BOOKREVIEWS

GENERALAND THEORETICAL
Social Anthropology. J. S. SLOTKIN.(xviii, 604 pp., $4.75. The Macmillan Company,
New York, 1950.)
There is little in this text to commend it to either teacher or student. Imbued with
the spirit of a kind of latter-day scholasticism, the book smacks of the library rather
than the classroom. This, coupled with Dr. Slotkins highly idiosyncratic conception of
the content of social anthropology and his oblivion, or indifference, to many of the
most productive trends in recent social science makes the volume seem curiously out of
joint with the times. That the manuscript has languished for five or so years before
being belatedly published adds to this impression. The lack of competent editorial
assistance is only too apparent in the graceless, staccato style, the heavy freight of
scholarly impedimenta, and the absence of a bibliography or most of the other amenities
of a usable text. I n short, this is an ill-advised book. It falls far below the standard set
by such superior recent texts as those by Gillin, Kroeber, Hoebel and Herskovits.
Dr. Slotkin describes his text as an attempt to provide a systematic introduction
to social anthropology. He proposes to summarize and organize current findings in
the field and to present a body of fundamental theory concerning the nature and
effects of human society and culture (p. xi). The organization of the volume follows a
fairly conventional pattern. There are chapters on Society, Custom, Culture, and the
various parts of culture (p. 77) as follows: I. Approaches to the Environment, A.
Naturalism, B. Supernaturalism, C. Estheticism, D. Mysticism; 11. Economy; 111.
Communication; IV. Social Organization (Social Relations and Politics) ; V. Social
Control (Education and Reinforcements, and Sanctions). Louis Wirth has contributed
a rather bland foreword.
The major part of the book consists of comparative data drawn from a wide range
of historical and contemporary societies. These passages are designed to illustrate the
various propositions, generalizations and definitions interlarded in the text and to give
some insight into the processes involved. They vary from a line to three pages or more
in length, are set in smaller type, and are conscientiously foot-noted and identified by
tribe or geographical location, e.g., [Kwakiutl], [Ila], [United States], [Greece]. His-
torical notes, quoting the earliest formulations of the more important propositions
known to the author from Western Civilization, are appended to each chapter. This
excursion into ideoarchaeology adds little to the discussion.
While Professor Slotkins technique of presentation is an interesting innovation
and many passages, such as the poem Chu-chen Village by Po Chu-i, quoted on
p. 463, or the excerpt from Hierocles the Stoic on p. 433, are felicitous, they tend to
disrupt the continuity of the argument and divert the readers attention. There is the
further difficulty, abetted by the makeshift typography, of distinguishing between
illustration and text. Moreover, one wearies of definition after definition and the scores
of italicized terms. The device seems better suited for a source-book or a sort of un-
abridged dictionary of anthropological terminology than for what purports to be a
text. The book reads as if Dr. Slotkin had simply sent his notes off to the printer with-
out further ado.
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246 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [53, 1951

The author has been egregiously eclectic in his scholarship. He has ransacked the
Great Books and many of the lesser ones to provide well over a thousand references
from just under 700 sources as diverse as The Ladies Home Journal, Oscar Wilde,
Black Hawk, St. Teresa, e. e. cummings, The Thousand and One Nights, A Young
Girls Diary, Emily Post and the U. S. Infantry School. One notes, however, the neglect
of the non-monographic writings of most of the outstanding contemporary anthropolo-
gists and their colleagues in related social sciences.
Teachers of introductory courses,will find this text poorly adaptable to divergent
points of view. Discussion of social or cultural dynamics is omitted without comment
by the author. Such topics as diffusion, invention, acculturation, and social change are
not even listed in the index. Problems of personality and culture or cultural evolution
are not touched upon, and the concept of ethos or cultural configuration is dismissed
with the comment, I . . . . do not find it very useful (p. 87).
Sections of the book, such as the discussions of economic worth-on pp. 361-64 or of
status and role are admirable; yet few would hold with statements like the following:
The earliest known art is body decoration, inasmuch as artifacts which were most
likely used for the purpose have been found dating back to Lower Pleistocene 2
(p. 283); or, I . . . the most adequate culture is that by which the participants can
satisfy the widest range of motives most completely (p. 85). Many would quarrel
with the simple dichotomy of cultures into folk cultures and civilizations (p. 132), the
work of Redfield notwithstanding. And one detects an ethnocentric bias in applying
canons of Aristotelian esthetics to all art (p. 273)-and this in spite of the authors
own statement on p. 270 that, A societys esthetic theory is its esthetics. This re-
viewer would not relish having to parry the questions of a few alert students in defense
of all too many questionable passages in Dr. Slotkins book. .
It is perhaps gratuitous to carp about details, yet stylistic, editorial, typographic
and other infractions pepper these pages and their cumulative effect is annoying. On
p. 191 we read of mature spirits who on p. 208 become, as intended, nature spirits.
It seems unnecessary to cite a source for proverbs such as a miss is as good as a mile
(p. 272) or all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy (p. 271). These seem reason-
ably well established in the public domain. On pp. 250 and 321 references that belong
in foot-notes appear in the text. The table on p. 323 is aggravatingly referred to over-
leaf, and better composition would not have broken the table on pp. 424-425.
If this review seems unduly harsh, it may be tempered by noting that many of the
criticisms given here would have been obviated by more responsible publishing prac-
tices. The fact that Dr. Slotkin wrote his manuscript during the war when he was not
engaged in the normal practice of his profession as an anthropologist is only too appar-
ent. It is regretable that he has not been persuaded to air it in the classroom rather than
bring it, in spite of the delay in publication, prematurely to press.
JOSEPH B. CASAGRANDE
WASHINGTON, D. C.
A n Introdmtion to Social Anthropology, Vol. 1. RALPHPIDDINGTON. (xxvi, 442 pp.,
6 plates, 4 maps, 25 s., Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh and London, 1950.)
Professor Piddington has accepted the role of a disciple propagating the faith of