Les primitifs: Études d'ethnologie comparée

A series of comparative ethnological essays examines customs, beliefs, and institutions among less-industrialized societies, arguing that cultural practices evolve as adaptive responses and must be understood without ethnocentric disdain. It treats ethnography as the study of collective psychology, traces how rites and superstitions arise from natural causes and historical development, and emphasizes methodical fieldwork, learning native languages, and entering indigenous perspectives. The work advocates patient comparison to reveal continuities between past and present social forms and aims to classify recurring mental habits while situating cultural variation within a framework of progressive human adaptation.