B. Tylor (1832-1917)



Born into a wealthy family in London, England
Never conducted in-depth, original fieldwork
1871 – Primitive Culture
Focus on religion
 Defined religion as a belief in spiritual beings


Argued culture evolved from the simple to the
complex

Three Stages
Savagery
 Barbarism
 Civilization


Tylor stressed the rationale basis of culture

Social institutions are driven by reasons, and
customs
Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881)



Born in the United States
Ethnographic studies focused on Native
Americans
1877 – Ancient Society

Like Tylor, argued society evolved over three
stages

Savagery




Barbarism





Lower
Middle
Upper
Lower
Middle
Upper
Civilization
Shift from lower to higher stage was
introduction of a significant technological
innovation

Morgan also associated with distinction between
classifactory and descriptive kinship terminology
 Classifactory
System – same terms that apply for
relatives such as husband and wife may be applied to
a wider range of kin
 Descriptive Terminology – terms such as father or
daughter designate a specific and narrow range of
individuals characterized by biological or marital
relations.

For Tylor and Morgan, the transition from lower to
higher stage meant progress, not only technological
sophistication but also in morality.
 Racist

perspective
Terminological Adjustments
 Hunters & Gathers
 Barbarians  Horticulturalists
 Civilized People  citizens of modern, stratified states
 Savages
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)


Born in England
Two Stages of Evolution
Militaristic (central authority)
 Industrial (individual freedom)




At an advanced stage of evolution, the parts of
society (individuals) dominate the whole (the
state) rather then the reverse
Believed society evolved from simple to
the complex
Some of Spencer’s ideas paved the way
Darwin

“Survival of the fittest” coined by Spencer
Believed humans subject to same natural laws as
non-humans
 Eventually society would progress to perfection

Evaluation

Evolutionism placed emphasis on survival of the
fittest and with the assumed superiority of the
European
 Provided
support for colonialism & imperialism
AIM: Why did historical particularism fade away?
HISTORICAL PARTICULARISM
Diffusionism


Historical particularism was main argument in America
against evolutionism
Main aspect was diffusionism
 Diffusionism
– an aspect of culture, such as discover of the
wheel, religious belief, or marital practices tend to spread
from one culture to another, eventually becoming integrated
into all of the cultures in a given geographical area
 No
longer need for each culture to evolve through specific stages
in a specific order
Three schools of Diffusionism

Kulturkreise School
 Explain
the development of culture through migration
and diffusion

British Diffusionism
 Implausable
claim that Egypt was source of virtually all
cultural traits and innovations, which then diffused to
rest of the planet
 Short-lived

Historical Particularism
Basic Features of Historical Particularism


Focus on one culture (or cultural area) and that the history of that culture be
reconstructed
Diffusion






Culture is a loosely organized entity, rather then a tightly fused system
Culture is to some extent unique
Focus on emic analysis
Social life is guided by habit and tradition
Relativism




Any particular culture was partly composed of elements diffused from other
cultures
Since each culture is to some degree unique, unacceptable to pass judgment on
beliefs and actions found in other cultures
Cautious generalizations
Emphasis on original fieldwork
Inductive procedure
KEY FIGURES IN HISTORICAL
PARTICULARISM
Franz Boas (1858-1942)



Born and educated in Germany
Focus on importance of culture
Concentrate research efforts on Native
people of the west coast of British Columbia


Rigorous fieldwork standards


Descriptive accounts of potlatch among
Kwakiutl (1897)
Collect native texts, vernacular accounts of
aspects of culture
Inductivist


Only after masses of solid data had been
collected could stabs at explanation and
generalization be made
Impact on American anthropology

Taught at Columbia from 1896 – 1937

Trained and influenced a lot of anthropologists
Ruth Benedict (1887-1948)



Trained by Boas
1934 – Patterns of Culture
Leading figure in culture and personality
school


Believed each culture promoted a distinct
personality type, and that there was a high
degree of consistency between cultural type
and patterns of emotion
Modal Personalities

A statistically most prominent personality
which left room for other types

Eventually view emerged that each culture had
several modal personalities
Margaret Mead (1901-1978)


Student of both Boas and Benedict
Selected Samoa to demonstrate
overwhelming importance of
culture

1928 – Coming of Age in Samoa

1930 – Growing Up in New Guinea


1935 – Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive
Societies
Focused on gender studies in her
later years
Evaluation

Boas’s emphasis on:
 Subjectivity
(personal interpretation)
 Insistence on collection of original texts (emic)
 Distrust in grand theoretical schemes
 Promotion of relativism
AIM: How did structural functionalism become the
dominant anthropological theory?
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
Structural Functionalism


Initial reaction in British anthropology against
evolutionism took form of diffusionsim
From late 1800s until 1950s/60s, structural
functionalism was leading theory in British
anthropology
Basic Features of Structural Functionalism

Organic Analogy


Natural science orientation


Society is like a biological organism, with structures and
functions
Empirical, orderly, patterned
Narrow conceptual territory
Investigations should be restricted to social structure (society)
 Rarely paid much attention to art, language, ideology, the
individual, technology, or environmental factors


