The Interpretation of Cultures

Geertz's 1973 founding work of interpretive anthropology — thick description and cultural webs of meaning

Tradition: Late-twentieth-century interpretive anthropology

Geertz's 1973 founding work of interpretive anthropology — thick description and cultural webs of meaning

The Interpretation of Cultures is Clifford Geertz's 1973 collection of essays — including "Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture", "Religion as a Cultural System", and "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" — that founded interpretive (or symbolic) anthropology. Geertz argues that culture is "an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols" and that the proper task of anthropology is "thick description": the interpretive elucidation of layers of meaning embedded in cultural practices. Foundational for late-twentieth-century anthropology, cultural studies, and the interpretive social sciences.