Abstract
(1) THE aim of Dr. Radin's textbook of social anthropology is to emphasise man's positive achievement in social organisation and to avoid the undue stress hitherto laid on magic and the irrational side of primitive man's life. He has also avoided general theoretical discussion except in an introductory chapter in which he submits ethnological theories to a very fair and unbiased critical examination. His method has been to set himself a number of specific tasks in description such as the organisation of the State, the organisation of law and custom, economics and industrial life, and the like and to show by a concrete example, the description of a typical tribe or people, how primitive man has solved the specific problem the author has in mind. It is his view that “every type of societal organisation can be encountered among primitive peoples … [excepting] representative government”.
(1) Social Anthropology.
By Dr. Paul Radin. (McGraw-Hill Publications in Sociology.) Pp. xii + 432. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.; London: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., Ltd., 1932.) 21s. net.
(2) Economics in Primitive Communities.
By Prof. Richard Thurnwald. (Published for the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures.) Pp. xiv + 314.(London: Oxford University Press, 1932.) 25s. net.
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Anthropology and Archæology. Nature 131, 315 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/131315b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/131315b0