the interpretation of cultures by clifford geertz summary

‘Culture’ is summed up as being a ‘semiotic’ concept, although Geertz does not propose a systematic theory of signs, as found in the linguistics of Saussure or Jakobson. 14) which is to say that a culture allows flecks of physical behaviour, such as the movements of an eyelid, to be turned into significant acts of communication. Geertz therefore defines ‘culture’ as ‘a context…within which can be intelligibly… described’ (1973,p. It is a ‘construable sign’ (which does entail that it can be misconstrued, and indeed, twitches can embarrassingly be mistaken for winks and vice versa). Yet the wink is a meaningful and public act of communication. Physically the two may be identical (so that they would be indistinguishable in a photograph). He illustrates this distinction with the difference between a wink and a twitch. Anthropology requires ‘thick description’, which is to say, the anthropologist strives to express his or her understanding of cultural activity as something meaningful ( Geertz 1973, p. That, following the philosopher Gilbert Ryle, he terms ‘thin description’. Yet description cannot be of mere physical behaviour.

His central, and surprisingly bold, claim is that anthropology concerns the description of the activities and events of small social groups. He has championed interpretative approaches to the study of cultures.

Clifford Geertz’s (1926- 2006) work defined the field of interpretive social science, and he is regarded as one of the most influential and widely cited American cultural anthropologists of the second half of the twentieth century.

The interpretation of cultures by clifford geertz summary