Download Chapter 1 What is Anthropology?

Chapter 3
History of Anthropological Theory
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The Evolution of Evolution
Charles Darwin’s theory of
evolution suggested that different
species developed, one from
another, over long periods of time.
Darwin later rejected his original
notion, focusing instead on a
process of natural selection.
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Early Anthropological Theory
Early Evolutionism
 Darwinism influenced cultural
theory. In the early years the
prevailing view was that culture
generally develops (evolves) in a
uniform and progressive manner.
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Early Anthropological Theory
“Race” Theory
Evolutionism influenced anthropology
in the 19th century to posit that the
reason human cultures differed was
because they represented separate
subspecies of humans or “races.”
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Early Anthropological Theory
Diffusionism
 Popular in the late 19th and early
20th centuries
Suggested that most aspects of
high civilization had emerged in
culture centers from which they
then diffused out
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Later Anthropological Theory
Historical Particularism
Frank Boas opposed evolutionism
Stressed the importance of
collecting as much anthropological
data as possible, from which the
laws governing cultural variation
would emerge
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Later Anthropological Theory
Psychological Approach
How do psychological factors and
processes help to explain cultural
practices?
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Later Anthropological Theory
Functionalism
An analysis of what function or
part some aspect of culture or
social life plays in the maintenance
of society.
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Later Anthropological Theory
Structuralism
Lévi-Strauss’ approach views
culture as a surface representation
of the underlying patterns of the
human mind.
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Later Anthropological Theory
Ethnoscience and Cognitive Anthropology
 Attempts
to derive the rules of thought
that may underlie a given culture from a
logical analysis of ethnographic data.
Cultural Ecology
The study of the relationships between
cultures and their physical and social
environments.
Later Anthropological Theory
Political Economy
 Assumes
that external forces explain the
way a society changes and adapts.
Central to this approach is the social and
political impact of those state societies
that transformed the world by
colonialism and imperialism after the
mid-1400s.
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Recent Developments in
Anthropological Theory
Evolutionary Ecology Approaches
The idea that natural selection can
operate on the behavioral or social
characteristic of a population.
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Recent Developments in
Anthropological Theory
Feminist Approaches
With the advent of the “women’s
movement” of the 1960s, a focused
effort on studying the roles of
women was found necessary.
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Recent Developments in
Anthropological Theory
Interpretive Approaches
Clifford Geertz- A culture is like a
literary text that can be analyzed
for meaning.
 The goal is to understand what it
means to be a person living in a
particular culture, rather than to
explain why cultures vary.
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Recent Developments in
Anthropological Theory
Postmodernists
All knowledge is subjective and
actively shaped by the political
powers-that-be.
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