7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/copans-in-search-of-lost-theory-marxism-and-structuralism-within-french-anthropology 1/30 Research Foundation of SUNY In Search of Lost Theory: Marxism and Structuralism within French Anthropology Author(s): Jean Copans and Douglas Westgate Reviewed work(s): Source: Review (Fernand Braudel Center), Vol. 3, No. 1 (Summer, 1979), pp. 45-73 Published by: Research Foundation of SUNY for and on behalf of the Fernand Braudel Center Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40240826 . Accessed: 09/01/2012 00:21 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Research Foundation of SUNY and Fernand Braudel Center are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Review (Fernand Braudel Center). http://www.jstor.org
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7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
In Search of Lost Theory: Marxism and Structuralism within French AnthropologyAuthor(s): Jean Copans and Douglas WestgateReviewed work(s):Source: Review (Fernand Braudel Center), Vol. 3, No. 1 (Summer, 1979), pp. 45-73Published by: Research Foundation of SUNY for and on behalf of the Fernand Braudel CenterStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40240826 .
Accessed: 09/01/2012 00:21
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Research Foundation of SUNY and Fernand Braudel Center are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve
and extend access to Review (Fernand Braudel Center).
In SearchofLost Theory:Marxismand Structuralism ithinFrenchAnthropology*
JeanCop ns
Iftheresanyone essonofvalueto the itizenswhogovern epublics,it is theknowledge ftheorigin f hatreds nd divisions.
-Machiavelli, 1952,345
We arelivingn a societymarchingnmasse toward he ruth"-bythat meanonewhich roduces nd disseminateshetoricunctioningas truth, assing or uch, ndtherebyoldingpecific inds fpower.One ofthefundamental roblems ftheWest s that rhetoric f"truths"which,furthermore,ever cease to change) has become
firmlyooted.Thewholehistoryf"truth" ofthepower haracter-isticofrhetorics truth remains o be written.
-Foucault, 1977
ThisFrance,which, o this ay,holds nhigheststeem hemost vidintellectual ierarchyfpowerknown o man.
Throughoutll of ts extsmaybefound, orrelativeotherepressionof creative ctionon thepartofthemasses, certain igure ftheo-reticalheroism. fthe massesare able to makehistory,t sbecauseheroesformulate hetheory ehind t.
-Rancière, 1974,71
Just s we cannot udge an individual n the basis of the manner nwhichhe sees himself, either anwe undertakeo udgea periodof
upheavalaccording o itsself-concept. - Marx, 1957,5
The dominant deasof n era havenever een nythingmore han heideas ofthe dominant lass.
-Marx and Engels,1962,44
The unityof knowledge)s locatedat a certainhistoricalevel, hatof political raining. othing hort f meditation ponthepolitical
allows one to conceivethe convergence f knowledge nd partialpractice,odiscover,n ts ntirety,hehorizon f heoryndpractice.
-Lefebvre, 1975,270
Quesaliddidnot become great orcerer ecausehe healedthe ick;he healedthe sick becausehe had alreadybecomea great orcerer.
-Lévi-Strauss, 1958,198
This text s the provisional esultof severalconcernsorcommitments.irst, t is thepursuit f an analysis fFrench
anthropologynd of therole Marxismplays n that nthro-
pology Copans, 1974,1976,1977,1978).Next, t s thedesireto explainto a publiceither ascinatedwith r surprised ythesophisticationfourworks, heunderlyingociological,institutional,nd ideologicalfactors fits theoreticalvolu-tion in France.1 have been
trying,bviously,odemystify
1. 1 include here themainargumentsf several alks nd coursesgiven nthe
actually postwar roduct.his ate rrival whichs at thesametime numericaleaknesscompared ithAmericanandAnglo-Saxonnthropologyransformedtself,onethe-less,within he paceofonegeneration.rench heoriesfanthropologyave,neffect,ecomenthe ast en o fifteenyearshe ocal oint fworld ttention.venf hedeologicalandtheoreticalace fFrenchnthropologyasbeen n newstage f mutationor omeyears, ne sforcedoadmit he
We will ttempt,nthis rticle,o shed ight nthe ocio-historicaleasons orthedevelopmentf structuralistndMarxistheoriesnFrenchnthropology:developmentothjoint ndcoeval, or he ame auseswere esponsibleor heprimacyf hese wo urrents.urthermore,eshall eethatthe area of that success anthropologywas notdue tochance. n order o understandhereasoning ehind he
is crucial. heexplanationor hevery pecial ublic ole fthe ntellectualieswith tsoriginaluthorityunction,hichit hasplayed ccordingo some ince he eventeenthentury(andperhapsven efore).ince nthropologyaspracticallythe astdisciplineocome nto he niversity,twas nevitablethat heway t ppeared,ndabove llfunctioned,hould eaffectedythis act ery trongly.5
5. See thepostscriptiveemarks f A. deTocqueville ndB. Barret-Kriegel,ndthesecond partof Lourau, entitled Institutionnalisatione la sociologie" 1977,52-80).
