Theories of Culture and Society

Explore the intricate frameworks that shape human interactions and societal structures. Understanding these theories is crucial for analyzing cultural dynamics and addressing social challenges in a globalized world.

Theories of Culture and Society

1 Evolutionism

  1. The Beginning of Evolutionary Thoughts
  2. Herbert Spencer
  3. Edward Burnett Tylor
  4. L.H. Morgan
  5. J.J. Bachofen
  6. Basic Premises of the Evolutionary School
  7. Criticisms of Evolutionist Theory
  8. Neo-Evolutionism

2 Diffusionism

  1. Essential Features of Diffusion
  2. British School of Diffusion
  3. German-Austrian School of Diffusion
  4. American School of Diffusion

3 Culture Area Theories

  1. Historical Trajectory of Thought
  2. Theoretical Context
  3. Why did ‘Culture Area Concept’ Lose its Steam?

4 Historical Particularism and Critique of Comparative Method

  1. Introduction
  2. Historical Trajectory of Thought
  3. Franz Boas’s influence on Anthropological Research
  4. Franz Boas’s Influence on Anthropological Fieldwork
  5. A Critique of Franz Boas’s Anthropological Thought

5 American Cultural Tradition

  1. Introduction
  2. Historical Development and Few Concepts
  3. Culture and Personality School of Thought
  4. Ruth Fulton Benedict
  5. Margaret Mead
  6. How Culture and Personality Influence Each Other
  7. Criticisms of Culture and Personality Theory

6 Cultural Materialism

  1. Introduction
  2. Main Concept
  3. Theoretical Perspective
  4. Cultural Ecology and Julian Steward
  5. Leslie White and Neo-evolutionism
  6. Methodology
  7. Positive Points
  8. Criticisms

7 Social Integration

  1. What is Social Integration?
  2. The Theory of Social Contract: The Beginning of Social Integration Idea
  3. Auguste Comte and the Idea of Social Integration
  4. Herbert Spencer and the Organismic Analogy
  5. Emile Durkheim and the Theory of Social Integration
  6. Anomie and the Idea of Social Disintegration
  7. Durkheim and his Influence in Social Anthropology

8 Functionalism and Structural-functionalism

  1. Structural-Functional Approach of Radcliffe-Brown
  2. Functionalism of Malinowski
  3. Further Developments of the Functional and Structural-Functional Method
  4. Criticism of Functionalism

9 Structuralism

  1. Moving Towards Structuralism
  2. Assumptions in Structuralism
  3. Structural Ideas in Marx and Freud
  4. Ferdinand de Saussure and his Influence on Anthropological Structuralism
  5. Claude Lévi-Strauss
  6. Edmund Leach (Neo) Structuralism

10 Conflict Theories

  1. Conflict: A Fundamental Social Process
  2. The Manchester School: Background
  3. The Manchester School: Major Ideas
  4. Impact of the Manchester School
  5. Marxian Theory and Social Anthropology

11 Symbolic and Interpretive Approach

  1. What is a Symbol?
  2. Evolution of Symbolic Behaviour in Homo Sapiens
  3. Classification of Symbols and Symbolic Behaviour
  4. Some Classical Anthropological Works on Symbolic and Interpretive Approach

12 Feminism

  1. What is Feminism?
  2. Early Evolution of Feminist Theory
  3. Contemporary Critical Feminism
  4. Challenging Heteronormativity

13 New Ethnography and Contemporary Changes

  1. New versus Old Ethnography
  2. Reflexivity
  3. Autoethnography
  4. Team Ethnography
  5. Dialogical Ethnography