Theories of Anthropology

Unilineal cultural evolution

from savagery to barbarism to civilization; Emile Durkheim

religious unilineal evolution

Edward Taylor; animism to polytheism to monotheism

historical particularism

Each culture must be studied on its own terms, understanding
its particular historical context and setting

Functionalism

Culture develops in response to human needs, and every
part of it fulfills a vital function in the whole

Structural functionalism

Culture supports a social need for order and cohesion,
rather than individual needs

Viewed as a complex biological organism that uses different
systems to maintain stability and equilibrium

Cultural determinism

We are shaped by cultural context and social learning, not
biological instincts or race

Cultural ecology

Cultures change as people develop technologies to capture energy from the environment more efficiently

Structuralism

All cultures are shaped by deep, biologically universal
mental patterns

Cultural materialism

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

Symbolic anthropology

Culture is a system of symbols that people create, alter, and share with each other

Cultural Marxism

Power, inequality, class struggle in cultural change

Feminist theory

Gender inequalities and women’s points of view being represented in ethnographies

Perspectivalism

All “knowledge” reflects a specific, limited perspective and must be understood as such

Why do anthropologists use theories?

As a more systematic explanation of social phenomena

What is a nomothetic explanation

a generalization

What is a idiographic explanation?

rich description of a particular case

What is positivism?

knowledge must be empirically verifiable to be considered valid

What is naturalism?

belief that the natural phenomena that can be touched, seen, etc. are all that exists.

What is reflexivity?

inclusion of the anthropologists perspective/experience in ethnographic writing