Theories

Mentioned in Syllabus

 

1. Classical evolutionism (Tylor, Morgan and Frazer)
   • Classical evolution introduction
   • Tylor contribution
     • Origin of avoidance
     • View on mythologies
     • Evolution of religion
     • Primitive Culture
     • Progress and Anthropology
   • Morgan contribution
     • Uniform and Progressive Social Evolution
     • Arts of Subsistence
     • Kinship Systems
     • Evolution of Family/ Marriage
     • Evolution of society
     • Growth of the Idea of Government
     • Growth of property
   • Frazer contribution
   • Criticism on Classical Evolutionism
   • Previous Years questions
2. Diffusionism (British, German and American)
   • Introduction to diffusionism
   • British school contribution
   • German School Contribution
   • American School contribution
     • Clark Wissler
     • Alfred Louis Kroeber
     • Criticism on American School
   • Differentiate between cultural evolution and diffusionism
   • Previous Years Questions
3. Historical particularism (Boas);-Click Here
   • The Integration of Cultures
   • Previous years questions
4. Neo – evolutionism (Childe, White, Steward, Sahlins and Service)
   • Emergence of Neo-Evolution and points of reaction to classical evolution
   • G.V. Childe contribution
   • Leslley White contribution
     • Evolution and the Functional Core
     • Theory of Cultural Evolution
     • The Science of Culture
   • Julian Steward contribution
     • Cultural Ecology
     • Multilinear Evolution
   • Sahlins and Services Contribution
   • Compare and contrast between classical evolutionist and neo-evolutionist
   • Previous Years questions
5. Functionalism (Malinowski);- Click Here
   • Theory of Needs
   • The Function of Magic
   • Previous Years questions
6. Cultural materialism (Harris)
   • Cultural Materialism
   • Sacred Cows and the End of Empire
7. Structural- functionlism (Radcliffe Brown)
   • Social Anthropology: Defining a Field
   • Structural Functionalism theory
   • Eaglehawk, Crow, and the Cult of the Ancestors
   • The classification of social systems
   • Comparison of social structure between R.C Brown and Levistrauss
   • Compare and contrast Malinowski and Brown’s theoretical argument and their understanding of social anthropology
   • R.C Brown
   • Previous years questions
8. Structuralism School of thought
   • Levi-Strauss Contribution
     • Structural Anthropology
     • Structural analysis of Kinship
     • Structural analysis Totemic
     • Structural Analysis of Myth
   • Edmond Leach contribution
   • previous Years Questions
9. Culture and personality School of thought (Psychological Studies in Anthropology)
   • Introduction to Culture and Personality school of thought
   • Ruth Benedict Contribution – Pattern of culture , National Character Studies
     • Patterns of Culture
   • Margaret Mead Contribution – Nature and Nurture studies
     • Gender, Child Rearing, and Culture: Fieldwork and Theory
   • Ralph Linton — Basic personality , status personality and social inventor
   • Abraham Kardiner contribution – Basic Personality
   • Cora-du Bois Contribution – Modal Personality
   • Sigmund Freud Psychological Studies (Not mentioned in syllabus , still useful)
   • Previous Years Questions
10. Symbolic and interpretive theories (Turner, Schneider and Geertz)
    • Introduction
    • Geertz contribution
      • Thick Description and Culture as Text
      • Javanese Funeral
    • Victor Turner contribution
      • Symbols
      • Liminality, Communitas, and Pilgrimage
    • Schneider contribution
    • Mary Douglas
      • Purity and Pollution
      • Group and Grid, Society and Symbol
    • Previous Years Questions
11. Cognitive theories
    • Conklin contribution
    • Ethnoscience
    • New Ethnography
    • Difference between Etic and Emic views.
    • Previous Years Questions
12. Post- modernism in anthropology – – Click Here
    • previous years questions

Extra thinkers not mentioned in syllabus but one must cover as per UPSC demands

 

13. Emile Durkheim

• Mechanic and Organic Solidarity
• The Conscience Collective
• The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
• Socialfacts
• Society as an organic system

Marx (1818-1883)

• The Capitalist Mode of Production
• Marx and non-Western societies
• The theoretical and social context for the revival of Marxism

14. Edward Sapir

• Culture and the Individual
• On Language
• The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

15. Marcel Mauss

• A Social History of Categories
• The Gift, Total Prestations, and Total Phenomena

16. Evans-Pritchard

• A Theory of Accountability
• Azande Witchcraft: The Allocation of Accountability
• Social Anthropology as Social History

17. Eleanor Burke Leacock

• Property, Colonialism, and the Montagnais-Naskapi
• Marxism and Feminism

18. Sherry Ortner

• Symbols and Symbolic Schemes
• Feminist Anthropology: Female/Male, Nature/Culture
• Himalayan Ethnographies
• Structure, Symbols, and Practice in the Himalayas

19. Marshall Sahlins

• Politics and Economy in Traditional Societies of the Pacific
• History and Structure
• Killing Captain Cook
• Socioecology

Some Famous Authors – Not Mentioned in syllabus

• Marett, Robert Ranulph
• The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912) by Durkheim
• Ancient Society Book L.H Morgan

Levi Strauss

• Structural Anthropology
• A Structural Approach to Kinship: Analysis of the Avunculate
• Structural Approach to Myth: The Story of Asdiwal
• Levi-Strauss’ theory of cross-cousin marriage
• Levi-Strauss on myth and totemism