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4 - The Comparison of Structures and the Comparison of Systems

Lévi-Strauss, Dumont, Luhmann

from Part II - Regional Comparisons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2020

By
Guido Sprenger
Edited by
Michael Schnegg  and
Edward D. Lowe
Michael Schnegg
Affiliation:
Universität Hamburg
Edward D. Lowe
Affiliation:
Soka University of America
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Summary

The notion that comparison is not the search for similarities but the systematization of differences leads to the question of which shared set of concepts and assumptions might be employed to explore this notion. Comparative analysis should at once reduce the complexity of data in the service of comparison and yet still reference the uniqueness and specificity of local values and ideas. Three types of comparison potentially fulfill these criteria. Claude Lévi-Strauss traces the transformations of oppositions and codes across cultural boundaries without claiming to compare societies as such. Louis Dumont contrasts systems of values that represent societies-as-wholes by analyzing their structuring into hierarchical levels. Niklas Luhmann’s theory of autopoietic systems enables the comparison of relationships between social systems and their environments, without assuming societies as units of comparison – examples being the making of ethnic identities and boundaries. A synthesis of the three approaches provides avenues of comparison in a globalized world, as is exemplified by the author’s own work in upland Southeast Asia.

Keywords

Niklas LuhmannClaude Lévi-StraussLouis Dumontmainland Southeast Asiasystemcodestructure
Type
Chapter
Information
Comparing Cultures
Innovations in Comparative Ethnography
 , pp. 93 - 116
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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