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
a condition fthisdevelopment,t has proven o be a ratherrestrictiveetting. hedirectinewhicheadsfrom ouis XIVto theJacobins,hen n to theNapoleons ndfinallyoemergein themore astingbourgeoisThirdRepublic s no less thenaturalcontextfor intellectual ctivity.The establishmentofthefree,ecular, ompulsoryrimarychool, nd the epa-ration fchurch ndstate rethe ndproducts fthis oliticalconcentrationf the ideologicalfunctions f intellectuals
to suchanextenthat heThirdRepublic ouldbenicknamed"The Professors' epublic." npoint ffact, heformationnddiffusionf a (bourgeois)political deologyofclass collabo-ration oeshand n hand with he limination ftheworking-class, peasant,and pettybourgeoiselite. The processesofselection,he educationalpathwaysweredirectlyinked ntothedevelopmentf thebourgeois tatemachinery.
Two characteristicsave defined hisenvironmentoracentury:ts centralizationnd its deology.Centralizations
both oncentrationndcentrality.oncentrationnParis sanhistoricalnd sociologicalfact.As for entrality,trefers sto the institutionsonstitutinghe materialfoundationofthat nvironment.o put ntooperation publicschoolsys-tem rowned yoneuniversitynd a fewGrandes coles alsoserves o indicatewhat ies at the center f thatapparatus.The heartor core of thatcenterwas theEcole NormaleSu-périeure E.N.S.) throughwhosehallspassed all thosewhowouldbecome nvolvednpolitics,etters,r scienceforthe
elaboration f thenew dominant message."The centraliza-tionofthe rainingroceduresor heprofessionaldeologues,theconcentrationf Frenchgreymatter,hecentralityftheGrandesEcoles, and of Paris; therein re the lines offorcewhichstill determineodaythespace allotedto theFrench
intelligentsia,nd above all, to its mostprestigious epre-sentatives. nthropology,orhistorical easons recentmar-
tion.The ransom emandedfanthropologynorderhat tmight iseto a status fhigher ecognitionas to be itsabsoluteubmissionothemost raconianffectsf entrality:French nthropologyouldnotexist; t would be merelyParisian. veryone ightpeakon the ubject,ut twouldbe taughtnly n a limitedashion,ndespeciallyo at thedoctoralevel.
andphenomenologicalSartre,Merleau-Ponty),philosophi-cal currentotwithoutts mbiguities.reoccupationithsocialmorality, ith xperience,nd with heday-to-dayinjectedcertainoncretenessnto he eryoulof heoreticalreflection.his concreteness,einterpretedn voluntaristicandhistoricisterms,ought,ccordingoSartre,oovercomedogmaticMarxism.n fact, heempiricalocialsciences,which evelopedfter 950, idso onthe asis f nabsoluteoppositiono the heoryorphilosophy).huswehave exis-
tentialist"xperiencenthe nehand,nd mpirical,tatisticalenquirynthe ther.his plit etweenhe renchhilosophi-cal traditionndAnglo-Saxonositivismsince he ociologymakingtsdebut-or tsreappearance- as nspiredargely
8. Remarkablenformationsto be found n all of thesepointsn various extsand articlespublishedn,"A proposde Durkheim,**evuefrançaisede sociologie,XVII, 2,April-June976.See DurkheinVsecture,Role desuniversitésans l'éduca-tion ociale dupays" pp. 181-89),he ext n"La grandeurmorale e a France**ub-lishedn theJournal es nstituteursn19 6 pp. 193-95). t sespecially ecommended
byAmerican urrentsfthought)would soon be either ver-come or patchedup. The "new" anthropological heorieswould seek to transcend nd to synthesizehe experientialand theobjective,hetheoreticalndthe mpirical. alandierwastodraw, orhispart, rom isBritish fricanistolleagues,and Lévi-Strauss romAmerican nthropologists,ya rico-chetfrom he inguists. fter 956-1958,Marxism, ortspart,beganto "de-Stalinize."
The turning ointcameduring heyears1960-1962. xis-tentialism as no longer mandatoryeference-point.truc-turalism ecamean ideological ashion,nd what omecalledneo-Marxism ppearedas a virtual chool. 1968 wouldper-haps be thesymbolic eathknellforstructuralismsee Le-febvre), ut one had to waituntil heyears1973-1977 o seea systematic ejection f structuralismnd Marxism fromVAnti-Oedipe,o Clastres, nd to the so-called"nouveauxphilosophes"). hiscursoryndschematic eriodizationbvi-
ously explains nothing. n order moreclearly o delineatethe precisecauses ofthisparticularheoretical omination,weshallgive eparate onsiderationostructuralnthropologyandtoMarxism.Weshall xamine,nconclusion,he ttemptsof synthesis,s well as theattemptso go beyond his heo-retical s well as ideological onjuncture.
of Lévi-Strauss's tructuralism,nd thatof the "scientific"successofthiswholemore r ess imilar urrent f ontempo-rary tructuralism.he distinctions necessary ecause it iscertain hat the first eriodofintellectualmaturation ftheanthropologist1930-1950) s verydifferentrom hesecond(1950-1962)which ed to a quasi-global upremacy.
