Chapter 11: Theory in Cultural Anthropology

Objectives:o Explain the role of theory in anthropological

researcho Identify key theoretical perspectives in

anthropologyo Discuss 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 A generalization, a natural law that predicts and explains culture change and human behavior

idiographic explanation Provides a rich description of a particular case

Foundations of Anthropological Theory

Karl Marx (1818-83)

Societies move through stages of development driven by economic relations between classes. Every society and every form of social and cultural life

in history could be understood in terms of the economic system and the conflict it produced.

Social conflict caused by inequality is a key organizing principle in culture.

Human beings are, at root, socially created and are inherently neither good nor bad.

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.

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

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.”

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.

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

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

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.”

Positivist Anthropology: Materialism and Structuralism

A positivist approach seeks universal, nomothetic explanations based on empirical evidence.

The two branches of positivist anthropology: materialism and structuralism

Materialism includes cultural ecology, cultural materialism, and sociobiology.

All positivist theories work out of naturalism, a belief that all that exists are the natural phenomena that can be touched, seen, or otherwise physically experienced.

Positivist Anthropology: Materialism and Structuralism

Materialist Theory: Cultural Ecology

Developed by Leslie White (1900-1975) who drew on the work of Karl Marx

Culture can be understood in terms of how people adapt to and interact with the natural environment

Emphasizes how the material and economic aspects of life drive cultural change

Positivist Anthropology: Materialism and Structuralism

Materialist Theory: Cultural Materialism

Culture is driven by the material, ecological and economic adaptations humans make

Marvin Harris (1927-2001) argued that humans use an unconscious cost-benefit analysis to adapt cultural beliefs toward economically rational ends.

Understanding how and why any particular society developed the way it did should be drawn out of an understanding of how behaviors, beliefs, and institutions serve (or served) to benefit people in basic material ways.

Positivist Anthropology: Materialism and Structuralism

Materialist Theory: Sociobiology

Culture is rooted in the human drive for evolutionary advantage and genetic survival

A contemporary anthropological theory, but it is not widely accepted as a dominant explanation of

cultural change

Positivist Anthropology: Materialism and Structuralism

Structuralism

Human biology, specifically brain structure, drives culture.

Developed by Claude Levi-Strauss, 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.

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 most notable scholar to push anthropology toward more ideographic and descriptive work

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

Three important strands of postmodern theory in cultural anthropology are cultural marxism, feminism, and perspectivalism

Postmodern Anthropological Theory

Cultural Marxism Draws on Karl Marx’s concepts of power, inequality,

and class struggle to understand cultural change and analyze all forms of social inequality The lowercase “m” indicates that these anthropologists

are not Marxist in their political agenda or overall view of history

Postmodern Anthropological Theory

Feminist Theory Highlights the importance of gender as an analytic

concept and the importance of including women’s presence in cultural analysis

Feminism as a political stance or a social identity is different from feminist theory as a scientific paradigm.

Feminist theory was the first theory that emphasized the importance of recognizing power and privilege not only within the society being studied, but also between the anthropologist, the subject, and the reader.

Postmodern Anthropological Theory

Perspectivalism

Also known as standpoint theory Knowledge is generated by a knower who is positioned

in a particular place and time, reflecting a specific/limited perspective.

Objective/unpositioned knowledge is not possible. Perspectivalism increased the use of reflexivity, the

inclusion of the anthropologist’s perspective and experience in ethnographic writing.

Christians Engaging Anthropological Theory

Christians have diverse opinions on how to engage with anthropology. Eloise Hiebert Meneses (Eastern University)

Christianity and anthropology are two distinct viewpoints, each of which calls for ultimate commitment

Robert Priest (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) Argues for the inclusion of Christian perspectives in the

secular academy because Christian views continue to be marginalized and maligned

The various theoretical approaches can aid us in understanding the data without contradicting or erasing our Christian commitments.