Essay on the utility of the Study of Primitive Society

Utility of the Study of Primitive Societies

According to S.F. Nadel, “The primary object of social anthropology is to understand primitive people, the cultures they have created and the social systems in which they live and act.” Thus social anthropology primarily concentrates on the study of primitive societies.

Explaining the meaning of the term primitive society, Evans Pritchard says, “When anthropologists use it (the word primitive society) they do so in reference to those societies which are small in a scale with regard to numbers, territory and range of social contacts, and which have by comparison with more advanced societies a simple technology and economy and little specialization of social function.” Ralph Piddington points out the following (traits), characteristics of primitive societies.

1. The primary trait of primitive societies is illiteracy and the absence of writing or literature.

2. The primitive societies have social organization based upon small groups such as clans, tribes or totems, etc.

3. The technological level of development is very low.

4. The social relationships based upon locality and blood relationships are the most important.

5. There is generally an absence of economic specialization and too much division of labour.

Thus the primitive societies are little communities. Robert Redfield has called it, “the folk society.” According to him the absence of systematic art, science and theology is also characteristics of primitive societies.

The above mentioned traits of the primitive societies are rather relative and not absolute. For example, in some primitive societies in West Africa, members are literate. Again some societies have a fairly organized political organization in spite of lower technological level. Therefore, the above traits are not necessary characteristics of every primitive society.

As to the question why social anthropologists have concentrated upon the study of primitive societies. Ralph Piddington calls it only a historical accident. In the 18the century during the period of industrial revolution the Europeans travelled far and wide in search of new markets. They were closely followed by Christian missionaries.

They discovered several interesting primitive societies. This interest gradually took the form of anthropological studies.

In 1859, a new chapter in the study of primitive societies was opened with the advent of Darwin’s Origin of Species. Herbert Spencer presented his theory of social evolution on the basis of the biological evolution theory of Charles Darwin. According to him human societies have passed through different stages of evolution before arriving at the primitive stage. This theory led to the study of primitive societies in order to have a deeper understanding of the process of social evolution.

Another reason why scientists were drawn to the study of primitive societies was their challenge and strangeness. Pointing out to the difficulty in the understanding of primitive law Sir Henry Maine has said, “… the phenomena which early society presents us with are not easy at first to understand…. It is a difficulty arising from their strangeness… One does not readily get over the surprise which they occasion when looked at from a modern point of view.” Similar difficulty was felt by Lewis Morgan in his study of primitive religion.

To quote his words, “It may never receive a perfectly satisfactory explanation since all primitive religions are grotesque and to some extent unintelligible.” Other notable anthropologists were equally influenced by the strangeness of primitive societies. Kroeber admitted, “The institutions were strange in flavour” to which anthropology “turned its attention.” This strangeness was a challenge to the social anthropologists.

Therefore most of them were encouraged to study different aspects of primitive societies. The studies of primitive societies gradually demonstrated that they were not strange but akin to civilized societies.

In the words of S.F. Nadel, “Today the tendency is to emphasize, not the strangeness of primitive society, but its akinness to our own. Often, indeed, observers seem animated by the desire to demonstrate how, after all, man is the same everywhere.”

Another important reason for the study of primitive societies is their utility in the understanding of more civilized societies. Firstly, this is due to the primary nature of primitive societies and secondly due to the simple and small units of human societies.

Naturally, the knowledge of primary, simple and small human societies led to the understanding of the fundamentals of modern complex big societies. Therefore, Kluckhohn maintained that the study of primitive societies facilitates the understanding of more complex societies. According to Evans Prichard, however primitive societies are also studied because of their intrinsic value.

They are interesting and exhibit ways and means of existence with minimum facilities. Being the basic and fundamental units of human society, they reflect the natural state of human society.

It is a matter of normal experience that otherness attracts our attention and arouses our curiosity; the otherness also excludes the possibility of partiality. Therefore, the primitive societies can be studied more scientifically.

The primitive societies are fast changing in the present day world, due to culture contact. Their originality is disappearing rapidly. Therefore, the scientist is even more interested in studying these primitive forms before they are finally extinct.

The data gathered by such studies are useful for comparative studies and the study of cultural processes. In the words of Evans Pritchard, “These vanishing social systems are unique structural variations, a study of which aids us very considerably in understanding the nature of human society, because in a comparative study of institutions the number of societies is less significant than their range of variation.

But the most important reason for the attention of social anthropologists to the study of primitive societies is methodological. It is a scientific principle that in a scientific investigation, one should start with the most simple and elementary phenomena, gradually stepping towards more complex ones. Therefore, the study of primitive societies is a necessary prelude to the understanding of more complex human societies. For example, the study of social institutions like family and marriage in primitive societies gives us a better insight into their complex form in civilized societies.