9. For thoseknowingn earlier inematographiculture, necan well maginethé ndignantnd veryParisian ccent of an Arletty creamingStructure!?"o thetune"Atmosphère!?"Atmosphère!?"n Hotel du Nord.
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
In reality,ne might ewelladvisedto take a second ookat thebibliographicaltatementsn Tristes ropiquesbeforelending ny naive credenceto them.The visit to "Indian"territorys too rapidly onducted,ndtoo limited ntime, orchange of whichLévi-Strauss trongly isapproves to beobserved n theobjectitself.However, twas hissojourn ntheUnitedStatesthatmade a trueanthropologistf Lévi-Strauss.The themes fculturalnthropology ere oundergo
a transformationt the level of theoreticalnterpretation.The meetingwithJakobsonhas a fortuitiousharacter, utcertainlyinguistics, ne of the four "fields" of Americananthropology,layeda significantole in culturalism. oasand Sapir were notunknown o Lévi-Strauss nd mayhaveserved s modelsforhim.The fact emainshat anguage,kin-ship, cultural representations,nd "ecological" concernswouldbe capable ofbeing ntegratedn a deeperand morelastingmanner ntothegreatundergroundtreamrrigating
Frenchethnology han the themesof British unctionalism(whichwas primarily fricanist,et us notforget).
Lévi-Strausstoodthereforeetwixtnd between certainAmericannthropologyBoas and Sapir) and a certain radi-tionof theFrench ociological chool, Mauss,to be specific.The novelty, onetheless, ithin heFrench etting, as thelink between he field nd theory ornebya thematicnspi-ration omingfrom broad. That is whyone shouldtalk ofthe"apparition" fstructuralnthropology.ora longtime,
anthropologyad beeneitherultural rsocial. n France, ntheotherhand,ethnology ad remained minorbranchofsociology,tself heyounger ister fphilosophy. thnology,thanksto Lévi-Strauss,became independent,hanging tsnameatthe ametime. t made tsmark t the eveloftheory.
Structuralnthropologywas thus thefirst xplicit heoryofFrench thnologyonceived f as a sciencebothoftheoryand of thefield. Lévi-Strausswould sublimate t theideo-
logical and methodologicalevel his weak fieldexperience,
andwould ynthesizenwittingly,he raditionsfMaussandGriaule. n fact, wing o themultiplicityfmeanings f its
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
the ideological-intellectualield.One does notyetfind thegrand, ll-inclusiveesign.
These ndicators,hesehypotheses,reofcoursemore ug-gestions hancertainties. owever, he silenceon thisperioddoes require f us a sortofsociological magination. n theotherhand, hemomentwe enternto hegolden geofstruc-turalismtrictlyefined,hecertaintiesre impressive.WithTotémismeujourd'hui ndLa Pensée auvage, he tructural-
ismofLévi-Strauss ame tobe seen as an original heoryx-tending eyond he narrow onfines fthe"primitivetate."Actually,t is a matterfrepetitiont thetheoreticalevelofthe iterarynd ideological uccessofTristesropiques.Afterhaving imported ome extra-anthropologicalheories, hestructuralismfLévi-Strausswas to serve n turn s a pointofreferenceorother omainsof the ocialsciences. do notknowwhether he effectivenessfa scientificheory an bemeasuredn thatway,butevidentlyt s oneofthe ndicators.
The mpact f structuralismoth s philosophyndanthropo-logicaltheory, owever, as to be seen within muchmoreconstrainingistorical ontext:
(a) The demandfor ocialsciences rew ery trongnFranceduringthe ate1950s. n 1957, programeading oa licensewasfinallynsti-tuted n Paris. Gaullism, n keepingwith tspolicyofnational co-nomic and neo-colonialdevelopment, ave significantmpetus o
appliedsurveysnd research. he modelofcomputerizedreatmentofdatamultipliedhepossibilitiesor omparison. inally,heoretical
confrontationecamea requirementn sociology nd then n eth-nology-anthropologyventhough t was formalized ithinhetriadofAron,Gurvitch, évi-Strauss.12
(b) That pragmatic emand, nd to that ncreasingly arked nsti-tutionalization,oesalongwith he ise n nationaliberationtrugglesand "peaceful" ecolonization:Algeria,Cuba, BlackAfrica,imitingourselves othesefew xamples, ecame ubjects fgreat oncern . .and areasfor tudy ndowedwithnewprestige.
12. Onemay
obtainupplementary
vidence fthisfactbynoticing
hatmost ftheimportantocial science ournals were foundedduring hatperiod: 'Homme,
Revue rançaisede sociologie, tc.
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
Theendofthe1950sunderscored new risis fhistoricity:Budapest,ikeMay13,1958,13ndicated aradoxically weak-
eningof the interestmaintainedn the subjectof Westernreason.The actor becameexotic. f Europebecamevoid of
history,fitscapacityformakinghistory, as itbecause, sFoucaultwas later o write,Mankind s an invention hichthearcheology f ourthought asilydemonstratesasrecent,and which, erhaps, s drawing o a close?" Foucault, 1966,
398). Or is there omethinglse in theconvergencefintel-lectual structuralism, ouveau roman,technocratic ocialscience,byBarthes,Bourdieu,or Lefebvre? ut onceagain,this pirit f theepoch,or rather f a very recise poch,doesnot indicate otally he roleplayedby anthropology.
