History And Theory In Anthropology Access

The Evolution of Anthropological Thought: History and Theory

By the 1970s, the focus shifted from "structures" to "meanings." pioneered Interpretive Anthropology , famously defining culture as a "web of significance." Instead of trying to be a hard science, anthropology became a quest for "thick description"—interpreting what social actions mean to the people performing them. 4. Post-Modernism and the Reflexive Turn History and Theory in Anthropology

In the mid-1800s, anthropology emerged under the shadow of Darwinism. Early theorists like and Lewis Henry Morgan proposed "Unilineal Evolution." They argued that all societies progress through the same stages: Savagery, Barbarism, and finally, Civilization (modeled after Victorian Europe). While this established anthropology as a comparative science, it was inherently ethnocentric and served to justify colonial hierarchies. 2. The Turn to Particularism and Functionalism The Evolution of Anthropological Thought: History and Theory