Social anthropology
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| - | '''Social anthropology''' is the branch of [[anthropology]] that studies how currently living [[human being]]s behave in [[social group]]s. | ||
| - | ==History== | ||
| - | Social anthropology has historical roots in a number of 19th-century disciplines, including [[ethnology]], [[folklore]] studies, and [[Classics]], among others. (See [[History of anthropology]].) Its immediate precursor took shape in the work of [[Edward Burnett Tylor]] and [[James George Frazer]] in the late 19th century and underwent major changes in both method and theory during the period 1890-1920 with a new emphasis on original fieldwork, long-term holistic study of social behavior in natural settings, and the introduction of French and German social theory. | ||
| - | ===1920s-1940=== | ||
| - | Modern social anthropology was founded in [[United Kingdom|Britain]] at [[The London School of Economics and Political Science]] following [[World War I]]. Influences include both the methodological revolution pioneered by [[Bronisław Malinowski]]'s process-oriented [[field work|fieldwork]] in the [[Trobriand Islands]] of [[Melanesia]] between 1915 and 1918 and [[Alfred Radcliffe-Brown]]'s theoretical program for systematic comparison that was based on a conception of rigorous fieldwork and the [[Structural functionalism|structure-functionalist]] conception of [[Durkheim]]’s [[sociology]]. Other intellectual founders include [[W. H. R. Rivers]] and [[A. C. Haddon]], whose orientation reflected the contemporary Volkerpsychologie of [[Wilhelm Wundt]] and [[Adolf Bastian]], and Sir [[E. B. Tylor]], who defined anthropology as a positivistic science following [[Auguste Comte]]. [[Edmund Leach]] (1962) defined social anthropology as a kind of comparative micro-sociology based on intensive fieldwork studies. There was never a settled theoretical orthodoxy on the nature of science and society but always a tension between several views that were seriously opposed. | ||
| - | ===1940s-1980s=== | + | '''Social anthropology''' is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the [[United Kingdom]] and Commonwealth and much of Europe ([[France]] in particular), where it is distinguished from [[cultural anthropology]]. In the United States, social anthropology is commonly subsumed within cultural anthropology (or under the relatively new designation of [[sociocultural anthropology]]). |
| - | Following [[World War II]], sociocultural anthropology as comprised by the fields of ethnography and ethnology diverged into an American school of [[cultural anthropology]] while social anthropology diversified in Europe by challenging the principles of structure-functionalism, absorbing ideas from [[Claude Levi-Strauss]]’s [[Structuralism#Structuralism in anthropology|structuralism]] and from [[Max Gluckman]]’s [[Manchester school (anthropology)|Manchester school]], and embracing the study of conflict, change, urban anthropology, and networks. | + | |
| + | In contrast to cultural anthropology, culture and its continuity (including [[narrative]]s, [[ritual]]s, and symbolic behavior associated with them) have been traditionally seen more as the dependent "variable" (cf. ''[[explanandum]]'') by social anthropology, embedded in its historical and social context, including its diversity of positions and perspectives, ambiguities, conflicts, and contradictions of [[Social relation|social life]], rather than the independent (explanatory) one (cf. ''[[explanandum|explanans]]''). | ||
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| + | Topics of interest for social anthropologists have included [[Convention (norm)|customs]], [[economics|economic]] and [[Politics|political]] organization, [[law]] and [[social conflict|conflict]] resolution, patterns of [[Consumption (economics)|consumption and exchange]], [[kinship and descent|kinship]] and family structure, [[Sociology of gender|gender relations]], childbearing and [[socialization]], [[religion]], while present-day social anthropologists are also concerned with issues of [[globalism]], ethnic violence, [[gender studies]], transnationalism and local experience, and the emerging cultures of [[cyberspace]], and can also help with bringing opponents together when environmental concerns come into conflict with economic developments. | ||
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| + | British and American anthropologists including [[Gillian Tett]] and [[Karen Ho]] who studied [[Wall Street]] provided an alternative explanation for the [[financial crisis of 2007–2010]] to the technical explanations rooted in economic and political theory. | ||
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| + | Differences among British, French, and American sociocultural anthropologies have diminished with increasing dialogue and borrowing of both theory and methods. Social and cultural anthropologists, and some who integrate the two, are found in most institutes of anthropology. Thus the formal names of institutional units no longer necessarily reflect fully the content of the disciplines these cover. Some, such as the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (Oxford) changed their name to reflect the change in composition, others, such as Social Anthropology at the University of Kent became simply Anthropology. Most retain the name under which they were founded. | ||
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| + | Long-term [[qualitative research]], including intensive [[Fieldwork|field studies]] (emphasizing [[participant observation]] methods) has been traditionally encouraged in social anthropology rather than quantitative analysis of surveys, questionnaires and brief field visits typically used by [[economics|economists]], [[political science|political scientists]], and (most) [[sociology|sociologists]]. | ||
