Anthropology and modern life / by Franz Boas.

  • Boas, Franz, 1858-1942.
Date:
[1929]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Anthropology and modern life / by Franz Boas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    psychology, and applies this knowledge to groups. Every one of these sciences may be and is being studied from an anthropological point of view. The group, not the individual, is always the primary concern of the anthropologist. We may investigate the distribution of size of body as measured by weight or stature in a racial or social group. The individual interests us only as a mem- ber of the group. We inquire into determinant factors and the manner of their action in the group. The relation between the composition of the social group and the distribution of individual statures interests us. The physiologist may study the effect of strenuous exercise upon the functions of the heart. The anthropologist will investigate the interrelation between social conditions that make for strenuous exercise in a group and the physi- ological behavior of its members. The psycholo- gist may study the intellectual or emotional be- havior of the individual. The anthropologist will investigate the social or racial conditions that de- termine the behavior as distributed in the group. The individual develops and acts as a member of a racial or a social group. His bodily form is determined by his ancestry and by the conditions under which he lives. The functions of the body, while controlled by bodily build, depend upon social conditions. If the people live by choice or necessity on an exclusive meat diet, their bodily