Theoretical Anthropology is a major contribution to the historical and critical study of the assumptions underlying the development of modern cultural anthropology. In the new introduction, Martin Bidney discusses the present state of anthropology and contrasts it with the scene surveyed in Theoretical Anthropology. He discusses the relevance of David Bidney's work to our present concerns. Also included in this work is the second edition's introductory essay by David Bidney, written fifteen years after the first edition of Theoretical Anthropology. Here the author examines his original aims in writing this book. Theoretical Anthropology has helped to create among anthropologists the present climate of theoretical self-awareness and broad humanistic concerns. It has become a standard reference work for anthropologists as well as sociologists.

Excerpt from Super-Organic Evolution: Nature and the Social Problem Dr Lluria has been so good as to class me as an expert in matters of sociology, and has invited me to express my opinion on the present work, which treats of the anthropological causes of the so-called social question. Such a request places me in considerable difficulty, since, not being conversant with the science created by A. Comte, and developed by H. Spencer, I have studied very little, or rather I have not had time to study, the moral and intellectual evolution of man, considered in relation to society and the State. A worker bee of the great human hive, I have confined myself chiefly to gathering honey in the garden of Nature, in order to build my small individual cell, leaving others, with the eagle's vision and powers of concentration, to trace the perspective and found the philosophy of a common labour, marking the future routes of the human swarm. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.