Anthropology Optional (Theories in Anthropology) by Sourabh Mishra

Model Answer

Question #1. Discuss various anthropological approaches to the study of personality and culture.

Introduction:

Culture according to this school of thought is acquired, imitated, and learned. It gives rise to character formation or development of personality traits before the period of adolescence.

Personality refers to the integrated and dynamic organisation of physical, mental, and social qualities of an individual as that manifests itself to the other people in the give and take of social life. It is a more or less consistent behaviour pattern of an individual.

The emergence of the Concept:

The Culture and Personality movement was at the core of anthropology in the first half of the 20th century. It examined the interaction between psychological and cultural forces at work on the human experience.

Culture and Personality were too divided to really be considered a school of thought. It had no orthodox viewpoint, centralized leadership, or coherent training program (LeVine 2001).

However, there were also some basic ideas with which most practitioners would agree. At a minimum, these would include:

•   Adult behaviour is culturally patterned.
•   Childhood experiences influence the individual’s personality as an adult.
•   Adult personality characteristics are reflected in cultural beliefs and social institutions, such as religion (LeVine 2001).

Characteristics of the Personality:

While we talk about personality, we have certain notions that it is related to the outward appearance and performance of an individual. But personality has certain other characteristics:

•   Personality is acquired
•   Every personality is unique
•   Personality is influenced by social interaction
•   Personality refers to the persistent qualities of an individual
•   Personality is not a mysterious phenomenon
•   Personality is not related to body structure alone.

Culture and Personality School of thought:

•   American anthropologists such as Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, Ralph Linton, and Abram Kardiner are the pioneers of the Culture and Personality School of thought or Psychological anthropological theories.
•   There are three approaches that had emerged from the contributions of these scholars to study and examine the inter-relationship between culture and personality. These include:
  • Personality builds culture.
  • Culture determines the formation of personality.
  • Culture and personality are inseparable and influence each other.

Personality Builds Culture- Ruth Benedict:

• According to Ruth Benedict, culture is personality writ at large. Culture is not self-created but personality builds culture. Human beings are the creators of culture in order to fulfil their various kinds of needs.
• It is the individual (personality) who plays a significant role in handling the culture from one generation to another. He says culture is a gift of personality. According to Benedict, there are two kinds of genius (personality) found in human society.

Apollonian: The word apollonian is from the Greek god Apollo, the peaceful sun deity. Apollo is regarded as the god of peace, discipline, kindness, and humanity by the Greek people. Thus, in the apollonian pattern of culture, one finds the existence of peace, kindness, and discipline. Benedict cites the example of the Pueblo of New Mexico as the representative of Apollonian culture.

Dionysian: The word Dionysian is derived from the name of the Greek god Dionysius. Dionysius is the symbol of luxurious life and drinking. In the Dionysian culture, a lot of storms and changes are experienced. Benedict cites the example of Dobu and Kwakiutl cultures of the North West coast of America as the representatives of Dionysian genius.

Dobu of Melanesia is exactly in contrast with the Pueblo in character and temperament. Among them occurred frequently conflict, competition, and violence. They usually used magic to harm others. People of Kwakiutl do not believe in religious practices.

Conclusion:

In their culture, wealth determines status and prestige. Everyone becomes busy earning money in one way or another. Those with less money feel ashamed on account of it. Benedict’s study clearly reveals the influence of personality on culture. The cultures of these groups differ because their members have different characters and personalities. Accordingly, they behave in cultural groups.

Question #2. Write short note on Thick description of Clifford Geertz

Introduction:

Geertz described the practice of thick description as a way of providing cultural context and meaning that people place on actions, words, things, etc. Thick descriptions provide enough context so that a person outside the culture can make meaning of the behaviour.

Theory of Clifford Geertz in the context of Culture:

• He argued that culture is made up of the meanings people find to make sense of their lives and to guide their actions. Interpretive social science is an attempt to engage those meanings. Unlike other anthropological scholars, Geertz did not focus on so-called primitive groups.
• The thick description of Clifford Geertz is based on observation, description, interpretation, and analysis of a situation.
• According to Geertz, Culture is a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means by which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life.
• The function of culture is to impose meaning on the world and make it understandable.

Clifford Geertz’s definition of religion:

• Religion is a system of symbols that acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing those conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods.
• Geertz aims to provide social science with an understanding and appreciation of thick description. While Geertz applies thick description in the direction of anthropological study (specifically his own 'interpretive anthropology'), his theory that asserts the essentially semiotic nature of culture has many implications.

Geertz’s interpretive approach:

• Geertz saw the task of interpretive anthropology as fundamentally about getting some idea of how people conceptualize and understand their world, what they are doing, and how they are going about doing it, to get an idea of their world.

Conclusion:

One of the central points in Geertz’s thesis is that religious beliefs do not merely interpret social and psychological processes in cosmic terms, they also shape them. Religions differ in terms of the complexity with which they do it. The complexity of religion is not dependent upon the scale of evolution of society.