As the newcomer o thepublicarenaof the ntelligentsia,anthropology as free rom ll theconflicts hich raversed
philosophynd sociology; ll themore o because structural-ism claimed o be aphilosophicalifnotabovethephilosophi-
cal) and ahistorical. eliberately lacing tself n themargin,though dmittednto thecircle fFrench hought,tructural
anthropology as impressive yvirtue f itscoherence, hetalent nd productivityf its master. he effectsffashion,even fthey idremain ictated ytheconjuncturefhistoryand the structuref society,werenonetheless irmlyootedin a realityften eryoncrete ndsusceptibleo nexhaustableexegesis. t is imperativehatone recognizeshat heworkofa Lévi-Strauss endsitself erfectlyo the atter;whence he
spreadof a discipline nd a corpusofwork acking nyveryreal tradition.
The concentrationfanthropologywithin he mostpres-tigiousand elitist nstitutionsn the countryCollege deFrance,E.H.E.S.S., C.N.R.S.), thefreedomoproduce newscience, nd the llusion fbeing xotic,propelled y, reveninspite f, hediscipline xplain he uperabundancefmean-ingsthatanthropology rought o a society npolitical ndideologicalcrisis; s well as the kindofcomfort hat xisten-
13. Date ofthe oupwhich rought e Gaulletopower, ndmarked enyears f
crushing efeat or heFrenchworking-class ovement.
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
tialism adbeenrefusingtformore han ifteenearsStalinistMarxism, or tspart,had excluded tself romnyrole n thisarea). In addition, newouldhave to associate, round1968,linguisticswithanthropologynto thisrole of the"up-and-coming."
This historys also thatof the "new" FrenchMarxism,whose entrance nto the universityanceled out any revo-lutionaryffect.
The OrphansofMarx
Post-Stalinismasalwaysbeen onfusedwith resurrectionof Marxism. n effect,hevery reedom fconceptualbattlefor fifteen-yeareriodhaspermitteduch an illusion.Uponclosescrutiny,owever,t s not evident hatwe haveenteredintopost-Stalinism:heabstract onception ftheory,ilence
concerningheopportunismfpractice, nd the roleofthe
intellectual re still the clear stereotypes. step backwardbecomesall themore essentialbecause themethodologicalimage projected ytoday'sFrenchMarxism ensors nydis-agreeable eferencesoa pastpreferablyelegatedoobscurity.
How did party spirit"manifesttself n the "good olddays"?14 cientific houghtfounditselfunder the yoke ofpoliticalpragmatismand locked n (hencethedebatesoverproletariancience ndbourgeois cience). t sfor his easonthatthe intellectualwas nothingmore than an ideologue,
justifyingnapparentlymore erious nd profoundones, heline of the moment. n otherrespects, nti-intellectualistworkerism"Theyare thepetty ourgeois") oexistedwith
respect or heformalitiesf established ourgeois ntellectu-
praxis, t was reducedto therepetitionnd exegesisof anarbitrarilyonstructed ulgate.One has to immerse neselfin the onstrainingealityfthatnotuniquely rench racticeof Marxismnorder ocomprehendhe hanges nd the ubse-
14. One willgeta good idea of theatmospherenquestionbyreading heJ. T.Desanti,UnTémoin, ublisheds a supplemento thebookbyD. Dominique 1975,361-69).Read also thememoirsf Henri efebvre,dgarMorin, ierre ougeyrollas.
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
quentfiliations.t is, infact, mpossible o write hehistoryof Marxism n France since 1945withoutwritinghatoftheP.C.F. (FrenchCommunist arty).15
After 956, he risis roughtnbythedeathofStalingrewworse:the Hungarian nd Polishrevolutionsnd Gaullismmade dents in the theoretical urity nd efficacityf thescientificdeologyoftheproletariat. he philosophers rewsilent, rtheywent way.Thusto the ilences fanAlthusser,
itwas appropriateo opposethemoreorlessopenresistancecoming romDesanti,Bottigelli,efebvre, araudy.The riseofde Gaulle,thepursuit f theAlgerian war,"and thedi-rection fthe tudentmovement lacedthedoubleproblem fa reappropriationftheorynda balanceof heoryndpraxisat the heartof Marxistthought.Althusser,whether olun-tarily rnot,obviouslytill ymbolizesll ofthat.Hiswritingsfrom 960-1965markedncounterpointhegreat uestions fthatperiod.16 here were severalreasons ervingo account
for irst is udience, henhis nfluence.peaking romwithinthe Communist arty,he personified,n spiteof all else,acertaincontinuitywhichone acknowledged n him). Hispraxisremained onsistentwith hecurrent raxisof"theo-retical"Marxism:philosophical tandpointdialecticmateri-alism), xegesis, ewreading. hispraxisbecame onfusednotherrespectswith the ideal-type rench ntellectual ro-duction: he "normalien" romUlm.17
Navigatingbetween he temptation f Marxismand the
most consistent pportunism,ven or especiallyhis mostrecentwritingsike22e Congrès Maspéro, 1977),his anti-dogmatisms illusory.
