Manchester school (anthropology)
Encyclopedia
The Department of Social Anthropology
at the University of Manchester
, founded by Max Gluckman
in 1947 became known among anthropologists and other social scientists as the Manchester School. Notable features of the Manchester School included an emphasis on "case studies", deriving from Gluckman's early training in law and similar to methods used in law schools. The case method involved detailed analysis of particular instances of social interaction to infer rules and assumptions. The Manchester School also read the works of Marx and other economists and sociologists and looked at issues of social justice such as apartheid and class conflict
. Recurring themes included issues of conflict and reconciliation in small-scale societies and organizations, and the tension between individual agency and social structure.
Manchester school members and interlocutors also played major roles in the development of the field of Social Networks
in anthropology and the social sciences. John Barnes, Elizabet Bott, and J. Clyde Mitchell were all associated with Gluckman's department.
Several anthropologists who were not directly associated with the Manchester University anthropology department are sometimes considered members of the Manchester School, particularly those who were associated with Gluckman or his students through the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute
. Some others, such as Edmund Leach, at one period or another were significant interlocutors of the Manchester School.
An alternative adjectival form for the Manchester School is "Mancunian" (like Cantabrigian for Cambridge University).
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
, founded by Max Gluckman
Max Gluckman
Max Gluckman was a South African and British social anthropologist.He grew up in South Africa, working later under the British Administration in Northern Rhodesia...
in 1947 became known among anthropologists and other social scientists as the Manchester School. Notable features of the Manchester School included an emphasis on "case studies", deriving from Gluckman's early training in law and similar to methods used in law schools. The case method involved detailed analysis of particular instances of social interaction to infer rules and assumptions. The Manchester School also read the works of Marx and other economists and sociologists and looked at issues of social justice such as apartheid and class conflict
Class conflict
Class conflict is the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests between people of different classes....
. Recurring themes included issues of conflict and reconciliation in small-scale societies and organizations, and the tension between individual agency and social structure.
Manchester school members and interlocutors also played major roles in the development of the field of Social Networks
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
in anthropology and the social sciences. John Barnes, Elizabet Bott, and J. Clyde Mitchell were all associated with Gluckman's department.
Several anthropologists who were not directly associated with the Manchester University anthropology department are sometimes considered members of the Manchester School, particularly those who were associated with Gluckman or his students through the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute
Rhodes-Livingstone Institute
Founded in 1938 under the initial directorship of Godfrey Wilson, the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute was the first local anthropological research facility in Africa...
. Some others, such as Edmund Leach, at one period or another were significant interlocutors of the Manchester School.
An alternative adjectival form for the Manchester School is "Mancunian" (like Cantabrigian for Cambridge University).
Notable Manchester School Anthropologists
- Max GluckmanMax GluckmanMax Gluckman was a South African and British social anthropologist.He grew up in South Africa, working later under the British Administration in Northern Rhodesia...
- Kathleen Gale (Lange-Stone)- student of Gluckman
- F. G. BaileyF. G. BaileyFrederick George Bailey is a British social anthropologist. He received his Ph.D. in social anthropology from Manchester University, working under Max Gluckman, and is closely associated with the Manchester School of social anthropology. A prolific writer, he is probably best known for his studies...
- student of Gluckman - John Barnes - worked at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute with Gluckman, student of Gluckman
- Fredrik BarthFredrik BarthThomas Fredrik Weybye Barth is a Norwegian social anthropologist who has published several ethnographic books with a clear formalistic view...
- worked at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute with Gluckman, student of Gluckman (see [2]) - Elizabeth Bott
- Abner Cohen - student of Gluckman
- Elizabeth Colson - through Rhodes-Livingstone Institute talk of Elizabeth Colson and interview by Alan Macfarlane: and after-dinner talk on the history of anthropology
- Ian Cunnison
- A. L. Epstein — worked at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute
- Ronald FrankenbergRonald FrankenbergRonald Frankenberg is a noted British anthropologist, known for his study of conflict and decision-making in a Welsh village. He was a student of Max Gluckman and a member of the Manchester School of British Social Anthropology.-External links:*...
