Caribbean studies : a symposium

This book has a two-fold significance: first, it is indicative of the maturing of the social sciences, i.e., anthropology and sociology, as the result of the mutual enrichment which they have undergone; and secondly, it contains the results of the application of the methods of social science to certain aspects of what is probably the most important problem of the modern world. On the surface, these two contributions may appear unrelated, but only a little reflection is required for one to realize that the development of these social sciences is closely related to the development of western civilization. The application of the scientific method to the study of both European and non European societies has been a phase of the triumph of the scientific spirit which has been one of the main characteristics of western civilization. At the same time as the spread of western civilization has influenced all the peoples of the earth, it has created the very socio-cultural problems with which the articles in this book are concerned. In this brief introduction, which I had the honour to be invited to contribute, an attempt will be made to emphasize the nature of these socio-cultural problems and to present some comments, not so much on the methods and techniques employed as on the hods conceptual standpoint of the social sciences in studying these problems.
The 1957 edition signalled the growth of scholarly interest in the Caribbean and in the development of several fertile frames of theory and research in this complex area. Two major symposia and subsequent publications explored the theoretical leads provided at the AAAS conference; thiese have recently appeared under the following titles: Plantation Systems in the New World, and Social and Cultural Pluralism in the Caribbean. However, the concepts set forth in our initial volume still delineate the principal conceptual approaches to the study of these New World societies, i.e., the plantation society as a sociohistorical determinant of contemporary subcultures; the synchronic structural-functional analysis of culture and society; the view of history as a resultant of culture diffu sion and syncretism; the pluralistic theory of culture and society. These repre sent the conceptual framework of most current research in the area and continue to stimulate fruitful discussion among the growing group of concerned with the study of the Caribbean and its relevancial scientists to other world areas. Today, with the emergence of new nations, the Caribbean has especial significance for the understanding of the historica storical, social, and cultural back grounds of new political structures, for problems in administration and planning in developing nations with multiple traditions. The sociocultural complexity of the Caribbean is set forth in the theoretical and substantive papers which follow and provide a background for both area research and comparative studies.