May 1968and the mmediate ftermatheemedoncemoreto put everythingnquestion.ButtheMarxismofthattimewas to get tssecond windafter1972, t least on the evelofpublishedmaterial romwhichwe stillbenefit. f this eem-
15. For thepreceeding eriod, ee the workofLindenberg, 975.
16. See the exts n PourMarx, ndtheprudentilences f he uthorn hisprefaceentitledAujourd'hui."
17. Translators ote:referso a graduate f the Ecole NormaleSupérieure.
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
ingly riginal evelopment, hat should be noticed s notsomuch he basicconcepts,ike he Marxistmethodology hichis similar o that of otherpolitical nd ideologicalcurrents(Marxist,Trotskyist):heprinciple fclose reading ftexts,thefetishismf theparty,ndthefailure ocall into uestionthefigure f the ntellectualtheScholar,theMilitant).
We have beenstressinghe mpact fAlthusserince twas
throughhim, directly r indirectly,hat Marxismwould
"catchon" in anthropology.here s one notableexception,it is true,which s Claude Meillasoux forwhomwehave no
explanation,but perhaps t lies in what has appropriatelybeen called theoretical riginality). his Marxismwas tocatchonvery apidly iven hat hetheoreticalomainofthat
anthropologyadyet o be agreedupon,and that tructural-ism, hroughmimicryndcomplementarity,eft placefor t.Theinstitutionalxplanations, owever,eem o me obe evenmoreplausible: theconformityf the ideal-type f perfect
intellectualthe productsof the GrandesEcoles) permittedsimultaneously total nvestmentnanthropologicalmargin-alityas well as an overevaluation f whatwas asserted. n
short,revolutionizingnthropologywas greatly acilitatedforthe"Marxists"bythe fact hattheyncarnatedhe noblechannels f a universityareer.
A closeexamination ftheconditions or hedevelopmentof Marxismwithin nthropology rovesunequivocally,n
fact,thatthe assortment f generalconstraints f French
intellectualifewerereproducedna similar utautonomousmanner. he GrandesEcolesfor raining,hegreat stablish-ments or tatus,were rucial. nother espects,hedistinctionbetweennoblethemes nd common hemes,nd the dentifi-cationofthefirstor Marxist" nalysis, onfirmedhedomi-nanceoftherules f cientificunctioningver hedefinitionsofMarxistprinciple.
Originally erceived s a developmentfMarxismwithin
anthropologyas a new,moreuseful heory),henew general
line"was to be transformedynatural orcesnto develop-mentof Marxism tartingromanthropology'surrent er-spectivesndconcerns. his nversion as all themorebrutal
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
because the"revolutionary"oliticalpositionswere cutofffrom rofessional raxis.Thosepositionswhich orrespondedto the ntirepectrumf Left nd extreme eft arties rystal-lized to an evengreaterxtent hetheoreticalpseudo-)oppo-sitionswhichwere,nturn, o become omeof thefunctionalstakes in the scientificmarket.AnthropoligicalMarxismpassed tself ff rom he tart,herefore,s a scientificheory,the alibi of a revolutionary olitical positionbeingwithin
easy reach,to be sure. But thefactof the matters thatthestatusoftheory,nd its inkto praxis,did not differ n thewhole from hatofother ociological heories.
A finalpointnot ackingnimportance:hiswasa dividedor multipleMarxism. From thebeginning,nthropologicalMarxismwassomethingo bespokenof ntheplural.Perhapsthe marginal spect of Frenchanthropology xplainsthatpossibility: he free reingrantedomnidirectional esearch.It is because Marxism's theoretical nd practical takes n
anthropologywere inconsequential hat Marxism becameMarxisms, ublimatingoanevergreaterxtent,nan infiniteredundancyof theoreticaldiscourse,the schismbetweentheoryndfieldwork.he fact sthat, ven oday, nyMarxisthistory r sociologymustcome directly o gripswith thepoliticalchoices mposedbythatconjuncturend particularpartisan allegiances.A given interpretationf nineteenth-centuryabor strikesmaybear some relation othetheory fstrikes f the contemporary orking lass and to thevery
practice fstrikes. o go on atgreat ength n the ubject fthe lineageofmodesofproduction r on kinshipbase andsuperstructureeads nowherebecause of the verytypeofobjectivesand theories anthropological"Marxismuses.18That said, theindividualknowledgeablenwhat he is doingmaycompare,forestallingmore or less any objection, worecentnd simultaneousublications hich eflectheMarxist"reflexes" f twodifferentenerations, peratingwithin wo
18. 1am indebted or his dea to a "provocative'*uestionfromYvan Simonisduring discussion f this exton May25, 1977.
