THE IDENTIFICATION OF CULTURE The functional method seems at first sight to be of especially easy application to artifacts, to material objects fashioned by man for his cultural uses. Food stuffs ready for consumption, man's equipment in protective shelter and clothing, his tools and weapons, are all obviously means to an end.
The Place of Artifacts in Culture.—But this very facility has its dangers. The purposive character of most artifacts has made the implement into the typical representative of material objects; hence, all these have generally been regarded as repre senting the technique of culture. It is deemed sufficient to state how these objects are made and how they are handled. In Notes and Queries one-third is devoted to "technology," the description of manual production and of the handling of artifacts. In the Handbook of Folklore, this study is defined as an anthropology with technological considerations cut out. All this is incorrect, since "material culture" is not an autonomous, self-contained province of culture, such as religion, law or economics, each of which fulfils a specific function. Material culture is an indis pensable accessory of every single aspect, every pursuit and in stitution, and thus fulfils a general function.
On the other hand, the bald technological treatment is not sufficient to do justice to any class of artifacts. The objects of immediate consumption or use, as well as tools and implements, are essentially correlated to economics and must be studied within its context. The proper analysis of a weapon immediately leads to the description of the manner in which it is wielded, thus to the methods of warfare and war magic and, finally, to the political organisation of the tribe.
There is no single type of human activity without its material accessories. There is not one artifact, however practical or simple, which could be properly understood without its context of living culture, including belief as well as technique, social organisation as well as traditional knowledge.
Once we begin to define form by function, the two categories of meaningless form and of fortuitous coincidence break down completely. An object can be defined and identified only by its use, the study of use leads us again to connect the object with the pursuit, the institution, the aspect. The real identities of culture appear to lie in the organic connection of its parts, in the function which a detail fulfils within its scheme, in the relation between the scheme, the environment and the human needs. Meaningless details disappear, shape becomes alive with meaning and with function, and a testimony of irrelevant form falls away as worthless. The method of formal treatment breaks
down completely.
Summary.—The outer framework of material culture is cor related in a clear and direct manner to the satisfaction of man's biological needs. It constitutes the milieu which man evolves to interpose between himself and the rigours, dangers and in sufficiencies of his physical surroundings. But this material ap paratus has to be operated by men collectively, organised and controlled by the body of tradition, scientific as well as religious and magical. Thus indirectly most elements of social cohesion as well as certain beliefs and ideas can be correlated with man's primary needs, and explained by the biological function which they fulfil and the survival value which they possess. But this is not sufficient, and here an extremely important addition has to be made : the facts of social organisation impose certain con ditions upon human behaviour, imply restrictions and create new wants, which again call forth specific cultural arrangements. Thus, higher forms of organised labour need some compulsion, supplied by political inequalities, and some moral framework, supplied by certain forms of magic.
Mental development running side by side with higher technical ability brings about fear, thought and reflection which make man anticipate his destiny and probe into the past and future of his world. The beliefs of primitive man about future life, the be ginnings of the world and spiritual powers have to be correlated with his increasing mental outlook as well as with the widening social horizon and the development of cultural values. Social cohesion requires some means of enforcing the various rules im posed upon the individual for the common good, and this brings about the sanctions and inducements, which constitute the essence of primitive law. In all this the functional view avoids the effort of attributing priority to any one aspect of culture. Material objects, social grouping, traditional and moral values, as well as knowledge, are all welded into a functional system. To explain any item of culture, material or moral, means to indicate its functional place within an institution, which has to be thus ex plained with reference to its aspect and this again has to be placed within the system of culture.
Finally, anthropology hopes, with the help of her sister sciences, to state the place of culture in the scheme of organic evolution; to show how it is correlated to the instinctive animal equipment of the human species; to demonstrate how it has allowed man to rise above the brute level, to control his surroundings, to develop his knowledge, his faith and his conscience.