Culture, once a center-stage concept in anthropology, is now being discussed by talk show personalities and journalists and included in a wide range of academic disciplines. In view of the myriad uses and abuse of the concept, "The Relevance of Culture" sets the record straight through a careful survey of the development of the concept of culture, and the arguments and continuing relevance of it to theoretical discussions. The authors illustrate its roles in such diverse areas as risk and technology, nursing and health care, evolution, criminology, information, economy, geography, and even the uneven the understanding of suicide.

Noted shcolars apply their wit and wisdom to illustrate and analyze the role of culture, creating a definitive picture for scholars, beginning students of cultural anthroplogy, and related social sciences.

In this volume composed of a number of cross-cultural case studies in deviance, the authors show how an anthropological comparative study can shed new light on the subject. Anthropologists have tended to avoid studying deviance as a phenomena in and of itself, concentrating instead on particular sorts of deviance such as sorcery, alcoholism, and suicide. Anthropology's total immersion in the culture being studied is well suited to a fuller understanding of deviance. An anthropology of deviance is likely to create new models that challenge many of the sociological assumptions currently used to interpret and understand deviance. The results of fieldwork in the Arctic, the West Indies, India, Europe, Africa, and the Far East are presented in individual ethnographic essays, and the data is formulated into three new theoretical models that address the differences between smart and proper behavior, the distinction between soft and hard deviance, and the social and political uses of staged deviance. These innovative models provide a context in which the data collected cross-culturally make sense in general and make deviance more understandable. Anthropology lends a greater objectivity to the study of deviance through a great concern with the validity of data, a focus on small-scale systems and a meticulous scrutiny and acknowledgment of the models that will be used to interpret the data. This unique book improves not only our understanding of deviant behavior, but of sociocultural order as well.

In this volume composed of cross-cultural case studies in deviance, the authors show how an anthropological comparative study can shed new light on the subject. Anthropologists have tended to avoid studying deviance as a phenomena in and of itself, concentrating instead on particular sorts of deviance such as sorcery, alcoholism, and suicide. The authors feel that an anthropological comparative study of deviance can shed new light on the ubject. Anthropology's total immersion in the culture being studied is well suited to a fuller understanding of deviance. An anthropology of deviance is likely to create new models that challenge many of the sociological assumptions currently used to interpret and understand deviance. The results of fieldwork in the Arctic, the West Indies, India, Europe, Africa, and the Far East are presented in individual ethnographic essays, and the data is formulated into three new theoretical models that address the differences between "smart" and "proper" behavior, the distinction between "soft" and "hard" deviance, and the social and political uses of "staged deviance." These innovative models provide a context in which the data collected cross-culturally make sense in general and make deviance more understandable. Anthropology lends a greater objectivity to the study of deviance through a great concern with the validity of data, a focus on small-scale systems and a meticulous scrutiny and acknowledgment of the models that will be used to interpret the data. This unique book improves not only our understanding of deviant behavior, but of sociocultural order as well.

Culture, once a center-stage concept in anthropology, is now being discussed by talk show personalities and journalists and included in a wide range of academic disciplines. In view of the myriad uses and abuses of the concept, The Relevance of Culture sets the record straight through a careful survey of the development of the concept of culture, and the arguments and continuing relevance of it to theoretical discussions. The authors illustrate its roles in such diverse areas as risk and technology, nursing and health care, evolution, criminology, information, economy, geography, and even the understanding of suicide. Noted scholars apply their wit and wisdom to illustrate and analyze the role of culture, creating a definitive picture for both scholars and beginning students of cultural anthropology and related social sciences.