Robert Redfield and the Development of American Anthropology

Based on Robert Redfield's writings and interviews with former colleagues and students, this book traces the development of his ideas regarding social change and the role of social science in American society. It states that the reconsideration of these debates can enrich contemporary thinking regarding the history of American anthropology. Relying upon close readings of virtually all of his published and unpublished writings as well as extensive interviews with former colleagues and students,Robert Redfield and the Development of American Anthropology traces the development of Robert Redfield's ideas regarding social change and the role of social science in American society. Clifford Wilcox's exploration of Redfield's pioneering efforts to develop an empirically based model of the transformation of village societies into towns and cities is intended to recapture the questions that drove early development of modernization theory. Reconsideration of these debates will enrich contemporary thinking regarding the history of American anthropology and international development.