Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History

by R. Jon McGee Texas State University (Editor), Richard L. Warms Texas State University (Editor)

Overview

Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History presents a selection of critical essays in anthropology from 1860 to the present day. Classic authors such as Marx, Durkheim, Boas, Malinowski and Douglas are joined by contemporary thinkers including Das, Ortner, Boellstorff and Simpson. McGee and Warms’ detailed introductions examine critical developments in theory, introduce key people, and discuss historical and personal influences on theorists. In extensive footnotes, the editors provide commentary that puts the writing in historical and cultural context, defines unusual terms, translates non-English phrases, identifies references to other scholars and their works, and offers paraphrases and summaries of complex passages. The notes identify and provide background information on concepts important in the development of anthropology.

New to the Eighth Edition:

• “Anthropology, Decolonization and Whiteness” puts the anthropology of resistance in historical context, explores the history of the anthropology of decolonization and whiteness, and presents some recent controversies in anthropology
• “Phenomenological Anthropology and The Anthropology of the Good” broadens the focus of the previous anthropology of the good section to provide a more diverse overview of philosophical anthropology.
• Revised introductions to every section in the book offer suggested readings for important works in each area beyond what’s offered in the text
• New readings include works by Sherry Ortner, Michel-Rolf Trouillot, Jason Throop, Audra Simpson, and Orisanmi Burton

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538183915
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/01/2024
Edition description:	Eighth Edition
Pages:	800
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

R. Jon McGee is professor of anthropology at Texas State University. He is author or editor of numerous books, including Watching Lacandon Maya Lives, 2e, Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia (coedited with Richard L. Warms), and Sacred Realms: Readings in the Anthropology of Religion (coedited with Warms and James Garber), now in its second edition.

Richard L. Warms is professor of anthropology at Texas State University. In addition to his books with McGee, he has coauthored (with Serena Nanda) the best-selling textbooks Cultural Anthropology, 13e and Culture Counts, 5e.

Table of Contents

Indicates an article new to this edition
Preface
Introduction
Part I. Historical Foundations of Anthropological Theory
Nineteenth-Century Evolutionism
1. Herbert Spencer, “The Social Organism”
2. Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, “The Science of Culture”
3. Lewis Henry Morgan, “Ethnical Periods”
4. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “Feuerbach. Opposition of the Materialist and Idealist Outlook”
5. Sigmund Freud, "The Return of Totemism in Childhood”
The Foundations of Sociological Thought
6. Emile Durkheim, “What Is a Social Fact?”
7. Emile Durkheim, “The Cosmological System of Totemism and the Idea of Class”
8. Marcel Mauss, excerpts from The Gift
9. Max Weber, “Class, Status, Party”
Part II. Culture Theory in the Early Twentieth Century
Historical Particularism
10. Franz Boas, “The Methods of Ethnology”
11. A. L. Kroeber, “On the Principle of Order in Civilization as Exemplified by Changes of Fashion”
12. Paul Radin, “Right and Wrong”
Functionalism
(and more...)

Editorial Reviews

An undergraduate textbook chronologically surveying the history of anthropological theory through readings ranging from 19th century evolutionism to postmodernism in the 1990s. Each reading is accompanied by commentary providing a background to the article's main concepts and its relationship to the social and historical context in which it was written. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

First published in 1996, this seventh edition of the Anthropological Theory reader, compiled by anthropologists McGee and Warms (both, Texas State Univ.), contains 43 articles published between 1860 and 2016, and is divided into five roughly chronological parts that chart this expanding field's diverse interests. The collection is distinguished by two valuable features. First, the editors include an introductory essay for each section, with contemporary biographical references, to contextualize the authors within the field as a whole and in a social sense more broadly as well. Secondly, and most importantly, in addition to including their essays' original endnotes, the contributing authors also provide a running commentary on each piece in the form of updated footnotes to explain difficult, abstract concepts and to emphasize those points they feel make the piece in question important to the development of theory. Designed as a reader for introductory classes in anthropology, this collection will find a ready audience in colleges and universities offering programs in this field. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students.

Choice Reviews

Anthropological Theory is an impressive work dealing, as promised, with both the theory and the history behind the development of anthropological ideas. The sixth edition contains both a wide-ranging collection of important articles and well-researched and significant introductions and annotations. I don’t know of any better introduction to the history of anthropology.

Herbert S. Lewis

This is an excellent introduction: one that gives essential historical depth to crucial theoretical debates.

David Shankland

McGee and Warms have definitively established themselves as the benchmark for readers in the history of anthropological theory. Their selection of readings is intelligent and comprehensive, and they carefully maintain a balance between classic sources and contemporary writers. They deserve the highest praise for demonstrating to students that primary sources are interesting, indeed inspiring, and for carefully placing them in historical context.
 

Robert Launay

First published in 1996, this seventh edition of the Anthropological Theory reader, compiled by anthropologists McGee and Warms (both, Texas State Univ.), contains 43 articles published between 1860 and 2016, and is divided into five roughly chronological parts that chart this expanding field's diverse interests. The collection is distinguished by two valuable features. First, the editors include an introductory essay for each section, with contemporary biographical references, to contextualize the authors within the field as a whole and in a social sense more broadly as well. Secondly, and most importantly, in addition to including their essays' original endnotes, the contributing authors also provide a running commentary on each piece in the form of updated footnotes to explain difficult, abstract concepts and to emphasize those points they feel make the piece in question important to the development of theory. Designed as a reader for introductory classes in anthropology, this collection will find a ready audience in colleges and universities offering programs in this field. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students.

Choice

First published in 1996, this seventh edition of the Anthropological Theory reader, compiled by anthropologists McGee and Warms (both, Texas State Univ.), contains 43 articles published between 1860 and 2016, and is divided into five roughly chronological parts that chart this expanding field's diverse interests. The collection is distinguished by two valuable features. First, the editors include an introductory essay for each section, with contemporary biographical references, to contextualize the authors within the field as a whole and in a social sense more broadly as well. Secondly, and most importantly, in addition to including their essays' original endnotes, the contributing authors also provide a running commentary on each piece in the form of updated footnotes to explain difficult, abstract concepts and to emphasize those points they feel make the piece in question important to the development of theory. Designed as a reader for introductory classes in anthropology, this collection will find a ready audience in colleges and universities offering programs in this field. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students.

CHOICE