Qualitative methods of business research are emerging as vital tools. Business anthropology is at the heart of this movement. Although many recent books provide nuts-and-bolts advice regarding the field, Rethinking Business Anthropology: Cultural Strategies in Marketing and Management discusses the intellectual traditions from which the discipline has emerged and how this heritage opens up new vistas for business research. Gaining these broader perspectives is essential as business anthropologists transcend being mere research technicians and seek to influence organizational policies and strategies. Opening chapters deal with the current status of the field and its relationship to ecological and cultural sustainability. This is followed by discussions of the intellectual foundations of anthropology and their continued importance to business anthropology. An array of chapters provides illustrative applications of business anthropology in order to demonstrate the field's unique and powerful potentials within both scholarly and practitioner research. The book concludes with a discussion of the role of business anthropologists in dealing with indigenous people, rural populations, and cultural enclaves. Increasingly, businesses seek to connect with such communities even though mainstream leaders and negotiators often lack the skills necessary to effectively do so. Business anthropologists, with their dual background in business and cultural diversity are poised to excel in this capacity. An appendix by Robert Tian, editor of the International Journal of Business Anthropology, provides a useful overview of the field as it now exists. As business anthropology comes of age, this timely monograph provides the perspectives needed for the growth and further development of the field and those who work within it. Excellent for the professional bookshelf and as a textbook.

This text brings together a collection of essays by leading anthropologists, covering an entire range of visual representation and including discussions on the anthropology of art, the study of landscape, and the history of anthropology.

"The main thrust of this book is to deliver a major critique of materialist and rationalist explanations of social and cultural forms, but the in the process Sahlins has given us a much stronger statement of the centrality of symbols in human affairs than have many of our 'practicing' symbolic anthropologists. He demonstrates that symbols enter all phases of social life: those which we tend to regard as strictly pragmatic, or based on concerns with material need or advantage, as well as those which we tend to view as purely symbolic, such as ideology, ritual, myth, moral codes, and the like. . . ."—Robert McKinley, Reviews in Anthropology

Businesses and other organizations are increasingly hiring anthropologists and other ethnographically-oriented social scientists as employees, consultants, and advisors. The nature of such work, as described in this volume, raises crucial questions about potential implications to disciplines of critical inquiry such as anthropology. In addressing these issues, the contributors explore how researchers encounter and engage sites of organizational practice in such roles as suppliers of consumer-insight for product design or marketing, or as advisors on work design or business and organizational strategies. The volume contributes to the emerging canon of corporate ethnography, appealing to practitioners who wish to advance their understanding of the practice of corporate ethnography and providing rich material to those interested in new applications of ethnographic work and the ongoing rethinking of the nature of ethnographic praxis.

After over three decades of continual publication in multiple editions, the Third Edition of Rethinking Psychological Anthropology, now with coauthor Stephen Leavitt, describes the latest interests, concepts, and approaches in the field with the inclusion of four new chapters and updates to earlier topics. The premise of the previous editions remains: that all anthropology is psychological and that the interplay between anthropological methods and the psychological theories existing in different times is dialectical. Psychological anthropologists have grappled with changing trends in both disciplines, including psychoanalytic, holistic, cognitive, interpretive, and developmental approaches. It is important to appreciate these currents of thought to understand the state of the field today. This text is thus a guide to that history along with a critique that may lead to a new synthesis. It is an ideal choice for courses in psychological anthropology, cross-cultural psychology, and the history of anthropology.

Beyond the Glass Ceiling ​More and more, women today are challenging long-held beliefs about what they can and can’t do. They’re speaking up, stepping out, breaking through, and redefining what society has always told them was true about their capabilities. In Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business, Andi Simon tells the stories of 11 women from different industries who opened up the possibilities for their professional careers and personal lives by being authentic, taking risks, and pushing past the obstacles others placed before them. These are stories that tell of innovation, show how women rise, and ignite change. Andi, a corporate anthropologist, an award-winning author, and a successful entrepreneur, debunks myth after myth as she profiles the women in the book and offers key wisdom, insights, and observations through her unique lens. Whether about entrepreneurs, innovators, scientists, academics, attorneys, or leaders in other fields, the stories demonstrate how all the women have broken down walls and paved the way to more. But this book isn’t only about the 11 women who are pushing boundaries and transforming business, culture, and society; it’s about inspiring all women to achieve and showing them a way to launch forward. Rethink provides the tools and framework for questioning society's norms, challenging our own current thinking, and smashing the preconceived notions about women that can so often hold us back from realizing our goals and dreams. In this book, you'll learn how to take a hands-on approach to examining and rethinking your own personal and professional life in order to recognize your fuller potential.

The first comprehensive work on the burgeoning field of business anthropology, this innovative reference book, including more than 60 international scholar-practitioners, provides a foundation for the field for years to come.