Culture as institution, part II

1. The revolution in social anthropology
1.1. Method: the paradigm of participant observation
1.2. Theory: from cultural classification to Institutional process
1.3. Ethnographic realism: “I had been there!

2. Functionalism-->Structural functionalism
2.1. Malinowski's functionalism has a stronger orientation toward the individual actor, and greater suitability for studies of social change.
2.2. Structural functionalism makes a clear distinction between two societies or historical period defined by their institutional characteristics respectively (Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown and Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard ).

3. Two basic premises:
3.1. In a society, institutions are structurally corresponding with one another.
3.2. The institutions constitute an equilibrium– social system

4. Example: Water Goddess in Bali
4.1. Religious institution (water goddess temple)
4.2. Irrigation
4.3. Agricultural economy
4.4. Peasant community

5. Example: Talcott Parson's AGIL

Adaptation (economy)	Goal-Attainment (government)
Integration (courts, political party, etc.)	Latency (school, family, etc.)

Peasant society

Adaptation (farming)	Goal-Attainment (village agencies)
Integration (clan)	Latency (family)

6. Example: witchcraft
6.1. Nupe and Gwari are two neighboring communities in Nigeria. They shared a lot of geographical, political, kinship features.

6.2. Nupe: accusations of witchcraft
Accusations of witchcraft à women (old and wealthy)
Victim = (young) men

6.3. Gwari: accusations of witchcraft
Accusations of witchcraft-->men and women
Victims = men and women

6.4. An integrated system
-Social hierarchy
-Religious practice
-Gender hierarchy

6.5. Women’s increasing income causes dis-equilibrium among socio-cultural institutions.

6.7. Religious practices (accusing women of witchcraft ) :
-Restoring the balance among institutions.
-Maintaining the androcentric hierarchy

7. Example: political apathy in Hong Kong
7.1. Prosperous free economy
7.2. Political apathy
7.3. Immigrant families
7.4. Colonial-administrative government

8. Critique of (structural) functionalism
8.1. Example: Social inequality is a necessary institution to motivate people to perform its most important roles.
-High level of inequality does not necessarily ensure that those with scarce talents will work to benefit the whole society. No one knows to what extent one institution is functional to others or the whole system.
-Social inequality is not "designed" for satisfying needs but caused by inheritance of wealth, prestige and power.

8.2. A-historical approach

8.3. Function is a reason or a consequence?

8.4. Ethnocentrism:
Is a “culture with institutions functionally integrated or interdependent” only an intellectual fabrication rather than an objective fact existing “out there”?