Anthropological Theories and Concepts of Culture and Society

Chapter 9 of the WBCS Anthropology Optional Paper I syllabus focuses on Anthropological Theories and Concepts of Culture and Society. Theoretical paradigms form the intellectual backbone of social-cultural anthropology. Understanding how the discipline evolved—from 19th-century unilinear evolutionism to mid-20th-century functionalism and structuralism, and finally to modern interpretative, post-modern, and phenomenological approaches—is vital for answering analytical paper questions.

This note covers the complete WBCS syllabus for Chapter 9:

• 9.1 Brief outline of Anthropological Theories:
  • Evolutionism (Classical & Neo-Evolutionism)
  • Diffusionism (British, German-Austrian, American)
  • Functionalism (Malinowski & Radcliffe-Brown)
  • Structuralism (Claude Lévi-Strauss)
  • Symbolism & Interpretative Approach (Victor Turner & Clifford Geertz)
  • Post-structuralism & Post-modernism (Reflexivity, Writing Culture)
  • Hermeneutics & Phenomenological Anthropology
• 9.2 Concepts (brief outline):
  • Social Structure
  • Social Organization
  • Gender
  • Institution
  • Group
  • Community

9.1 Anthropological Theories

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                                  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
                                  │   HISTORICAL TRAJECTORY OF THEORIES     │
                                  └────────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                                                       │
      ┌───────────────────┬────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────┬───────────────────┐
      ▼                   ▼                            ▼                            ▼                   ▼
[ EVOLUTIONISM ]    [ DIFFUSIONISM ]           [ FUNCTIONALISM & ]          [ SYMBOLIC & ]      [ POST-MODERNISM & ]
(19th Century)      (Early 20th C.)            [ STRUCTURALISM   ]          [ INTERPRETATIVE ]  [ PHENOMENOLOGY    ]
Tylor, Morgan       Smith, Boas, Graebner      Malinowski, Lévi-Strauss     Geertz, Turner      Clifford, Jackson

1. Evolutionism

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Evolutionism was the first formal theoretical paradigm in anthropology, emerging during the 19th century under the influence of Enlightenment thought and Darwinian biology.

                           ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
                           │              EVOLUTIONISM              │
                           └───────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                                               │
               ┌───────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────┐
               ▼                                                               ▼
   [ CLASSICAL UNILINEAR ]                                             [ NEO-EVOLUTIONISM ]
   (19th Century)                                                      (Mid-20th Century)
   - E.B. Tylor (Religion)                                             - Leslie White (Energy: E x T = C)
   - L.H. Morgan (Ethnicity/Society)                                   - Julian Steward (Multilinear/Ecology)
   - J.G. Frazer (Magic to Science)                                    - V. Gordon Childe (Archaeological)

A. Classical Unilinear Evolutionism (19th Century)

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• Core Premise: All human societies progress through a single, uniform, linear sequence of stages from simple to complex.
• Key Postulates:
  1. Psychic Unity of Mankind: All human minds share identical cognitive capacities, leading to similar cultural responses when faced with similar environmental challenges.
  2. Parallel Development / Independent Invention: Cultural similarities across distant geographical areas occur due to independent invention rather than contact.
  3. Doctrine of Survivals: Traces of ancient cultural customs persist in modern societies as hollow traditions (e.g., saying “Bless you” after a sneeze).
• Key Proponents:
  • E.B. Tylor (Primitive Culture, 1871): Traced the evolution of religion through three unilinear stages: Animism (belief in spirits) $\rightarrow$ Polytheism $\rightarrow$ Monotheism. Defined culture for the first time in 1871.
  • L.H. Morgan (Ancient Society, 1877): Traced social evolution through three ethnical periods: Savagery $\rightarrow$ Barbarism $\rightarrow$ Civilization (further divided into Lower, Middle, Upper based on technological milestones like fire, bow-arrow, pottery, iron smelting, and alphabet).
  • J.G. Frazer (The Golden Bough, 1890): Proposed an evolutionary scheme of human thought: Magic (Primitive) $\rightarrow$ Religion (Intermediate) $\rightarrow$ Science (Modern).
• Limitations & Critiques: Armchair anthropology (lacked fieldwork); ethnocentric bias (placed Victorian European society at the pinnacle); oversimplified linear progress.

