Harold K. Schneider
Encyclopedia
Harold K. Schneider (1925–1987), a seminal figure in economic anthropology
, was born in 1925, in Aberdeen, South Dakota
. He attended elementary and secondary school in St. Paul, Minnesota, and did his undergraduate work at Macalester College
and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
, receiving a bachelor's degree in sociology, with a minor in biology, from Macalester in 1949. He then went to Northwestern University
, where he was a student of Melville Herskovits, basing his dissertation on field research among the Pokot
of Kenya
.
Upon receiving his Ph.D. in anthropology in 1953, he moved to Lawrence University
, where he eventually became chairman of the anthropology department. In 1970 he moved to Indiana University
, where remained until he died in 1987.
Schneider continued to focus on East Africa in his field work, and was especially influenced by his study of the Turu in Tanzania
. His mentor, Melville Herskovits, had also focused on East African pastoral peoples, and in this, as well as in Schneider's continued interest in morality and aesthetics, the pupil followed the teacher.
Active in creating the nascent field of economic anthropology, he was the first president of the Society for Economic Anthropology
, serving from 1980 until 1982. His focus on economic anthropology is first evident in his dissertation, on the ways in which cattle were used by a pastoral people in East Africa. His early contribution was as an articulate advocate for the formalist perspective in economic anthropology. Schneider thought it useful to view human behavior as optimizing behavior, in the tradition of neoclassical economics
, and thought that this optimizing behavior manifested itself even among peoples without money or markets. Schneider was compelled to argue forcefully against the prevailing substantivist
perspective, which held that optimizing behavior was characteristic only of societies with markets. The debate took place in academic journals and conferences, and "peaked with the publication of Marshall Sahlins
' Stone Age Economics (1972) and Schneider's Economic Man (1974)". The debate was fundamentally about the relationship between academic economics and academic anthropology, with formalists eager to use the methods of economics and substantivists equally determined to keep economics out of anthropology. By the late 1970s the debate had died down.
Schneider was also interested in using information technology to store and analyze ethnographic information. He served on the executive committee of the Human Relations Area Files
between 1981 and 1984, at a time when the organization began moving its data into electronic format. As Edgar Wimans notes, the influence of George Peter Murdock can be seen in Schneider's work, not only in his interest in ethnographic databases (a movement which Murdock pioneered), but in the way in which he developed general causal hypotheses explaining features of social structure. This facet of Schneider's thought is best exemplified in his 1979 Livestock and Equality in East Africa: The Economic Basis for Social Structure, where he maintains that a pastoral society's kinship system and its degree of egalitarianism are conditioned by the number of livestock per person.
Economic anthropology
Economic anthropology is a scholarly field that attempts to explain human economic behavior using the tools of both economics and anthropology. It is practiced by anthropologists and has a complex relationship with economics...
, was born in 1925, in Aberdeen, South Dakota
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Aberdeen is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, about 125 mi northeast of Pierre. Settled in 1880, it was incorporated in 1882. The city population was 26,091 at the 2010 census. The American News is the local newspaper...
. He attended elementary and secondary school in St. Paul, Minnesota, and did his undergraduate work at Macalester College
Macalester College
Macalester College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 as a Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian college. Its first class entered September 15, 1885. The college is located on a campus in a historic residential neighborhood...
and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary is a seminary of The Episcopal Church, located in Evanston, Illinois. It was formed in 1933 by a merger of Western Theological Seminary of Evanston , and Seabury Divinity School of Faribault, Minnesota...
, receiving a bachelor's degree in sociology, with a minor in biology, from Macalester in 1949. He then went to Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, where he was a student of Melville Herskovits, basing his dissertation on field research among the Pokot
Pokot
The Pokot people live in the West Pokot and Baringo Districts of Kenya and in eastern Karamoja in Uganda. They speak Pökoot, language of the Southern Nilotic language family...
of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
.
Upon receiving his Ph.D. in anthropology in 1953, he moved to Lawrence University
Lawrence University
Lawrence University is a selective, private liberal arts college with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Lawrence University is known for its rigorous academic environment. Founded in 1847, the first classes were held on November 12, 1849...
, where he eventually became chairman of the anthropology department. In 1970 he moved to Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, where remained until he died in 1987.