Existing structures and institutions in any particular
society contained indispensable functions without which
the society would fall apart, and these structures and
functions or their equivalents were found in all healthy
societies
Basic Features of Structural Functionalism


Significance of kinship system and the family
Equilibrium



Society exhibited long-term stability
Anti-historical


Society was not only thought to be highly patterned, but
also in a state of equilibrium and would re-equilibrate when
disruptions occurred
Did not encourage a historical perspective
Fieldwork Orientation

Devoted to first-hand, participant observational research
KEY FIGURES IN STRUCTURAL
FUNCTIONALISM
A.R. Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955)




Born in England
Disciple of Durkheim
Powerful theoretician
Promoted three stages of scientific
investigation





Observation (collecting data)
Taxonomy (classifying the data)
Generalizations (theoretical excursions)
Believed cross-cultural comparisons
and generalizations were essential to
anthropology
Natural science model of society was
unable to cope with complexities of
social life
Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942)


Born in Poland, but taught in
London
Father of Modern Fieldwork
 Long-term
participant observation
in a small community

Research among Trobrianders
 Remained
among them for four
years, setting standard for future
fieldwork
 Kula Ring
The Kula Ring





Necklaces were exchanged clockwise from
one Trobriand island to another
Armshells were exchanged counterclockwise
Exchange was ceremonial (neither item had
any intrinsic value)
Exchanges increased level of interaction
and decreased the degree of hostility
among the people of various islands
Made bartering for valuable resources
possible with others


Could not barter with groups you exchanged
necklaces or armbands with
Contributed to social solidarity and prevented
squabbles over who got the best deal
Malinowski vs. Radcliffe-Brown

Malinowski placed emphasis more on function than
structure
Focused more on what institutions actually contributed to a
society
 Radcliffe-Brown gave priority to social structure




Malinowski argued that the function of institutions was to
satisfy biological needs. Radcliffe-Brown saw their function
as fulfilling the mechanical needs of society
Malinowski stressed the importance of gathering native
texts, or accounts of beliefs and behaviors in native’s own
words
Malinowski & Radcliffe-Brown held many of the same
views as well
Evaluation




Structural functionalism provided anthropology with
a coherent and tidy framework
At its most basic level, procedure only required
ethnographers to identify patterns of action and
belief, and specify their functions.
Downplayed conflict and almost ignored social
change
Structural functionalism suited to maintaining
colonial empires once they had been established
CONCLUSIONS

Through the first phase of anthropology, there was
a general commitment to establishing a scientific
study of culture or society
AIM: What methods did anthropologists use through the
first phase of theories?
METHODS
Methods



Methods courses were almost unheard of until the
1960s / 70s
Very little attention paid to ethics
1874 – Notes and Queries
 Published
by British Association for Advancement of
Science in era before anthropologists began to collect
their own data
 Provided a guide to amateurs, highlighting themes and
categories they should focus their inquiries on
The Fieldwork Situation

In the late 1800s, there was a division of labor between the
professional anthropologist and amateur fieldworker



By early 20th century, anthropologists themselves began to
do fieldwork
At first the emphasis was on fieldwork rather then participation
When 1913 edition of Notes and Queries was published there was
an argument for intensive participant observation studies, to be
carried out by a sole researcher in a small population over a period
of at least a year


Anthropologist remained in comfort of the library and museum
Amateurs travelled to remote parts of the world collecting
materials
Basic Techniques and Related Elements - Fieldwork









Participant observation
Reliance on informants
The interview (usually unstructured)
Genealogies & life histories
Collecting census material
Long period of fieldwork
Learning indigenous language
Emphasis on actor’s point of view (emic)
Emphasis on informal rather than formal
structure


Emphasis on validity rather than reliability




Back rather then front stage
Validity implies ‘truth’
Reliability just means that repeat studies will
produce same results
Limit on size of population
Comparative method as alternative to
controlled lab experiment

Inductive research design



Search for virgin territory
Exaggeration of the degree of cultural
uniqueness



The more exotic, the better
One’s research site should be as remote
and isolated as possible so no other
anthropologist will ever check up on one’s
ethnographic findings
Fieldwork personality



Reaching conclusion based on observation:
generalizing to produce a universal claim
or principle from observed instances
Flexible and perceptive, sense of humor
Strong constitution, good listener
Sustained disbelief

Doubt about what people said, about their
explanations for beliefs and
behavior…anthropologists had to get to
the truth
AIM: How did future theories help to fill in some of the
holes of earlier anthropological theories?
PART TWO: PATCHING THE
FOUNDATION
AIM: How did future theories help to fill in some of the
holes of earlier anthropological theories?
CULTURAL ECOLOGY


Historical particularism in America and structural
functionalism in Britain proved to be the leading theoretical
approaches, dominating the discipline up to World War II
By 1950s & 1960s anthropological landscape had changed




Cultural ecology
Conflict Theory
Social Action Theory (…)
Each orientation, in different ways, attempted to keep the
dream of a scientific study of society alive by patching the
cracks that had begun to weaken historical particularism
and structural functionalism
Cultural Ecology (and Neo-Evolutionism)


