History of Anthropology

Rafael Giovanetti, History of Anth. Thought (ANTH 390), Midterm Exam March 24, 2011 1)Amongst the umpteen theoretical orientations to develop in Anthropology within the first one-half of the 20th century, the most interesting and appealing one, in my opinion, is the functionalist theory. This theory, particularly as exemplified by Bronislaw Malinowski, focuses more on the several(prenominal) as opposed to society as a whole. I take note it appealing because it provides understanding of the human condition by explaining the psychological need to create things (i.e. magic and religion) to avoid uncertainty. One of the briny fonts of Malinowskis functionalist theory involves understanding how society function to nurse individuals. There are three types of needs society satisfies for individuals: individual needs, instrumental needs and integrative needs. Individual needs would be nutrition, reproduction and safetyâ€"with society providing in the forms of food ingathering and markets, marriages and accessibility to mates, and defense by safety in numbers. submissive needs fall along the lines of, for example, needing to replace positions/jobs within a community for those individuals who die, retire, etc., and needing charters of behavior, serving as reference for what is acceptable and insufferable behavior.

Society provides these in the form of education and social incorporate systems. Lastly, integrative needs are the needs people commence to guard destiny and chance by intellectual, emotional and mulish means, which society provides in the forms of magic, religion and science. Another important aspect of the functionalist theory aims at explaining how individuals create methods to cope with care of the uncertain. For example, whenever a crisis or situations of danger and uncertainty arise resulting in anxiety and fear, people often turn to religion and magic in attempts to resolve and/or mediate the situation with order and control. Thus, religion and magic become... If you want to get a affluent essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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