Abstract
When the first Anthropology Today panel met in the early 1950s, modern systems theory barely glimmered on the horizon. Since then, an entire generation of scholars has matured in an intellectual atmosphere which focuses on systemic relationships in social life. In the fall of 1977 a new World Anthropology conference was convened. One panel was devoted to identifying major research foci and continuing problems in systems theory in anthropology. Five themes emerged from the discussion: the relationship between systems theory and anthropological theory; the problem of determining appropriate systems boundaries in sociocultural and man-machine systems; the problem of misplaced teleology and individual variability in human systems; the state of the art in developing new qualitative and quantitative methods in the modeling and analysis of human systems; and future directions and applications for systems theory in anthropology. This is a critical report of the views expressed by panelists and discussants.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call