Julian Steward developed theoretical orientation
about influence of the environment on culture
Eventually grafted into a revitalized version of
evolutionism
Basic Features of Cultural Evolutionism





Culture is shaped by environmental conditions
Techno-economic factors combine with environment to influence social
organization and ideology
Human population continuously adapt to techno-economic-environmental
conditions
Culture also shapes techno-economic-environmental factors
Emphasis on etic rather then emic data



Culture is purposeful and functional
De-emphasis on the individual


Social structure, social groups, ecological and technological factors explain culture
Emphasis on etic data


Meaning is a product of social structure
Capable of producing causal explanations and laws
Evolutionary context

Ecological and technological factors driving force in human interaction, also
fundamental to historical development of society
KEY FIGURES IN CULTURAL
ECOLOGY
Julian Steward (1902-1972)


Influenced by Boas
1955 – Theory of Culture Change


Less developed the level of technology in a society, greater the influence of
the environment




Ecology defined as adaption of culture to environmental and technological factors
Hunting-and-Gathering societies at whim of environment
Social organization and population dictated by environment
No economic surplus to permit stratification
As level of technology in a society improves, there is greater control over
environment, increased economic surplus and population density, and a shift
from egalitarianism to class stratification

In highly advanced societies, environment ceases to be a controlling force


Cultural ecology loses influence when environment does not matter
Today, environmental factors such as pollution, deforestation, global warming are
making people think twice about environment ceasing to be a controlling factor

Not only did environmental conditions shape culture,
but each culture was composed of thoroughly
practical and useful adaptions to its environment


If a foreign culture consisting of agriculturalists and
possessing different social organization was plopped into
ecological zone occupied by hunters-gathers, the alien
culture (agriculturalists) would have to adapt their social
organization and values to survive
Steward divided culture into core and periphery

Core consisted of enduring and causal features of culture
Core includes social organization, politics, religion
 Cannot escape impact of techno-economic factors


Periphery consists of fortuitous or accidental features
Includes artistic patterns, fads, quirks
 Largely independent of techno-environmental base

Steward and Evolutionism


Emphasis on critical role of environment
in evolutionary scheme
Rejected notion of unilinear development


Particular cultures diverge significantly from
one another and do not pass through
unilineal stages
Cultures have evolved along several
different lines, at different rates

Multi-linear evolutionism


Rejected old assumption that evolution equals
progress
Neo-evolutionists
Unilinear vs. Multi-linear
Leslie White (1900 -1975)






American anthropologist
Emphasized etic rather then emic
Saw culture as a highly integrated entity rather then a loose bundle of
traits
Assigned contributing priority to techno-economic factors, while dismissing
individual and personality as irrelevant to anthropology
Culture is utilitarian
Culture composed of four sectors:





Technology
Social Structure
Ideological
Attitudinal
White believes the symbol has replaced the gene in importance as an
explanatory tool


We live today in a symbolic universe, guided more by culture than heredity
Distinction between signs & symbols


Meaning of signs is inherent in things; meaning of symbols in things is arbitrary
Culture advances according to increase in amount of energy per capita
per year

E x T = C (E represents energy, T represents efficiency of tools, C represents culture)


Amount of energy varies across cultures
Simplest societies rely completely on human energy
Marvin Harris (1927-2001)


Essentially an armchair anthropologist instead
of a fieldworker
Cultural Materialism

Focuses on and assigns causal priority to the
material conditions of life, such as food and shelter



Before there can be music and poetry, people must
eat and be protected from the elements
Human activity organized to satisfy the material
conditions of life is affected and limited by our
biological make-up, the level of technology, and the
nature of the environment, which in turn generate
ideological and social organization responses.
Harris downplayed importance of emic data.

People’s consciousness, perspectives, interpretations,
ideas, attitudes, and emotions never explain their
reactions.
India’s Sacred Cow


The refusal of Indians to eat their cattle has often been interpreted
as a perfect example of just how irrational cultural practices can be
According to Hindu doctrine of ahimsa, Indians should worship their
cattle rather then eat them, even if they are starving.

Spiritual obsession obligates material welfare
India’s Sacred Cow




Harris suggests…
India’s undersized cattle are far less important as a source of food than they
are as a source of power, fertilizer, transportation, and fuel
Undersized, undernourished cattle in India are perfectly suited to difficult
environmental conditions they face
Rather then being irrational, it plays a positive and critical economic role in
India
John Bennett (1916 – 2005)

Bennett recognized that culture
not only adapts to ecological
conditions, it also modifies them
 Key
to cultural ecology is
adaption
 1969 – Northern Plainsmen
 Describing
various ways in which
four different groups of people
adapted to the same environment
Evaluation of Cultural Ecology


Emphasis on causality and objective conditions,
especially technology and the environment,
constituted a massive repudiation of historical
particularism
Cultural ecology and neo-evolutionism aspired to be
scientific, but to achieve that ‘soft’ data such as
meaning, emotions, and individual motivation had to
be relegated to the sidelines.
 Does
not match up with contemporary anthropology
and its data
AIM: How did future theories help to fill in some of the
holes of earlier anthropological theories?
CONFLICT THEORY
Conflict Theory

