Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents: The Anthropological perspective -- Rituals in small-scale and complex societies: A Contrast -- Language and culture -- Symbolic systems and meanings -- Culture and the individual: Learning language and learning culture -- Family, marriage and kinship -- Gender and age -- Provisioning society: Production, distribution, and consumption -- Political organization: Politics, government, law, and conflict -- Religion and the supernatural -- Myths, legends, and folktales -- The Artistic dimension -- Fourth world peoples in the colonial and postcolonial periods -- Anthropology for the twenty-first century: ethnicity, race, and nationalism -- Epilogue: End of a journey -- Suggested readings -- Glossary.