Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Book Reviews
Book Reviews
Book Reviews
Author(s): T. O. Beidelman
Review by: T. O. Beidelman
Source: Anthropos, Bd. 78, H. 5./6. (1983), pp. 928-929
Published by: Anthropos Institut
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40460756
Accessed: 18-01-2016 06:19 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Anthropos Institut is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Anthropos.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 14.139.60.17 on Mon, 18 Jan 2016 06:19:35 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
BookReviews
254 pp. Glasgow1982. FontanaMasterLeach, Edmund.Social Anthropology.
Price:2.50.
guides,FontanaPaperbacks.
SirEdmundLeachis one of themostfamouslivinganthropologists.
It is therefore
not surprising
thathe was selectedto writethe socialanthropological
volumein this
British
seriesdesignedto survey
fieldsofknowledge.
Thisis neither
a textcontemporary
book forstudents
nora setofpronouncements
to colleagues;
it is an attempt
both
rather,
to informa well-educated
is about,and to presentthe
readerwhatsocialanthropology
author'spersonalviews as to whata lifetime
of socialanthropology
has meantto him.
Leach writes,"I set out to writeaboutthekindof socialanthropology
whichI myself
findinteresting
and to whichfromtimeto timeI havemadea contribution"
(7). While
thismayappearegocentric,
as Leachhimself
implies,he is merelystating
bluntlywhat
thatthebook'sdeficiencies
are conany suchsurveyis likelyto be. Still,hisdisclamor
intentional
strikes
meas disingenuous
andillogical.Leachis probably
sequently
incapable
of writinga dullbook,and thepresentvolumeis lacedwithprovocative
andinteresting
Whether
observations.
it is a usefulintroduction
to contemporary
socialanthropology
is debatable;it is, however,
an interesting
disclosure
of how Leachthinksand therefore
to hiscolleaguesthanhe claims.
perhapsofmoreinterest
The workis dividedintotensections:In a briefintroduction
Leachindicates
that
thisworkwillbe a personalstatement
of howheviewsthefield.Leachthen(Chapter1)
considers
someof thedifferences
inhowscholars
do andwriteanthropology,
a
providing
thumb-nail
historicalsketchof the subject'sdevelopment
and concluding
withsome
between"cultural"and "social" anthropology
questionabledistinctions
as well as betweenanthropology
and sociology,
and naturalsciences.In chapter2 Leachprehistory
sentsa verystimulating
discussionof the ways anthropologists
have arguedfor the
out theintellectual
psychicunityof man,alongwithan argument
and moral
pointing
in this.In chapter3 Leachprovocatively
dangersinherent
discussestheissuesraisedby
writersseekingto differentiate
mankindfromotheranimals.In a curiouschapter(4)
entitled"MyKindof Anthropology"
Leachcontrasts
somefieldwork
thathe likeswith
some thathe does not. He endsindicating
thathis kindof anthropology
is a blendof
structuralism
and functionalism
witha particular
the
relation
between
emphasisupon
socialorganization
(especially
beliefs
kinship)and economic,political,and cosmological
andritual.In chapter5 Leachprovidesan exposition
oftherelations
betweenauthority,
and power,bringing
in both aspectsof theMaussiannotionof totalsocial
reciprocity,
and Durkheimean
phenomenaand aspectsof Lvi-Straussian
ideas about theinterplay
betweencultureand nature.In chapter6 Leach arguesthatthepractices
on
centering
and affinity
marriage,
legitimacy,
providean especiallypowerfulfocusforseeinghow
thevariousstrandsof socialbehaviour
intersect
as wellas forappreciating
thegreatdifficultyof translating
conceptssuchas marriage,
In
family,and kinshipcross-culturally.
chapter7 Leach providesa verybriefaccountof cosmology,
mainlyin termsof how
beliefsunderpin
socialorganization.
The conclusion
is toobriefto meananything
much.
Leach addsan extensive
in whichhe listshisdefinitions
formanyof theterms
glossary
usedin thebook. Hisparticular
oftermssuchas acephalous,
definitions
andbiaffinity,
lateralkinshipare straight-foreward
enough;thoseforothertermssuchas divination,
fitness,functionalistempiricism, and homeostaticequilibrium,provide him with op-
to writeminiature
portunities
on "received
critiques
opinion."
This content downloaded from 14.139.60.17 on Mon, 18 Jan 2016 06:19:35 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Book Reviews
929
This content downloaded from 14.139.60.17 on Mon, 18 Jan 2016 06:19:35 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions