Possible approximations between Clifford Geertz’s Symbolic Anthropology and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Abstract

Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) was an influential anthropologist and founder of Symbolic Anthropology. This strand of the Social Sciences addresses cultural issues through the understanding of symbolic issues. On the other hand, based on Behavior Analysis, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) arises, developing intervention and research emphasizing cognition and symbolic behavior. This article aims to present Symbolic Anthropology’s notion of culture, and how it could contribute to ACT by integrating the comprehension of symbolic behavior as inherent to cultural relations. For this, the Conceptual Text Interpretation Procedure was used to describe Geertz’s main concepts and critics present in his work The Interpretation of Cultures, seeking to discuss these findings from the ACT conceptions. We found that understanding culture as a web of symbols would enable to intervene in structural issues, such as racism, in a way that is congruent with what is already being discussed in ACT, producing a more contextualized understanding of these phenomena. As an example, a fictitious case study was presented to describe this proposal for understanding cultural interventions in clinical settings. Thus, some compatibility between both theories were found, allowing an initial dialogue that could produce advances in both areas through the development of new works.