Ralph Linton
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Ralph Linton (27 February 1893 – 24 December 1953) was an American anthropologist of the mid-20th century, particularly remembered for his texts The Study of Man (1936) and The Tree of Culture (1955). One of Linton's major contributions to anthropology was defining a distinction between status and role.
Early life and education
Linton was born into a family of
Although Linton became a prominent anthropologist, his graduate education took place largely at the periphery of the discipline. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his master's degree studying with Frank Speck while undertaking additional archaeological field work in New Jersey and New Mexico.[1]
He was admitted to a Ph.D. program at
His military fervor probably did not do anything to improve his relationship with the pacifist Franz Boas, who abhorred all displays of
After a year of classes at Harvard, Linton proceeded to do more fieldwork, first at
While in the Pacific, his focus shifted from archaeology to cultural anthropology, although he would retain a keen interest in material culture and 'primitive' art throughout his life. He returned from the Marquesas in 1922 and eventually received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1925.[1]
Academic career
Linton used his Harvard connections to secure a position at the
Between 1925 and 1927, Linton undertook an extensive collecting trip to Madagascar for the field museum, exploring the western end of the
On his return to the United States, Linton took a position at the
In 1937 Linton came to Columbia University, appointed to the post of head of the Anthropology department after the retirement of Franz Boas. The choice was opposed by most of Boas' students, with whom Linton had never been on good terms. The Boasians had expected Ruth Benedict to be the choice for Boas' successor. As head of the department Linton informed against Boas and many of his students to the FBI, accusing them of being communists. This led to some of them being fired and blacklisted, for example Gene Weltfish.[3] Throughout his life Linton maintained an intense personal animosity against the Boasians, particularly against Ruth Benedict, and he was a fierce critic of the Culture and Personality approach. According to Sidney Mintz who was a colleague of Linton at Yale, he even once jokingly boasted that he had killed Benedict using a Tanala magic charm.[5][6]
When World War II broke out, Linton became involved in war-planning and his thoughts on the war and the role of the United States (and American Anthropology) could be seen in several works of the post-war period, most notably The Science of Man in the World Crisis (1945) and Most of the World. It was during the war that Linton also undertook a long trip to South America, where he experienced a coronary occlusion that left him in precarious health.
After the war Linton moved to Yale University, a center for anthropologists such as G. P. Murdock who had collaborated with the US government. He taught there from 1946 to 1953, where he continued to publish on culture and personality. It was during this period that he also began writing The Tree of Culture, an ambitious global overview of human culture. Linton was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1950.[7] He died of complications relating to his trip in South America on Christmas Eve, 1953. His wife, Adelin Hohlfield Linton, completed The Tree of Culture which went on to become a popular textbook.
Work
The Study of Man established Linton as one of anthropology's premier theorists, particularly amongst sociologists who worked outside of the Boasian mainstream. In this work he developed the concepts of status and role for describing the patterns of behavior in society. According to Linton, ascribed status is assigned to an individual without reference to their innate differences or abilities. Whereas Achieved status is determined by an individual's performance or effort. Linton noted that while the definitions of the two concepts are clear and distinct, it is not always easy to identify whether an individual's status is ascribed or achieved. His perspective offers a deviation from the view that ascribed statuses are always fixed. For Linton a role is the set of behaviors associated with a status, and performing the role by doing the associated behaviors is the way in which a status is inhabited.
Throughout this early period Linton became interested in the problem of
References
- ^ a b c d e f Kluckhohn, Clyde. 1958. Ralph Linton 1893–1953: A biographical Memoir. National Academy of the Sciences.
- ^ Gillin, John. (1954) Ralph Linton 1893–1953. American Anthropologist, 56:274–280
- ^ a b David H. Price. 2004. Threatening Anthropology: McCarthyism and the FBI's Surveillance of Activist Anthropologists. Duke University Press p. 112
- ^ An Introduction to Polynesian Anthropology, Te Rangi Hiroa, The Bayard Dominick Expeditions, p45-, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, 1945, Honolulu
- ^ Marks, J. (2008) Race across the physical-cultural divide in American anthropology. In: A New History of Anthropology, edited by H. Kuklick. New York: Blackwell, pp. 242–258.
- ^ Sydel Silverman. 2004. Totems and Teachers: Key Figures in the History of Anthropology. Rowman Altamira p. 118
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter L" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
- Ralph Linton on Encyclopædia Britannica.
- Linton, Adelin and Charles Wagley (1971). Ralph Linton. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-03355-8.
External links
- Works by Ralph Linton at Faded Page (Canada)
- 100 Percent American—A well-known popular piece by Linton.
- Use of Tobacco among North American Indians at Gutenberg.org
- National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
