Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown (1881 Birmingham -1955 London)

His Understanding and Views of Social Anthropology:

- Social anthropology is the theoretical natural science of human society.- One may call it ’comparative sociology’.- from 1910 onwards, sociological approach (Durkheim, Steinmetz, Westermarck)- The task of the anthropologist is simply to provide scientific appraisal of the situation which the administrator faces, not to advocate policies.- sudden move a way from Rivers and Hadon ( regarded genealogies of native by Rivers as failure)-devotion to natural sciences, basically humanitarian and French- Cultures (societies) are like organisms and should be studied by the methods of natural sciences (biology, zoology). Also: “ Societies are not organisms;they do not experience parturition nor death” ( Kuper 1996:47)- Social structure is a reality ( Kuper 1996:50), not deducted but observed.- social structures are in flux, social forms are comparatively stable (Kuper 1996:52)Coaptaion = mutual adjustment of the interests of the members of a society - common set of ways of feeling and thinking- Laws of social change are deduced from laws of continuity and thus secondary in importance- Law of the necessity of functional consistency

Criticism on RB’s Functional Structuralism

• Functional structuralism

His Life• 1904: became River’s first pupil in anthropology• at Cambridge• 1906-08: Andaman Islands• 1909-10: Lectures at Cambridge, advocating Durkheim’s views• 1910-12: Australian aborigines: ‘survey and slavage ethnography’,

research of traditional marriage systems (Rivers, Seligmann) with Grant Watson, Mrs Daisy Bates, Olsen.

• 1914: school-master in Sydney • 1916-19: Director of Education in the Kingdom of Tonga• 1921: Established Dept. of Anthropology and a School of African

Studies at the University of Cape Town: beginning of important publications.

• 1926-31: Established Dept. Of Anthropology in Sydney (unsuccessfully)

• 1930-31: “The Social Organisation of Australian Tribes”• 1931: Chicago

• 1937-46: appointed to the first chair of social anthropology at Oxford

Influences

• By Durkheim (before Wold War I): The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, meanings and purpose of customs should be analysed in their contemporary context. Theories of function of ceremonial customs were applied mechanically by RB.

• Durkheim insisted that social facts should be treated as objective phenomena.

• Année-School: French school of sociology by Durkheim before WWI

• 1931, Chicago, American school of Ant.:trends: diffusionist approach of Boas; movement towards ‘culture and personality’ studies, influenced by psychology, psychoanalysis and gestalt theory. RB influenced Eggan, Tax and Warner

• RB was influenced by the evoluntionism of Spencer

RB Methods

• Abstract the social form in a number of societies is followed by comparison and classification

• One should compare societies that are culturally and ethnically related and uncover the general characteristics

• understand peculiarities by comparison with better-known examples (Kuper 1996:51)

• Ultimate goal: to formulate generalisations about common features in all human societies. These generalisations would constitute social laws. (Kuper 1996:51)

The contributions of Radcliffe-Brown

• introduced the intellectual discipline of French sociology• constructed new concepts to order ethnographic material• focus on the formal situation, rules and ritual (in opposition to

Malinowski’s interest in individual motivation and strategy)• set an example of analytic method with his first monograph in 1922.• divided customs into three types: 1. Techniques, 2. Rules of

behaviour, 3. Ceremonial customs (formal weeping in Andamanese ceremonies)

• presented a remarkable synthesis of Australian social organisation, though his models have been recast

• after WWI, RB and Mauss developed Durkheim’s sociology• Mauss’ theory was joined by RB to the theory of Malinowskian

tradition of fieldwork. (Kuper 1996:49)• direct and personal impact on British anthropology, particularly after

1937.

RB Publications

• A Natural Science of History: transcript of a seminar, Chicago 1937

• 1935:• 1940:• 1952: Structure and Function in Primitive Society