A Socio-Anthropological Perspective - Book Report/Review Example

Teacher's Due A Socio-Anthropological Perspective: Bronislaw Malinowski's Functionalist Approach Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) was one of the most important figures in the development of modern social anthropology. Malinowski traveled to the Trobriand Islands in 1915 to 1916, as his quest was to create a revolutionary style of modern principles upon ethnographic fieldwork. Through a specific 'participant observation' process, Malinowski involved himself emerging into the actual lives of those he sought to study. Living in a community, learning language and culture, allowed Malinowski to understand functional ways of life in terms of how these individuals maintained a sociological union. These methods clearly struck a new standard in this fieldwork, as it allowed new perspectives into a culture that was being investigated. (Online Accessed 12/08/06) In reference to cultural anthropology, such factors as ethnicity, rituals, kinship, and particularly functionalism play a significant role. Malinowski's collection of theories demonstrates a new ground breaking foundation of studies that molded from such cultural factors. Through a detailed analysis of his works, specifically, Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), A Scientific Theory of Culture (1941), and Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays (1948), a specific intake of groundbreaking studies relying on roots of functionalism and other cultural factors will be thoroughly examined with specific examples. Malinowski articulates his vision of an in-depth reality of living amongst the natives, which particularly allows one to become familiar with customs, beliefs, religions STUDENT'S LAST NAME, 2 and other folklore. In Argonauts of the Western Pacific, he claims: "Living in the village with no other business, but to follow native life, one sees the customs, ceremonies and transactions over and over again, one has examples of their beliefs as they are actually lived through, and the full body and blood of actual native life fills out soon the skeleton of abstract constructions". (Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, 18) His claims about his 'participant observation' approach specifically allows him to become deeply in tuned with the natives, as his surroundings give him no choice but to be emerged into their will of life. In folklore studies, there is a view that every folklore item must have a specific function. The ideas here falls closely with Bronislaw's position that everything in "human life must have a function". (Glazer, Online Access 12/08/06) Through fieldwork of this type, Malinowski illustrates that the ethnographer has a visual stance, which adds more to the bare outlook of his tribal analysis, as he claims: "He is able in each case to state whether an act is public or private; how a public assembly behaves, and what it looks like; he can judge whether an event is ordinary or an exciting and singular one; whether natives bring to it a great deal of sincere and earnest spirit, or perform it in fun; whether they do it in a perfunctory manner, or with zeal and deliberation". (Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, 18) The focus on psychobiological human entity is one level of functionalism that Malinowski represents well. In his book, A Scientific Theory of Culture, he claims that "we have to base our theory of culture on the fact that all human beings belong to an animal species. Man as an organism must exist under conditions which not only secure survival, but also allow of healthy and normal metabolism. No culture can continue if the group is not replenished STUDENT'S LAST NAME, 3 continually and normally." (Malinowski, A Scientific Theory of Culture, 75) Clearly, Malinowski is demonstrating the idea of functionalism as basic needs of an individual. These are the biological approaches that Malinowski finds crucial to the function of a strong and vital culture. For Malinowski, functionalism is a transformation of the seven needs of the individual, such as nutrition, reproduction, bodily comforts, safety, relation, movement, and growth into the secondary needs of society. (Malinowski, A Scientific Theory of Culture, 75) Malinowski specifically draws up a table based on the "permanent vital sequences incorporated in all cultures". (76) Basically, the needs of the individual are satisfied by the social structure of his culture, whose function it is to satisfy those human needs. As such, every social institution has a need to satisfy, and so does every item in a culture. Not even the simplest of needs does not influence a culture. For folklorists, this means that even the smallest item one collects, such as a single folk belief, has the function to perform both at the level of the individual and at the level of the society and the culture. When traveling to the Trobriand Islands in New Guinea, Malinowski reveals an important sociological behaviour that a newcomer observes which deals with the existence of rank and social differentiation, as he illustrates: "Some of the natives-very frequently those of the finer looking type-are treated with most marked deference by others, and in return, these chiefs and persons of rank behave in quite a different way towards the strangers. In fact, they show excellent manners in the full meaning of this word. When a chief is present, no commoner dares to remain in a physically higher position; he has to bend his body or squat. Similarly, when the chief sits down, no one would dare to stand." (Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, STUDENT'S LAST NAME, 4 52) For Malinowski, the idea of a 'chief' poses a certain need for the culture, as it shows this "insignia of rank and authority" (52) as a sign of leadership partly stemming from the basic need in which cultural responses show this as a level of protection. Malinowski proposes such a position that: "we have to show that man must economically cooperate, that he must establish and maintain order; that he must educate the new and growing organism of each citizen; and that he must somehow implement the means of such enforcement in all such activities." (120) As such, perhaps the idea suggested here also applies to the idea of a 'chief' in a culture, who is seen as an authority, and who maintains order and enforces such in all activities. These are the model individuals who are clear examples of the human need for dependency. Similarly, Malinowski discusses the idea of how "man does not, by biological determinism, need to hunt with spears or bow and arrowbut the moment such devices have been adopted, in order to enhance human adaptability to the environment, they also become necessary conditions for