018 Lecture 17 16 07 2024 @ItsRaone Be Tharkee

About this video

• Video Title: 018 Lecture 17 16 07 2024 @ItsRaone Be Tharkee
• Channel: Lalit Yadav
• Speakers: Lalit Yadav (inferred from channel name and lecture style)
• Duration: 02:17:06

Overview

This lecture delves into the structural view of society, focusing on kinship as a fundamental element. It explores different schools of structuralism, primarily structural functionalism (represented by Radcliffe-Brown) and structuralism (represented by Lévi-Strauss). The lecture contrasts their approaches to understanding kinship and social structure, drawing from various anthropological theories and fieldwork examples.

Key takeaways

• Structural View of Society: Society is viewed as a structured entity, with kinship being an essential component.
• Structuralism Branches: The lecture identifies two main branches of structuralism: structural functionalism and pure structuralism.
• Structural Functionalism (Radcliffe-Brown): This approach, influenced by Durkheim and positivism, views society as a system where structures function to maintain the whole. Radcliffe-Brown's work, particularly on African kinship, emphasizes descent groups as the basis of kinship due to their commonality of interests, which ensures societal survival. He also drew inspiration from positivist philosophers like Auguste Comte and Henri de Saint-Simon.
• Structuralism (Lévi-Strauss): Influenced by structural linguistics and philosophical idealism, Lévi-Strauss posits that social structures are manifestations of unconscious mental thought patterns, particularly binary oppositions (e.g., nature vs. culture, raw vs. cooked). He argues that the exchange of women through marriage alliances is fundamental to kinship and the formation of social structures, creating both symmetrical and asymmetrical relationships.
• Critiques and Debates: The lecture touches upon criticisms of these theories, including the view of women as commodities, the disregard for human agency, and the debate between descent and alliance theories, with figures like Edmund Leach, Meyer Fortes, and Louis Dumont contributing to these discussions.