Download or read book Anthropology and Modern Life (Routledge Revivals) written by Franz Boas and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anthropology and Modern Life, first published in 1929, addresses itself to an immensely broad field with clarity, introducing anthropology as a unique and coherent discipline, and demonstrating its importance in the understanding of socio-cultural change throughout history. The author covers varied and diverse areas of study: ethnicity, including a lengthy discussion of the concepts of ‘race’ and ‘nationality’; criminology, and the importance of hereditary and environmental factors in producing criminals; education, and the associated issues of gender, class, and what would now be called ‘brainwashing’; and also the comparison between ‘modern’ and ‘primitive’ cultures, taking note of the development of socio-political institutions such as marriage and property.