B. Neo-Evolutionism (Mid-20th Century)

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• Core Premise: Re-established evolutionism using scientific, empirical, and ecological data without ethnocentric moral value judgments.
• Key Proponents:
  • Leslie White (Universal Evolution): Proposed that culture evolves as the amount of energy harnessed per capita per year increases. Formulated White’s Law: $$C = E \times T$$ (Where $C$ = Culture, $E$ = Energy harnessed, $T$ = Technological efficiency).
  • Julian Steward (Multilinear Evolution & Cultural Ecology): Rejected universal unilinear schemes. Proposed that culture evolves along multiple divergent lines based on how human technology interacts with specific environments (Culture Core vs. Secondary Features).
  • V. Gordon Childe (Archaeological Evolutionism): Identified major socioeconomic shifts: Paleolithic Hunting-Gathering $\rightarrow$ Neolithic Revolution (Agriculture) $\rightarrow$ Urban Revolution (Cities & Bronze metallurgy).
  • Sahlins & Service: Distinguished between General Evolution (overall increase in complexity/organization) and Specific Evolution (adaptive divergence of a specific culture to its local environment).

2. Diffusionism

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Diffusionism arose in the early 20th century as a direct reaction against Classical Evolutionism. It argued that cultural traits rarely originate independently; instead, they are invented in a few cultural centers and diffuse outward through contact, migration, and trade.

                           ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
                           │              DIFFUSIONISM              │
                           └───────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                                               │
      ┌────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────┐
      ▼                                        ▼                                        ▼
[ BRITISH SCHOOL ]                    [ GERMAN-AUSTRIAN SCHOOL ]               [ AMERICAN SCHOOL ]
(Egyptocentric / Hyper)               (Kulturkreis / Circles)                  (Culture Area / Boas)
- G. Elliot Smith, W.J. Perry         - F. Graebner, W. Schmidt                - Franz Boas, C. Wissler
- All culture came from Egypt          - Quality & Quantity criteria            - Empirical Historical Particularism

1. British School (Hyper-Diffusionism / Heliolithic Theory):
   • Proponents: G. Elliot Smith and W.J. Perry.
   • View: Extreme view that all complex human civilization (pyramids, mummification, agriculture, sun-worship) originated in Egypt and diffused across the globe. Primitive societies were viewed as degenerate non-inventors.
   • Critique: Rejected as dogmatic, historically inaccurate, and unscientific.
2. German-Austrian School (Kulturkreis / Culture Circle Theory):
   • Proponents: Fritz Graebner and Wilhelm Schmidt.
   • View: Culture traits did not originate in a single center, but in a few distinct geographic complexes called Kulturkreise (Culture Circles), which expanded outward through waves of migration.
   • Criteria: Used the Criterion of Quality (formal similarity unexplainable by utility) and Criterion of Quantity (number of shared traits between cultures) to trace historical diffusion.
3. American School (Historical Particularism & Culture Area Concept):
   • Proponents: Franz Boas (“Father of American Anthropology”), Clark Wissler, A.L. Kroeber.
   • View: Rejected sweeping universal theories. Insisted on Historical Particularism (each culture has its own unique, detailed history that must be documented through rigorous fieldwork).
   • Culture Area Concept: Geographic regions where sharing of cultural traits occurs due to proximity and environmental adaptation (e.g., Plains Indians of North America). Formulated the Law of Age Area (widespread traits are older than localized traits).

3. Functionalism and Structural-Functionalism

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Functionalism emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, shifting anthropology from historical reconstruction to the synchronized study of how living societies work in the present (Synchronic approach).

                      ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
                      │    FUNCTIONALISM & STRUCTURAL-FUNCT.     │
                      └────────────────────┬─────────────────────┘
                                           │
                    ┌──────────────────────┴──────────────────────┐
                    ▼                                             ▼
       [ BIO-CULTURAL FUNCTIONALISM ]                [ STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALISM ]
       (Bronislaw Malinowski)                        (A.R. Radcliffe-Brown)
       - Serves Individual Needs                     - Maintains Social Equilibrium
       - 7 Basic Biological Needs                    - Society = Biological Organism
       - Fieldwork at Trobriand Islands              - Social Structure & Joking Relations

A. Bio-Cultural (Psychological) Functionalism — Bronislaw Malinowski

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• Core Premise: Cultural institutions exist to satisfy the seven basic biological and psychological needs of individual human beings (Nutrition, Reproduction, Bodily Comforts, Safety, Movement, Growth, and Health).
• Derived Needs: Culture creates secondary instrumental needs (Economic, Legal, Educational, Political) to sustain these basic functions.
• Fieldwork Benchmark: Pioneer of intensive participant observation (Argonauts of the Western Pacific, 1922, Trobriand Islands).
• Kula Ring Analysis: Demonstrated that the ceremonial exchange of valueless shell necklets (Soulava) and armbands (Mwali) across islands functioned to build inter-island alliances, peace, and trade networks.
• Theory of Magic: Magic is not primitive ignorance (as Frazer claimed), but a psychological coping mechanism to reduce anxiety during high-risk, unpredictable activities (e.g., open-sea fishing vs. safe lagoon fishing).

