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Book Summary of Other Cultures: Aims, Methods and Achievements in Social Anthropology
A detailed and sympathetic understanding of the contemporary social and cultural institutions of other peoples has never been more needed than it is today. The comparatively new science of social anthropology claims to contribute modestly but significantly to this understanding. Although the subject has grown up mostly in the study of relatively small-scale communities lacking advanced technologies and written histories, its findings can contribute also to the understanding of more complex cultures, and its methods are being increasingly applied in the investigation of modern communities. In the first part of this book John Beattie considers what kind of study social anthropology is, what social anthropologists ask, and the ways in which they go about obtaining answers. In the second part he discusses the more important fields in which social anthropologists have advanced our knowledge of other culture. These fields include kinship and marriage, the maintaining of social order, economic relations, and magical and religious institution. The important theme of social change is also examined. In the final chapter the uses that have been and can be made of social anthropology are discussed. isbn
9780415045216
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Pages : 296
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