RECENT TRENDS IN ETHNOLOGY

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 369, S. 141-148

Abstract

A discussion of recent work in the field of ethnology re 3 major realms of inquiry, soc org, econ anthrop, & the ethnology of religion. Re soc org, the scope of study, which still includes band & village communities, has broadened to include complex, l Ur-industr societies. There has been a renewed exploration of the systemic characteristics of kinship phenomena which has been associated with an interest in methodology as such. Mathematical models, the linguistic technique of componential analysis & computer simulation of the functioning of marriage systems are some of the more striking lines of methodological exp'tion. Ru econ's, recent yrs have witnessed the rise of econ anthrop as a major field of specialization with an increasingly sophisticated theoretical orientation & a marked improvement in the techniques & scope of field investigation. The literature on econ development has proliferated in recent yrs. In it there seems to be a widespread search for elucidation of the major variables that affect change, a search that is characterized by a seeking out of ties between econ behavior & the whole range of cultural activity, familial, religious, pol'al & communal, as well as national & internat'l. The focus in the studies of religion has shifted from religion defined as supernaturalism to religion as 'ideals or values, often ethical in nature, that are highly cherished & surrounded by intense emotional feelings.' Another focus of interest has been upon syncretism of folk beliefs & practices with one or another of the major religions. However diverse the field of ethnology, it continues to be character~zed by the sharing of comprehensiveness or holism, that ethnological penchant for studying any kind of behavior by placing in, it in its total context. Field observation & interrogation are still the ethnologist's most productive tools, though appropriate, techniques of quantification have been added in response to the l, demand for harder data. Cultures are no longer studied as though they were immutable entities. The backdrop of all work (s an emphasis upon process & change, particularly upon the acculturation of diverse traditions. Cultural change, in this sense, is no longer a specialization within the field. It has become the field. S. Schwartz.