Schneider continued to focus on East Africa in his field work, and was especially influenced by his study of the Turu in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. His mentor, Melville Herskovits, had also focused on East African pastoral peoples, and in this, as well as in Schneider's continued interest in morality and aesthetics, the pupil followed the teacher.
Active in creating the nascent field of economic anthropology, he was the first president of the Society for Economic Anthropology
Society for economic anthropology
The Society for Economic Anthropology is a group of anthropologists, archaeologists, economists, geographers and other scholars interested in the connections between economics and social life. Its members take a variety of approaches to economics: some have a substantivist perspective, while...
, serving from 1980 until 1982. His focus on economic anthropology is first evident in his dissertation, on the ways in which cattle were used by a pastoral people in East Africa. His early contribution was as an articulate advocate for the formalist perspective in economic anthropology. Schneider thought it useful to view human behavior as optimizing behavior, in the tradition of neoclassical economics
Neoclassical economics
Neoclassical economics is a term variously used for approaches to economics focusing on the determination of prices, outputs, and income distributions in markets through supply and demand, often mediated through a hypothesized maximization of utility by income-constrained individuals and of profits...
, and thought that this optimizing behavior manifested itself even among peoples without money or markets. Schneider was compelled to argue forcefully against the prevailing substantivist
Substantivism
Substantivism is a position, first proposed by Karl Polanyi in his work The Great Transformation, which argues that the term 'economics' has two meanings...
perspective, which held that optimizing behavior was characteristic only of societies with markets. The debate took place in academic journals and conferences, and "peaked with the publication of Marshall Sahlins
Marshall Sahlins
Marshall David Sahlins is a prominent American anthropologist. He received both a Bachelors and Masters degree at the University of Michigan where he studied with Leslie White, and earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1954 where his main intellectual influences included Karl Polanyi and...
' Stone Age Economics (1972) and Schneider's Economic Man (1974)". The debate was fundamentally about the relationship between academic economics and academic anthropology, with formalists eager to use the methods of economics and substantivists equally determined to keep economics out of anthropology. By the late 1970s the debate had died down.
Schneider was also interested in using information technology to store and analyze ethnographic information. He served on the executive committee of the Human Relations Area Files
Human Relations Area Files
The Human Relations Area Files, Inc. , located in New Haven, Connecticut is a nonprofit international membership organization with over 300 member institutions in the U.S. and more than 20 other countries...
between 1981 and 1984, at a time when the organization began moving its data into electronic format. As Edgar Wimans notes, the influence of George Peter Murdock can be seen in Schneider's work, not only in his interest in ethnographic databases (a movement which Murdock pioneered), but in the way in which he developed general causal hypotheses explaining features of social structure. This facet of Schneider's thought is best exemplified in his 1979 Livestock and Equality in East Africa: The Economic Basis for Social Structure, where he maintains that a pastoral society's kinship system and its degree of egalitarianism are conditioned by the number of livestock per person.
Selected work
- 1953 The Pakot (Suk) of Kenya, with Special Reference to the Role of Livestock in Their Subsistence Economy. PhD Dissertation, Northwestern University.
- 1957 "The Subsistence Role of Cattle Among the Pakot and in East Africa." American Anthropologist. 59:278-300.
- 1964 "A Model of African Indigenous Economy and Society." Comparative Studies in Society and History. VII:35-55.
- 1968 (ed., with Edward E. LeClair, Jr.) Economic Anthropology: Readings in Theory and Analysis. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
- 1970 The Wahi Wanyaturu: Economics in an African Society. Chicago: Aldine.
- 1974 Economic Man. New York: Free Press.
- 1974 "Economic Development and Economic Change: The Case of East African Cattle." Current Anthropology. 15:259-265.
- 1975 "Economic Development and Anthropology." Annual Review of Anthropology. 4:271-292.
- 1979 Livestock and Equality in East Africa: The Economic Bases for Social Structure. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- 1981 The Africans. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
- 1981 "Livestock as Food and Money." in The Future of Pastoral Peoples. J. G. Galaty et al., eds. pp. 210–223. Ottawa: International Development Research Center.
- 1981 "The Pastoralist Development Problem." Journal of Asian and African Studies. XV(1 & 2).
External links
- Register to the Papers of Harold K. Schneider, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution