Clifford Geertz

Clifford Geertz
Born (1926-08-23)August 23, 1926
San Francisco
Died October 30, 2006(2006-10-30) (aged 80)
Philadelphia
Nationality American
Fields Anthropology
Institutions

University of Chicago

Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey
Alma mater Antioch College, Harvard University
Doctoral advisor Talcott Parsons
Doctoral students James Siegel, James Boon, Lawrence Rosen, Abdellah Hammoudi, Sherry Ortner

Clifford James Geertz (August 23, 1926, San Francisco – October 30, 2006, Philadelphia) was an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology, and who was considered "for three decades...the single most influential cultural anthropologist in the United States."[1] He served until his death as professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.

Life

Clifford James Geertz was born in San Francisco, California on August 23, 1926. After service in the U.S. Navy in World War II (1943–45), Geertz received his B.A. in philosophy from Antioch College in 1950, and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1956, where he studied social anthropology in the Department of Social Relations. He taught or held fellowships at a number of schools before joining the anthropology staff of the University of Chicago (1960–70). He then became professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton from 1970 to 2000, then emeritus professor.

Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ

Geertz received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from some fifteen colleges and universities, including Harvard University, the University of Chicago and the University of Cambridge. He was married first to the anthropologist Hildred Geertz. After their divorce he married Karen Blu, also an anthropologist. Clifford Geertz died of complications following heart surgery on October 30, 2006.[2]

Geertzian theory

At the University of Chicago, Geertz became a champion of symbolic anthropology, a framework which gives prime attention to the role of symbols in constructing public meaning. In his seminal work The Interpretation of Cultures (1973), Geertz outlined culture as "a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life" (1973:89).

Geertz believed that the role of anthropologists was to try to interpret the guiding symbols of each culture. He was considered quite innovative in this regard, as he was one of the earliest scholars to see that the insights provided by common language, philosophy and literary analysis could have major explanatory force in the social sciences.

His often cited essay "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" is the classic example of thick description, a concept adopted from the British philosopher Gilbert Ryle. Thick description is an anthropological method of explaining with as much detail as possible the reason behind human actions. For example one could say a man winked. However, this would not explain why he winked: was he flirting, did he have something in his eye, was he trying to communicate irony in what he had just said...these are the questions an anthropologist must answer.[3]

During Geertz's long career, he worked through a variety of theoretical phases and schools of thought. In 1957, Geertz wrote that "The drive to make sense out of experience, to give it form and order, is evidently as real and pressing as the more familiar biological needs...", a statement which reflects an early leaning toward functionalism. Accordingly, in his early career Geertz considered anthropology a kind of science. This is in contrast to Geertz's later enthusiasm for an interpretive approach. In his later work, Geertz spoke particularly of the difficulties that ethnographic research has in getting at an adequate description of objective reality. Geertz attributed this to the fact that people tell ethnographers what they believe to be their own motivations, but those people's actions then often seem to contradict their statements to the researcher. Geertz believed this effect occurred partly due to the problems that people have in verbalizing aspects of their life that they usually take for granted, partly due to how ethnographers structure their research approaches and frameworks, and partly due to the inherent complexity of the social order.

Cultural Approach to Organizations

Clifford Geertz spent many years studying abroad. His key findings are documented often as “The Cultural Approach to Organizations.” These ethnographic studies focused entirely on the cultural norms and symbols that are used within corporations and how their meanings differ from one culture to the next. Prime examples of these findings come from Geertz’ study of Japan’s industrial success versus the United State’s. We see that in Japanese culture, loyalty to the group is very prevalent. In addition, this is expressed in the “group” workplace as well. The United States values differ in two main ways. Singularity and uniqueness are celebrated, therefore in a group situation, such as a corporation, we do not show as much success. Geertz puts forth that a company’s culture is a web of shared meaning, therefore if you do not belong to the same culture as the company you are working for, you may have different values and behave in different ways so that you may find unhappiness in your career and in the organization. These findings show that the more loyalty employees as a whole to an organization, the more successful that organization will be.

Geertz’ primary focal point was the use of metaphors within organizations. These metaphors are meant to clarify values and beliefs that are held within the company and express them more clearly. A good example of this comes from A First Look at Communication Theory – The Company’s most prevalent metaphor considers it to be a “lattice organization,” meaning that one-on-one communication is important between workers and that no one needs permission to speak with anyone else – all doors are open. The metaphor also means that there is no strong hierarchical structure within the corporation and that all associates are considered equal through their hard work.[4] These are important values within the company that are being expressed through a metaphor that all of the employees know and believe in.

Geertz also considered the use of rituals within organizations to be an important matter to consider. These rituals, according to Geertz, seem to be understood by all and in a state of immobility. Any move to change these rituals will most likely be met with strong resistance within the company and by older, or more traditional workers. Such rituals may come in many categories whether it is in the form of competition and reward between associates or as a form of order within the company such as scheduling or maternity leave.

Some critiques of the Cultural Approach to Organizations do exist. Some argue that ethnographers such as Clifford Geertz study the cultural values and behaviors of certain categories (such as organizations for Geertz) and refuse to make a movement or provide change when their findings show inequalities or injustice. Although this may be true, especially within big corporations, it is not the ethnographer’s position to make change, just to evoke it while informing people of what truths exist. This shows up within the organization with concepts such as gender, race, and age inequality. Although an ethnographer may report that these things do exist, it is not his or her responsibility that these issues occur, nor is it their duty to change the organizational structure.[5]

Metatheoretical Assumptions of the Cultural Approach to Organizations

Ontological Assumption - "Coming from the humanist standpoint, cultural approach clearly shows us that the individual has a right to choose whether or not they will be included in a certain group--including the work group. This right to choose comes from their own ways of knowing about the world." [6]

Epistemological Assumption - "This phenomenological perspective shares an epistemology of creating multiple truths. For instance, the management does not just hand down a set of rules and expect everyone to act on them. Rather, management sets down guidelines but it is up to the individuals involved in an organization to make sense of them. Each person brings his/her own ideas and beliefs to the table and therefore brings his/her own idea of reality to. There is no right or wrong, just an interpretation of the rules." [7]

Axiological Assumption - "The axiological assumptions about the Cultural approach are somewhere between value-conscious and value-laden. Although we have stressed the individual's influence upon an organization, the individuals are still aware of the goals and ideals of the corporation itself. An organization is more the "sum of its parts" within the guidelines of this theory." [8]

Philosophical influence

Despite his discontent with most academic philosophy at his time, Geertz was largely influenced by two philosophers: Gilbert Ryle and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Drawing on the tradition of ordinary language philosophy, he adopted the proposition of thick description from the British philosopher Gilbert Ryle and imported the concept of family resemblances into anthropology from the post-analytic philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. He also introduced Alfred Schütz's...distinctions among predecessors, consociates, contemporaries and successors, distinctions that have become commonplace in anthropology'[9] in his wake. Geertz stressed how the links between 'consociate-contemporary-predecessor-successor...[derive from] the umwelt-mitwelt-vorwelt-vogelwelt formulation'[10] of Schutz's phenomenology.

Fieldwork

Geertz conducted extensive ethnographical research in Southeast Asia and North Africa. He also contributed to social and cultural theory and is still very influential in turning anthropology toward a concern with the frames of meaning within which various peoples live out their lives. He worked on religion, most particularly Islam, on bazaar trade, on economic development, on traditional political structures, and on village and family life. At the time of his death, Geertz was working on the general question of ethnic diversity and its implications in the modern world.

Legacy

Geertz's reaearch and ideas had a strong influence on 20th century academia. His findings reverberate within modern anthropology and communication studies. Aside from his influence on anthropology, Geertz' landmark contributions to social and cultural theory were also influential for geographers, ecologists, political scientists, scholars of religion, historians, and other humanists.[11]University of Miami Professor Daniel Pals wrote of Geertz in 1996, "His critics are few; his admirers legion."[12]

Interlocutors

Major publications

Chronological list of works by Clifford Geertz

The four studies included in the book are:

  • "The World in a Text: How to Read Tristes Tropiques" (pp. 25–48).
  • "Slide Show: Evans-Pritchard's African Transparencies" (pp. 49–72).
  • "I-Witnessing: Malinowski's Children" (pp. 73–101).
  • "Us/not-Us: Benedict's Travels" (pp. 102–128).

Honors

See also

Notes

  1. ^ C. Geertz, R. A. Shweder, and B. Good, Clifford Geertz by his Colleagues (Chicago 2005) p. 1
  2. ^ http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/theory_pages/Geertz.htm
  3. ^ Geertz, Clifford (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books. pp. 6. 
  4. ^ Griffin, Em (2012). A First Look at Communication Theory. McGraw- Hill. pp. 289. 
  5. ^ Griffin, Em (2012). A First Look at Communication Theory. McGraw- Hill. pp. 289. 
  6. ^ http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/orgcomm/cultural.html
  7. ^ http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/orgcomm/cultural.html
  8. ^ http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/orgcomm/cultural.html
  9. ^ Geertz, Shweder, Good, (2005) p. 68
  10. ^ Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Culture (London 1993) p. 367n
  11. ^ "Clifford Geertz 1926 - 2006". Princeton, New Jersey: Institute for Advanced Study Press. 2006. http://www.ias.edu/news/press-releases/geertz-1926-2006. 
  12. ^ Frankenberry, Nancy K.; Hans H. Penner (1999). Clifford Geertz's Long-Lasting Moods, Motivations, and Metaphysical Conceptions. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-13-158591-6. JSTOR 1206117. 
  13. ^ Association for Asian Studies (AAS), 1987 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies; retrieved 2011-05-31

References

External links