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Cited by 249Anthropological Studies and InsightsCross-Cultural and Social AnalysisAnthropology: Ethics, History, Culture

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Comparison in Anthropology: The Impossible Method

Candea, Matei·2018·Cambridge University Press eBooks
DOI 10.1017/9781108667609
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Abstract

Why and how do social and cultural anthropologists make comparisons? What problems do they encounter in doing so, and how might these be resolved? What, if anything, makes one comparison better than another? This book answers these questions by exploring the many ways in which, from the nineteenth century to the present day, comparative methods have been conceptualised and re-invented, praised and rejected, multiplied and unified. Anthropologists today use comparisons to describe and to explain, to generalise and to challenge generalisations, to critique and to create new concepts. In this multiplicity of often contradictory aims lie both the key challenge of anthropological comparison, and also its key strength. Matei Candea maps a path through that entangled conversation, providing a ground-up re-assessment of the key conceptual issues at the heart of any form of anthropological comparison, whilst creating a bold charter for reconsidering the value of comparison in anthropology and beyond.

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Authors
Candea, M.
Affiliations
University of Cambridge (GB)
Corresponding author
Candea, Matei
ORCID
Candea, Matei
Venue
Cambridge University Press eBooks
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Published
2018-11-12
DOI
10.1017/9781108667609
OpenAlex
W3015618276
Cited by
139
References
182
Citations by year
2026: 28 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 2
FWCI
11.16
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified)
Locations
Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Anthropological Studies and Insights
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Cross-Cultural and Social Analysis
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture
Keywords
comparative analysis, social anthropology, cultural anthropology, generalization, critique, conceptual history, history of anthropology

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