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| + | ==Anthropologists associated with social anthropology== | ||
| + | * [[Andre Beteille]] | ||
| + | * [[Aleksandar Boskovic]] | ||
| + | * [[Edmund Snow Carpenter]] | ||
| + | * [[Mary Douglas]] | ||
| + | * [[Thomas Hylland Eriksen]] | ||
| + | * [[E. E. Evans-Pritchard]] | ||
| + | * [[Raymond Firth]] | ||
| + | * [[Rosemary Firth]] | ||
| + | * [[Meyer Fortes]] | ||
| + | * [[Ernest Gellner]] | ||
| + | * [[Stephen D. Glazier]] | ||
| + | * [[Jack Goody]] | ||
| + | * [[David Graeber]] | ||
| + | * [[Don Kalb]] | ||
| + | * [[Adam Kuper]] | ||
| + | * [[Edmund Leach]] | ||
| + | * [[Murray Leaf]] | ||
| + | * [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] | ||
| + | * [[Alan Macfarlane]] | ||
| + | * [[Bronisław Malinowski]] | ||
| + | * [[Siegfried Frederick Nadel]] | ||
| + | * [[Susan Visvanathan]] | ||
| + | * [[A.H.J. Prins]] | ||
| + | * [[Alfred Radcliffe-Brown]] | ||
| + | * [[Audrey Richards]] | ||
| + | * [[Juan Mauricio Renold]] | ||
| + | * [[Victor Turner]] | ||
| + | * [[Marshall Sahlins]] | ||
| + | * [[Philippe Descola]] | ||
| + | * [[Marilyn Strathern]] | ||
| + | * [[Hebe Vessuri]] | ||
| + | * [[Douglas R. White]] | ||
| + | * [[Eric Wolf]] | ||
| + | * [[Robert Hugh Layton|Robert Layton]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | * [[Cultural anthropology]] | ||
| + | * [[Ethnology]] | ||
| + | * [[Ethnosemiotics]] | ||
| + | * [[List of important publications in anthropology]] | ||
| + | * [[Rajamandala]] | ||
| + | * [[Sociology]] | ||
| + | |||
| - | ===1980s to present=== | ||
| - | A European Association of Social Anthropologists ([[EASA]]) was founded in 1989 as a society of scholarship at a meeting of founder members from fourteen European countries, supported by the [http://www.wennergren.org/ Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.] The Association seeks to advance anthropology in Europe by organizing biennial conferences and by editing its academic journal, ''Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale''. | ||
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Social anthropology is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and Commonwealth and much of Europe (France in particular), where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In the United States, social anthropology is commonly subsumed within cultural anthropology (or under the relatively new designation of sociocultural anthropology).
In contrast to cultural anthropology, culture and its continuity (including narratives, rituals, and symbolic behavior associated with them) have been traditionally seen more as the dependent "variable" (cf. explanandum) by social anthropology, embedded in its historical and social context, including its diversity of positions and perspectives, ambiguities, conflicts, and contradictions of social life, rather than the independent (explanatory) one (cf. explanans).
Topics of interest for social anthropologists have included customs, economic and political organization, law and conflict resolution, patterns of consumption and exchange, kinship and family structure, gender relations, childbearing and socialization, religion, while present-day social anthropologists are also concerned with issues of globalism, ethnic violence, gender studies, transnationalism and local experience, and the emerging cultures of cyberspace, and can also help with bringing opponents together when environmental concerns come into conflict with economic developments.
British and American anthropologists including Gillian Tett and Karen Ho who studied Wall Street provided an alternative explanation for the financial crisis of 2007–2010 to the technical explanations rooted in economic and political theory.
Differences among British, French, and American sociocultural anthropologies have diminished with increasing dialogue and borrowing of both theory and methods. Social and cultural anthropologists, and some who integrate the two, are found in most institutes of anthropology. Thus the formal names of institutional units no longer necessarily reflect fully the content of the disciplines these cover. Some, such as the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (Oxford) changed their name to reflect the change in composition, others, such as Social Anthropology at the University of Kent became simply Anthropology. Most retain the name under which they were founded.
Long-term qualitative research, including intensive field studies (emphasizing participant observation methods) has been traditionally encouraged in social anthropology rather than quantitative analysis of surveys, questionnaires and brief field visits typically used by economists, political scientists, and (most) sociologists.
Anthropologists associated with social anthropology
- Andre Beteille
- Aleksandar Boskovic
- Edmund Snow Carpenter
- Mary Douglas
- Thomas Hylland Eriksen
- E. E. Evans-Pritchard
- Raymond Firth
- Rosemary Firth
- Meyer Fortes
- Ernest Gellner
- Stephen D. Glazier
- Jack Goody
- David Graeber
- Don Kalb
- Adam Kuper
- Edmund Leach
- Murray Leaf
- Claude Lévi-Strauss
- Alan Macfarlane
- Bronisław Malinowski
- Siegfried Frederick Nadel
- Susan Visvanathan
- A.H.J. Prins
- Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
- Audrey Richards
- Juan Mauricio Renold
- Victor Turner
- Marshall Sahlins
- Philippe Descola
- Marilyn Strathern
- Hebe Vessuri
- Douglas R. White
- Eric Wolf
- Robert Layton
See also
- Cultural anthropology
- Ethnology
- Ethnosemiotics
- List of important publications in anthropology
- Rajamandala
- Sociology
