Table Of Theories Flashcards
Historical Particularism
1910 to 1930 individual societies developed particular cultural traits and undergo unique processes of change. Cultural traits diffuse from one culture to another.
Functionalism
1920 to 1960, cultural practices, beliefs, and institutions fulfill psychological and social needs.
Functionalism major figures
Bronislaw Malinowski
Structural functionalism
1920 to 1960, culture is systematic, it’s pieces working together in a balanced fashion to keep the whole society functioning smoothly.
Neo-evolutionism
1940 to 1970, cultures evolve from simple to complex by harnessing natures energy through technology and the influence of particular cultural specific processes.
Cultural materialism
1960 to 1970, the material world, especially economic and ecological conditions, shape peoples customs and beliefs
Cognitive anthropology
1950 to 1970, culture operates through mental models and logical systems
Structuralism
1960 to 1970, people make sense of their worlds through binary oppositions like hot-cold, culture-nature, male-female, and raw-cooked. These binaries are expressed in social institutions and cultural practices like kinship, myth, and language.
Interpretive anthropology
1970 to present, culture is a shared system of meaning. People make sense of their world through the use of symbols and symbolic activities like myths and rituals.
Post-structuralism
1980 to present, not a single school of thought, but a set of theoretical positions that rejects the idea that there are underlying structures that explain culture. Embraces the idea that cultural processes are dynamic, and that the observer of cultural processes can never see culture completely objectively
Social evolutionism
1872 1910, all societies pass through stages, from primitive state too complex civilization. Cultural differences are the result of different evolutionary stages.
