Visions of Culture An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists

About this book

This classic textbook, now in its fourth edition, offers anthropology students a succinct, clear, and balanced introduction to theoretical developments in the field. The key ideas of 25 major theorists are briefly described and – unique to Visions of Culture – linked to the biographical and fieldwork experiences that helped shape their theories. The impact of each scholar on contemporary anthropology is presented, along with numerous examples, quotations from the theorists' writings, and a description of the broader intellectual setting in which these anthropologists worked. Moore has updated many of the profiles to take into account recent scholarship. Visions of Culture is also more strongly tied in to the companion work, Visions of Culture: An Annotated Reader, to encourage the fullest intellectual engagement for students.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: What's the Point?

Part I: Founders
1. Edward Tylor: The Evolution of Culture
2. Lewis Henry Morgan: The Evolution of Society
3. Franz Boas: Culture in Context
4. Emile Durkheim: The Organic Society

Part II: The Nature of Culture
5. Alfred Kroeber: Configurations of Culture
6. Ruth Benedict: Patterns of Culture
7. Edward Sapir: Culture, Language, and the Individual
8. Margaret Mead: The Individual and Culture

Part III: The Nature of Society
9. Marcel Mauss: Elemental Categories, Total Facts
10. Bronislaw Malinowski: The Functions of Culture
11. A. R. Radcliffe-Brown: The Structures of Society
12. Edward Evans-Pritchard: Social Anthropology, Social History

Part IV: Evolutionary, Adaptationist, and Materialist Theories
13. Leslie White: Evolution Emergent
14. Julian Steward: Cultural Ecology and Multilinear Evolution
15. Marvin Harris: Cultural Materialism
16. Eleanor Burke Leacock: Feminism, Marxism, and History

Part V: Structures, Symbols, and Meaning
17. Claude Levi-Strauss: Structuralism
18. Victor Turner: Symbols, Pilgrims, and Drama
19. Clifford Geertz: An Interpretive Anthropology
20. Mary Douglas: Symbols and Structures, Pollution and Purity

PART VI: Structures, Practice, Agency, Power
21. James Fernandez: The Play of Tropes
22. Sherry Ortner: Symbols, Gender, Practice
23. Pierre Bourdieu: An Anthropology of Practice
24. Eric Wolf: Culture, History, Power
25. Marshall Sahlins: Culture Matters

Postscript: Current Controversies
Index
About the Author

Customer Reviews

Biography

Jerry D. Moore is professor of anthropology at California State University, Dominguez Hills.