A Place for Conservative Anthropology?

Perhaps current discussions in the field of sociology can speak to our topic. At a recent seminar of the Heterodox Academy, statistical evidence was presented that most applicants for sociology degrees are coming from an activist motivation, also known as action research (Heterodox Academy, 2026, https://youtu.be/fYCkOI6i7DE?si=DngoFqm9WzVq7kJz). According to the panel, inequality has become the dominant theme in sociological research. This situation is critiqued as producing research that merely denounces equality rather than seeking to contribute new data. In this way, equality has substituted all other paradigms of virtue. Against this predominant current, the Heterodox Academy seminar argued for the need for conservative sociology. For many conservatives, there is no place for their worldview in sociology because the field is completely dominated by activism targeting inequality. However, others have argued for a conservative sociology that prioritizes science over advocacy. 

Can Theology Teach Anthropologists How to Critique Culture?

Anthropologist Joel Robbins (2023, https://youtu.be/PtCGXLuIOAQ?si=FRfJMVWfCo_FNKLo) addressed how the issue of making judgements across cultures has become increasingly fraught among anthropologists. Robbins investigated what can be learned from religions about this. Cultural relativism (CR) is seen as the greatest contribution of anthropology to the academy and human thought in general; CR aims to suspend judgement to understand how people make sense of things, a form of asceticism that anthropologists increasingly don’t want to adopt. Robbins argued that whereas anthropologists used to look for the integrity of societies, now they look for what goes wrong in them. Anthropologists today often blame some source from outside or above that oppresses and exploits. 

Robbins posited that anthropologists could learn from theologians because they are trained in the opposite to CR: how to make judgements; (2018, https://youtu.be/EISLdAcnUgc?si=oXCA1dN4eT65IpCA). Robbins draws upon the work of Ortner (2006) who predicted a shift in anthropology from symbolic to practices in the 70s and 80s. In the 2010s, Ortner said that the focus of anthropology had become dealing with the neo-liberal world order. He described this as an “anthropology of darkness” focused on protest, activism, and liberation. In opposition to this trend, Ornter described the emergence of a counter movement which he described as the anthropology of the good. Drawing upon Ortner, Robbins proposed an anthropology of virtue which is better equipped to give us an approach to dealing with cultural differences. This approach is also more helpful for dealing with the problems of societies and cultures than an anthropology of darkness. Robbins describes cultural values as what is ethically desirable. Values are “the way things end up” – the societal norms that repeatedly manifest themselves in situations. In contrast to this, moral non-cognitivists say that values are simple people saying “yeah” or “boo” about things they arbitrarily approve or disapprove of. 

In this text, I have briefly addressed some discussions in anthropology and how theology can possibly contribute to them. Historically, anthropologists and missionaries were generally at odds with each other ideologically. However, the field of missions studies has increasingly recognized its situation in relation to the other social sciences (Kim et al., 2022). Missiologists increasingly study alongside sociologists and anthropologists in major universities. Coming decades will demonstrate whether such partnership and dialogue can bear fruit according to the perspectives of all parties involved. 

References

Heterodox Academy, 2026, https://youtu.be/fYCkOI6i7DE?si=DngoFqm9WzVq7kJz

Kim, K., Jørgensen, K., & Climenhaga, A. F. (Eds.). (2022). The Oxford handbook of mission studies. (First edition.). Oxford University Press. Biola Library Catalog (Upper Level BV2090 .O94 2022).

Ortner, S. B. (2006). Anthropology and social theory: Culture, power, and the acting subject / Sherry B. Ortner. Duke University Press. Biola Library ebooks (bio.on1097302820). https://research.ebsco.com/plink/832a8768-1e6c-3d6d-be47-b3080d7a5f5d

Robbins, Joel (2018, https://youtu.be/EISLdAcnUgc?si=oXCA1dN4eT65IpCA

Robbins, Joel (2023). https://youtu.be/PtCGXLuIOAQ?si=FRfJMVWfCo_FNKLo