David Schneider
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David Schneider was an American anthropologist known for his critiques of traditional kinship studies. He challenged the comparative approach, arguing that anthropologists often imposed their own cultural assumptions, particularly the centrality of sexual reproduction, onto the study of kinship across different cultures.1
Schneider's work, such as American Kinship (1968), examined kinship as a cultural system based on shared symbols and meanings. He proposed that in the United States, "blood" was a core symbol, representing both natural substance and a code for conduct. However, critics noted that his initial work presented a homogenized view of American kinship, overlooking diversity in class, gender, and ethnicity. His later work and the critiques it inspired led anthropologists to consider more nuanced understandings of kinship, acknowledging varied perspectives within cultures.2
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kinshipCulturalist accountsThe American anthropologist David Schneider’s American Kinship (1968) is generally acknowledged as one of the first important anthropological studies of kinship in a 20th-century industrialized setting. Rather than taking the ideological basis of kinship for granted or assuming it to be of less importance than strategic interests related…
Read MoreThe American anthropologist David Schneider’s American Kinship (1968) is generally acknowledged as one of the first important anthropological studies of kinship in a 20th-century industrialized setting. Rather than taking the ideological basis of kinship for granted or assuming it to be of less importance than strategic interests related…
Read More- kinshipChallenging the conceptual basis of kinship
…Rodney Needham and the aforementioned David Schneider launched powerful critiques of the comparative study of kinship. At issue was the relationship between “physical” and “social” ties. Since the early 20th century, anthropologists had generally emphasized that they studied the social aspects of kinship. The actual physical or biological relationships were…
Read More…Rodney Needham and the aforementioned David Schneider launched powerful critiques of the comparative study of kinship. At issue was the relationship between “physical” and “social” ties. Since the early 20th century, anthropologists had generally emphasized that they studied the social aspects of kinship. The actual physical or biological relationships were…
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