the simple life

read the following, and tell me what you think. is it anthropological, or would it fit better under psychology, sociology, or philosophy? does it sound even vaguely interesting? has anything like it been done before?



im taking an independent study for anthropology next semester, and need to come up with a good research idea. its pretty open ended, as long as it relates to anthro in some way and my proff approves it. i figure this can be a good way to make something of my many, many philosophical quandries that i never really explore

so today, while watching The Village, i began to wonder why people choose to leave society for a simpler life. In America, there are "hippy communes", in Israel there are Kibbutzes. Yet the majority of people remain in their stressful societies, either realizing that a simpler life would be better yet never acting upon this realization, or never realizing it at all and suffering the consequences to the psyche and the body. my premise is built on the assumption that there is something inherently "better" about the simpler life, which is evidenced by:

A. The health detrements incurred by those who, for whatever reason, choose to remain in their complex, stressful lives to which they were born.

B. The speculative, though maybe obvious as well, benefits to the mind and body of those who lives simpler lives.

C. The somewhat rare, yet observable, "dropping out" of many people of complex lives to simpler ones. What drives them to do this?

What do i mean by "simpler life"? The image I have in my mind is an agricultural scene, one that by todays standards would be considered Amish , hippy, or otherwise "out-there and weird", yet has occupied virtually every person who has ever lived, in every land, save for western countries of the past half century.

i dont want to give the impression that this will be cenered on hippies and their communes. they are an interesting case study that i would probably make use of, but my purposes are not to push its ideology. they are just one example of a wholly different idea-to explore the impact that simplicity has on the body and mind.

cheers

 

Positively sociological, all the way.

Sociology is a branch or type of anthropology.

So it's an anthropology project as well as a sociology project (sociology might be most accurate though).

But I'm not quite sure it'd make the best project ... it would likely be very difficult to do a thorough, scientific study ...

 

Thats what I was thinking, its sociology. That'd be real interesting, and you can put it on the national news, or something...

 

Keep in mind, a lot of whites who were taken by native americans, when rescued by their fellow whites, often had to be dragged away kicking and screaming, and often would try to escape BACK to the indian villiages. I guess this was especially true with women. Maybe you can use that too.

Anyways, cool idea, I hope you're able to do it.

 

you should take that to another level...research more, and publicize it more.....i myself am interested now....

 

I think it would fall under all those headings.

I've checked out and been a part of alot of subcultures; communes, hobos, street people, deadheads, carnival people, ... and the reasons people choose these lives varies from person to person;

1). Some people find themselves with nowhere else to go.
2). Some people can't make it in mainstream society.
3). Some people did make it quite succesfully in mainstream but always felt like something was missing.
4). Some people want a stronger sense of community or tribal identity than mainstream society offers.
5). some people are just crazy.
6). some people realise that everybodys crazy and just don't want to deal with it.
7) Sometimes it's just a matter of personal values.

As far as why some people who know that mainstream is unhealthy stay in it anyway; it's sort of like being in a bad relationship, as long as you're in it you always have someone else to blame your unhappyness on. If you get out of it and you're still unhappy you have to face yourself.

 

quote: Sociology is a branch or type of anthropology.

At my school it was the other way around.

But I agree, it would be both. In my anthro classes we studied everything from tribbes of native peoples to social and ethnic groups in Harlem. Reciprocity and the mechanics of societies and their economic systems have everything to do with anthro.

 

TrippinBTM-yea, i remember reading a book like that a long time ago in grade school. the indians raided and stole small children, and raised them as their own. then, many years later, they indians were forced to give the whites back, who faught kicking and screaming to stay. but if i were to use this, id have to make sure that the whites wanted to stay with their tribe because of their hatred of the confusing, complex white society, and not their love for the only society they have ever known. they didnt want to leave the indians because they had grown so accostomed to the indian ways. the same way as if an adopted indian came into a white family, he would probably not ant to return to the indians years down the road

cool sig pic btw. looks like alex grey's stuff.

 

Sometimes even full grown adults, captured by the indians, would wish to stay. Especially women, who got more respect and had an easier life with the Natives. So it's not just that people raised that way who wanted to stay, it's also people who discovererd that there were easier, better ways of life.

 

Since you switched threads