Introduction

Karl Marx was an anthropologist. Anthropology has a dual heritage. One strand, which we will call “empirical anthropology” for the moment, examines both the external characteristics of human beings and their cultural achievements, including how they communicate symbolically, the activities that define their social lives and relationships, and the material evidence for their history both social and as a species. The other strand, called “philosophical anthropology,” is concerned with the presuppositions of the various traditions of empirical anthropology, especially with what its practitioners believe to be the core features, or ontological structures, that constitute human beings. This chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book examines what one social theorist, Karl Marx, made of the anthropological discussions that had taken place since the mid eighteenth century and that had formative or shaping influences on his thought. It considers what his legacy actually is or could be to the issues of anthropological importance today.