Structural functionalism was dominant theoretical
orientation in British social anthropology right up to
the 1950s
A
healthy society rested on a unified set of
indispensable, universal functions and equilibrium was
maintained


Critics complained it puts cart before the horse
Structural functionalism was incapable to cope with
social change
Basic Features of Conflict Theory

Conflict is normal and widespread

Opposite to structural functionalism





Conflict was viewed as abnormal and rare
Conflict knits society together, and thus maintains society
in a state of equilibrium
Conflict with an outside group generates internal
solidarity
Society consists of criss-crossing identities, loyalties, and
strains which ultimately nullify each other, resulting in
harmony and integration
Societal equilibrium is the product of the balance of
oppositions
KEY FIGURES IN CONFLICT
THEORY
Max Gluckman (1911 – 1975)




Guru of Manchester school of
anthropology
Gluckman influenced by RadcliffeBrown
Gluckman argued conflict is essential
to social interaction
Society achieves equilibrium, product
of conflict
People tend to create different sets of
loyalties and allegiances which clash with
each other
 Criss-crossing loyalties cancel each other
out

Lewis Coser (1913 – 2003)






Several scholars, independent of each other, were promoting the
same ideas
Overlap with Gluckman
Portrayed conflict as normal, widespread, and positive,
contributing to the integration of society and acting as a safety
valve for strains that might otherwise build up and tear society
apart
Group cohesion due to external conflict
In some cases, external conflict is intentionally fostered by societal
elites in order to deflect hostility and tension within a community
onto an imaginary enemy
Realistic Conflict


Non-Realistic Conflict


Arises from frustration between two or more persons
Free-floating frustrations; aggression flies off in all directions, and
rather than resolving the frustrations, aggression is an end in itself
Criticism was conflict model was disguised as an equilibrium
model, slightly different then structural functionalism
Evaluation


During the several decades in which structural
functionalism had dominated, conflict and strain had
been ignored
Conflict theorists emphasize interests which divide
people in society unite them, not common values
AIM: How did future theories help to fill in some of the
holes of earlier anthropological theories?
SOCIAL ACTION THEORY
Social Action Theory (Interactional Theory)


When conflict theory proved to be an inadequate substitute
for structural functionalism, British social anthropologists began
to play around with other theoretical approaches
Central message in structural functionalism is that human beings
conduct their behavior in accordance with the rules laid down
by society



Others argued social life is messy and disjointed. People say one
thing but do another; rather than adhering perfectly to the rules of
society, they bend, twist, and ignore these rules as self-interest
dictates
Theory that emerged had the capacity to cope with both social
change and conflict
Referred to as processual, interactional, or transactional model
Basic Features of Interactional Theory








Society is constantly changing
Norms are ambiguous and unclear, even contradictory
There is a gap between normative order and actual
behavior, which means rules or norms do not explain
behavior
Human beings are in constant competition for scarce goods
and rewards
Humans must constantly choose between alternatives
Emphasis on the individual as a self-interested manipulator
and innovator
Emphasis on reciprocity, exchange, and transaction
Focus on informal (back stage) rather than formal structure
(front stage)
KEY FIGURES IN
INTERACTIONAL THEORY
F.G. Bailey (1929 - _ )



British social anthropologist who worked under Gluckman
1969 – Stratagems and Spoils
Bailey challenged assumption that there is a simple, direct relationship
between normative order and actual behavior



Assumption fails to take into account the degree to which individuals manipulate
the world around them
Most people are guided by self-interest, thread our way between norms,
seeking the most advantageous route
Bailey distinguishes between normative and pragmatic rules of behavior




Normative rules – general guides to conduct; make up the public, formal, or
ideal rules of a society
Pragmatic rules – deviations from the ideal rules; tactics and strategies that
individuals resort to in order to effectively achieve their goals
When pragmatic rules drastically increased, the normative order, or ideals of a
society, must be rebuilt to fit current realities
Bailey’s assumption is that pragmatic rules more closely correspond to how
people actually behave





Stratagems and Spoils was an innovative work
The people portrayed by Bailey are not
puppets controlled by institutional framework
People are active, choice-making agents locked
in competitive struggle
Social structure is dynamic, continuously being
reshaped by shifting allegiances, coalitions, and
conflicts that characterize human interaction
Social Action model provides an alternative to
structural functionalism

In addition to laying the groundwork for a new
theoretical orientation, Bailey also provided a
vocabulary to articulate it
Jeremy Boissevain (1928 - __)

1974 – Friends of Friends
 Social
life unfolds in the informal arena, where
what counts is one’s contacts – who one knows
rather than what one is qualified to do
 In reality, people do what is best for themselves


Boissevain believes structural functionalism
just documents how people are supposed to
behave, not how they actually behave
Everyday life is acted out in an arena of
competition and conflict, and social change
rather than stability is the normal state of
affairs
Fredrik Barth (1928 - __)



Norwegian anthropologist
1966 – Models of Social Organization
Describes relationship between leaders and
followers as a form of transaction