B. Structural-Functionalism — A.R. Radcliffe-Brown

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• Core Premise: Culture functions not to satisfy individual needs, but to maintain the social structure and social solidarity/equilibrium of the group.
• Organic Analogy: Compared society to a biological organism; individual human beings are cells, and institutions (kinship, law, religion) are organs working together to maintain systemic health (homeostasis).
• Social Function: The contribution an institution makes to the maintenance of the structural continuity of society.
• Studies on Kinship: Explained Joking Relationships (institutionalized friendly disrespect between specific relatives, e.g., brother-in-law) and Avoidance Relationships as structural mechanisms to prevent social friction and tension.

4. Structuralism — Claude Lévi-Strauss

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French Structuralism revolutionized anthropology in the 1950s and 1960s by drawing on structural linguistics (Ferdinand de Saussure).

  [Unconscious Mind] ──> [Binary Oppositions (Nature/Culture, Raw/Cooked)] ──> [Cultural Structures (Myth, Kinship)]

• Core Premise: Culture is an expression of the underlying, unconscious, universal structures of the human mind.
• Binary Oppositions: The human brain categorizes the world through dualistic contrasts: Nature vs. Culture, Raw vs. Cooked, Self vs. Other, Us vs. Them.
• Kinship & Alliance Theory: In The Elementary Structures of Kinship (1949), Lévi-Strauss argued that the incest taboo is not a biological imperative, but a structural rule forcing groups to practice exogamy (“marry out or die out”), creating social alliances through the exchange of women.
• Analysis of Myth: Myths are structured like language (langue vs. parole). They are built of fundamental structural units called mythemes designed to resolve deep cultural contradictions.

5. Symbolic and Interpretative Anthropology

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In the 1960s and 1970s, symbolic anthropologists turned away from structural determinism and functional biology, viewing culture as a system of symbols and meanings.

                        ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
                        │        SYMBOLIC & INTERPRETATIVE       │
                        └───────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                                            │
                 ┌──────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┐
                 ▼                                                     ▼
     [ PROCESSUAL / SYMBOLIC ]                               [ INTERPRETATIVE ANTHROPOLOGY ]
     (Victor Turner)                                         (Clifford Geertz)
     - Ritual Symbols as Operators                           - Culture as a "Text"
     - Liminality & Communitas                               - "Thick Description"
     - Ndembu Rituals                                        - Balinese Cockfight

A. Processual Symbolic Anthropology — Victor Turner

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• Focus: How symbols operate within social processes, rituals, and conflicts (The Forest of Symbols, 1967).
• Liminality & Communitas: Analyzed rites of passage (building on Arnold van Gennep):
  1. Separation
  2. Liminality (Margin): An ambiguous, transitional threshold phase where initiates are “neither here nor there.”
  3. Re-aggregation (Incorporation)
• Communitas: Intense feeling of unmediated social equality, togetherness, and comradeship experienced by initiates during the liminal state.

B. Interpretative Anthropology — Clifford Geertz

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• Focus: Culture is not a experimental science in search of law, but an interpretative science in search of meaning (The Interpretation of Cultures, 1973).
• Culture as a Text: Geertz defined culture as a webs of significance spun by humans. Anthropologists must read culture over the shoulders of the natives like an intricate text.
• Thick Description: The methodological approach of analyzing human behavior alongside its full cultural context and native intentionality (e.g., distinguishing a physical eye twitch from a mock wink or a conspiratorial wink).
• Balinese Cockfight (Deep Play): Showed that cockfighting in Bali was not merely animal betting, but a symbolic dramatization of status rivalries, masculinity, and honor.

6. Post-Structuralism, Post-Modernism, Hermeneutics, and Phenomenological Anthropology

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Late 20th-century theoretical developments critically dismantled classic positivist anthropology.

