Beyond Relativism: Comparability in Cultural Anthropology [Paperback]

Can elements of one culture-kinship relations, for example-be profitably compared to similar elements in other cultures? According to much anthropological thinking of recent decades, the answer is no. Cultures are closed systems, many people argue, and their internal elements can only be understood with respect to the culture as a whole. Cultural anthropologist Robert C. Hunt, drawing on his vast experience studying cultures around the world, here makes a powerful counter-argument that the various elements making up a culture not only can butmust becompared across cultures if we are to understand them at all. Cultural comparison is not easy, and it cannot eliminate all ambiguity, but it is necessary if we are to develop a scientific understanding of how cultures work. This intriguing polemic will appeal to students of cultural anthropology, sociology, and ethnic studies, especially those interested in the theoretical grounding of these disciplines.Robert C. Huntis Professor of Anthropology at Brandeis University.

Hunt's book should be read by all anthropologists and other researchers using cross-cultural data. He side-steps phony debates, discarding the essentialist rhetoric ( East vs. West, indigenous vs. foreign, etc.) that is so precious to poseurs in both academic and political milieus. He uses clear examples to explain how the natural sciences have been constructed step by step, century by century. He shows how this construction, of necessity, requires that we compare apples and oranges - that is, objects (and events) which are both similar and dissimilar in important ways. He demonstrates how the social sciences have necessarily followed the same path and have approached, to varying degrees in different domains, the construction of valid and comparative analytic frameworks. This book is particularly appropriate for intermediate and advanced classes on methods (meaning, in fact, on research design). Donald Attwood, McGill University