What is anthropology????

Question

What is anthropology????

Answer 1

The study of living cultures. It is NOT the same as Sociology, although there are some shared traits. In the U.S., you must have extensive studies in Anthropology before you can become an archaeologist. Please use your search engine to look for a full, and most importantly, reliable definition for the term.

Answer 2

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It's almost exactly the same as sociology really - sociologists and anthropologists don't spend much time worrying whether or not they're 'doing' anthropology or sociology - but the main difference is the history of the disciplines - anthropology started out as the study of what were then known as 'primitive' people, sociology the study of 'civilisation' or (then) contemporary European society. The difference NOW is that anthropologists tend to take a more comparative perspective of their work, ie, they might look at the effects of tourism in Birmingham, UK and Birmingham, US, for a cross-cultural point of view.



But then there are different types of anthropology - material culture, for example, which is a type of anthropology/archaeology cross over - indeed, anthropology has a great deal in common with archaeology.



Quite simply, anthropology is the study of humanity. A broad task, but it comes from the GReek etymology -

Anthros - man (human)

ology - Science.



Despite the person below's rebuttal I stand by my charge that most top anthropoogists and sociologists, at least in the UK, don't spend that much time worrying about whether what they're doing is one or the other. Indeed some of the most wel known anthropologists of our day have been multidisciplinary (cf, eg. Foucault, Milton, Ingold) I will provide a list of resources and a quotation later today when I've finished my final essay.

Answer 3

As well as the "study of humans" which everyone else has explained I will add some of the sub-fields of anthropology.



Medical Anth

Biological or Physical Anth

Cultural Anth

Linguistics

Legal Anth

Environmental Anth

Business Anth



These are some of the fields that can be studied from an anthropological perspective, and used to understand issues in different cultures, or within subgroups in one culture such as those in the US.

Answer 4

Anthropology





(from the Greek word άνθρωπος, "human" or "person") consists of the study of humanity (see genus Homo). It is holistic in two senses: it is concerned with all humans at all times and with all dimensions of humanity. A primary trait that traditionally distinguished anthropology from other humanistic disciplines is an emphasis on cultural relativity, in-depth examination of context, and cross-cultural comparisons.

Answer 5

The scientific study of the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans.

That part of Christian theology concerning the genesis, nature, and future of humans, especially as contrasted with the nature of God: “changing the church's anthropology to include more positive images of women” (Priscilla Hart).