The Savage Within: The Social History of British Anthropology, 1885-1945

Considering the anthropological ideas of Britain between 1885 and 1945, this book explores the relationship between social scientific ideas and behavior. Professor Kuklick shows how the descriptions British anthropologists produced about the peoples of exotic cultures can be translated into commentaries on their own society. Read as such, the anthropology of the period covered by the book represents an appeal for a society that rewards individuals on the basis of talent and achievement, not inherited status; a brief for the welfare state, which is obliged to care for those whom circumstances have prevented from taking care of themselves; and a plea for tolerance of cultural diversity, based on observation of a range of ways of life that satisfy human needs and desires. The book also shows how anthropological insight informed consideration of such specific problems as the rights of women, the Irish, and all colonized peoples.