The Interpretation Of Cultures

Front Cover
Basic Books, 1973 - History - 470 pages
One of the twentieth century's most influential books, this classic work of anthropology offers a groundbreaking exploration of what culture is
With The Interpretation of Cultures, the distinguished anthropologist Clifford Geertz developed the concept of thick description, and in so doing, he virtually rewrote the rules of his field. Culture, Geertz argues, does not drive human behavior. Rather, it is a web of symbols that can help us better understand what that behavior means. A thick description explains not only the behavior, but the context in which it occurs, and to describe something thickly, Geertz argues, is the fundamental role of the anthropologist.

Named one of the 100 most important books published since World War II by the Times Literary Supplement, The Interpretation of Cultures transformed how we think about others' cultures and our own. This definitive edition, with a foreword by Robert Darnton, remains an essential book for anthropologists, historians, and anyone else seeking to better understand human cultures.
 

Contents

Thick Description Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture
3
PART II
31
The Impact of the Concept of Culture on the Concept of Man
33
The Growth of Culture and the Evolution of Mind
55
PART III
85
Religion As a Cultural System
87
Ethos World View and the Analysis of Sacred Symbols
126
Ritual and Social Change A Javanese Example
142
After the Revolution The Fate of Nationalism in the New States
234
The Integrative Revolution Primordial Sentiments and Civil Politics in the New States
255
The Politics of Meaning
311
Politics Past Politics Present Some Notes on the Uses of Anthropology in Understanding the New States
327
The Cerebral Savage On the Work of Claude LeviStrauss
345
Person Time and Conduct in Bali
360
Deep Play Notes on the Balinese Cockfight
412
Acknowledgments
455

Internal Conversion in Contemporary Bali
170
PART IV
191
Ideology As a Cultural System
193

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1973)

Clifford Geertz, an American anthropologist, is known for his studies of Islam in Indonesia and Morocco and of the peasant economy of Java. But he is also the leading exponent of an orientation in the social sciences called "interpretation". Social life, according to this view, is organized in terms of symbols whose meaning we must grasp if we are to understand that organization and formulate its principles. Interpretative explanations focus on what institutions, actions, customs, and so on mean to the people involved. What emerges from studies of this kind are not laws of society, and certainly not statistical relationships, but rather interpretations, that is to say, understanding. Geertz taught for 10 years at the University of Chicago and has been the Harold F. Linder professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.