ANTHROPOLOGY AT WAR: ROBERT H. LOWIE AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE CULTURE CONCEPT, 1904 to 1954.

Publisher: Wiley Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 18020010R Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1520-6696 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00225061 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Hist Behav Sci Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: New York : Wiley
Original Publication: [Brandon, Vt.]

Culture*; Anthropology/*history; History, 20th Century ; Humans ; United States

The concept of culture used in American anthropology has fundamentally transformed throughout the first half of the twentieth century. The changing resonance of the work of Robert H. Lowie offers revealing insights into this development. Lowie was part of the first generation of students of Franz Boas that highlighted the importance of individual variation for the study of both primitive and civilized societies. Yet, its initial resonance notwithstanding, the culture concept that prevailed in the discipline went into a different direction as the result of anthropologists' involvement in the war effort. It was advanced by the second generation of Boas' students such as Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead, who stressed the homogeneity of cultures. The contrast highlights the diversity of approaches available within anthropology in the first half of the century and the crucial impact of World War II in determining which of these possibilities became institutionalized in the decades after the war.
(© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Date Created: 20170216 Date Completed: 20170926 Latest Revision: 20170926

20231215

10.1002/jhbs.21845

28199024