Anthropology and Modern Life

Franz Boas

Courier Corporation, Jan 1, 1986 - Social Science - 255 pages

The present volume, written for the layman, is one of his most influential and widely read works. Still considered the classic, definitive statement on race and culture, this book refuted the myth of racial, cultural or ethnic superiority by showing that all human groups have evolved equally but in different ways. Moreover, in his emphasis on family lines, rather than race, as the mechanism of inheritance, Boas established the scientific basis of individualism. Each human being is unique, the product of his own heredity, environment and culture. In a truly democratic society every individual, regardless of color, class or sex is entitled to equal participation in the rewards of his culture, and the fullest development of his unique potentialties.

Contents

• Introduction + 1 What Is Anthropology?: 11
• The Problem of Race: 18
• The Interrelation of Races: 63
• Nationalism: 81
• Eugenics: 106
• Criminology: 122
• Stability of Culture: 132
• Education: 168
• Modern Life and Primitive Culture: 202
• References: 247

About the author

Franz Boas, a German-born American anthropologist, became the most influential anthropologist of his time. He left Germany because of its antiliberal and anti-Semitic climate. As a Columbia University professor for 37 years (1899-1936), he created both the field of anthropology and the modern concept of culture. Boas played a key role in organizing the American Anthropological Association (AAA) as an umbrella organization for the emerging field. At both Columbia and the AAA, Boas encouraged the "four field" concept of anthropology; he personally contributed to physical anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, as well as cultural anthropology. His work in these fields was pioneering. Both directly and through the influence of such students as Ruth Benedict, Melville J. Herskovits, Alfred L. Kroeber, and Margaret Mead, he set the agenda for all subsequent American cultural anthropology. In His lifetime Boas had many leadership roles including: Assistant curator at the American Museum of Natural History; editor of The Journal of American Folklore; president of the New York Academy of Sciences, and founder of the International Journal of American Linguistics. Boas is the author of hundreds of scientific monographs and articles. He died in 1942.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Anthropology and Modern Life; Dover books on anthropology: The American Indians
• Author: Franz Boas
• Edition: unabridged, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Courier Corporation, 1986
• ISBN: 0486252450, 9780486252452
• Length: 255 pages
• Subjects: Antiques & Collectibles / General; Social Science / General