Anthropologists and the Rediscovery of America, 1886–1965

"This book examines the intersection of cultural anthropology and American cultural nationalism from 1886, when Franz Boas left Germany for the United States, until 1965, when the National Endowment for the Humanities was established. Five chapters trace the development within academic anthropology of the concepts of culture, social class, national character, value, and civilization, and their dissemination to non-anthropologists. As Americans came to think of culture anthropologically, as a "complex whole" far broader and more inclusive than Matthew Arnold's "the best which has been thought and said," so, too, did they come to see American communities as stratified into social classes distinguished by their subcultures; to attribute the making of the American character to socialization rather than birth; to locate the distinctiveness of American culture in its unconscious canons of choice; and to view American culture and civilization in a global perspective"--Provided by publisher. "This book examines the intersection of cultural anthropology and American cultural nationalism from 1886, when Franz Boas left Germany for the United States, until 1965, when the National Endowment for the Humanities was established. Five chapters trace the development within academic anthropology of the concepts of culture, social class, national character, value, and civilization, and their dissemination to non-anthropologists. As Americans came to think of culture anthropologically, as a "complex whole" far broader and more inclusive than Matthew Arnold's "the best which has been thought and said," so, too, did they come to see American communities as stratified into social classes distinguished by their subcultures; to attribute the making of the American character to socialization rather than birth; to locate the distinctiveness of American culture in its unconscious canons of choice; and to view American culture and civilization in a global perspective"-- Résumé de l'éditeur Cover......Page 1 Frontmatter......Page 2 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 1 - Culture in the American Grain......Page 21 2 - Social Class in the Ethnography of the American Scene......Page 78 3 - The Psychology of Culture and the American Character......Page 127 4 - The Drift of American Values......Page 168 5 - America as a Civilization......Page 209 Epilogue......Page 259 Index......Page 282 Cover 1 Frontmatter 2 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 1 - Culture in the American Grain 21 2 - Social Class in the Ethnography of the American Scene 78 3 - The Psychology of Culture and the American Character 127 4 - The Drift of American Values 168 5 - America as a Civilization 209 Epilogue 259 Index 282 9780521766722