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
that,for heoreticaluccess orresponds,t the ametime, oan internal oidpeculiar otheFrenchnthropological ilieu,and to an externalpressure efinedby the positionof theFrenchntelligentsiais-à-visherest f heworld. he nternalvoid corresponds o thenovelty f the mportance ftheoryas such.Objectivelypeaking, oth tructuralistsndMarxistsare a minoritymongFrench nthropologists,utthey retheonlyones whoexpoundtheory,nd thuswho are called
upon to act as anthropology'sheorists. his success, here-fore,s nothing utan emptywordutteredn a silent heater.As for the social roots of sucha conjuncture,ne is obligedto ookto theUnionde a Gauche.J.Juillard,na very emark-able and widelynoted article,convincinglyxplains howMarxism onstitutedhe new deology or he ntellectuals.21It is self-evidento whatextent university"Marxismand"trade-union"MarxismS.N.E.S.U.P., S.N.C.S.) have onsti-tutedtheideologyofthegeneration fnewmandarins,nd
The openingofthe Socialistparty o Marxism, herevivalof the Communistparty's ntellectual lazon,wereactuallyactionsdesigned o counteracthedevelopmentf theactivi-tiesof "anti-institutional"r "massautonomy"ntellectuals.This unwillingnesso questiontheWestern ourgeois ntel-lectual model (theory ivorcedfrompraxis)is a reflection,according o PerryAnderson, f thefact hatWesternMarx-
ism is a Marxismofdefeats, f thereflux romrevolution.That is whythe violenceof ideologicalconfrontations ustnot maskthedeep convergencen the evel of the scientific
agenda.The tendency ariesbetweenhenonconflictingnityof structuralismnd MarxismGodelier), herefusal o trans-formdebateinto an open confrontationAuge), and the re-courseto a third oute Bourdieu).
21. See theexcerpt n the annex.
22. Therecould be exceptions:hencethesystematicepression f whichJeanSuret-Canalehas beenthetarget.As ithappened, t s true hatheplayedhishandmore s officialnd militantf theP.C.F. than s a member f theuniversity.
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
were sufficient ver a fifteen-yeareriodto precludeanyemphasison the differencesetween heconcepts: n retro-spect,thisstability f relationshipsonfirmsurhypothesisof a comprehensiveonjuncturewhichpermittednthropo-logicalstructuralismnd Marxismto appear (and to disap-pear?) together.Conciliatory ttempts r middlegrounds(Bourdieu) trengthened,nfact, ather han plit hat difice.The solidarityof theorists as of governmentministers)
vigorously ursues ts own logic, ndependentftheoriginsand differencesf theorganizationftheorieswithinnthro-pology.
Theappearance f tructuralisms thefirstomplete heoryin Frenchanthropology,nd thepost- 960developmentfMarxismmaybe traced othe amecauses,eventhought sa matter f phenomenawhichunfolded n twocompletelydistinct evels,and which are absolutely rreducible ne totheother.The twophenomenarenot t all the amesince, n
the case oftheone,we have a scientificheorywhich, avingsprungup in a particular iscipline, ltimatelyervedas a
pretext or deologicalfabrication;while, n thecase of theother,we have the scientificspectof the deology fsocialclass which was seeking ts autonomywithin particularscientificiscourse.Obviously,wecouldpushfurtherndaskourselves ow twasthat he deology ftheproletariatametocollaboratewith n establishmentcientificndideologicalschool of thought.The onlyreasonableansweramongthe
possibleanswers s that the Marxism n questionno longerhad anythingo do withtherevolutionarydeologyof theproletariat.
deemsworthwhile.nthropologyeing,nspite feverythingelse,a social science, ne can understand ow itmusthaveattractedMarxist hinkersuitenaturallyrawn o social andhistorical hemes.Anthropologysalso a mannerfdiscussingthe Third World n theepoch ofnational iberation evolu-tions.Conceptual nnovationntheorys thereforeesponsiveto practical iberationn politics.However, herewillneverbe anylink in anysense of theword)between hetwo"do-
mains."One has towonder, rankly,hyMarxistmethodologyas
managedto exist.25f Marxismhasbeenadmittedo,and itsresearch onductedwithin,nstitutionalcientific ebate, fit has becomepossibleto makea careerofbeing Marxistthinker,s it notsimply ecause t s a question fa Marxismwhichno longerhas anything o do with hatespousedbyMarxor Lenin?Marxists inFrance, tanyrate can aynoclaim, nrelationo the tructuralists,otheposition forganic
intellectualsrom heproletariats opposedto the raditionalintellectuals,incetheyhave the samesocialorigin,he ameintellectual raining, nd the same theoretical xperience.There s noquestion fcalling ta compromise ith, revenrecuperation y,the established rder.This Marxism s anoriginalproductwith pecific auses, and one which s onlya specialvariantfrom he dominance fscientisticanguagein thebourgeoisdeology.t scertainlyotbecauseofpressurefrom heworking lass massesthatMarxist heorysreturn-
ing to the university,nd especially o anthropology. heopposition,real or imagined,betweenreformismnd anti-humanistMarxism that s so wellsymbolized yAlthusser,P.C.F. member nd supporter f an "orthodox"Marxisttheory)monganthropologistss irrelevant. ather, t is theresourcefulness f French intellectual heorizing hat hasinfluencedhevery orm fMarxismn theuniversity.hus, tis no paradoxthatMarxism's eal success s due toAlthusser,and not to the"renegade"Lefebvre.
