Thought Paper No. 1
Anthropology 3000a
Choose one of the following questions and answer in two double-spaced, type-written
pages.
1. What does Radcliffe-Brown mean by the term ‘function’. How does this differ from
Malinowski’s use of the term?
2. Why and how does Durkheim believe that a realm of social facts exists and can be
studied scientifically?
3. What does Leach mean by a model? Why does he think that the social structure
discussed by anthropologists is not an empirical reality, but rather a reflection of
the anthropologist’s concerns?
4. What is the definition of society that Leach take from the structural functionalists?
Why is it basically unsatisfactory for him, given the conditions of the Shan and the
Kachin?