ABSTRACT
Over the past 40 years the Spindlers have addressed the issue of homogeneity and heterogeneity with methodological flexibility, eclecticism, and perseverance. This chapter describes the development of their ideas and attempts to place their research in the larger context of developments in American cultural anthropology. The Spindlers were trained in psychology, sociology, and anthropology and are eclectic in their use of theoretical and methodological constructs. Their training in sociology gave them a theoretical preparedness to perceive and measure diversity and the methodological sophistication to do so. The major area of research in which the heritage of configurationalist homogeneity is most clearly reflected in the Spindlers’ work is in their study of values. In their emphasis on values, the Spindlers resemble the configurationalists, but their fieldwork and eclecticism have led them to pursue more complex ways of conceiving of the parameters and mechanisms of homogeneity and heterogeneity.