25. If the "nouveauxphilosophes** elpedto raisethequestion,their nswerseems learly o reveal tsoriginn thedominantdeology. ee F. Aubral nd X. Del-court,1977.
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
Before oncluding,et us call quickly o mind hegrowingsuccessof MarxismnBritishndAmericannthropology.nfact,Marxism s taking n a greaternd greatermportanceinAnglo-Saxon ocialsciences.The ournals, he ranslationsofMarxist lassics, ndofthewritingsfFrench heoristsre
multiplying.26hisdevelopmentlone would seem to merit
study.Let us call to yourattention, owever, hat,on thewhole,Marxism s and will remain ll the moreuniversity-
boundbecause t s without workinglass traditionnthosecountries. here s,ofcourse, he risis f Americanmperial-ism, hereexaminationfdominantheories,27ut t s the ackofeffectivenessfpasttheorieshathas drivenAnglo-Saxonresearchersnto the rmsoftheMarxists." hat swhyMarx-ism has not disrupted he sensitivityo empiricalproblemswhich auses Anglo-SaxonMarxist nthropologyand soci-
ologyor political cience) o deal,bya paradoxicalreversal,withthemes nd problemswithin morepoliticalcontext:
theclassstrugglefIndians iving n reservations,henatureoftheneo-colonial tate, heSouthAfricanystem,tc. The
possible. n onesense,Marxism, t thepolitical nd theoreti-cal levels, s in a position fbeingdominated ythedominant
ideology;butwithin heframeworkf itsowndevelopment,it is perhaps esstiedto theups and downs,theconflicts,f
Stalinist nd reformistrganizations.One finalritualisticuestionremains o be asked: What s
tobe done?The only xplanationn terms faction ies nanalterationf thepraxisofresearch,n a differentapportwiththefield,withpolitics, nd therefore,na differentraxisoftheconcepts.Butthatgivesrise o still nother uestion:Willit be a matter,t thatmoment,f the ameconcepts rofdif-
26. See Economy nd Society,DialectalAnthropology,ranslationsfGodelier,
Meillassoux,Rey,Terray mongtheanthropologists.
27. See thediscussion f thepositions akenbyAmerican esearchersnreaction
to the Americanmperialistolicies n J.Copans,éd., 1975.
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ferent nes? Theoreticalelaboration s neither seless nor
secondary, uranalysispermittinguch a conclusion nly fweweremaking bsolute riteria f therole of the nstitutionand of thepraxisof research which s notthecase. Bynomeansdo I wish o evade or todeny heplaceoftheory; uiteto thecontrary,ts needsare immense. t happens,however,that these needs can be addressedonly through different
Present-dayMarxist heorysbuilding ponsome of theem-piricalrealities constructed"yclassicalethnology.28hat sbecause thasaccepteduncriticallyverylement ndproblemnot of a patently onceptualnature. deologies, nstitutions,thematics,nd geographical ivisions avebeentransformedonlyto the extent hat theoretical emodelingmet withre-sistance.By placingthemselvesnlyin the positionof the
replacementfconcepts nd their oles,29he Marxistshaveadmitted niversal cientificmeritnanthropology,nd thus
itsobjectives s theyhave beenconstructedver thecourseof thehistoryf thediscipline.Havingconfined urselves tthis evel o theworks fLévi-Strauss, emaybe edtobelievethat tructuralismasgonefurthernepistemologicaloubts.The reaction s purely cientistic,ut tis a normal ne,and
anthropology'sonservativedeologyustifiest. n the ase of
postulationwhatother erm anweuse?)of a revolutionaryideology s clearly isible.
Fornearlywenty ears, he win rothersf he ntellectualconjuncturenFrance,Marxismndstructuralism,ere ynomeans a cause of thewell-knownrisis fanthropology,nlyitsillusoryhealers.But there s somethingmore serious:Bycommittingtselfwithgreat lair nddazzling pectacle o thefalsepathsof a losttheorynd objective, his nthropologyhas burnedbehind tself he last bridges o the illusions f
28. Thus s t he ase,for xample,with he oncept f ethnic"orof thnic ame)which overs t one andthe ametime lasses,modesofproduction,nd social for-mations n FrenchMarxist iterature.
29. Questions oncerningmethod repistemologyre nottheworkofMarxists,or at leastofMarxisttheorists.hisapparent ivision f theworkreminds s ofa
tivists.Frenchanthropology as reachedadulthood at last,but t is an invalid.
Corrigendum
Two remarks n the style, it-was-obvious-but-better-to-remind-you-than-unduly-to-be-accused-of-omission."hisMarxismmustbe understood orwhat t s:a historicaltage,necessaryperhaps, n orderto pass on to a revolutionarypoliticalpraxis.Whateverhefuturefpresent-dayoncepts,they hall have ed,bycriticismfthem, otheir wndemise.It is wellunderstoodhat he uthor fthis rticles n nowayimmune o the awsofideological nd institutionaletermi-nations, hathebelongsbynecessityo this urrent fanthro-pologicalMarxism. amnot a moralist,ndthis extwas notwritteno soothemybad conscience.
