Problems of Studying American Culture

Abstract

THE last quarter century has witnessed a great surge of anthropological interest in American society and culture. In turn, there has been a growing awareness by other disciplines and professions of contributions which might be made by anthropologists to American institutional and community life. An unmeasured but considerable portion of this expansion into the field of modern life has been a product of the times. The political climate of the New Deal, the Second World War, and the expanding postwar economy have been factors which, when combined with forces within the profession, have led to the present stage of development. Irrespective of any evaluation of the relative importance of different factors, the fact remains that anthropology has become firmly committed to the study of American society and of other contemporary civilizations. The reality leads us to pose such questions concerning the consequences of this activity as: the adequacy of methodology and techniques for research; the quality of the substantive findings; the relations and influences with and from other disciplines; the effect of incorporation and modification of new techniques upon outlook and theory; and the prospect for the future. Although it will be impossible to treat in detail all ramifications of our central problem, it is hoped that a reasonably adequate presentation of the development and an assessment of the present situation will show both deficiencies and strengths and provide insight into the future course of events. We must recognize that any attempt to discuss the application of anthropological techniques to the study of American culture is faced with many difficulties and some pitfalls. The immediately obvious question concerns the relative adequacyof a method which has been developed through decades of study of rudimentary civilizations in terms of its comparable applicability to advanced civilizations. The answer to this question is, of course, crucial, and, if the application of the method failed to survive the test, there would then be no further need to examine other aspects of our general problem. The empirical evidence assures us that the frontier phase has been passed, and we now possess the accumulated experience from which to judge the greater or lesser success of those who have devoted some share of their attention to American civilization.