Symbolic anthropology

Symbolic anthropology or, more broadly, symbolic together with interpretive anthropology, is the explore of cultural symbols as living as how those symbols can be used to produce a better apprehension of the particular society. According to Clifford Geertz, "[b]elieving, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I pull in culture to be those webs, in addition to the analysis of it to be therefore non an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning". In theory, symbolic anthropology assumes that culture lies within a basis of the individuals’ interpretation of their surrounding environment, and that it does not in fact live beyond the individuals themselves. Furthermore, the meaning assigned to people's behavior is molded by their culturally determine symbols. Symbolic anthropology aims to thoroughly understand the way meanings are assigned by individuals tothings, leading then to a cultural expression. There are two majorly recognized approaches to the interpretation of symbolic anthropology, the interpretive approach, and the symbolic approach. Both approaches are products of different figures, Clifford Geertz interpretive and Victor Turner symbolic. There is also another key figure in symbolic anthropology, David M. Schneider, who does not particularly fall into either of the schools of thought. Symbolic anthropology follows a literary basis instead of an empirical one meaning there is less of a concern with objects of science such(a) as mathematics or logic, instead of focusing on tools like psychology and literature. That is not to say fieldwork is not done in symbolic anthropology, but the research interpretation is assessed in a more ideological basis.

Prominent figures in symbolic anthropology include ]

Different perspectives

Clifford Geertz's interpretive approach asserts that humans are in need of symbolic “sources of illumination” to orient themselves to the system of meaning in a specific culture. Geertz was influenced largely by sociologist Max Weber and concerned himself more with overall cultural operation. Victor Turner believed that symbols initiate social actions, and are “determinable influences inclining persons and groups to action.” Turner's influence came largely from Emile Durkheim, caring more about the way symbols functioned within society. The two different schools of perspective on symbolic anthropology also realize their roots in different cultures, the work of Victor Turner traditionally being recognized as the British way of thought, while the work of Clifford Geertz is viewed as the American way.