                  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                  │       LATE 20TH CENTURY CRITICAL PARADIGMS   │
                  └──────────────────────┬───────────────────────┘
                                         │
     ┌──────────────────┬────────────────┴──────────────────┬──────────────────┐
     ▼                  ▼                                   ▼                  ▼
[ POST-STRUCTURALISM ] [ POST-MODERNISM / REFLEXIVE ]   [ HERMENEUTICS ]    [ PHENOMENOLOGICAL ]
- Michel Foucault      - James Clifford, G. Marcus     - Paul Ricoeur       - Michael Jackson, T. Csordas
- Power / Knowledge    - Critique of Ethnographic      - Textual            - Embodiment & Lived
- Deconstruction         Authority (*Writing Culture*)    Interpretation      Body-in-the-World

A. Post-Structuralism

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• Core Premise: Rejects the rigid, static structures of Lévi-Strauss. Emphasizes instability, history, discourse, and power dynamics.
• Michel Foucault: Introduced the concepts of Discourse and Power/Knowledge (Power is not just top-down coercion, but embedded in social institutions, knowledge production, and bodies).

B. Post-Modernism & Reflexive Anthropology

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• Core Premise: Rejects grand universal narratives (Meta-narratives) and claims of scientific objectivity. Asserts that ethnographic accounts are subjective, partial interpretations shaped by colonial power relations.
• Writing Culture Movement (1986): Edited by James Clifford and George Marcus. Exposed how ethnographies are constructed literary texts.
• Reflexivity: Requires anthropologists to explicitly declare their own positionality (gender, class, race, power status) and involve native voices directly (Polyphony / Multivocal ethnography).

C. Hermeneutics in Anthropology

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• Core Premise: Borrowed from biblical and literary interpretation (Paul Ricoeur, Hans-Georg Gadamer).
• Application: Views cultural practices as texts that require continuous interpretation. Rejects the rigid subject-object divide; ethnographic understanding is a “fusion of horizons” between the researcher’s background and the host culture.

D. Phenomenological Anthropology

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• Core Premise: Draws on philosophers Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Edmund Husserl to study lived experience, human perception, and the embodied self.
• Key Proponents:
  • Michael Jackson (Things As They Are, 1996): Focuses on lived experience, intersubjectivity, and human coping strategies rather than abstract social structures.
  • Thomas Csordas (Embodiment): Argues that the body is not merely an object to be read as a cultural sign, but the experiential ground of culture and perception.

9.2 Concepts of Culture and Society

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Mastering fundamental anthropological concepts is essential for constructing clear, precise sociological definitions in WBCS answers.

                                  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
                                  │    CONCEPTS OF CULTURE & SOCIETY        │
                                  └────────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                                                       │
      ┌───────────────────┬────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────┬───────────────────┐
      ▼                   ▼                            ▼                            ▼                   ▼
[ SOCIAL STRUCTURE ] [ SOCIAL ORGANIZATION ]       [ GENDER ]                  [ INSTITUTION ]      [ GROUP & COMMUNITY ]
- Grid framework     - Actual choices/agency       - Cultural construction     - Established system - Primary vs Secondary
- Radcliffe-Brown    - Raymond Firth               - Sex vs. Gender            - Malinowski's 6     - Community & Locality

1. Social Structure

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• Definition: The enduring pattern or matrix of social relations, statuses, and roles that forms the framework of a society.
• Radcliffe-Brown’s View: Social structure refers to the concrete, observable network of actually existing social relations between individuals in a given time and place.
• Lévi-Strauss’s View: Social structure is not an empirical reality visible on the surface, but an abstract conceptual model built in the analyst’s mind to understand social relations.
• Components of Social Structure:

[ Statuses (Positions) ] ──> [ Roles (Behavioral Expectations) ] ──> [ Social Networks ] ──> [ Social Structure ]

2. Social Organization

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• Definition (Raymond Firth): Distinguished Social Structure from Social Organization in Elements of Social Organization (1951).
• Structure vs. Organization:
  • Social Structure: The ideal framework, rules, and layout of social expectations (the static skeleton).
  • Social Organization: The actual choices, decisions, and arrangements made by real human individuals operating within those structural rules (the dynamic living process).

3. Gender

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• Sex vs. Gender:
  • Sex: Biological, physiological, and anatomical differences between male and female (chromosomes, genitalia, hormones).
  • Gender: The socio-cultural meanings, roles, expectations, identities, and behavioral norms assigned to biological sexes by a society.
• Gender Stratification: The unequal distribution of wealth, power, prestige, and personal freedom between men and women across societies.
• Feminist Anthropology:
  • Sherry Ortner (Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?, 1974): Argued that female subordination is universal because women are symbolically associated with Nature (due to childbearing/lactation), while men are associated with Culture (which seeks to control nature).
  • Eleanor Leacock: Demonstrated that gender egalitarianism existed in many pre-capitalist band societies (e.g., Montagnais-Naskapi of Canada) before European colonial contact.

