Anthropology Theories

Anthropology Theories

1. Materialism (early 20th century)

   • Historical Materialism (Karl Marx)
     • Theory based on production--> relationships developed through production
       • believed that capitalism= periodic crisis
     • Socalism = "Historical inevitabilit"
   • Friedrich Engels. German philopsher, social scientist who founded the Marxist theory
     • Believed in Historical Materialism
     • Both stressed that their theory was materialist. They thought that our ideas are determined by the material world and not vise versa

2. Nintheenth Century Evolutionism

   • Cultural Evolution
     • Theory developed during the 19th century Europe in order to expalin the diversity amongst humans
   • Edward B. Taylor
     • Believed that "alienated people" were capable of progressing and developing
       • Dividied human evolution: savegery, barbarism, civilization
   • Lewis Henry Morgan
     • Ancient Society
       • Further divided human evolution: savagery, barbarism
         • Montesquieu
           • French lawyer/political philopsher--> lived during the Enlighment

3. Functionalism

   • Functionalists--> seek to describe the relationships of orgainc analogy with parts of a society
     • Bronislaw Malinowski. A Polish anthropologist
       • Influential throughout 1920's and 1930's
     • Alfred Radcliffe Brown. An English Anthroplogist. Developed the theory of functionalism
       • Inspired by Augustus Comte, a French philosopher.
         • Concluded that "social constituted a seperate level of reality distinct from those of biological forms and inorganic matter"
     • Pseudo
       • Term is used when anthroplogists without sufficient evidence and imagination on a subject
   • Malinowski's Biocultural functionalism
     • "Argued that uniform psychological responses are correlates of physiological needs"
   • Structural Functionalism by Radcliffe
     • Focused on social strucure. Suggested that society is "a system of relationships maintaining itself"

4. Structural Lingistices Noam

   • Is the view that all cultures and practises are to be viewed and are worthy of their own right.One of the early institutions of technology. Franz Boaz developed the idea, however his two students further analyzed it
     • Margaret Mead
       • Published "Coming Of Age in Samos"
         • Presented the public, the developedment of a person through cultural expectations and demand
           • Always thought in terms of "interconnections" while living with different cultures
     • Ruth Benedict
       • Thought that cultural diffusion affects civilaized socities
         • Published "Patterns Of Culture". She compares and contrasts the cultural patterns of two Indian and American groups and notice the expalined the drastic differences
   • Cultural relativism

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