Theoretical Perspectives          pp 27 - 39

Functionalism - a way of looking at society to see how norms or values contribute to the stability or survival of a society.  The focus is on who benefits from the norms or values.

a)  Sociologist Branislaw Malinowski - studied Trobriand Islanders' use of magic.  Why did they use magic?  To help them catch more fish?  No!! since magic was only used in certain cases.

1) fishing on the open ocean is dangerous.

2) fishing in the lagoon is not.

3) Ocean fishing in a canoe caused much anxiety.  The way

     to exercise control over nature is to use magic.

Functionalist view: magic lowers anxieties and allows sailors to obtain food in a potentially dangerous environment.

 

b)  Kinglsey Davis studied sexual jealously in our culture.

Sexual restrictions exist or males will always fight over females.  This conflict prevents cooperation needed for a stable society.  Thus, sexual norms arise (don't cheat on a partner/spouse).  These norms are enforced in our society any time members of our society encourage sexual jealousy by defending the norms whenever they have been violated.  Those who would violate the norms will be chastised by societal rules and regulations.  For example: only a female's partner alone should have sex with her (norm).  Jealousy will otherwise arise in the male.  It will be supported in society.  This is seen when judges hand out light sentences for violence arising from jealousy.  Thus, both the wife and violator are discouraged from breaking the norm.  People enforce norms when others encourage sexual jealousy.  The people defend the norms when they have been violated.

If a female is jealous of a male it may be to prevent the male from sharing his resources with other women who may have his children.  She may fear contracting a disease from him.  Thus, her jealousy helps him behave so that the relationship will function properly.

 

Structuralism : deals with the mental process which do not vary across cultures and which shape our perception of the world.  It is driven by the question " What makes us human?" 

Levi-Strauss, who studied structuralism, maintained that it was the ability to think abstractly which makes us human.  Abstract thought allows us to see non-observable relationships that exist among different social groups.  This thought, he suggested, is not innate (automatically born in the human), but learned. 

a)  For example: totemism is when someone believes that a mystical relationship exists with some natural feature in the world, like with animals.  The relationship is visible when some claim to be from the "wolf" totem.  But a wolf is not the only animal in the real world.  There are other animals, too.  An eagle is higher than a bear.  Those in the social group belonging to "eagle" may feel they are better in some way than the "bear" people and should therefore be the group's leaders.  In this way animal and social categories overlap and interconnect.  Thus, humans use examples from nature for abstract thinking.


b)  Traffic lights: what is the connection between red (stop), yellow (caution) and green (go)?  Red is related to the color of blood.  Blood means "danger".  Danger means "stop and survey the situation."  Since the human seeks opposites, it looks for the opposite of danger, which is safety.  Since the color for danger is red, humans chose the opposite (less threatening) color for safety, which is green.  Green represents growth and fertility which are good.  When we need to express an idea somewhere between "danger" and "safe" (caution), we choose a color somewhere between red and green (yellow/orange, not blue or purple).  Thus the three-color traffic signal is a simplified imitation of a phenomenon of nature - the color spectrum. 

 

Cultural Materialism:  culture is an adaptation to the needs forced on us by the nature of the physical environment. 

Marvin Harris: wondered why killing cows was banned in India.  a)  1) Cows were needed to plough the fields.  2) India relies on non-mechanized agricultural practices.  3) India cannot afford technical, mechanical equipment.  4) Agricultural mechanization forces people to move to the city.  5) Only 66% of the needed oxen are available each year.  6)  Farmers must stay on the fields to have a better chance of survival.  7) Farmers need the cows to pull the ploughs.  What would happen if people ate the cows?

b) Old Israelites did not eat pork (and still don't today if they follow their religion closely).  Why?  Because of the possibility of contracting a trichinosis?  No.  Trichinosis is usually not fatal.  Cows, which were eaten (preferred in Leviticus), carry anthrax, a deadly microbe.  The reason: pigs don't sweat.  They therefore need water to keep them cool.  In the Middle East, water is too scarce to waste on pigs.

 

Roger Keesing:  suggests that the Aztecs in Mexico sacrificed as many as 250 000 victims per year (1% of the population) each year.  They did this not to please the gods, but to control the population and to provide the diet of the upper classes (who made the rules) with protein; there were no herbivores to provide the protein needed and wild game became scarce.  When this happened, Keesing notes, the number of human sacrifices increased. 

 

Sociobiology:  suggests that there is some tendency for social behaviour to be passed on genetically just like upright posture or large brains.  This perspective assumes that Darwin's theory of Natural Selection and Evolution is correct.

If altruism (sacrificing one's comfort for another) was genetically passed on,  there would be fewer in number each decade since they would put themselves in threatening situations.  Thus, altruism should not be common, but it is.  Why?

Premise (assumption for an argument): humans inherit a predisposition towards inclusive fitness (maximum degree of passing genes on; having more kids) exists.  So to ensure that genes are passed on, one must make sure that the children survive, even if parents must die.  The survival of one's genes through one's children is stronger than the will to survive.  Thus the more genes you pass on (the more kids  you have) the more altruistic you should be towards those who carry your genes.  Most people would sacrifice their lives faster for their own children than for those children of others.  In some pre-industrialized societies avunculates (males who have a stronger bond with their sister's son than with their own) are more willing to be altruistic towards their sister's children than towards their own.  Why?  In these societies the sex norms are freer than in our society.  A man is uncertain if his wife is bearing his child or that of another.  The sister, however, shares his genes.  Therefore, her children may have more genetic information from his side of the family than his own children.  Anthropologists' data support this theory since in societies where it is highly unlikely that the father is the biological father of a child, the avunculate is very often present.