- student of Gluckman - J. F. Holleman — worked at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute with Gluckman (see [2])
- Bruce KapfererBruce KapfererBruce Kapferer is a prominent Australian social anthropologist. He was raised in Sydney, and studied anthropology at the University of Sydney...
- student of Gluckman - M. G. Marwick — worked at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute with Colson.
- J. Clyde MitchellJ. Clyde MitchellJames Clyde Mitchell was a British sociologist and anthropologist....
- early researcher at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute - Thayer ScudderThayer ScudderThayer Scudder , an American social anthropologist, is an Anthropology Professor Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology...
- worked at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute - Victor TurnerVictor TurnerVictor Witter Turner was a British cultural anthropologist best known for his work on symbols, rituals and rites of passage...
- worked at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, student of Gluckman (see [2]) - J. Van Velsen — worked at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute with Gluckman (see [3])
- M. Warwick — worked at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute with Gluckman (see [2])
- R. Werbner — student of Gluckman
- J. Watson — worked at Rhodes-Livingstone Institute with Gluckman (see [2])
Social scientists sometimes associated with the Manchester School
- Edmund LeachEdmund LeachSir Edmund Ronald Leach was a British social anthropologist of whom it has been said:"It is no exaggeration to say that in sheer versatility, originality, and range of writing he was and still is difficult to match among the anthropologists of the English speaking world".-Personal and academic...
- though not educated at Manchester, he was a major interlocutor of the Manchester School, especially in his early years. In later years, he engaged more directly with issues arising out of the French Structuralism of Claude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
. - Maurice GodelierMaurice GodelierBorn in Cambrai, France in 28 February 1934, Maurice Godelier is one of the most influential names in French anthropology. Directeur d'études at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales...
- not educated at Manchester, his work, along with that of Marshall SahlinsMarshall SahlinsMarshall David Sahlins is a prominent American anthropologist. He received both a Bachelors and Masters degree at the University of Michigan where he studied with Leslie White, and earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1954 where his main intellectual influences included Karl Polanyi and...
, Claude Meillassoux, and Emmanuel Terray, was widely read in Leach's Cambridge seminars (and at Manchester), as reported by Tim Ingold. - Douglas WhiteDouglas R. WhiteDouglas R. White is an American complexity researcher , social anthropologist, sociologist, and social network researcher at the University of California, Irvine.-Biography:...
- not educated at Manchester, he collaborated with J. Clyde MitchellJ. Clyde MitchellJames Clyde Mitchell was a British sociologist and anthropologist....
, Elizabeth Colson, Thayer ScudderThayer ScudderThayer Scudder , an American social anthropologist, is an Anthropology Professor Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology...
, and developed an anthropological approach to Social NetworksSocial networkA social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
that built on Manchester School work of Elizabeth Bott, Victor TurnerVictor TurnerVictor Witter Turner was a British cultural anthropologist best known for his work on symbols, rituals and rites of passage...
, J. Clyde MitchellJ. Clyde MitchellJames Clyde Mitchell was a British sociologist and anthropologist....
, John Barnes, Fredrik BarthFredrik BarthThomas Fredrik Weybye Barth is a Norwegian social anthropologist who has published several ethnographic books with a clear formalistic view...
and Thoden van Velsen; his PhD advisor, legal anthropologist E. Adamson Hoebel, was a close friend with GluckmanMax GluckmanMax Gluckman was a South African and British social anthropologist.He grew up in South Africa, working later under the British Administration in Northern Rhodesia...
, who often visited Hoebel in Minneapolis.
External links
- Photographic essay: Manchester School and background
- Anthropological Theories: The Manchester School by Anna Schmidt
- http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/102/406/163?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=%28Manchester+AND+school+AND+student+AND+Gluckman+AND+Marwick%29&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCITAfricanizing Anthropology: Fieldwork, networks, and the making of cultural knowledge in Central Africa, by Lyn Schumaker. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press. 2001. Book review by Adam Kuper. Kuper African Affairs (London 102: 163-164). 2003.]
- Interview of John Barnes by Jack Goody 19th December 1983 (film)