Premium
The Paradoxical Anthropology of Leslie White
Author(s) -
Barrett Richard A.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1989.91.4.02a00100
Subject(s) - white (mutation) , materialism , evolutionism , anthropology , preference , sociology , epistemology , philosophy , environmental ethics , biology , biochemistry , gene , economics , microeconomics
The many contradictions in the anthropology of Leslie White derive mainly from the fact that he embraced two contradictory models of culture: the sui generis conception that he received from his Boasian education, and the materialist‐utilitarian framework that developed out of his concern with cultural evolutionism. White never reconciled the two, but in any instance of conflict he gave preference to the sui generis, Boasian‐derived conception. This led him eventually to repudiate significant aspects of his utilitarian‐adaptive framework.