Social Anthropology Unseen Flashcards
Julian Steward - Evolutionism
- Environment crucial to culture - determines cultures development - similar environments = similar cultures
- Rejects unilineal evolutionism - Multilineal evolutionism - Societies develop in many different ways
Leslie White - Evolutionism
- Problem with uninlineal evolutionism
- Separate cultures into Technological development, Sociological development and Ideological development
- Control of societies to become more advanced
Wolf - Marxist/Evolutionist
- Peasants cultivators existing in power relationship with authorities
- Mode not method of production
- Produce own social reproduction
- Internal and External balance of demands
Interpretive Approach
- Comparative
- Universal theories and explanations
- In-Depth View
- Intensive Fieldwork
- Meanings and Understandings
Geertz - Interpretivist - Balinese Cockfights
- Spatial and Social Organisation determines cultural and social hierarchies in Bali village
- Communicates social and cultural meanings of Balinese society at the time
- Deep ritual communicating meaningful experience
- Thick description
Colonialism 1500-1800
Effective control of much of America’s and Africa
Foundation of Early Plantations
Colonialism 1800-1950
Expansion and Development
Intensification of slave trade
Colonialism 1950-Present
End of colonialism as a direct governance
But legacies continue to shape present development
Free Trade, Technological Advances, MNCs
Social Anth Colonialism Shaping 1880s-1920s
- 1960s/70s - Debate of extent of colonialism shaping
- Lack of early attention to colonial power shaping places of study
Wolf and Mintz - Anth and Colonialism
Historical Materialist Approach
Focus on colonialism’s integration with capitalist economic system and modes of production
Edward Said - Colonialism
Colonial authorities misrepresent people ruled and romanticise/objectify them to justify their colonial rule
Classification Definition
Way of organising world into classes and types
Methods of this are hugely varied, cross-culturally and over time
Why do people classify the way they do? - Anthropologists main concern
Classification Example - Rituals
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Function and Meaning?
Identifying Factor for classifying cultures and societies
Function - Social cohesion and society survival - Express and resolve social tensions and conflicts
Meaning - Enact meanings and express thoughts and myths and ideas
Political Ideology
Politics is the exercise of power and authority + how public decisions are made
- Values, Beliefs and Material factors that make exercise of power acceptable
- Could be combined with coercion/force
Political Anthropology - Interest?
- Nature of political exercise?
- Political ideologies occurring?
- Legitimisation of political arrangements?
Political Functionalist
Social Order and Cohesion Maintenance
Political Evolutionist
Development of Political Organisations ( out of each other )
Primitive Social Organisation
Bands
Tribes
Chiefdoms
States
Bands
Egalitarian
Less than 100 people
Eg: Forager Groups
Tribes
Egalitarian
1000-20K People
Eg: Nuer (Communal Ownership Groups)
Chiefdoms
Ranked
1000s-30K People
Eg: Precolonial Hawaii (Central Control with Communal Labour)
States
Classes
Large Population
Eg: 15thC Inca Empire (Highly productive developed system)
Usually have coordinated labour with technological innovation
Problems with Primitive Social Organisation Model
Social Organisation that no longer exists
This idea is fully recognised in Anthropology
Tribal language also carries a lot of colonial baggage
Political Anthropological Interest Now
Ethnicity and Nationalism
Study of state, national identities and ethnicities
Role of state as well - Even those marginal states
Anderson - Imagined Communities : Key Ideas/Questions
How and why do people identify with nation?
How do national identities form?
How is shared identity possible?
A nation is an imagined political community and is socially constructed - Made and shared by its people
Barth - Defining Ethnic Groups : Key Ideas/Questions
Ethnic groups have key characteristics and traits
Language, Religion, Culture Customs, Traditions, Origins, Territories, Cultural Continuity etc
Economy Definition
Consists of Production, Consumption and Exchange
Categories of Exchange
Reciprocity
Redistribution
Market
Types of Reciprocity
Generalised - Objects/Services given with no expectation of return
Balanced - Objects/Services given with expectation of something roughly equivalent
Negative - Objects/Services given with aim of gaining as much as possible
Redistribution Definition
Paying into a pool in a group controlled by some authority
Market Exchange Consists of…
Goods and Services sold in a free market
Money involved - A generalised medium of exchange that is a standard and store of value AND a symbol