For curiously,hiswillbe ordinarilyheonlyfundamental
The bodyof French ntellectuals,hilosophersncluded,is a "creation t thesummit" f themonarchicaltate, nd ifin a short onjuncture,hatoftheRegency nd thereign fLouisXIV,characterizedythe ollapseofcentral ower, heybrokeloose into the opposition, hatmoment, lreadytoo
sity n "historical ocumentary"n the French ntelligentsia.But if one forgets irst,he academies,then theuniversity,one will neverunderstand he primaryworkerismnd thefrantic nti-intellectualismf the Frenchtrade-union nd
revolutionaryovements hich ave lwayshadgoodreasons- that actmust erecognized forbeingwary f ntellectuals.
Fora longwhile heFrenchhad beenthe most iterary-mindedfall
thenations fEurope,but so farourwriters ad notdisplayed hatintellectual rilliancewhichwon themworld-wide ametoward hemiddleof theeighteenthentury. rue,they id notplayan active
part n publicaffairs,s Englishwriters id; on thecontrary, everhad theykept o steadily looffrom hepolitical rena. In a nation
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
teeming ith fficials oneof themen f etters eldposts f nykind,nonewas investedwith uthority.
Nevertheless,hey idnot likemost f heirGerman ontemporaries)resolutelyurn heir acks on politics nd retire o a world part,ofbelles ettres nd purephilosophy. n thecontrary,heywerekeenlyinterestedn all thatconcerned hegovernmentfnations; his, ne
might lmost ay,wasan obsessionwith hem.Questions uch s the
men, f egitimacyfcustom,nd even hewhole onception f awall these bulked arge nthe iteratureftheday.As a result f thisincessantprobing ntothebases of thesociety n which hey ived,theywere ed bothto examine ts structurendetail and to criticizeitsgeneralplan.
Theirverywayof ivinged thesewriterso ndulgen bstract heoriesand generalizationsegardinghenature fgovernment,ndtoplacea blind onfidencenthese.For living s they id,quiteout oftouchwithpracticalpolitics, hey ackedtheexperiencewhichmight ave
tempered heir nthusiasms. hus they ompletely ailed o perceive
thevery ealobstacles n thewayof even the mostpraiseworthye-forms, nd to gauge the perils nvolved n even the mostsalutaryrevolutions.
Nevertheless,n thenation-wide ebacleoffreedom ehadpreservedone form f t;wecould ndulge,lmostwithoutestriction,n earneddiscussions n theorigins fsociety, he nature fgovernment,ndthe essential ights fman.
In Englandwriters n thetheory fgovernmentnd thosewho actu-
ally governed o-operatedwith ach other, he formeretting orththeirnewtheories, he attermending rcircumscribinghese n the
light fpractical xperience.n France,however, receptndpracticewerekeptquitedistinctnd remainedn thehandsoftwoquite nde-pendentgroups.One of these carriedon theactual administrationwhile heother etforth he bstract rinciplesn which ood govern-mentshould, theysaid, be based; one took the routinemeasures
appropriateo theneeds f hemoment,he ther ropounded enerallaw without thought or theirpractical pplication;one groupshapedthe course ofpublicaffairs,heother hatofpublicopinion[de Tocqueville,1955,138-46].
A fewold spectrestillhaunt his lready idiculoustage: hat fthe
intellectual dvisers o thePrince, ertainly,ut also thatofplebianpopulism.The double faceofthedesperate uestforpower, om-
pletely eculiar oFrance, f he ntellectuals. hether ne s n gree-
7/27/2019 Copans - In Search of Lost Theory Marxism and Structuralism Within French Anthropology
theorganization f the ntellectual ield, hroughhepermanencefits nstitutionsnd of themodels tholds nhonor, mposes specialmethod f recruitmentnd a special tyle fvocation,ndemphasizesto themind hephilosophical ignificancef the mostprivate refer-ences and the most echnical rojectsBourdieu nd Passeron,1967,177,205-08].
References
L. Althusser, ourMarx (Paris: FrançoisMaspéro,1965).P. Anderson, onsiderationsn Western arxismLondon:New LeftBooks,1976).
F. Aubral & X. Delcourt,Contre a nouvelle hilosophie Paris:Gallimard, 977).
B. Barret-Kriegel,ntroduction J.T.Desanti,Lephilosophe t espouvoirs[Entre-tiens] Paris: Cal mann- evy,1976).
P. Bourdieu, StructuralismndtheTheory fSociologicalKnowledge," ocial Re-search.XXXV, 4, 1968,681-706.
P. Bourdieu, Le champscientifique,"ctesde la recherchen sciences ociales, I,
2/3,1976,88-104.
P. Bourdieu, nd J.C. Passeron, Sociologyand Philosophyn Francesince1945:"Death and Resurrectionf a PhilosophyWithout ubject,"Social Research,
XXXIV, 1, 1967,162-212.J.Copans,"Pour unehistoire tunesociologiedesétudes fricaines,"p. 81-1 0 n