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151:, a method of qualitative research that involves deeply detailed descriptions of cultural activities in their context. This approach goes beyond merely cataloging behaviors or rituals, seeking instead to understand the complex layers of meaning embedded within these activities. Thick description allows researchers to capture the rich detail that brings cultural practices to life, making them comprehensible to outsiders.
188:. He proposes that religion provides a framework for understanding what is “really real” to its adherents, serving to order the world in ways that make life’s ambiguities, puzzles, and paradoxes manageable. In this view, religious symbols function to synthesize a society’s ethos (the moral and aesthetic aspects of life) with their worldview (the existential order).
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by shifting the focus towards a more interpretive approach to understanding cultures. Geertz's work helped to move anthropology away from the search for universal laws of human behavior and towards a more nuanced understanding of how cultural meanings are constructed and maintained within specific
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Similarly, Geertz views ideology as a cultural system that provides individuals with symbolic frameworks for interpreting their social and political environments. Ideologies, according to Geertz, help individuals navigate the complexities of social life, offering selective solutions to specific
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and meanings that are interpreted and understood differently within each cultural context. He famously stated that humans are “suspended in webs of significance” they themselves have spun, with culture being these webs, and anthropology's role as interpreting their meanings.
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problems and often simplifying or exaggerating aspects of social reality. This perspective highlights the importance of understanding the symbolic dimensions of ideology in order to grasp its influence on social and political life.
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has become a cornerstone of ethnographic research, emphasizing the importance of context in understanding cultural practices.
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and meanings. However, it has also faced criticism, particularly regarding the complexity and sometimes opaque nature of
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itself, arguing that culture is not a set of behaviors or practices that can be objectively observed but a system of
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and has since been reprinted several times. A second edition was released in 2000, which includes a new preface by
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This book has been highly influential not only in anthropology but also in related fields such as
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describes as “webs of significance” spun by humans themselves. The book was listed in the
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should be studied and understood. The essays collectively argue for a new approach to
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Geertz’s ideas also laid the groundwork for what would later be known as
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as one of the 100 most important publications since World War Two.
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was met with critical acclaim and became a foundational text in
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An
Analysis of Clifford Geertz’s The Interpretation of Cultures
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1973 book by the
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