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Cultural relativism is the doctrine that there are no universal, objective criteria for evaluating societies, and that cultural beliefs and practices can only be judged from within, relatively to the culture in which they inhere.
Adaptivism is the assumption that whatever long-standing beliefs and cultural practices can be observed in a given society must contribute to the adaptation of the members to their environment, otherwise either the beliefs and practices or the society members themselves would have perished.
Against these two doctrines, Edgerton argues that it is possible objectively to evaluate all existing societies, based on how well they serve human needs and therefore contribute to the longevity, health (both physical and mental) and happiness of their members. Societies are more or less efficient at serving man's life, from the unsurpassed rationality and productivity of modern western societies, to the superstitious, taboo-ridden and dismally poor communities which anthropologists tend to admire.
Examining dozens of examples of so-called "folk" (i.e. small and primitive) societies, Edgerton shows that, contrary to popular belief- and scientific propaganda- they are not necessarily more socially cohesive, peaceful or healthy than the urbanized populations of the West- quite the contrary in fact. More importantly, he demonstrates how the cultural beliefs and practices of the society members themselves are responsible for the evils individuals endure, from depression to sexual mutilation, suicide, starvation, alcoholism, homicide and madness.
*Sick Societies* sometimes reads like a catalogue of cultural maladaptation and expert opinion, and would have benefited from a more rigorous organization of its material, a more transparent outline and a better classification of the phenomena described. Though he rarely errs, Edgerton makes the mistake of package-dealing actual cases of exploitation (involving force or political power) with alleged cases of economic exploitation, implicitly giving credit to Marxist dogma. Some of his statements are also very curious: "Child abuse is often a nonrational behavior" p80; "The exploitation of children... has been... exploitive" p81.
Despite these very minor flaws, the book is a wonderful case for an objective anthropology, which will fill you with amazement and horror at the extremes of human folly and brutality. I was particularly stunned by the description of the 238 state-supported inhabitants of Duddie's Branch, whose degenerate community could have originated in the dystopian visions of an Ayn Rand, although had she invented it, she would have been accused of political caricature and man-hating hysteria.
As companions to this volume, I recommend Keith Windschuttle's *The Killing of History* and Ayn Rand's *Return of the Primitive*. END
Proving the adage that "madness is more common in groups than in individuals", Edgerton provides case after case of cultures gone awry.
What position are WE in to evaluate and pass judgement on another culture? If we value freedom, health, productivity, social stability, knowledge, growth, and peace, we are in a good position to criticize the evils and mistakes of any culture.
My only negative criticism of the book is a part in the beginning, in which Edgerton praises relativism for providing us with a much-needed dose of skepticism and wariness. Relativism has indeed made us cautious about passing judgement, but with the categorical refutations Edgerton has collected in disproving the major thrust of relativism, why make concilliations regarding its benefits? Because of his equivocation, I withhold the final star...
The previous reviewers have commented accurately on the case Dr. Edgerton makes against adaptivism and cultural relativism.
Dr. Edgerton is a strong corrective against the Margaret Mead's utopian philosophy. He demonstrates madness, fetishism, mutilation, cannibalism, irrational beliefs, and just plain evil in primitive societies.
In contrast, western civilization does not look bad.
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