1002:4.1.1
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1002:4.1.1 [2019/10/17 20:04] – [Quiz: Where does this idea of function come from?] Ryan Schram (admin) | 1002:4.1.1 [2019/10/20 20:46] – [The function of witchcraft] Ryan Schram (admin) | ||
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- | # Death | + | # "No man dies without a reason" |
- | ## Death | + | ## "No man dies without a reason" |
Ryan Schram | Ryan Schram | ||
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* the practical benefits of a practice | * the practical benefits of a practice | ||
- | ## Quiz: Where does this idea of function come from? | + | To emphasize that they wanted to look for how things functioned to maintain social structure, this school called itself **structural-functionalism**. |
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+ | ## Quiz: Where does a functionalist perspective take you? | ||
To say that an instituted pattern functions is to say that it fits together with other institutions like the gears in a machine, and the replication of one social pattern in turn maintains the others to which it is connected, and the whole social machine. This kind of theory leads one to draw certain kinds of conclusions. Which of the statements in the quiz question are most consistent with the idea that society is a functionally-integrated system? | To say that an instituted pattern functions is to say that it fits together with other institutions like the gears in a machine, and the replication of one social pattern in turn maintains the others to which it is connected, and the whole social machine. This kind of theory leads one to draw certain kinds of conclusions. Which of the statements in the quiz question are most consistent with the idea that society is a functionally-integrated system? | ||
- | Go to Canvas and take //Quiz no. 18: What kind of theory is functionalist?// | + | Go to Canvas and take //Quiz no. 18: What kind of theory is functionalist?// |
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+ | ## Functionalist explanations of society—You' | ||
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+ | You have already encountered explanations of cultural practices in terms of their function to maintain society. | ||
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+ | * The ways Utku people raise their children **function to maintain** a pattern of relationships among adults based on autonomy. | ||
+ | * The expectations of preparing particular kinds of school lunches **function to reinforce** cultural expectations for women as members of nuclear families. | ||
+ | * The competitive reciprocal exchanges between big men **function to support** a distinct system of leadership based on big men's networks of followers. | ||
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+ | In each case, we did not consider what the purpose of these practices were. **" | ||
## The function of witchcraft | ## The function of witchcraft | ||
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Social anthropologists loved talking about witchcraft and sorcery. It seemed a perfect test case for their ideas about social **function**: | Social anthropologists loved talking about witchcraft and sorcery. It seemed a perfect test case for their ideas about social **function**: | ||
- | * Witchcraft and sorcery | + | * Witchcraft and sorcery |
* Witchcraft is a way of mediating social conflicts (Nadel 1952). | * Witchcraft is a way of mediating social conflicts (Nadel 1952). | ||
* Witchcraft is a collective representation of deviance itself, the " | * Witchcraft is a collective representation of deviance itself, the " | ||
- | Witchcraft exist in an equilibrium, | + | Witchcraft exist in an equilibrium, |
- | maintaining social equilibrium. | + | |
## Witchcraft has not gone away | ## Witchcraft has not gone away | ||
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Some, like Comaroff and Comaroff (1999), argue that they are not a belief in magic at all, but a diagnosis of the real workings of neoliberal global capitalism in Africa. | Some, like Comaroff and Comaroff (1999), argue that they are not a belief in magic at all, but a diagnosis of the real workings of neoliberal global capitalism in Africa. | ||
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+ | ## References | ||
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+ | Comaroff, Jean, and John L. Comaroff. 1999. “Occult Economies and the Violence of Abstraction: | ||
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+ | Evans-Pritchard, | ||
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+ | Fortune, R. F. (1932) 2013. Sorcerers of Dobu: The Social Anthropology of the Dobu Islanders of the Western Pacific. London: Routledge. | ||
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+ | Nadel, S. F. 1952. “Witchcraft in Four African Societies: An Essay in Comparison.” American Anthropologist 54 (1): 18–29. doi: | ||
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+ | Wilson, Monica Hunter. 1951. “Witch Beliefs and Social Structure.” American Journal of Sociology 56 (4): 307–13. | ||
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