Paper No.
: 10 Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Module : 13 Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
Development Team
Principal Investigator Prof. Anup Kumar Kapoor
Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi
Paper Coordinator Prof. Anup Kumar Kapoor
Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi
Neha Tiwari
Content Writer Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi
Prof. Subir Biswas, Department of Anthropology, West
Content Reviewer Bengal State University, Barasat, West Bengal
Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Anthropology Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
Description of Module
Subject Name Anthropology
Paper Name 10 Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Module Name/Title Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
Module Id 13
Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Anthropology Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
Contents
Introduction
1. Concept of folk society
2. Concept of Peasant Society
3. Concept of Folk-Urban Continuum
4. Concept of Little Community
5. Concept of Great and Little Traditions
6. Redfield’s Definition of Civilization
7. Oscar Lewis
8. Mc Kim Marriot
9. Milton Singer
10. Morris E. Opler
Learning Outcomes
To understand the concept of culture through different types of societies
To understand the concept of civilization
To know and understand various related topics and subtopics
To know about the contributions made different scholars to the concept
Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Anthropology Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
Introduction
Since the time of postulation of evolutionary theory, anthropologists are familiar with the term
civilization, but it was the pioneering work of Robert Redfield of Chicago University, America, whose
efforts brought movement in the history and development of anthropology by introduction of study of
civilization. According to him the civilization has two main dimensions namely folk and urban. He
studied folk-villages and urban centers and also he made an effort to understand the patterns and
processes of interaction between them. And hence, he developed the concepts of folk society, urban
society and folk-urban continuum. Since then the study of a village as a unit of rural civilization urban
center as a unit of urban civilization came into existence. In development of a civilization religion
holds an important place and in order to understand the role of religion development of civilization
Robert Redfield had developed the concept of Great and Little traditions as he defines civilizations as a
complex whole of great and little traditions. According to him the great tradition refers to the formal
literate tradition of a civilization, which is regulated by the elites of the society, while, the little
tradition refers to formal illiterate tradition of rural people living within a civilization. He has also
introduced the term cultural specialist who mediates between the two traditions. Many anthropologists
of America such as Oscar Lewis, Mc Kim Marriot, Milton Singer and Mandel Baum supported
Redfield’s theory and added upon the study of civilization as proposed by Redfield. Redfield and his
followers visited India and studied Indian villages in order to understand the Indian civilization.
1. Concept of Folk Society
During 1927-28 Redfield visited a traditional village, Tepoztlan, later on which he published a book in
1930. He considered this village as an ideal type of folk society which is just a polar opposite of the
urban society. Also he suggested that there exists no ideal society but the term ideal is a mental
construct. Redfield had characterized the folk societies into the following attributes:
1) Isolated: The folk society is isolated but has its own territory and it is physically immobile.
2) Small in Size: It is a small society in accordance to the number of members and its members are
in direct contact with each other.
3) Feeling of ‘We’ and ‘They’: The folk society contains group sentiments. They know the
members of their own society whom they include in ‘we’ and also who is from outside the
group to be kept in ‘they’.
4) Personal Relation: People here know each other not only by name but by face also.
5) Common Interests: They have common interest of leading a good life and food produced
commonly in the group is shared by the members of the group.
Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Anthropology Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
6) Simple Division of Labor: Here division of labor is not on the basis of specialization but on the
basis of sex and gender.
7) Homogeneity: People of the folk society show similarity in terms of dress, customs, culture and
way of life. In their life tradition plays a big role.
8) Independent: They produce for subsistence and they are independent in that.
9) Kinship System: The family relationships are established since birth and both types of Kinship
system are found i.e., Patriarchal and Matriarchal. Range of kinship system is large.
10) Magic: Magic has a very important place in this society. People tend to increase the emotions
of the group by certain specific experiences.
11) Sacred prevails over Secular: here people consider certain objects as sacred and they offer
worship to their implements, food items, hearths or any other object which satisfies their needs.
12) Economy is for Status: The entire society is status oriented rather than market-oriented. They
production and consumption is according to their needs. There is no concept of market and
saving. Barter system is present in them but it is also consumption oriented.
2. Concept of Peasant Society
In 1930 Redfield visited a peasant society known as Chankom. He postulated that a peasant society
has a great love for their land. They consider their land as their mother. Land for them nurtures
them like, a mother nurtures her child. Their entire economy is based on their land. The peasants
produce surplus, and they keep the amount necessary for them with them and sell the rest into the
cities. Peasant societies are relatively self-contained, posses their own indigenous culture, structure
and values. According to him the peasant society is different from the folk society only because it
has developed market system; also they are in contact with the traders of the urban center. Rest all
of the characteristic features such as isolation, feeling of ‘we’ and ‘they’, personal relation,
common interests, kinship systems; homogeneity and magic are similar to that of the folk-society.
According to Redfield’s observation the peasant society has three main attributes namely: A
Reverent Attitude towards Land, The Idea that Agriculture is good and business is bad and
Industrious Nature (means hard working is the value of life). As the peasant society is in contact
with the urban center so they have certain traits of the urban center also. Thus, it can be said that
the peasant society is somewhere in between the folk and the urban society.
