Jules Henry
Encyclopedia
Jules Henry was a noted American
anthropologist
.
After studies at the City College of New York
, Henry earned his Ph.D.
in anthropology from Columbia University
in 1935. His classmates included Irving Goldman, Ruth Landis and Edward Kennard. His instructors at Columbia included Franz Boas and Margaret Mead.
Henry lived with and mastered the language of the Kaingang natives of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil. In writing about the experience, Henry married the then newly popular psychoanalytic notions of psychiatrist
Sigmund Freud
with the non-invasive, observational discipline of professional anthropology. The resulting monograph, “Jungle People”, was, as Henry himself put it, "the first anthropological monograph written from a psychoanalytic point of view."
In 1936, Henry began an 18-month observational residence with the Pilaga natives of Argentina, which, as with his experience in Brazil, figures in his two books, both of which figured in the orthopsychiatry movement becoming popular at that time (orthopsychiatry is the psychiatric study, treatment, and prevention of emotional and behavioral problems, especially of those that arise during early development).
According to Harold Gould, writing in the American Anthropologist
in 1969, his experiences with people largely unexposed to Western, commercial / industrial culture led Henry "beyond the primitive band into the broader and more universal questions of how human behavior (indeed, the human condition) is transmitted from generation to generation and with what consequences."
Afterwards, he was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
and Labor
and held various teaching positions at the University of Chicago
and in Mexico City
. From 1947 to his death in 1969, Henry served as professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis
.
His most significant publications before his two major books (cited below) include "Environment and Symptom Formation" (1946), “Cultural Discontinuity and the Shadow of the Past” (1948), “The Principle of Limits with Special Reference to the Social Sciences” (1950), “Family Structure and Psychic Development” (1951), “Family Structure and the Transmission of Neurotic Behavior” (1951), “Child Rearing, Culture and the Natural World” (1952), “Culture, Education and Communications Theory” (1954), “American Culture and Mental Health” (1956), “Attitude Organization in Elementary School Classrooms” (1957), “The Problem of Spontaneity, Initiative and Creativity in Suburban Classrooms” (1959), “The Naturalistic Observations of Families of Psychotic Children” (1961), “Notes on the Alchemy of Mass Misrepresentation” (1961), “Values, Guilt, Suffering and Consequences” (1963), “American Schoolrooms: Learning the Nightmare” (1963), “On Regimentation” (1964), “My Life with the Families of Psychotic Children” (1964), “Sham” (1966), “Public Education and Public Anxiety” (1967), and “Attitude Organization in Elementary School Classrooms” (1969).
The article, “Capital’s Last Frontier,” published in The Nation magazine in 1966 induced a flurry of letters to the editor. His similarly toned speech at the Canadian Centennial celebration in 1967, “The United States: From Barbarism to Decadence Without Civilization?” also caused a stir in academic circles.
Henry's first book, Culture Against Man (1963) questioned the authority of, and rationale behind, cultural institutions, particularly public education
. The collection of essays and anthropological study first drafted in the mid 1950s also examined the influence of American advertising in the “Mad Men” era and the “human obsolescence” and profitable “warehousing” of the elderly in institutional settings.
His second book, Pathways to Madness (1965), focused on interpersonally-induced mental
and developmental disorder
s, raising the question of how disease
and disorder arise from behavioral conditioning
in families of origin and cultural institutions. Others developing similar ideas included Gregory Bateson
(double binding), Paul Watzlawick
(paradoxical injunction), Don D. Jackson (the etiology of schizophrenia
) and Ronald D. Laing (crazy-making families).
His third (posthumous) book, On Sham, Vulnerability and other forms of Self-Destruction (1973) is a collection of essays, among them his famed eight-page essay on "Sham," originally prepared for the 1966 Conference on Society and Psychosis at the Hahnemann Medical College (now Drexel University
Medical School) in Philadelphia. In it, Henry describes how children are socialized to accept and utilize dishonesty as an interpersonal tool despite being taught to "always tell the truth."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
.
After studies at the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
, Henry earned his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in anthropology from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1935. His classmates included Irving Goldman, Ruth Landis and Edward Kennard. His instructors at Columbia included Franz Boas and Margaret Mead.
