French Anthropology Flashcards
Émile Durkheim (1858-1917)
“The Division of Labor in Society” (1893) = Mechanical and organic solidarity provided understanding of basis of social cohesion and integration in different types of societies.
Collective Conscience and Representation
Functionalism: Durkheim’s functionalist approach, which emphasises the ways in which social institutions contribute to the maintenance of social order and stability, had a lasting impact on anthropological theory.
Durkheim’s emphasis on empirical research and the scientific study of society influenced methodology, particularly in terms of fieldwork and ethnographic research.
“The Elementary Forms of Religious Life” (1912), God is society, asserts religion as a reflection of the collective conscience which serves to reinforce social solidarity; Studying totemism in Australian Aboriginal societies which is society, he demonstrated how religious rituals and symbols function to maintain social cohesion and collective identity.
‘Sacred’ and ‘Profane’
‘Social Facts’
‘Le Suicide’ = Capitalism is too freeing and individualistic
Doesnt mention individual thing
Marcel Mauss (1872-1950)
“The Gift” (1925) argues that gifts are never free and involve a series of obligations: to give, to receive, and to reciprocate, creating and maintains social bonds and obligations; “Total social facts,” are activities that have implications across various aspects of social life, including legal, economic, religious, and moral dimensions = gift-giving is an example of a total social fact because it encapsulates these multifaceted social obligations and ties; ‘Principle of Reciprocity’ underpins social cohesion = establishes a system of mutual dependence and respect, reinforcing social structures and relationships.
“Techniques of the Body” (1934), explored how bodily practices are learned and culturally specific = the ways people use their bodies (posture, movement, gestures) are shaped by social and cultural contexts, not purely natural or biological.
Co-authored “Essai sur la nature et la fonction du sacrifice” (1899) = analysed the role of sacrifice in religious rituals, proposing that sacrifice serves to create and maintain social bonds between the sacred and the profane (Durkheimian idea), the community and the divine.
Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009)
“The Elementary Structures of Kinship” = Importance of the incest taboo and exchange of women between groups, arguing that kinship systems are based on fundamental principles of reciprocity and exchange; Structuralism of human thought and culture can be understood through underlying patterns and relationships of myths/ kinship, much like the grammar of a language; Binary Oppositions
