primitive behavior: an introduction to the social sciences. william i. thomas

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144 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. S., 40, 1938 removed some valuable results remain. Extending the pan-American comparison systematically and with constant conceptual purging to Asia may yet yield im- portant conclusions. In any case, it should be understood that the Graebnerians are not merely diffusionists like Elliot Smith or Rivet, whose respective doctrines are explicitly repudiated (pp. 70, 147, 298). They are the only scholars today who give evidence of trying to see culture history as the continuous whole it undoubtedly is. ROBERT H. LOWIE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences. WILLIAM I. THOMAS. (ix, 847 pp., 12 figs. $4.00. New York and London: McGraw-Hill, 1937.) Probably no sociologist in the world-certainly none of English speech-has so systematically kept abreast of ethnological progress as Dr Thomas. This latest out- come of his ripe scholarship, then, reflects with remarkable accuracy the viewpoints of cultural anthropology so far as they relate to a generic social science. Specifically, there emerge from his treatise the generalizations he has himself summarized at the beginning (p. 7): the impotence of either racial or geographical factors to ac- count for culture; the improbability of parallelism on a large scale; the moulding power of specific experiences, leading to individual behavior patterns and standards for each society; the tendency for such idea-systems to spread, so that culture areas are recognizable in place of so many discrete tribal cultures. However, Dr Thomas is much more than a purveyor of accepted anthropo- logical tenets. For one thing he connects ethnology with psychology, showing by a magnificent array of instances how the established cultural order conditions in- dividual response to a given situation. Moreover, his wide sociological experience and his equally impressive reading enable him to set many facts in a new light and to adduce many that commonly elude the professional ethnographer. Cases in point are the discussion of virtuosity as a goal (p. 42); of the Swedish taboo against the pronoun ni (p. 94 ff.); of the mother-in-law as “a perseverative” (“stepping up”) application of a device for denoting relationship (pp. 214, 221 f.); of indigenously evolved Negro kingdoms (p. 425); of the alphabet as the achievement of the people rather than of an Clite (p. 625). A very large part of the work consists of verbatim quotations documenting the points made. It is, indeed, an incomparable source book-one that I should set above all other productions of this category. First of all, it embraces in principle all epochs and all areas. Secondly, the selections both illustrate the points made and are intrinsically worth while. Finally, the theoretical and descriptive literature has been ransacked from the most catholic point of view. There are old classics like Tylor and Dobrizhoffer; but we also find the most recent theorists and observers- Gayton, Evans-Pritchard, Gusinde, Mead, Gifford. No student of the social sciences will fail to enlarge his insight and factual grasp by consulting this monumental treatise. ROBERT H. LOWIE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

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Page 1: Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences. William I. Thomas

144 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. S., 40, 1938

removed some valuable results remain. Extending the pan-American comparison systematically and with constant conceptual purging to Asia may yet yield im- portant conclusions.

In any case, it should be understood that the Graebnerians are not merely diffusionists like Elliot Smith or Rivet, whose respective doctrines are explicitly repudiated (pp. 70, 147, 298). They are the only scholars today who give evidence of trying to see culture history as the continuous whole it undoubtedly is.

ROBERT H. LOWIE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Primitive Behavior: A n Introduction to the Social Sciences. WILLIAM I. THOMAS. (ix, 847 pp., 12 figs. $4.00. New York and London: McGraw-Hill, 1937.) Probably no sociologist in the world-certainly none of English speech-has so

systematically kept abreast of ethnological progress as Dr Thomas. This latest out- come of his ripe scholarship, then, reflects with remarkable accuracy the viewpoints of cultural anthropology so far as they relate to a generic social science. Specifically, there emerge from his treatise the generalizations he has himself summarized a t the beginning (p. 7): the impotence of either racial or geographical factors to ac- count for culture; the improbability of parallelism on a large scale; the moulding power of specific experiences, leading to individual behavior patterns and standards for each society; the tendency for such idea-systems to spread, so that culture areas are recognizable in place of so many discrete tribal cultures.

However, Dr Thomas is much more than a purveyor of accepted anthropo- logical tenets. For one thing he connects ethnology with psychology, showing by a magnificent array of instances how the established cultural order conditions in- dividual response to a given situation. Moreover, his wide sociological experience and his equally impressive reading enable him to set many facts in a new light and to adduce many that commonly elude the professional ethnographer. Cases in point are the discussion of virtuosity as a goal (p. 42); of the Swedish taboo against the pronoun ni (p. 94 ff.); of the mother-in-law as “a perseverative” (“stepping up”) application of a device for denoting relationship (pp. 214, 221 f.); of indigenously evolved Negro kingdoms (p. 425); of the alphabet as the achievement of the people rather than of an Clite (p. 625).

A very large part of the work consists of verbatim quotations documenting the points made. It is, indeed, an incomparable source book-one that I should set above all other productions of this category. First of all, it embraces in principle all epochs and all areas. Secondly, the selections both illustrate the points made and are intrinsically worth while. Finally, the theoretical and descriptive literature has been ransacked from the most catholic point of view. There are old classics like Tylor and Dobrizhoffer; but we also find the most recent theorists and observers- Gayton, Evans-Pritchard, Gusinde, Mead, Gifford. No student of the social sciences will fail to enlarge his insight and factual grasp by consulting this monumental treatise.

ROBERT H. LOWIE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA