SOC250Y1 Lecture Notes - Dietary Supplement, Erectile Dysfunction, Trobriand Islands
Document Summary
Bronislaw malinowski: 1884-1942, pioneer of ethnographic fieldwork. Trobriand islands: founder of the functionalist approach. They have no knowledge of the total outline of any of their social structure. They know to them, but how, out of these, the whole collective institution shapes, this is beyond their mental range. They display astonishing rational mastery of their environments: magic, therefore, is not false or primitive science . It is an auxiliary (an aid or support) to empirical/practical action. Aboriginal or tribal peoples are aware of the difference between magical and mechanical causation: magic has another function: to cope with situations of stress, danger, uncertainty magic is an anxiety-reduction mechanism. Famous exemplar: trobriand islanders rely significantly on fishing for dietary supplement. Lagoon fishing (no magic) vs. deep sea fishing (much magic: magic functions as an anxiety reduction method. Not enough to rely on practical techniques. Merely gives you confidence to go ahead: the magical side of society will always exist.
