Malinowski and the British School Social anthropology

bronislaw malinowski, anthropologist @ london school of economics

toward turn of 20th century, number of anthropologists became dissatisfied categorization of cultural elements; historical reconstructions came seem increasingly speculative them. under influence of several younger scholars, new approach came predominate among british anthropologists, concerned analyzing how societies held in present (synchronic analysis, rather diachronic or historical analysis), , emphasizing long-term (one several years) immersion fieldwork. cambridge university financed multidisciplinary expedition torres strait islands in 1898, organized alfred cort haddon , including physician-anthropologist, william rivers, linguist, botanist, , other specialists. findings of expedition set new standards ethnographic description.

a decade , half later, polish anthropology student, bronisław malinowski (1884–1942), beginning expected brief period of fieldwork in old model, collecting lists of cultural items, when outbreak of first world war stranded him in new guinea. subject of austro-hungarian empire resident on british colonial possession, confined new guinea several years.

he made use of time undertaking far more intensive fieldwork had been done british anthropologists, , classic ethnography, argonauts of western pacific (1922) advocated approach fieldwork became standard in field: getting native s point of view through participant observation. theoretically, advocated functionalist interpretation, examined how social institutions functioned satisfy individual needs.