survival". (121) As such, Malinowski's main idea here is that there are certain factors which human dependence becomes "as great as dependence on the execution of any biologically dictated sequence". (121) In coinciding with his theory of functionalism in a biological sense that human life must have a function, Malinowski suggests that in order for humans to produce all objects, they must "follow the techniques, regulate collective behaviour, and keep alive the tradition of knowledge, law, and ethics". (122) For example, there are certain biological emotions surrounding the techniques of the natives in their journey of sailing and canoe. Malinowski points out: "And it is in the emotional attitude of the natives towards their canoes that I see the deepest ethnographic reality, STUDENT'S LAST NAME, 5 which must guide us right through the study of other aspects-the customs and technicalities of construction and use." (Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, 106). Consequently, Malinowski defines functionalism in also a psychological manner. The most noted example comes from the idea of magic and its functions in a tribal culture. In the Trobriand Islands, magic was used for various different purposes, such as to kill enemies and prevent being killed, to ease the birth of a child, to protect fishermen, and to ensure harvest. As such, Malinowski claims: "Another institution which illuminates the native ideas about food storage is the magic called vilamalya, performed over the crops after harvestThis magic is intended to make the food last long." (169) Malinowski hypothesized that magic is reliable in domains where there is limited amount of scientific knowledge. Magic appears to work in such areas because people cannot handle situations with systematic knowledge. (Malinowski, Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays, 2) Malinowski similarly initiates a discussion on the term "mana", which is an impersonal force of magic supposed to dominate all forms of early belief. However, he continues to suggest that this term is "a fundamental idea, an innate category of the primitive mind". (4) He later picks up an idea first referenced by Sir James Frazer, who claims that he contributed to the problems of natural or artificial objects. Frazer claims: "Totemism, is an intimate relation which is supposed to exist between a group of kindred people on the one side and a species of natural or artificial objects on the other side, which objects are called the totems of the human group." (4) Therefore, totemism can be seen as two things, one of religion; and the other as a social STUDENT'S LAST NAME, 6 grouping. (4) Malinowski claims that: "as a religion, it expresses primitive man's interest in his surroundings, the desire to claim an affinity and to control the most important objects.the social aspects of totemism consists in the subdivision of the tribe into minor units, called in anthropology clans, gentes, sibs, or phratries." (4) Moreover, Malinowski dips into the idea of magic as a role for protection and accumulation of success while fishing. He proposes to show the how the deeply sacred tradition of magic strongly controls the tribes moral and social behaviour. The idea here surrounds psychological functionalism, which holds strong to Malinowski's pursuit to define culture as a 'participant observer' in his fieldwork. For example, the Trobriand Islanders did not practice magic when they fished inside a protected coral reef because they were able to predict catch and safety by weather and conditions of the sea. In contrast, they did rely on magic when they went ocean fishing because it was difficult to predict unknown dangers and the amount of fish they might harvest. As such, Malinowski argues that magic has a profound function in exerting human control over those dimensions which are outside our element. Magic is used to basically exert control over uncontrollable events, thereby reducing anxiety. (Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, 134) In his discussions, Malinowski actually uses specific terms of language associated with magic or supernatural events, in which tribal culture refers to in the Trobriand Islands. He claims that "mulukuausi" is a phrase referring to invisible sorceresses. (Malinowski, Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays, 128) In terms of death occurring in a village, there is an enormous increase in superstition. Tribes associate STUDENT'S LAST NAME, 7 these terms with being attacked if associating with such women, who they believe to be real, yet invisible. (128) As such, it can be seen that there is a vast association to magic and its functionality within Malinowski's observations of the natives. Consequently, Malinowski's theories surrounding the development of modern social anthropology extend beyond other theorists' views that strictly remain social at hand. Malinowski extends his theories to the 'participant observer' tests relying upon functionality in terms of biological psychology. Through placing himself into a tribal culture at large, he cannot do anything except participate and observe different functions of their reality. Cultural functions of a social community heavily rely on standards of living in terms of survival; however, biological functions such as emotional perception exist apart from the standard modes of survival based upon food, rest, and reproduction. Malinowski cannot go without being regarded as a founder of new mechanisms for such observations taken through his own emersion of body into an unknown culture. Without his works, the theories illustrated by him may have extended to greater criticism. However; as such, it is difficult to place critic on a theory whose main construction was built by an individual who followed such a culture himself. Functionalism has truly been made a theory of vast ideas, yet, Malinowski's own expressed ideas in his books: Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), A Scientific Theory of Culture (1941), and Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays (1948), must be accredited with a new form of circumstance in which functionalist theories will rely. STUDENT'S LAST NAME, 8 Works Cited Malinowski, Bronislaw. Argonauts of the Western Pacific. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. 1922 Malinowski, Bronislaw. A Scientific Theory of Culture. North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1944. Malinowski, Bronislaw. Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays. United States: The Free Press, 1948. From the WWW: Glazer, Mark. (1996) Online Accessed 12/08/06 at: www.panam.edu/faculty/mglazer/Theory/functionalism.htm Online Accessed 12/08/06 at: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/anthropology/Malinowski.html Read More