ABSTRACT
Few anthropologists of his generation were as conscious of method as Robert Redfield. Indeed, from his dissertation study of Tepoztlán to his final publications, he displayed a keen interest in methodology, particularly as related to the study of intermediate or peasant peoples. In the late 1940s to early 1950s, Redfield became interested in the study of complex civilizations. The study of civilizations had long been dominated by sociologists and humanists, whose investigations required written records and hence focused primarily on the activities and products of the elite. Redfield brought a unique perspective to the comparative study of civilizations, though, by calling attention to the need to expand the field to include examination of the masses of illiterate peasants that composed large portions of all complex civilizations. Most important, Redfield introduced a new framework for conceptualizing the role of peasants within civilizations. In this conceptualization, Redfield proposed that civilizations be seen as composed of two distinct but intertwined cultural traditions, the “great traditions” of the literary elite and the “little traditions” of the non-literate masses. Anthropologists had an important role to play in comparative civilization studies, Redfield argued, through their ability to study the little traditions. Redfield encouraged anthropologists to turn their attention toward studies of the little traditions of peasant peoples and to place these studies into the context of grand civilizational studies. Only through the composite efforts of sociologists and humanists in studying the literate great traditions and anthropologists in studying the non-literate little traditions, Redfield continued, could comparative civilization studies effectively proceed. Redfield elaborated his notion of the dialectical relationship between the great and little traditions over the course of the early to mid 1950s. This selection, a chapter taken from his short 1956 book, Peasant Society and Culture: An Anthropological Approach to Civilization, offers Redfield’s most succinct explanation of his ideas surrounding the great and little traditions and their application to the anthropological study of civilizations.
