# The Interpretation of Cultures

The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays is a 1973 book by the American anthropologist Clifford Geertz. The book is a foundational text in cultural anthropology and represents Geertz’s vision of how culture should be studied and understood. The essays collectively argue for a new approach to anthropology, one that emphasizes the interpretive analysis of culture, which Geertz describes as “webs of significance” spun by humans themselves. The book was listed in the Times Literary Supplement as one of the 100 most important publications since World War Two.

## Key Concepts

The key contribution of The Interpretation of Cultures is Geertz's idea of thick description, a method of qualitative research that involves deeply detailed descriptions of cultural activities in their context. This approach goes beyond merely cataloging behaviors or rituals, seeking instead to understand the complex layers of meaning embedded within these activities. Thick description allows researchers to capture the rich detail that brings cultural practices to life, making them comprehensible to outsiders.
Geertz also redefined the concept of culture itself, arguing that culture is not a set of behaviors or practices that can be objectively observed but a system of symbols and meanings that are interpreted and understood differently within each cultural context. He famously stated that humans are “suspended in webs of significance” they themselves have spun, with culture being these webs, and anthropology's role as interpreting their meanings.

### Religion and Ideology as Cultural Systems

Geertz’s essays also explore the concept of religion and ideology as cultural systems. He proposes that religion provides a framework for understanding what is “really real” to its adherents, serving to order the world in ways that make life’s ambiguities, puzzles, and paradoxes manageable. In this view, religious symbols function to synthesize a society’s ethos (the moral and aesthetic aspects of life) with their worldview (the existential order).
Similarly, Geertz views ideology as a cultural system that provides individuals with symbolic frameworks for interpreting their social and political environments. Ideologies, according to Geertz, help individuals navigate the complexities of social life, offering selective solutions to specific problems and often simplifying or exaggerating aspects of social reality. This perspective highlights the importance of understanding the symbolic dimensions of ideology in order to grasp its influence on social and political life.

## Influence

Geertz was awarded the Sorokin Award in 1974 by the American Sociological Association "for his brilliant essays on The Interpretation of Cultures." The book is considered to be influential within the anthropological discipline, particularly in terms of the discussion of thick description as a construct for examining social phenomena.
The Interpretation of Cultures significantly influenced the field of anthropology by shifting the focus towards a more interpretive approach to understanding cultures. Geertz's work helped to move anthropology away from the search for universal laws of human behavior and towards a more nuanced understanding of how cultural meanings are constructed and maintained within specific contexts.
This book has been highly influential not only in anthropology but also in related fields such as sociology, cultural studies, and literary theory. It introduced a method of analysis that has been widely adopted in qualitative research across the social sciences. The concept of thick description has become a cornerstone of ethnographic research, emphasizing the importance of context in understanding cultural practices.
Geertz’s ideas also laid the groundwork for what would later be known as symbolic or interpretive anthropology, a school of thought that has had a lasting impact on the study of culture.

## Reception

Upon its publication, The Interpretation of Cultures was met with critical acclaim and became a foundational text in cultural anthropology. It was praised for its innovative approach and for providing a comprehensive framework for understanding culture through symbols and meanings. However, it has also faced criticism, particularly regarding the complexity and sometimes opaque nature of Geertz’s prose, which some have found difficult to follow.

## Editions

The book was first published in 1973 by Basic Books and has since been reprinted several times. A second edition was released in 2000, which includes a new preface by Geertz.