ABSTRACT
Many anthropologists who began their careers in research on tribal societies now find themselves involved in the analysis of such complicated contemporary sociocultural systems as China, Russia, India, or the United States. It is not surprising that they bring to these newer tasks methodological tools that were devised primarily for the study of tribal society. Valuable as these tools are for many purposes, they are not adequate to deal with all the phenomena encountered either in the study of modern nations or in the analysis of the acculturation of native populations under the influence of these nations. There is some tendency to meet the difficulty by borrowing concepts and methods from the other social sciences which have had long experience in dealing with contemporary societies. Where this leads to new interdisciplinary approaches it represents healthy scientific development, but often it appears that anthropologists are ready to abandon the unique methods of their own science to imitate the other social sciences. It should be possible to revise basic anthropological concepts and methods to meet the needs of the new and enlarged subject matter.