Leaders provide protection, followers allegiance
Self-interested individuals manipulating values and
norms to their own advantage, choosing between
alternative strategies, and establishing
relationships and alliances governed by
reciprocity, with the whole process feeding back on
and transforming the value system and social
organization
Advocated a focus on the processes that produce
structural form


Central to this is the capacity of people to make
choices
End products are patterns of behavior which are
formed and reformed over time
Victor Turner (1920 – 1983)
British cultural anthropologists
 Studied under Gluckman
 Worked on symbolism, ritual, and rites of
passage
 Turner analyzed three types of conflict:


Conflict between principles of social organization


Contradictions embedded in the social structure
Conflict between individuals and cliques striving for power,
prestige, and wealth
Inconsistent, even contradictory, norms exist side by side
 People must select and discard norms most advantageous to their
interests


Internal conflict between egoism and altruism (selfish or social
motives)
Max Weber (1864 – 1920)






Influenced by Marx
According to Weber, society consisted of 4 quasi-autonomous spheres
- economic, political, legal, religious – and ideas, beliefs, and values
had an independent causal impact on human conduct
Weber made important contribution to study of power, authority, the
state, bureaucracy, class, and status
Weber believed there were significant differences between natural
and the social sciences
Weber defined social action as intentional, meaningful, and oriented
to others
The only real or concrete phenomenon was the individual human act


Social institutions are not concrete realities, instead, they consisted of a
plurality of actors who only have a high probability of interacting for a
particular purpose
Social Relation – two or more persons guided by meaningful conduct and
oriented to each other

Bridged the gap between actor and social institution.
Evaluation

Social action or transactional model can be traced
back to the Manchester school presided over by
Gluckman
 Trained


Bailey, Boissevain, and Turner
Gap between what people say and what they do,
or between rules of behavior and actual behavior
Incorporated conflict into framework
Critique



By concentrating on the intricate and complex
maneuvers of individuals and coalitions, focus is lost
on the larger social structural context
Fail to take history into account, and the degree to
which it explains the present
Macro-Micro Dilemma
 How
to achieve a sensitive, detailed analysis of the
local situation while simultaneously bringing into play
the wider structural-historical context

Nature of anthropological theory changed
dramatically from phase one to phase two, the
pursuit of science remained the same
AIM: What methods did anthropologists use through the
second phase of theories?
METHODS
Method

Cultural ecology, social action theory, and conflict
theory tried to keep true to scientific
 Unintentionally



made goal of science more difficult
Conflict theorists rejected assumption of unified central
value system
Social Action writers promoted the image of a choicemaking, manipulative actor, and the porous, shifting
social structure
Phase Two begins to see first gaps between theory and
method
Methods Literature

Majority of anthropology professors of the time belonged to the sink-or-swim school


Young anthropologists began to write about their own fieldwork experiences and
set off an explosion of publications on ethnographic method





Goal was make open and public what has been previously closed and mysterious
‘How To’ textbooks
Qualitative methods became very popular


Rather then being provided with techniques, students were advised to take lots of notes
and participate
Profiled qualitative methods as a distinctive research approach, and gave it some
legitimacy
Much of this literature was published by American anthropologists
Students learned methods by actually doing research, which was basically the
attitude of earlier anthropologists
Purpose of methods literature was to demystify the fieldwork process, to render it
more scientific

Slight problem  degree to which one’s data and interpretations are shaped by one’s
informants



Two different informants can result in two radically different ethnographies
Also pointed out role played by chance and accident in fieldwork
Cast doubt on anthropology as science
Fieldwork Situation

Most of the basic assumptions and elements of research that existed in phase
one continued into phase two, with some modifications
Greater emphasis was placed on theory, and fieldwork became shorter
Students were encouraged to narrow the focus of their studies, and to
concentrate on limited number of sharply defined problems rather then trying to
cover everything
Recognition that outside social and historical forces always penetrate and shape
the small community and must be taken into account
Recognition that cultures being studied were no longer primitive
Interview emerged as a principle technique
Increased emphasis on the ethics of fieldwork

Greater sensitivity to ethical issues (rationalization)










Anthropologists began to accept they did not have a right to intrude on people’s lives
Demand for research to be useful
Fieldworkers to make research goals explicit
Seek permission from and respect the privacy of people
New Rules of Thumb for Fieldwork



Use multi-methods, not just participant observation and informants
Keep daily diary on methods
Appendix on methods in report, thesis, or book


Keep data separated





Quantitative data…more specific then “more, less, a lot, a little”
Provide universities in countries where research is conducted with copies of one’s publication


Leading up to WWII, anthropologists looked for virgin territory
Let the research problem dictate your choice of methods
Learn to count


Distinction between actor’s and observer’s interpretation is usually blurred
Clearly identify native analytic concepts and observer analytic concepts in report, book, or
thesis
Select research project on basis of a problem to be solved, rather than an area or tribe to
investigate


Information for the reader to understand methodological approach
Part of new ethical stance
Assure informants represent all sectors of a community
Do fieldwork abroad and at home
Formal Analysis


