Think like an Anthropologist

Matthew Engelke’s book ‘Think Like an Anthropologist’ is the fourth book that I’ve read on anthropology. I became interested in the topic through my work on organisational and safety culture, and how anthropology views culture very differently. The world of safety is also adopting anthropological methods, such as ethnography, so I thought it useful to become more familiar with the subject.

Engelke’s book views anthropology through nine different words that represent important concepts in anthropology, but are often taken for granted. These include chapters on culture, values, value, civilisation, blood, identity, authority, reason and nature. Each chapter is a rich read, prompting much reflection. Engelke presents and picks apart each subject, transforming these commonly used and taken-for-granted words into something strange and exotic. Through each word and concept you are encouraged to view them differently, reflecting on your own assumptions regarding people across the globe who may seem 'strange' and their 'exotic' and 'weird' habits and rituals appear unusual. I’ve picked out three of my favourite chapters.

Anthropology makes the familiar strange, and the strange familiar.

Culture

In chapter one Engelke explores the different anthropological thoughts on culture, including Frank Boas’ notion of Kulturbrille. These are ‘cultural glasses’ that represent the acquired cultural associations (i.e. the lenses’) that shape our perceptions of the world. His distinction of an anthologist’s view of culture (something to be observed and discovered) versus an organisational (including safety) culture, is interesting. Anthropologists view organisational culture as teleological – it has design, purpose and a heavy dose of moral flavouring. So here again are different definitions of culture.?This prompts a question, is culture something an organisation ‘has’ and thus is mailable and manageable, or 'is' culture 'the' organisation that exists through a system of thoughts, patterns of symbolic actions and unconscious processes? Culture in anthropology is not a form bureaucratic control to be measured, matured and managed but something discovered and to be understood. It is about meaning, and evident on the symbols and rituals through which social interaction occurs. However, this itself is contested. If the notion of culture is contested in the safety science, it is reassuring that it is equally hotly debated in sociocultural anthropology. There are very different interpretations of what culture represents to anthropology. It reminds me how complicated our understanding of the ‘culture’ concept is. Well, if anthropologists cannot agree, what hope for the rest of us? For those interested in reading more about how anthropologist view the concepts of safety culture, the paper listed below by Haukelid is certainly worth a read.

Organisational culture is teleological – it has design, purpose and a heavy dose of moral flavouring. It frames 'culture' as something mailable that can be managed and manipulated.

Values vs. Value

In the 3rd and 4th chapter, Engelke divides ‘Values’ from ‘Value’. Safety is sometime promoted as a value, although some contest they are or ever could be. Values are nebulous. They are unify communities, tribes and nations (like individualism or collectivism). But they are also categories used to describe societies, such as honour, loyalty and shame. Whereas as Value, well this is what we view material goods. Values and value permeate my world of safety and yet rarely do we pause to consider their differences. This was a thought-provoking chapter with some rich examples (excuse the pun). It reminds us that humans are 'meaning-making' animals. He explains this by stressing how we build up our own inner and relational complexity.

Blood and Identity

The chapters on Blood and Identity are equally interesting. Engelke describes Blood as kinship with variable meanings, whilst Identity is much more about how individuals, communities and nations are constructed through systems of shared values. On the subject of Blood, Engelke explores the myth and absurdities of 'race', on the one hand rejecting it as a valid means of categorisation, while on the other conceding its power as a construct. Biologically, he argues race is a fiction; culturally it is a fact. These chapters challenge existing conventional thinking.

Cultural Dimensions

One of the most common ways that safety has interacted with anthropology is through Gert Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions, particularly the Power-Distance dimension. Hofstede based his research on national cultural preferences rather than individual cultural preferences. Engelke’s book does not explore Hofstede's model, probably because anthropology rejects the deterministic way that Hofstede categorises culture into neat logical and ordered categories. So, we’re back to this argument of whether culture is there to be discovered and described, or a factor of the organisation that can be measured, manipulated and managed.

Because Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension has been applied widely to study safety and accidents, such as within commercial aviation, maritime, transportation, oil and gas, and commercial shipping. So it would be remiss of me not reference Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions. It is probably how many people think about differences in national cultures and identities. For example, the Power-Distance and Individualism vs. Collectivism remain a popular way to explaining the role of national cultures in accidents and sociotechnical systems.

Individualism-collectivism refers to the degree to which individuals in a culture accept and pursue goals that are in their own best interests, as compared with those of the group to which they belong.

Power distance is the extent to which people view and accept inequality within the distribution of power or status of their own groups and the degree to which people need or depend on superiors in the group.

Masculinity-femininity refers to the degree to which people in a culture are assertive, ambitious, and competitive - considered masculine traits - as compared with caring and addressing interpersonal concerns—considered feminine.

Uncertainty avoidance refers to the tolerance for ambiguity and the extent to which people in a culture feel comfortable in unstructured situations.

Long-term orientation reflects values such as thrift and perseverance, whereas short-term orientation reflects respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and protecting one’s ‘face, values typically associated with Asian cultures.

For those interested in Hofstede’s model, I’ve listed some of the papers that have applied it to safety. Tread carefully however, as the model is hotly contested and can quickly raise blood levels... The paper by Barry Strauch is a good starter, providing an overview of the application of the model to safety.

The last word

This book is an easy introduction to anthropology, conversationally written and explaining ideas and concepts in clear terms. For those uninitiated to social anthropology, the chapters on ‘culture’, ‘authority’, ‘blood’, ‘values’ and ‘value’ bring a different perspective to subjects we are often immersed in, but blind to. If there is an over-arching message in Engelke's book, it is that 'the truth' about being human (or maybe 'truths' in general) is continuous and emergent. Truth is not fixed and settled, but constantly emergent. Our tinted view of the world through our Kulturbrille can change.

The book thus meets the goal of anthropology by ‘making the familiar strange and the strange familiar’. Key to that journey is getting to know others and why they live as they do; how the culture they are brought up in affects the way they see and interact with the world. It encourages us not to take things at their face value but to think like an anthropologist. This might encourage use to better appreciate the complexity and diversity of the modern world and why others think differently to us. Perhaps starting by recognising the tinted bias of our Kulturbrille.

References and further reading

?? My article on Gillian Tett’s book ‘Anthro-Vision’. https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/taking-worms-eye-view-james-pomeroy-bkzke/?trackingId=ocAzsc4iQ2yVk3vV4dcxWQ%3D%3D

?? Matthew Engelke, ‘Think Like an Anthropologist: Matthew Engelke’ 2017 Pelican books.

?? Knut Haukelid, ‘Theories of (safety) culture revisited—An anthropological approach’ Safety Science Volume 46, Issue 3,?March 2008, Pages 413-426

Papers of national cultural differences

?? An overview of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions: https://www.ultimate-leadership-training.co.uk/hofstedes-cultural-dimensions.html

?? Barry Strauch, ‘Can Cultural Differences Lead to Accidents? Team Cultural Differences and Sociotechnical System Operations’. Human Factors, Vol. 52, No. 2, April 2010, pp. 246–263.

?? Genserik Reniers and Yori Gidron, ‘Do cultural dimensions predict prevalence of fatal work injuries in Europe?’ Safety Science Volume 58,?October 2013, Pages 76-80

?? Havold, J. I. (2007). National cultures and safety orientation: A study of seafarers working for Norwegian shipping companies. Work and Stress, 21, 173–195

?? Hetherington, C., Flin, R., & Mearns, K. (2006). Safety in ship[1]ping: The human element. Journal of Safety Research, 37, 401–411.