1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Develop a timeline for anthropological theory
Recognize the early influence of European scholars on
American anthropological theory
Discriminate between the various anthropological theoretical schools of thought
Explain the main contributes of each scholar to anthropological theory
Distinguish between early ideas of cultural and biological variation and current understanding of such processes.

• ‘Armchair’ Anthropologists
• [Note: As emphasis on scientific methodology grew, both methods and ‘theories’ were challenged]

• Result of ‘Armchair’ Anthropology = Unilinear Evolutionism
• All human ways of life pass through a ___________
________________________________________
• Cultures evolve in a _______________________________
• Cultural traits have a ______________________

• Louis Henjry Morgan
• _____________ development, with subdivisions:
_____________  ____________  _________
• Problem(s) with Morgan’s scheme
• _______________________________

• E. B. Tylor
• Anthropology of ____________
_________  __________  _________  _________
• Different starting points & speeds along the unilinear continuum
• Viewed some cultures as _________________
• Checkpoint: What does ‘living fossils’ mean?

• Negative
Unilineal Evolutionism Summary
• Positive

• Emphasized that each culture has its own unique
_______________
• Cultures should be understood based __________
____________________________________
• Methods of cultural analysis = _________________
• Rejected _________________

• Franz Boas (Father of American Anthropology)
• Cultures may take ___________________
• Cultural histories are __________________
• Emphasized ______________
• Checkpoint: How is diffusion defined in cultural anthropology?
• ___________________________________
• Example: Subsistence practice

Historical Particularism Summary
• Positive
• Negative

• Emphasizes the role (function) of________________
• Challenged both ______________________________
• Important scholars:
• Malinowski (Father of Ethnography)
• Radcliffe-Brown

• Malinowski, a Functionalist because of:
• All customs & institutions were ____________________
• If one changed, ____________________
• Each were therefore a ____________________
• ‘Needs Functionalism’
• Cultural customs are developed to_______________

• Radcliffe-Brown
• Role that ____________ play in the life of societies today
• Theoretical category of Structural Functionalism
• Culture & cultural practices _________________
• maintained by the ____________________________
• Social systems similar to _______________________

• Functionalism – Still Present in Anthropology
• Despite challenges to the general theme, a form of functionalism is still a very active perspective in anthropology

• Culture viewed as _____________________
• Pulled from both ____________________________
• Diffusion is ______________________
• _____________ barriers and/or _____ barriers
• Considered to be part of psychological anthropology
• Scholars: Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead

• Benedict
• Believed that each culture is ______________________
• “made over into consistent patterns in accordance with unconscious cannons of choice that develop within a culture,” (Benedict, 1961, p.34)
• Illustrated her point through studying the ____________

• Mead
• Viewed human nature as a ________________
• Focused on relationship between ___________
• Studied ____________________________
• Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) – pioneering fieldwork, ‘classic’ anthropological text

• Leslie White & Julian Steward – American Anthropologists
• Renewed interest in cultural change & evolution after WWII
• Theoretical school of thought: Neoevolutionism

• Leslie White
• Foundation of __________________________________
• ___________= unit of measurement & cause of cultural change
• Rejected ___________________

• Julian Steward
• Environmental Influence:
• Cultures in ___________________ would tend to follow the same developmental
______________________________to their
____________________________
• _____________influence ______________

• Marvin Harris
• Proposed Cultural Materialism:
• __________________________________
• All societies have __________________
• Reinforced anthropology as a science

• Study of symbols in their ___________________
• Victor Turner –
• Mary Douglas –

• Levi-Strauss
• ____________________underlie all human activity, giving shape to seemingly
_________________________
• Used ____________ to emphasis his point
• Underlying ___________________

We will cover:
• Processual Approches
• World System Theory
• Political Economy

• Increase specialization
• Specializations of Cultural Anthropology:
Economic
Anthropology
Anthropology of Migration
Anthropology of Religion
Educational
Anthropology
Urban
Anthropology
Medical
Anthropology
Psychological
Anthropology
• Four-field approach continues to be present among
Anthropologists

• Become comfortable with:
• Scholars outlined on previous slide
• Theoretical school of thought
• Main contribution
• Example: Leslie White’s idea that energy capture propelled cultures forward & his rejection of unilinear evolutionism