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During the past year Dr. Opler has published three papers outlining a new conceptual scheme for analyzing cultures in terms of a limited number of basic postulates or "themes." The first article established definitions of the concepts and the theoretical basis for their use;' the second was an attempt, on an admittedly limited scale, to validate the scheme by applying it to the description of a culture, that of the Lipan Apache,;2 while the third was directed primarily toward clarifying issues raised in a critical article by Albert K. Cohen, but it also intimated the uses to which t h e concept might be put on a comparative basis.3 As these three papers provide a fairly well rounded picture of the method as proposed this seems an appropriate time to examine it before it is used in a full-dress study.4The term "theme" is used here in a technical sense to denote a postulate or position, declared or implied, and usually controlling behavior or stimulating activity, which is tacitly approved or openly promoted in a society.6 1 "Themes as

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