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This paper examines recent work in the sociology of culture devoted to providing endogenous explanations of cultural phenomena. The focus is on works that provide cultural explanations of cultural processes, as opposed to the social structural and "production of culture" explanations otherwise predominant in the literature. I examine three distinct approaches: a "post-hermeneutic" approach devoted not to the question of cultural interpretation but to the issue of subjects' manipulation of culture in the quest for meaning; a semiotic approach focused on the mechanics of symbol systems; and an ecological approach that emphasizes the role of competition and niche density in explaining both cultural stasis and change. The three approaches have in common a general lack of interest in traditional conceptions of meaning (verstehen), choosing in-stead to focus on issues related to the internal structure and dynamics of cultural expression. This marks a new opportunity for synthesis and exploration in a field traditionally devoted to extra-cultural explanation of cultural phenomena. Both endogenous and exogenous explanations are offered for the rise of this newtrend in the sociology of culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents critical trends in the study of hunter-gatherer. Optimal foraging theory (socioecology), historicist (ethnohistorical) approach, comparative sociology in the Marxist and structuralist tradition, and humanistic approach are the four categories of critique reviewed by the author. He emphasizes hermeneutic and meaningful interpretation of insider's views and reflexive works. He comments on antipositivism of "comparative method" diminishing the impulse to universalize and creating problem in anthropology. The author concluded that the most effective ways of understanding the "hunter-gatherer" social form are the reflexive approach and the advocacy focus of recent works attempting to translate between indigenous concepts and the legal codes of dominant societies.

Accessing ancient meaning and sound from graphic notations is an immense challenge to archaeologists, whether with respect to marked objects, petrographs, or phonic writing. Two paths clear the way: the detection or reasoned reconstruction of "situation," how graphic notations were used in the past and in what social and cultural setting, and the process of "extraction," the hermeneutic scholarship that decodes such messages and establishes the relative plausibility of an interpretation. Situation is easier to study and extraction more likely to occur in cases of phonic writing, where varieties or types, physical inspection, decipherment, origins, and extinction permit multiple inroads into past sound and meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]