4. Institution

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• Definition: An established, organized system of social norms, roles, and relationships designed to fulfill one or more fundamental societal functions.
• Malinowski’s Anatomy of an Institution: In A Scientific Theory of Culture (1944), Malinowski argued that every institution comprises six interconnected elements:

  [ Charter (Goal/Values) ] ──> [ Personnel (Members) ] ──> [ Norms (Rules) ]
                                                                   │
  [ Function (Outcome) ] <── [ Activities (Actions) ] <── [ Material Apparatus (Tools) ]

1. Charter: The underlying doctrine, values, or declared purpose of the institution.
2. Personnel: The human group organized to operate it.
3. Norms: The rules, customs, and laws governing member conduct.
4. Material Apparatus: The physical tools, buildings, and technology utilized.
5. Activities: The actual work and behavior performed.
6. Function: The ultimate biological/social need satisfied.

• Major Societal Institutions: Family, Marriage, Kinship, Religion, Economic System, Political System.

5. Group

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• Definition: Two or more individuals who interact regularly, share common goals, possess a sense of belonging, and operate under shared expectations.
• Types of Groups:

                             ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
                             │           TYPES OF GROUPS              │
                             └───────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                                                 │
      ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┐
      ▼                                          ▼                                          ▼
[ PRIMARY vs. SECONDARY ]               [ IN-GROUP vs. OUT-GROUP ]               [ REFERENCE GROUP ]
(Charles Cooley)                        (William Graham Sumner)                  (Robert K. Merton)
- Primary: Face-to-face, intimate       - In-Group: "We-feeling", loyalty        - Group used as a standard
- Secondary: Formal, impersonal         - Out-Group: "They-feeling", distance    - Ideal for comparison

1. Primary Group (Charles Cooley): Small, face-to-face, highly intimate, emotionally durable groups (e.g., family, peer group).
2. Secondary Group: Larger, impersonal, goal-oriented, formal associations (e.g., labor union, political party, bureaucracy).
3. In-Group vs. Out-Group (W.G. Sumner):
   • In-Group: A social group toward which a member feels intense loyalty, solidarity, and “We-feeling.”
   • Out-Group: A group toward which an individual feels opposition, distance, or “They-feeling.”
4. Reference Group (R.K. Merton): A group that serves as a standard of comparison for an individual’s self-evaluation, aspirations, and values (even if they are not an active member).

6. Community

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• Definition (R.M. MacIver): A area of social living marked by a degree of social coherence, bounded by a specific geographic locality and bound by community sentiment (“We-feeling”).
• Core Elements of Community:
  1. Locality (Geographical Territory): A shared physical landscape where members live and interact.
  2. Community Sentiment: Shared psychological belonging, mutual interdependence, and collective identity.
• Classical Typologies of Community:

A. Ferdinand Tönnies: Gemeinschaft vs. Gesellschaft

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• Gemeinschaft (Community): Natural, close-knit, traditional community based on kinship, shared land, personal relationships, and collective sentiment (e.g., traditional rural village).
• Gesellschaft (Society/Association): Artificial, formal, contractual society based on self-interest, division of labor, money economy, and impersonal relations (e.g., modern industrial metropolis).

B. Robert Redfield: The Folk-Urban Continuum

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• Studied traditional communities (Tepoztlán, Mexico) and conceptualized the transition from a Folk Society (small, isolated, homogeneous, sacred, illiterate, tradition-bound) to an Urban Society (large, heterogeneous, secular, literate, individualistic). Introduced the concepts of Little Tradition and Great Tradition.

Master Comparative Matrix of Theoretical Schools

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Key Terms Summary for WBCS Paper I

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• Psychic Unity of Mankind: The assumption that all human populations share basic cognitive mental processes, explaining independent inventions.
• Culture Core: Julian Steward’s concept denoting the constellation of cultural features most closely tied to ecological adaptation and economic exploitation.
• Thick Description: Clifford Geertz’s technique of providing a detailed account of human behavior along with its explicit cultural context and native intentions.
• Liminality: The ambiguous, middle threshold state in a rite of passage where initiates are stripped of former social status before being reborn into a new one.
• Gemeinschaft: Ferdinand Tönnies’s term for a close-knit traditional community based on personal ties and shared sentiment.
• Culture Area: A geographic region containing multiple societies that share similar cultural traits due to geographic proximity and ecological adaptation.