This article is dedicated to my friends in the Agile community who have shown interest and curiosity in understanding the academic origins of the study of culture change. The content is derived from my chosen field in college, Cultural Anthropology. One of my favorite things is to help build cognitive maps across domains. – E. Slomba
The group of disciplines we know today as the social sciences emerged in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. This increasing specialization was a response to the world’s increasing complexities. Anthropology distinguished itself from the other branches of social science in two ways: first, by attempting to retain a comprehensive view of humankind and second, by an emphasis on empirical data.
Early Attempts at Explaining Cultural Differences
19th century scholars attempted to place the development of cultures within a set of evolutionary stages to tell “the” story of humankind.
“There is a psychic unity of mankind – a basic similarity of all human minds – in every land, in every culture,” Edward Burnett Tylor.
Tylor was the first to use statistical analysis in comparing cultures. He initiated cross-cultural studies of commonly observed themes like marriage and inheritance.
“Technological inventions and discoveries alter society in a way so that new traits become necessary for survival,” Lewis Henry Morgan.
Morgan associated stages of evolution with particular technologies, and wrote about “successive arts.” To him we owe a debt related to the concepts of disruption and innovation tracing back through generations of scholarship to his foundational work.
Data Gathering
Scholars during the early development of Cultural Anthropology focused on methodologies for ethnography and linguistics.
“Whenever we make judgements about good and bad cultures, we do so on the basis of certain overt or covert premises,” Franz Boas.
Boas was a staunch believer in the value of first-hand information. He tore down previous contributions of “armchair anthropologists” and attacked viewpoints of certain races as being more or less evolved.
“Culture forms recognizable and persistent patterns,” Alfred Louis Kroeber.
Kroeber found examples of patterns in philosophy, music, literature and nationalism to suggest that genius tends to develop in cultural clusters.
“Borrowing is always easier than originating,” Robert H. Lowie.
For Lowie, cultural contact is an exchange of ideas. He was interested in the ways different cultures mix and mingle, especially at their peripheries.
“I consider as my greatest accomplishment that I am an adopted member of the Comanche tribe, was accepted as a master carver by the Marquesan natives and executed commissions for them in their own art, am a member of the Native Church of North America (Peyote) according to Quapaw rite, became a properly accredited ambiasy nkazo (medicine man) in Madagascar and was even invited to join the Rotary Club of a middle western city.” Ralph Linton
Linton stressed that cultural factors were more important than biological ones in explaining differences among tribes. He studied status and roles in class-based societies, with a main focus on the individual creating and reacting to cultural influences.
“Institutions are the vehicle through which specific influences are brought to bear on the growing individual.” Abram Kardiner
Kardiner emphasized the adaptations people choose in order to negotiate culture. His fieldwork gathered first-person biographies.
The next post will continue with Organizations & Reciprocity. Meanwhile, THANKS for asking, Lisette. I hope some of these points at least are helpful, and I’m glad we’re in the same tribe!
Lisette Sutherland is an expert on remote collaboration and community-building. For more information about Lisette and her work, see happymelly.com & follow her on Twitter @lightling
RESOURCES
High Points in Anthropology
Conformity and Conflict, Readings in Cultural Anthropology
http://www.amazon.com/Conformity-Conflict-Readings-Cultural-Anthropology/dp/0205234100
The Cultural Experience: Ethnography in Complex Society
https://kindle.amazon.com/work/the-cultural-experience-ethnography-complex/B000AI6HCW/1577663640
The Anthropology Network, an open LinkedIn Group
Anthropology and Design, an openLinkedIn Group
Verge Arts Group 