Test 1 Flashcards
What is anthropology?
Comparative study of different cuutures
Subdisciplines of anthropology
- cultural anthropology
- archaeology (study of material culture to learn about people)
- linguistics (language considered an artifact by early linguists)
- biological/physical
Branches of biological/physical anthro
- Paleo-anthropology (study of human origins–hominins. Modern humans around 300,000 years ago. 5 hominid species around at time of “Great Leap Forward” about 50,000 years ago)
- Primatology (non-human primates)
- Human variation (living human populations–there is very little variation)
What is sociology?
While anthropologists think of “culture”, sociologists think of “social interactions” and “institutions” (or social structures)
Historically:
- anthropologists studied “other” cultures, and sociologists studied Western cultures
Similarities / Differences between Soc, Anthro
Similarities:
- both come out of European tradition
- both coalesced as disciplines during modernization and Enlightenment–empiricism–to the point that “if you can’t test it, it isn’t real”. For example, Frazer used the language of “laws” to put anthro in same category as natural sciences
- both share methodology more than they used to
Differences:
- anthropologists are careful about the significance of history, while sociologists tend to focus on the contemporary
- methods: anthropologists use fieldwork, sociologists often focus on datasets
- anthropologists use inductive reasoning (start with ideas, ask a question, and see where community leads) while sociologists use variables and hypotheses
Social science: Big events
- Farming
- Colonization
- Industrial Revolution
- notions of time change–commodified
- nuclear families
- labor/leisure
- urbanization
Upsides/Downsides to old theorists
Upside:
- comparative orientation in study of religion
Downsides:
- armchair (reading) and veranda (invited travelers–ex missionaries) anthropology: no direct fieldwork
- evolutionary perspectives were deeply flawed
Unilineal Evolution and Unilineal Religion
Savagery -> Barbarism -> Civilization
Animism -> Polytheism -> Monotheism
Primitive cultures and religions are thus like a window into Europe’s past
Mary Douglas
Christian; Symbolic anthropologist
1968: Purity & Danger: changes anthropology by doing fieldwork in a Western context
Intellectualist/Rationalist approach
Example: EB Tylor
Psychic unity–everyone has same cognitive abilities and cognitive potential
Primitive cultures trying to understand world through “flawed science”–magic, witchery, etc. Science will ultimately replace it.
Faults of intellectualist/rationalist approach
- European cultural systems might be asking very different questions. For example, “theology” is a cultural construct–other parts of the world would say “you’re asking what?? why??”
- Focuses on cognition at expense of emotions and affect
- “Fallacious religious beliefs”–Tylor and his colleagues believed science (true) would replace religion (fallacious)
EB Tylor
1832-1917
Believed animism was foundation of development of religious beliefs
Soul is also important:
- life part: cognition and feelings
- phantom part: evidenced by dreams and death–after all, your soul has to go somewhere when you dream and die
Unilineal religion: animism -> polytheism -> monotheism
Andrew Lang
Student of Tylor
Argued that monotheism came before polytheism, because polytheism is a “degeneration”–some cultures fell further in the Fall than other cultures
- this viewpoint allows colonialism–“Christ, commerce, and civilization”
Tylor and wife were Quakers, wanted to undermine Christian beliefs
Wanted to show that primitive cultures were moral cultures
Max Müeller
1823-1900
Academic view of general revelation–nature worship theory: observe power of natural world, regulation (seasons, tides), then give these features names and characteristics
Called anthropology “Mr. Tylor’s science”
- Müeller was a philologist–origins of language–clearly associated
Frazer
1854-1941
Magic and science were completely different categories
- Magic: tries to manipulate natural world
- Religion: invoke aid of/manipulate supernatural world/gods
- Science: based on rational thoughts
Goal of rejecting Christianity
Trying to undermine belief in magic/religion
Magic -> Religion -> Science: 3 distinct phases of intellectual development
Ludwig Feuerbach
1804-1872
Religion as projections of human wishes/fantasies
Karl Marx
1818-1883
Material approach–conflict is requisite
Religion:
1. we need to accept the current state of affairs (numb)
2. we shouldn’t be concerned with this world–it’s just stuff
Sigmund Freud
1856-1939
Familial/kin relations as key to the origin of religion:
- primal horde–alpha male restricts access to females, gets murdered by sexually repressed other males, who venerate him (becomes god after a few generations)