In the American school there was an even greater
effort to introduce more systematic research
procedures
Formal analysis supposedly was able to provide a
scientific explanation of mentalist data
 Sometimes

labeled cognitive anthropology
Formal analysis can be written off as a quick blip
on the anthropological record with few followers
Case Study One: A West African Utopia

Challenge of impression management


Four distinct research roles









First individuals who cozy up to anthropologist tend to be deviants, people who for some reason or
other are marginal in their communities
Participant observation is crucial
Need informants to interpret what you have observed and provide information to which you
have not had access
Moral &Transactional informants


Complete participant
Participant who observes
Observer who participates
Complete observer
Managing deviants


Age, sex, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, etc. all will have an impact
Moral based on trust and friendship; transactional informant is paid
Nothing ever works out as planned
Critical turning point – an event or situation that has determined whether the project continued
or was abandoned
How do you know when to stop your fieldwork?
Case Study Two: The Radical Right in Canada

Influence of anthropologists background and bias
Conclusion

The theoretical literature, the methods of literature,
and actual fieldwork had begun to head in
different directions, a trend that picked up speed in
phase three
PART THREE: DEMOLITION
AND RECONSTRUCTION
Theory

For the one hundred years prior to the 1970s, the discipline of
anthropology of swung back and forth between hard and soft versions of
science




Goal throughout was of a scientific study of society
Emergence of structuralism, postmodernism, and feminist anthropology
basically discarded science



Objective conditions such as technology and environment
Subjective conditions portraying people as robots controlled by a rigid social
structure, or active, manipulating agents in an ever-changing universe
Structuralism – questioned positivism, emphasis on empirical data, evidence,
confirmation of a hypothesis
Postmodernism & Feminists – questioned fieldwork. Ethnographic fieldwork
accused of gender and cultural bias, as powerful and privileged academics
misrepresented the lives of natives and women for the benefit of Western
males.
Aim was not to patch up scientific foundation of anthropology as in phase
two…phase three aimed to dismantle discipline and start over again
AIM: Why did structuralism appear?
STRUCTURALISM
Structuralism


Structuralism in the 1960s and 1970s was a
theoretical perspective with a distinct
methodological approach
Offered an alternative to positivism
Basic Features of Structuralism

Deep structure vs. Surface structure

Structuralists examine the underlying principles and variables (deep structure) that generate behavior
instead of empirical, observable behavior (surface structure)


Primacy of unconscious over conscious




Structuralism places priority on etic analysis.
Relegates to the explanatory sidelines the individual human being, whose motives and actions are seen
as largely irrelevant and merely a distraction to the researcher
Structuralism sometimes described as having an anti-humanistic orientation
Emphasis on synchrony vs. diachrony (change)



What motivates people lies beyond their consciousness at the level of deep structure
Etic vs. Emic analysis


Structuralists focus analysis on deep structure, where the range of key variables is more confined
Structuralists are concerned with repetitive structures
Different forms of social organization are produced over and over again by the underlying principles
Reversibility of time

Distinction drawn between chronological (historical) and mechanical (anthropological) time



Chronological time is cumulative; events unfold across history
Mechanical time is repetitive, events unfold across space
According to structuralists, social organization supposedly is reproduced generation after generation
Basic Features of Structuralism

Transformational analysis


Linguistic analogy



Aspects of culture derive their meaning in the context of the overall system of relationships in which they are embedded
Various cultural institutions constitute codes or messages that anthropologists decode, to tell us what they are saying
Focus on mental life



Assumed different institutions of human existence – economic organization, marriage systems, architecture, ritual – are transformations of
each other, manifestations of the same finite set of underlying principles
Emphasis on belief systems, cognitive maps, and oral and written thought
Main focus on mythology, understood as a distinctive ‘language’ or ‘code’ that reflects the way the human brain operates and articulates
fundamental themes, dilemma's, and contradictions in life
Neurological reductionism

Behind the level of observable behavior (surface level), lies the principles that generate everyday interaction



Is there any difference between humans and other animals?
Humans as classifiers


The brain is assumed to operate in terms of binary oppositions
Nature-culture bridge


Structuralists strive to detect the impact of the brain on cultural organization
Dialectical method


Assumption culture is modified and restricted by the operations of the brain, which are thought to be universal across humankind
Central to structuralism is contention that what makes humans unique is capacity for classification
Reduced models

Types of culture or categories of culture reduced to most simplistic, elementary properties

Primitive culture contains basic elements that characterize human existence everywhere
KEY FIGURES IN
STRUCTURALISM
Claude Levi-Strauss (1908 – 2009)


Structuralism in anthropology was almost single-handedly
established by Levi-Strauss
Challenged empirical, positivistic tradition, arguing that culture is
more like a language or logical system of signs than a
biological organism (analogy used by structural-functionalists)


Several reasons, according to Levi-Strauss for not focusing on
surface structure




Implication was epistemological and methodological approach
favored in natural science was not appropriate for anthropology
At the level of observable human interaction there are too many
facts, too much going on
At the empirical level there is a degree of randomness that makes
systematic analysis exceedingly difficult
When investigating cultural life, the focus is on underlying
principles which generate the surface patterns, not the patterns
themselves
Levi-Strauss always tried to reduce data to binary oppositions

