Redfield 1-24

This reading was especially hard to get through because of all the facts and lack of opinion in the piece. Redfield is explaining what anthropology is and describes it as a new way of looking at human society, in 1888; to looking at smaller, individual groups of people and study the pieces that make them function. Then anthropologists look at all of those individual groups and compare them to each other. Redfield discusses how each culture has it's own traditions and ways of doing things, but they still function and survive in a relatively similar way. The central idea of this section of reading is about the evolution of anthropology, and now when it is studied, anthropologists look at each sub society as part of a larger society as opposed to multiple, individual pieces. They are more inclined to work with others, like psychologists and economists to come to the best, most well rounded conclusion possible. The model of an isolated group or tribe, that was the focal point of early anthropology, is now used in a conceptual way. This is a more effective system than viewing all societies as separate entities. Because, as the world becomes more and more developed, even very remote communities are being affected by larger communities more and more.