Symbolic anthropology or, more broadly, symbolic and interpretive anthropology, is the study of cultural symbols and how those symbols can be used to gain a better understanding of a particular society. According to Clifford Geertz, "[b]elieving, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning". In theory, symbolic anthropology assumes that culture lies within the basis of the individuals' interpretation of their surrounding environment, and that it does not in fact exist beyond the individuals themselves. Furthermore, the meaning assigned to people's behavior is molded by their culturally established symbols. Symbolic anthropology aims to thoroughly understand the way meanings are assigned by individuals to certain things, leading then to a cultural expression. There are two majorly recognized approaches to the interpretation of symbolic anthropology, the interpretive approach, and the symbolic approach. Both approaches are products of different figures, Clifford Geertz (interpretive) and Victor Turner (symbolic). There is also another key figure in symbolic anthropology, David M. Schneider, who does not particularly fall into either of the schools of thought. Symbolic anthropology follows a literary basis instead of an empirical one meaning there is less of a concern with objects of science such as mathematics or logic, instead focusing on tools like psychology and literature. That is not to say fieldwork is not done in symbolic anthropology, but the research interpretation is assessed in a more ideological basis.

Symbolic anthropology and psychology

Anthropology and psychology have influenced one another from very early on, especially due to the influence different figures such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Claude Lévi-Strauss had on one another. French anthropologist Lévi-Strauss, much like Swiss psychiatrist Jung, wanted to understand the mind through understanding myth. Symbolic or interpretive anthropology emphasizes the individual's interpretation of events, and how that interpretation enhances the more collectively perceived characteristics or rituals of a group. Furthermore, this is the only real difference in the aims of the two fields: one focuses on the collective and the other on the individual. However, one can't draw a clear line between mind culture and the mind, since they both contribute to one another. The two fields involve different data sets and settings, but require similar approaches, in whichever schools of thought is used. There was early hesitation among major figures to integrate the two fields, despite clear overlap in thought, such as Durkheim's and Jung's indirect influence on some of each other's theories. Some dismiss the connection between these two fields, believing that symbolic anthropology cannot be condensed down into psychology in any way, or that culture alone determines behavior, disregarding the role the individual psyche plays in collective traits expressed through thick description.

Key publications

  • Geertz, Clifford (1973) The interpretation of cultures, Basic Books, New York
  • Geertz, Clifford. (Ed.) (1974) Myth, symbol, and culture, W. W. Norton, New York
  • Sahlins, Marshall (1976) Culture and practical reason, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
  • Schneider, David (1968) American kinship: A cultural account. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey
  • Turner, Victor (1967) The forest of symbols: Aspects of Ndembu ritual, Cornell University Press, Ithaca
  • Turner, Victor (1974) Dramas, fields and metaphors: Symbolic action in human society, Cornell University Press, Ithaca

See also

  • Collective unconscious
  • Interpretive sociology
  • Semiotic anthropology
  • Max Weber

References

  • "Symbolic and interpretive anthropologies", Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, retrieved March 13, 2013
  • Culture and Public Action: Symbolic anthropology