Best known for his imaginative analysis of mythology





Rejected basic methodological principle  beliefs and behaviors
must be explained in their specific cultural context




Assumed that myths constitute a kind of language
Myths are vehicles which supposedly take the analyst close to the
workings of the brain
Concerned with what myths indicate about the brain ‘operations’
Not so much in what humans think as in how they think
One version of a myth is not better then another
Attempts to explain myths that occur in one part of the world with those
that are found in other parts of the world
In mechanical time, cultural materials such as myths do not progress
chronologically; they are simply reproduced across space
Consists of decoding the messages in a cultural institution, and
tracing these codes as they are transformed from one institution to
another
Edmund Leach (1910 – 1989)


Trained by Malinowski
Political Systems of Highland Burma (1965)
Drew a distinction between actual behavior and
anthropological models used to explain it.
 Everyday behavior is dynamic, messy, driven by choice,
contradiction, power
 Anthropological models, in contrast, are always equilibrium
models



Provide a sense of orderliness in an otherwise chaotic universe
Leach’s achievement was to retain a fundamental
feature of structural-functionalism, the notion of
equilibrium, while simultaneously promoting social action
model contained in Malinowski’s work
Evaluation

Levi-Strauss placed big question about humankind back on the
anthropological agenda…what does it mean to be human?






There are no superior societies
Threw out conventional, positivistic science
Argued structuralism constituted the appropriate scientific procedure for
the investigation of culture
Defined social structure not as a general representation of the empirical
world, but rather as an abstraction or model in which variables consist of
logical relationships between things instead of things themselves
In the 1960s & 1970s, Levi-Strauss was probably most highly
regarded anthropologist alive
Given his popularity, it is amazing how quickly structuralism fell out of
favor

Dealt almost exclusively with mentalist data, failed to relate data to
material world, and sidestepped major social and political issues
AIM: Why did postmodernism appear?
POSTMODERNISM
Postmodernism

Although Levi-Strauss thought he was still engaged in
scientific work, it was radically different version of
science



Non-positivistic & non-verifiable
With postmodernism, no longer was the case of science
being unobtainable due to technical obstacles
Postmodernists regarded fieldwork as a political
activity whereby powerful Westerners have
traditionally represented (or misrepresented) the lives
of non-Westerners, depersonalized and objectified
them as scientific specimens
Basic Features of Postmodernism
(Interpretive Anthropology)

Challenge to anthropological authority


Dialogical and polyvocal approaches



Positivism is regarded as both inadequate and immoral. It cannot cope with the vision of culture as an endless complex of changing and
contested individual interpretations and meanings.
Postmodernists, in contrast, emphasize the particular and the unique, valorize (give validity to) ‘the other’ (subjects of the research), and
are comfortable with an image of social life that is inherently fragmented, disjointed, and incomplete.
Renewed emphasis on relativism



Culture is regarded as a system of signs and symbols, a complex of meanings. Anthropologist joins forces with ‘the natives’ and interpret
it.
Trend away from grand theory and generalization


Can be analyzed in terms of tone, style, and literary devices. Can be analyzed using the tools of literary criticism.
Focus on interpretation and meaning rather than on causality and behavior


Complex dialogue between ethnographer and ‘the natives,’ a joint venture out of which meaning and interpretation emerge.
Anthropologist lets go of some authority and allows for voices from research subjects.
Ethnography as a literary text


Arrogant for anthropologists to assume they have capacity and responsibility to describe, interpret, and represent lives of people in other
cultures. Assumption is people in other cultures lacked capacity to speak for themselves.
Relativism, pioneered by Boas, emphasized uniqueness of each and every culture.
Simple view that customs had to be understood initially in their specific cultural context and it was unacceptable to comment on the moral
worth of customs, especially by comparing them negatively to those in one’s own culture.
Author-saturated rather than data-saturated ethnography

Author has taken center stage – how the author ‘knows’ a culture and interprets data, how meaning is negotiated between researcher
and the researched, self-conscious musings on the subjective experience of fieldwork.
KEY FIGURES IN
POSTMODERNISM
George Marcus & Michael Fischer



“Interpretive Anthropology”
Social life must fundamentally be conceived as
negotiation of meanings
Importance of relativism –subjective value
according to differences in perception
Clifford Geertz (1926 – 2006)


American cultural anthropologist
“Thick Description” essay (1973)
“Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in
webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those
webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental
science in search of a law but an interpretive one in search of
meaning.”
 Interpretive anthropology aims for ‘thick description’ by generalizing
deeply within cases.


Emphasis on texts and writing and the switch from structure
causality to meaning and interpretation.


