Blackwell Reference Online

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Clifford Geertz was one of the most important cultural theorists of the latter part of the twentieth century. Working in the field of anthropology, Geertz conducted ethnographic research in Morocco and Indonesia. In books such as Islam Observed ( Geertz 1969 ), he did much to highlight the diversity of Muslim societies. Yet he is best known not for his empirical contributions, but rather for the essays collected under the title The Interpretation of Cultures (1973). These provided a hugely influential manifesto for the hermeneutic approach to social inquiry, one that has reached across the human sciences and made Geertz himself an iconic figure. In The Interpretation of Cultures , Geertz argued against structuralism, functionalism, Marxism, and in fact any effort towards a general theory. He sees these as too arrogant and as too insensitive to the play of situated, local meanings. Geertz insists that human action takes place in rich symbolic environments and that it is primarily expressive and communicative. A good social science should be attuned to such complexities. What is required is a method that will allow us to capture all the subtlety and ambiguity. For example, we need to be able to decipher which of many possible meanings any particular wink might be conveying (conspiracy, ironic distance, or involuntary action). Drawing on literary theory and on ordinary language ... log in or subscribe to read full text