English

ERIC ED065375: Up the Anthropologist: Perspectives Gained From Studying Up.

In this essay, the author presents a rationale (and opportunities) for anthropologists to study the middle and upper end of the social power structure, as well as the lower. Anthropologists have much to contribute to an understanding of the processes whereby power and responsibility are exercised in this country; indeed there is a certain urgency to this kind of anthropology. Among students at Berkeley, there is a tremendously energizing phenomenon in studying major institutions and organizations that affect everyday lives, such as the California Insurance Commission and the Better Business Bureau. (Reports of these studies are discussed and the value of this kind of research for citizenship education is pointed out.) "Studying up" as well as down would lead us to ask many"common sense" questions in reverse; and the consequences of not studying up as well as down are serious in terms of developing adequate theory and description. If one's pivot point is around those who have power/responsibility, then the questions change. It is particularly appropriate that anthropologists should lead the way in this work by virture of several characteristics of our discipline. There are those who

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