“Anthropological writings are themselves interpretations.”
Geertz continues to regard interpretive perspective as a
science
Evaluation

Criticisms against Postmodernism

Postmodernists demand that the author as the sole authority step down,
that books be dialogical, recognizing all voices that are involved


Postmodernism may amount to a post-fieldwork model




Critics believe this goal is not feasible
If research, especially in our own cultures, is unsound both on epistemological
grounds (how can we ‘know’ the other) and on ethical grounds (what right do we
have to represent the other), why not just give up on it completely?
Postmodernism, with its heightened sensitivity to ‘the other,’ and its critique
of positivistic, colonial anthropology, appears to be radical, even
revolutionary.
Sometimes contended that there are no standards in postmodernism, that
one cultural account is as good as any other, that anything goes.
Views postmodernism primarily as a power play, with academics jockeying
for influence, mobility, tenure, and promotion.
AIM: Why did Feminist Anthropology appear?
FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY
Feminist Anthropology


Academic feminism has been paralleled and fuelled
by the ongoing actions and changes in the empirical
world, notably in connection to the women’s
movement.
Anthropology has provided the basis for exploring
numerous issues significant to feminism, such as
whether gender roles and female oppression have
been universally the same or culturally diverse.
Basic Features of Feminist Anthropology

All social relations and knowledge is gendered


Distinctive epistemology




Research should be a collaborative, dialogical affair
Subjectivity (bias) is associated with females, and is superior to ‘male’ objectivity
(neutrality)
Urges female scholars to incorporate their own subjective experiences of
oppression into their research projects
Distinctive ethics


Gender must be included alongside class, status, role, power, and age as a basic
term
Primary purpose of research is to empower women and eliminate oppression
Anti-positivism


Language of science is regarded as the language of oppression. Positivistic
research is said to serve the interest of elites.
Value-neutrality, even if possible, would be ruled out, because feminist research
unapologetically promotes the interests of women
Basic Features of Feminist Anthropology

Preference for qualitative methods


The life history



A specific qualitative technique, was very prominent in the social sciences before
WWII, had been rediscovered by feminist writers.
Seen as a means to give voice to people, vividly to capture institutional and
historical forces as they impinge on and are experienced by individuals.
Female essence


Empathy, subjectivity, and dialogue supposedly allow the investigator to
understand the inner worlds of women, helping them to articulate and combat
their oppression
Provides a counter-balance to misogynist representations
Universal sexual asymmetry

Anthropology has proved to be fertile ground for examining two key questions.



Has gender inequality existed in all cultures at all times?
Has gender inequality increased or decreased as human societies have moved through
history?
Anthropology of women versus feminist anthropology

Anthropology of women was the forerunner to feminist anthropology
KEY FIGURES IN FEMINIST
ANTHROPOLOGY
Marjorie Shostak

Nisa: The Life and Works of a !Kung Woman
(1981)
Wanted to find out what it meant to be female
among the !Kung
 Some people question the ethnography because the
fact that only in the two-week period before Shostak’s
departure did the focus on the woman called Nisa
crystalize.
 Apparent lack of deep rapport, and the businesslike
arrangement (Nisa was paid for her interviews) that
Shostak was forced into with Nisa in order to obtain
her cooperation, raise considerable doubt about the
validity of the central theme of the book; Nisa’s
obsession with sex
 Gives voice to and humanizes a !Kung woman

Elvi Whittaker



Canadian anthropologist
1994 - “Decolonizing Knowledge: Towards a Feminist
Work Ethic and Methodology”
Concerned with the representation of women by
men
 Relationship
between men and women is comparable to
that between the colonized and colonizer.
 In both, Western, white, heterosexual males have
imposed their world view on the other (women and
colonial peoples)
Feminism and Marxism



Both center on issues of inequality and oppression,
with women compared to natives
Marxists charge feminism with promoting gender at
the expense of class, resulting in an analysis that
props up the ruling class.
Feminists accuse Marxism of being male-oriented
approach that serves the interests of men by
promoting class at the expense of gender, obscuring
women’s rights.
Feminism and Postmodernism

Both concerned with the issue of representation
 Feminism
– woman’s voice
 Postmodernism – multiple voices
Evaluation


Although there are a several varieties of feminism,
they all start off from the assumption that
conventional social science has been male-biased
Four reactions to this…
 Don’t
do anything
 How
 Add
most social scientists have responded
women when convenient to one’s analysis
 Women-centered research
 Non-sexist research
AIM: What methods did anthropologists use through the
third phase of theories?
METHOD
Method

With the emergence of postmodernism and feminist
methodology, science took a pounding
 Hope
was qualitative research would be seen as
rigorous and explicit as quantitative research
Methods Literature



Major change was the emergence of literature on
the use of computers in qualitative research
Software programs are no substitutes for the
researcher’s insights and interpretations
Tendency to exaggerate scientific quality of their
reports , assuming that because they have used a
computer their work must be valid
The Fieldwork Situation


In phase three, there was a huge gap between the theoretical and
methods literature
By the 1990s, a few changes in the fieldwork situation had become
apparent





Life history had been revived as the principle technique
Comparative method was not dead
By phase two it had been recognized that no community was
isolated and that the external forces that impinged on it had to be
taken into consideration
By phase three, outside forces didn’t just intrude into the small
community; they were an essential part of the community
Tendency of shorter field work continued from phase two into phase
three
FIN