3. Concept of Folk-Urban Continuum
Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Anthropology Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
In the year 1941, Robert Redfield published a book naming The Folk Culture of Yucatan. This
book was based upon his comparative study of the four communities namely city society, town
society, peasant society and folk and simple society. He has selected these four communities or
societies from the Mexican province of Yucatan. The four communities located in the Mexican
province with different habitations are Marida (city society), Diztas (town society), Chankom (a
peasant village) and Tuski (village of folk society).
Robert Redfield placed the folk society and the city society at both the ends of the poles. According
to him the characteristics of the folk society and that of the city society are different from each
other but the characteristics of Chankom were similar to that of Tuski and Diztas both. But the
traits of Chankom were more similar to that of Tuski than that of Diztas. The traits of Diztas were
similar to that of Marida as both have proper market system and civil administration to rule them.
In Diztas there were certain traits similar to that of Chankom such as presence of market,
middlemen, and shops. He concluded that the city society resembled more with the town society
and the peasant society resembled to the folk society, therefore he termed Marida and Diztas as
urban community while Chankom and Tuski as folk community. Thus he proposed the concept
folk-urban continuum.
Pole Pole
End A End B
City society Marida Urban society Diztas Peasant society Chankom Folk society Tuski
Redfield not only proposed the concept of folk-urban continuum but also he characterized the traits
of the societies. He said that the folk and urban societies are placed on the opposite poles and very
different. The distinction he made between the two societies was based on the dominant traits of
the particular group. He said that the moral order is a typical characteristic of the folk society. It
signifies binding together of men through implicit conviction as to what is right, and through
implicit ideals, which means, in turn, that members of folk society followed their own ideals of the
“good life”. The order of the urban society is based on the opposite attributes. The bonds that holds
together the urban society is not based upon the “good life”. They do not embed them into human
sentiments. They instead are based on mutual usefulness, deliberate coercion and from necessity
and expectancy. Redfield also observed that the folk society is coming in contact with the urban
society and is inheriting some of its traits and thereby losing its own. Many of the peculiar folk
Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Anthropology Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
society traits such as isolation, homogeneity, kinship systems are no mare there. Increase in contact,
bringing about heterogeneity, is sufficient cause of secularization and individualization. Thus
increment in the contacts with the urban society has led to the fading away of certain important folk
society traits. Also, the contacts with the urban center leads to heterogeneity and development of
market economy and thus indication of disorganization appears.
4. Concept of Little Community
Redfield had also proposed a concept of Little Community. Little Community can be defined as a
small group of people living together with same community features. All the community members
participate in every community activity. Redfield also had also used the word human whole for the
little community. Little communities were also called as small communities by Redfield. The main
characteristic features of little communities are distinctiveness, smallness, homogeneity and self-
sufficiency. According to him the communities can only be called little communities if they have
their own culture and that to different and isolated from the large ones. Redfield also opined that
these days only two traits of little communities can be found i.e., smallness and distinctiveness
whereas homogeneity and self-sufficiency are no more found. The study of little community was
considered very important by Redfield because he opined that the little communities are the basic
units and representative of the whole society and scientifically studying the little community
provided better understanding of the whole society.
5. Concept of Great and Little Traditions
While studying the peasant society Robert Redfield came across two types of traditions which
different from one another and had different origin but were inter-related, inter dependent and
interactive with one another. Amongst the two traditions he found that one was formal, in written
form, literate and reflective few while, the other was informal, in oral form with no written format,
illiterate and reflective many. The former was called as Great Tradition and the latter was called as
Little Tradition by Redfield. During his fieldwork he observed that the Great Tradition was being
cultivated in the schools and temples located at different places. These places were visited by the
peasants. He also found that the priests and the teachers were the mediating link between the two
traditions. Thus it can be said that the Great Traditions are being cultivated in the schools and
temples with the help of teachers and priests while the Little Tradition works itself out and keeps
itself living and going into the illiterate village communities.
For an example we can take up the case of India. India has many religious centers such as Gaya,
Kashi etc which have Great tradition. These places have their own traditional schools and temples,
7
Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Anthropology Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
where worshipping and religious teaching along with teaching of Sanskrit, Hindu holy books etc
take place. The Mahantha or the Pandit offers worshipping and teaches their disciples. The
Mahantha along with his disciples move from village to village among the peasant communities to
raise the funds to maintain Sanskrit teaching in the school and for worshipping. He also tells the
peasants about the myths and legends associated with the place which strengthens the spiritual
belief of the peasants. These teachings are passed on from generation to generation orally. Also the
Mahantha teaches the importance of pilgrimage to the peasants. This results in the establishment of
religious beliefs in the minds of the peasants which in turn results into the rituals performed by the
peasants on different occasions. Hence it can be concluded that the cultural specialist’s interaction
with the peasant community resulted in the interaction of Great Tradition with the Little Tradition.