Henry lived with and mastered the language of the Kaingang natives of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil. In writing about the experience, Henry married the then newly popular psychoanalytic notions of psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
with the non-invasive, observational discipline of professional anthropology. The resulting monograph, “Jungle People”, was, as Henry himself put it, "the first anthropological monograph written from a psychoanalytic point of view."
In 1936, Henry began an 18-month observational residence with the Pilaga natives of Argentina, which, as with his experience in Brazil, figures in his two books, both of which figured in the orthopsychiatry movement becoming popular at that time (orthopsychiatry is the psychiatric study, treatment, and prevention of emotional and behavioral problems, especially of those that arise during early development).
According to Harold Gould, writing in the American Anthropologist
American Anthropologist
American Anthropologist is the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association . It is known for publishing a wide range of work in anthropology, including articles on cultural, biological and linguistic anthropology and archeology...
in 1969, his experiences with people largely unexposed to Western, commercial / industrial culture led Henry "beyond the primitive band into the broader and more universal questions of how human behavior (indeed, the human condition) is transmitted from generation to generation and with what consequences."
Afterwards, he was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
and Labor
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...
and held various teaching positions at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. From 1947 to his death in 1969, Henry served as professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
.
His most significant publications before his two major books (cited below) include "Environment and Symptom Formation" (1946), “Cultural Discontinuity and the Shadow of the Past” (1948), “The Principle of Limits with Special Reference to the Social Sciences” (1950), “Family Structure and Psychic Development” (1951), “Family Structure and the Transmission of Neurotic Behavior” (1951), “Child Rearing, Culture and the Natural World” (1952), “Culture, Education and Communications Theory” (1954), “American Culture and Mental Health” (1956), “Attitude Organization in Elementary School Classrooms” (1957), “The Problem of Spontaneity, Initiative and Creativity in Suburban Classrooms” (1959), “The Naturalistic Observations of Families of Psychotic Children” (1961), “Notes on the Alchemy of Mass Misrepresentation” (1961), “Values, Guilt, Suffering and Consequences” (1963), “American Schoolrooms: Learning the Nightmare” (1963), “On Regimentation” (1964), “My Life with the Families of Psychotic Children” (1964), “Sham” (1966), “Public Education and Public Anxiety” (1967), and “Attitude Organization in Elementary School Classrooms” (1969).
The article, “Capital’s Last Frontier,” published in The Nation magazine in 1966 induced a flurry of letters to the editor. His similarly toned speech at the Canadian Centennial celebration in 1967, “The United States: From Barbarism to Decadence Without Civilization?” also caused a stir in academic circles.
Henry's first book, Culture Against Man (1963) questioned the authority of, and rationale behind, cultural institutions, particularly public education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. The collection of essays and anthropological study first drafted in the mid 1950s also examined the influence of American advertising in the “Mad Men” era and the “human obsolescence” and profitable “warehousing” of the elderly in institutional settings.
His second book, Pathways to Madness (1965), focused on interpersonally-induced mental
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
and developmental disorder
Developmental disorder
Developmental disorders occur at some stage in a child's development, often retarding the development. These may include,psychological or physical disorders. The disorder is an impairment in the normal development of motor or cognitive skills that are developed before age 18 in which they are...
s, raising the question of how disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
and disorder arise from behavioral conditioning
Conditioning
Conditioning may refer to:* In psychology, the process of performing some particular action to directly influence an individual's learning; see education...
in families of origin and cultural institutions. Others developing similar ideas included Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. He had a natural ability to recognize order and pattern in the universe...
(double binding), Paul Watzlawick
Paul Watzlawick
Paul Watzlawick was an Austrian-American psychologist and philosopher. A theoretician in communication theory and radical constructivism, he has commented in the fields of family therapy and general psychotherapy...
(paradoxical injunction), Don D. Jackson (the etiology of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
) and Ronald D. Laing (crazy-making families).
His third (posthumous) book, On Sham, Vulnerability and other forms of Self-Destruction (1973) is a collection of essays, among them his famed eight-page essay on "Sham," originally prepared for the 1966 Conference on Society and Psychosis at the Hahnemann Medical College (now Drexel University
Drexel University
Drexel University is a private research university with the main campus located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a noted financier and philanthropist. Drexel offers 70 full-time undergraduate programs and accelerated degrees...
Medical School) in Philadelphia. In it, Henry describes how children are socialized to accept and utilize dishonesty as an interpersonal tool despite being taught to "always tell the truth."