Study Guide Questions on Preface and Ch. 1 of Culture and Practical Reason

1a. In the first lines of the preface, Sahlins offers a capsule version of the main point of the book. Rephrase this in your own words.

1b. In the first lines of chapter 1, Sahlins identifies “the question that first inspired this book.” Rephrase this question in your own words.

2a. On page 9, Sahlins writes: “Fortes is quite prepared to concede that it may be in the nature of agricultural production that father and son cooperate, but it is not in the nature of agricultural production that father and son cooperate.” As clearly and precisely as possible, explain the difference between these two positions.

2b. If, as Fortes argues, it is not in the “nature” of agriculture for “father and son” to cooperate, then in what other than “nature,” on Sahlins’s view, will find the explanation of why “father and son” cooperate.

3a. On page 14, Sahlins writes: “The equation between father and father’s brother in kinship terminology, for example, was understood [by Radcliffe-Brown] by the ‘principle of equivalence of siblings.’ This interpretation is of course a tautology and as such defeats its original purpose.” Unpack and explain the last sentence in this quotation, in as clear and precise wording as possible.

3b. Based on re-reading R-B’s “The Mother’s Brother in South Africa,” has Sahlins given a fair representation of Radcliffe-Brown’s way of explaining “the equation between father and father’s brother” in many so-called primitive societies? Briefly explain and support your answer to this question.

4. What does Sahlins mean when he writes: “An ‘economic basis’ is a symbolic scheme of practical activity…” (37).