Robert Redfield has used the Cultural Specialists for the people who mediate between the Great
and Little Traditions.
6. Redfield’s Definition of Civilization
Redfield propounded his concept of civilization, after formulating the concepts of Great Traditions,
Little Traditions and Cultural Specialists, he defined concept of civilization as complex structure of
Great Tradition and Little Tradition. According to him civilization has many components such as
great tradition, little tradition as well as tribal rural and urban culture. Redfield also postulates that
the civilization is an organization associated with the functioning of the cultural specialists in the
folk societies. He also views civilization as world view, ethos, temperament, value system, cultural
personality etc.
Many of the followers of Redfield had contributed a lot in the Civilization theory. Their efforts
cannot be ignored. Following are the brief discussion about some of the members of the civilization
school.
7. Oscar Lewis
He visited India in 1951and conducted his study in Rampur village in U.P. He had very distinctly
described the reality of Indian village and opined that Indian village has a deep community
sentiment. The relationship here is not only between the two individuals but also between the
individual and the nature such as relation of man with his land, house, cattle, plants and other
natural objects. All these form the internal basis of the Indian village. He also said that the relations
such as man to his land, individual with individual, religious order, political organization, business
Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Anthropology Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
relations etc form the extended relationship in the Indian village. He has named this extended
relation as ‘Rural Cosmopolitan’.
8. Mc Kim Marriot
Mckim Marriott in his "Little Communities in an indigenous Civilization" gave the concept of
universalization and parochialization. Universalization is the process by which cultural traits of a
little tradition are absorbed into a great tradition. Hence the local process/phenomenon becomes
universalized. Parochialization is just the reverse of the universalization phenomenon and in this
the written, literate things such as Vedas, Shasstras are learnt and then modified by the folk or the
peasant society and this cuminates into their ritualistic practices.
He examined the socio-religious organization in an Indian village Kishangarhi in Uttar Pradesh.
According to Marriott, an indigenous civilization is one whose Great Tradition originates by
universalization or a carrying forward of materials which are already present in the Little Tradition
which it encompasses. Such an indigenous Great Tradition has authority in so far it constitutes a
more articulate and refined restatement or systematization of what is already there. He explains the
concept by giving examples from the festivals of Little Tradition in Kishangarhi village. He refers
to the Festival of Lights in which the local goddess of prosperity and wealth is propitiated. Marriott
comments that Saurti of this Little Tradition could have been universalized into the goddess
Lakshmi of the Great Tradition who stands for prosperity and wealth also.
The reverse of universalization is parochialization .It is a process of localization of limitation upon
the scope of intelligibility of deprivation of literary form, of reduction to less systematic and less
reflective dimensions. The process of parochialization constitutes the characteristic creative work
of little communities within India's indigenous civilization. He explains the process through
examples from Kishangarhi, the festival of Navarathri in which Nine Durgas are worshiped for
nine successive days. In Kishangarhi a female deity Naurtha made of mud is worshiped for nine
deities. Marriott points out that Durga has been parochialized into Naurtha the name also being
parochialized deriving from nava ratra or nine nights.
Marriott concludes that seen through its festivals and deities the religion of the village of
Kishangarhi may have originated as resulting from continuous process of communication between
a little, local tradition and great traditions. Since both Great and Little traditions exist within the
religion of little communities and these communities study of the religion of a little community can
contribute to the understanding of processes of universalization and parochialization.
Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Anthropology Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
9. Milton Singer
Milton Singer visited India in 1954-55 and made a study on Madras city. He had worked a lot in
the contemporary study of religious traditions in India. He had done a deep study on the Great and
Little Traditions of Madras and South India. Also he has done textual and contextual analysis of
written and oral traditions. He has provided an insight into the study of India with its great and
deep rooted heritage. Singer had studied the cultural role of traditional city Madras in South India
and has an effort to show how great tradition has modernized itself in the sphere of the little
tradition. Singer has developed the concepts of cultural geography, cultural performances, cultural
specialists and cultural media such as songs, bhajans, kirtans, prarthna and geet etc. He was of the
opinion that all these aspects interact and form the basis of interaction between both the great and
little traditions.these complex wholes are the sources of interaction between the two traditions.
10. Morris E Opler
Morris E Opler came to India in 1951 and did fine research in a village Senapur in U.P. He along
with an Indian anthropologist R.D. Singh developed a concept of unity and extension of Indian
villages. They both explained how in a village unity and extension prevails. Whenever there is any
celebration, community ritual, marriage or death, rivalry etc the whole village comes together and
shows the strong bond of unity among themselves. The village follows the rule of exogamy in
marriage. They marry their children outside the group; hence the sign of extended relationships can
be traced. This shows the inter-relationship among the distant villages. Also for trade purpose
people go out from the village and maintain business relation with the other villages and people.
Not only for these issues there are many other factors also which shows extension of the Indian
villages. To education, get medical facility, go to pilgrimage, to get connected with urban markets
the villagers establish contacts with the outside world thereby showing the extended relations.
10
Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology
Anthropology Culture and civilization: Robert Redfield
