SPSC · Combined Competitive Examination (CCE)

Anthropology

Social, urban and applied anthropology, socio-cultural change, ethnicity and race, the major theorists, and research methods.

SPSC

Subject code 45

100

Marks

31

Readings

3

Min read

I. Anthropology

  • Definition of anthropology, its historical development and recent trends.

II. Social Anthropology

  • Definition of culture, its characteristics and functions.
  • Relationship of anthropology with other social sciences.
  • Sub-fields of anthropology: biological, archaeological, linguistics.
  • Institution of family and marriage — definition, types, structure, functions, family organization.
  • Kinship and social organization — definition, types, functions, kinship terminology.
  • Economic organization — definition, evolution, substantivism versus formalism, reciprocity, production, consumption, redistribution, barter and primitive economic systems.
  • Political organization — definition, evolution of political system, characteristics of band societies, tribal societies, chiefdom and state societies. Internal conflict theories, external conflict theories, origin of civilization, the politics of identity, ethnicity, nationalism, modernism, post-modernism.
  • Religion — definition, evolution of primitive religions, functions of religion, comparison of divine religions and other world religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism.
  • Contemporary human problems — poverty, social inequality, political instability, population problems, ethnic violence and terrorism.

III. Urban Anthropology

Rural–urban migration, expansion of cities, major environmental issues and sanitation problems. Urbanization and development, establishment of slums and squatter settlements, refugees, Yankees, betties, gypsies, wars and conflict. Conversion of power from feudal to industrialists, institutionalization, education system, and change in the mode of production: agriculture to capitalists. Poverty: theories and remedies — psychological, cultural, economical, political, religious, physical, environmental, ecological, demographical, lingual — and city management. Conflict theory: Carl Marx, problems created by mechanization and automation.

IV. Socio-Cultural Changes

Definitions of socio-cultural changes, various dimensions of social change, barriers in socio-cultural and psychological change. Motivational factors for change, population pressure, diffusion of innovation, socio-religious barriers in accepting innovation and new ideas. Media and cultural change, dynamics of change in Pakistan: trends and prospects.

V. Ethnicity and Race

Ethnic groups and ethnicity: origin of race and theories; ethnic groups, nations and nationality; ethnic conflict; degree of social variation; rank societies; caste and class societies; racism and inequality; ethnicity and inequality; and social stratification.

VI. Anthropological Theories

  • Contributors — Edward Burnett Taylor, Lewis Henry Morgan, James Frazer, Karl Marx, Edmund Leach, Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Alfred Kroeber, AR Radcliff-Brown, Malinowski, Clifford Geertz, Talal Asad, Akbar S. Ahamd, Ibne-Khaldoon, Shah Waliulah.
  • Classical theories — degenerations, evolutionism, diffusions.
  • Modern theories — functionalism, structural-functionalism, class struggle, structuralism, historical particularism, feminism, culture and personality.
  • Current trends in anthropological thought — post-modernism, romanticism, poetics and politics of ethnography.

VII. Anthropological Research Methods

  • Meaning, definition, types and aims of social research.
  • Qualitative and quantitative research.
  • Purpose of research, research question, variables, hypothesis, research objective, research design, sampling, field data collection, tools of data collection (questionnaire, interview, participant observation), data classification, data analysis and report writing.

Recommended reading

31 titles
TitleAuthor
AnthropologyWilliam A. Haviland
Cultural AnthropologyConrad Philip Kottak
Diffusion of InnovationEverett M. Rogers
Socio-Cultural Dynamics and Impact of Technological ChangeG. M. Foster
Pakistani SocietyAkbar S. Ahmed
Economic AnthropologySutti Ortiz
Political Anthropology: An IntroductionTed C. Lewellen
Pukhtun Economy and SocietyAkbar S. Ahmed
Principles of AnthropologyEliot Dismore Chapple and …
Anthropology and Modern LifeFranz Boas
Anthropology and Contemporary Human …John H. Bodley
Sindh and the Races that Inhabit the Valley of …Richard Burton
The People of PakistanYu. V. Gankovsky
Anthropology and DevelopmentJean-Pierre Olivier de …
An Introduction to Theory in AnthropologyRobert Layton
Anthropological TheoryJohn R. McGee and Richa…
Anthropology in PakistanStephen Pastner and Loui…
Anthropology (13th edition)Carol R. Ember, Melvin R…
Other CulturesJohn Beattie
A Handbook of Social Science ResearchBeverly R. Dixon, Gary D…
Frontier Perspectives: Essays in Comparative …Charles Lindholm
Generosity and Jealousy: The Swat Pukhtun of …Charles Lindholm
Friend by Day and Enemy by Night: Organized …Lincoln Keiser
A Punjabi Village in PakistanZekiye Eglar
The Social Organization of the Marri BaluchRobert Neil Pehrson
Introducing AnthropologyPark, MA 2007
Peoples and Cultures of AsiaScupin, R. 2005
Outlines and Highlights for AnthropologyScupin, R. and Decorse, C…
Economic AnthropologyStuart Plattner
Economies and CultureRichard Wilk
Introduction to Anthropology of ReligionBrian Morris

Several entries in the Commission's reading list are cut off at the right edge of the scanned page; those are shown with an ellipsis rather than guessed at.

Others in Group VII

You may take one subject from this group, so these are alternatives to Anthropology, not companions to it.