''Sick Societies'' is a 1992 scholarly work by Professor Emeritus of the department of anthropology at the University of California, Robert B. Edgerton.
Synopsis
The book challenges the
cultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the idea that a person's beliefs and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture. Proponents of cultural relativism also tend to argue that the norms and values of one culture should not be evaluated ...
position of some earlier anthropologists. Edgerton enumerates examples of primitive cultures and practices, showing that they have neither been completely happy nor environmentally sustainable. He argues that the vision of primal, naturally adaptive, perfect societies, is a myth.
Praising how relativists were instrumental to the development of respect for other peoples and values, he also points out where this can conflict with science.
According to Edgerton, the "interpretivist" view that science or Western society cannot, or should not, critically evaluate other societies would be a type of "intellectual onanism".
Examples of imperfect pre-colonial indigenous societies are presented, which include instances of superstitious flawed causation that can result in conflict and violence, suboptimal medicine, poor diet, environmental destruction, the subjugation of women, exploitation, slavery, disfunctional relationships and an atmosphere of fear.
Edgerton reports on how members of small societies have themselves criticized them, that all societies have their malfunctions and can be evaluated for health.
Reviews
Anthropology professor Philip Kilbride,
writing for ''American Anthropologist'', praised the book as "momentous, if not dialectically unevitable", and "a compelling case for his call for an 'anthropology of evaluation'", recommending it to students as a companion to
Richard Shweder
Richard Allan Shweder (born 1945) is an American cultural anthropologist and a figure in cultural psychology. He is currently Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Human Development in the Department of Comparative Human Development a ...
's 1991 ''Thinking Through Cultures'' book that by contrast is a defense of
postmodernist
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
relativism discouraging cross-cultural comparison. He enumerated a few societal problems described in the book, like
widow burning
Sati or suttee is a Hindu practice, now largely historical, in which a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband's funeral pyre. Quote: Between 1943 and 1987, some thirty women in Rajasthan (twenty-eight, according to offic ...
,
foot binding
Foot binding, or footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls in order to change their shape and size. Feet altered by footbinding were known as lotus feet, and the shoes made for these feet were kno ...
,
malnutrition
Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...
,
female genital mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...
, tribal warfare and alcoholism. His review concluded by describing Edgerton as a skillful writer committed to scientific
empiricism.
Anthropology professor
David Kertzer
David Israel Kertzer (born February 20, 1948) is an American anthropologist, historian, and academic, specializing in the political, demographic, and religious history of Italy. He is the Paul Dupee, Jr. University Professor of Social Science, ...
, writing for ''The Washington Post'', sympathized with the effort, considering how other societies were classically romanticized by anthropologists, but criticized the book for often selecting examples that were not necessarily representative of small primitive societies. He also argued that Edgerton's account of native American alcoholism did not convincingly support his main thesis.
See also
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Noble savage
A noble savage is a literary stock character who embodies the concept of the indigene, outsider, wild human, an " other" who has not been "corrupted" by civilization, and therefore symbolizes humanity's innate goodness. Besides appearing in m ...
Footnotes
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External links
* {{cite book, title=Sick Societies{{--Challenging the myth of primitive harmony, year=1992, first=Robert B., last=Edgerton, publisher=Free Press, location=the University of Michigan, isbn=9780029089255, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uy6AAAAAMAAJ
Anthropology literature