Theory in anthropology over time
Objectives:
oExplain the role of theory in anthropological research
oIdentify key theoretical perspectives in anthropology
oDiscuss how Christians can engage anthropological theory in
thinking about faith and society
Theory in Anthropology
A theory is a formal description of some phenomenon in the
world, explaining how that thing works.
◦ As new data are discovered, a strong theory explains the old data as
well as the new.
◦ Strong theories are able to explain data in a comprehensive and
persuasive way.
◦ A theory can never be proved once and for all.
Theory in Anthropology
Numerous theories may be employed at any given time.
Different theories can be used depending on what the
anthropologist is trying to explain.
Nomothetic explanation Idiographic explanation
A generalization, a natural law Provides a rich description of a
that predicts and explains particular case
culture change and human
behavior
Foundations of Anthropological Theory
KARL MARX (1818-1883)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSQgCy_iIcc&t=166s
Foundations of Anthropological Theory
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Like Marx,
◦ he believed that there are laws of social life and regular patterns researchers can
discover to make predictions about social change.
◦ he believed in the evolution of society from simple to complex.
◦ he believed that religion and the arts are products of underlying social or material
causes.
Unlike Marx,
◦ he did not place any value judgment on capitalist industrialism.
◦ he argued that social organization is not caused by some proximate cause, but is sui
generis, a thing in itself.
◦ he believed that society is like an organism, with various parts that all work together
for the health of the whole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9W0GQvONKc
Foundations of Anthropological Theory
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Believed a multivariate approach is the best way to explain complex
social phenomena
Is particularly known for his analysis of European capitalism, in
which he connected the ethos of investment, frugality, and discipline
necessary for the growth of capitalism to the doctrine of
predestination as articulated by John Calvin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICppFQ6Tabw
Foundations of Anthropological Theory
A key concern for all social theorists is the relationship
between society (individuals working together) and
culture (the ideas, symbols, and interpretations people
have about the world).
All these theories have been critiqued as overly
reductionistic, yet the underlying emphases have remained
important in the development of subsequent schools of
anthropological theory.
Early Anthropological Theories
Early anthropologists developed theories of culture.
They tried to understand and explain cultural diversity and cultural
change.
Five important early anthropological theories:
◦ Unilinear cultural evolution
◦ Diffusion
◦ Historical particularism
◦ Functionalism
◦ Structural-functionalism
Early Anthropological Theories
Unilinear cultural evolution
All cultures evolve from simple to complex, along a single
trajectory of progress
Sought to make the comparison of societies objective or
scientific by constructing scales of development
◦ Edward B. Tylor (1832–1917) used levels of religious development to
classify particular stages of cultural progress.
◦ Henry Lewis Morgan placed cultural development on a scale from
“savagery” to “barbarism” to “civilization.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcpB_986wyk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcwPdmdVrKY
Early Anthropological Theories
Diffusionism
Cultural artifacts or activities (known as cultural traits) spread from
more advanced to less advanced societies.
◦ Cultural traits cannot be created and are only borrowed.
◦ Strict diffusionists afforded virtually no role for creativity, innovation, or
adaptation in culture.
Both unilinear cultural evolution and diffusion are critiqued for
their ethnocentrism and racism and are largely discredited.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MTS4Il2njc
Early Anthropological Theories
Historical Particularism
Franz Boas (1858-1942) original founder
Each culture represents a unique representation of its history and
context
◦ Amasses large amounts of ethnographic data through long-term fieldwork
◦ Ethnographic data helped disprove diffusionist and unilinear culture
evolutionary theories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdk9vBi6VRI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yla7UM-y9y0
Early Anthropological Theories
Functionalism
Bronislaw Malinowski original founder
Culture develops in response to individual human needs
◦ Band and tribe societies should not be seen as irrational,
underdeveloped, or primitive, but should be understood as adaptations
to meet human need
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f22VsAlOwbc
Early Anthropological Theories
Structural-Functionalism
o Alfred Radcliffe-Brown was the
original founder.
o The functions of particular
beliefs or behaviors should not
be understood as meeting
individual needs, but as
supporting a social need for
order and cohesion.
o Boasians in the United States
and the functionalists and
structural-functionalists of
Britain all emphasized
ethnographic field work.
o But anthropologists in the
United States emphasized
“culture” while anthropologists
in Britain emphasized “society.”
Cultural Materialism
Marvin Harris (1927-2001), chief advocate of this approach
known as cultural materialism.
He argues that (i) cultural infrastructure (production and
reproduction) determines (ii) structure (social relations, kinship
pattern, distribution and consumption) and (iii) superstructure
(religion, ideology, norms, values).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjA1WplruKk
Structuralism
◦ Developed by Claude Levi-Strauss (1908 -
2009), who believed that the human brain is
structured by rules of opposition.
◦ Structuralists in every field argued that
researchers could study myths, works of art,
literature, and more by uncovering and
mapping the structure that can found within
them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv8hE0Z_D68
Symbolic Anthropology
Beginning in the mid-1960s, focuses on understanding the symbolic
worlds of others and describing them in depth, and minimizes the
importance of constructing generalized theories of culture and
culture change.
◦ views culture as a system of symbols that people create, alter, and share
with each other
◦ Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) most notable scholar to push
anthropology toward more ideographic and descriptive work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWeh0bOBuuE
Postmodern Anthropological Theory
An umbrella term for theories built on
the premise that positivist, or so-called
objective, views of human phenomena
are inherently limited and therefore
not unbiased in the ways proponents
believe them to be
◦ Brings questions of power, history, and
the culture concept itself into the
center of anthropological analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDCEtnXlA4Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKomOqYU4Mw
