The Savage Within
The Social History of British Anthropology, 1885–1945

Considering the anthropological ideas current in Britain between 1885 and 1945, this book explores the relationship between social scientific ideas and behaviour.

Henrika Kuklick (Author)

9780521411097, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 31 January 1992

340 pages, 20 b/w illus.
23.7 x 15.7 x 2.6 cm, 0.64 kg

"For programmatic crises de coeur and jargonized intuitions, Kuklick has substituted a methodologically aware, finely tuned study of historical evidence. This work deserves a smooth passage into postgraduate reading lists wherever they mention Kuhn and the strange ways of 'science.'" Gerhard Baumann, Journal of Anthropological Research

Considering the anthropological ideas current in Britain between 1885 and 1945, this book explores the relationship between social scientific ideas and behaviour. Professor Kuklick shows how the descriptions British anthropologists produced about the peoples of exotic culture can be translated into commentaries on their own society. Read as such, the anthropology of the period covered by the book represents an appeal for a society that rewards individuals on the basis of talent and achievement, not inherited status; a brief for the welfare state, which is obliged to care for those whom circumstances have prevented from taking care of themselves; and a plea for tolerance of cultural diversity based on observation of a range of ways of life that satisfy human needs and desires. The book also shows how anthropological insight informed consideration of specific problems: e.g. womens' rights, the Irish problem and colonisation.

1. Through the looking glass
2. Scholars and practical men
3. Civilization and its satisfactions
4. The savage within
5. The colonial exchange
6. Of councillors and kings
7. The politics of perception
Appendices.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]