Anthropology concepts and applications

Anthropology: The Fundamental Social Science

Anthropology is, according the American Anthropological Association, "the study of humans, past and present" (AAA, 2011). Anthropology looks at what it means to be human; it is "a field of inquiry that studies human culture and evolutionary aspects of human biology, including cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and biological anthropology" (Jurmain, Kilgore, & Trevathan 2006: 6). It, therefore, is the fundamental social (and behavioral) science discipline that is concerned with humans. To understand Anthropology, one must understand social science, which is "a branch of science that deals with the institutions and functioning of human society and with the interpersonal relationships of individuals as members of sociality" (Webster's, 2011). While other social sciences describe and explain aspects of humanity, anthropology looks at humanity holistically.

Anthropology

Anthropology is, at its heart, a discipline concerned with both the biological and sociocultural aspects of humanity. As such, it sets the stage for all other disciplines. Disciplines such as economics, geography, history, linguistics, political science, and sociology all rely on anthropological information and methodology, or, at least, understand humanity is a fundamentally limited way (e.g., understanding humanity only from a western/North American perspective or a post-industrial revolutionary perspective). Anthropology, however, tries to understand what exactly it means to be human. It seeks, though biological anthropology, to understand exactly where "humanity" is defined (genetically and evolutionarily), and to understand how "humans" are different from their closest relatives (i.e., the chimpanzees).

It further seeks to understand the second most fundamental influence (behind biology) on humanity: culture. Culture is that entity which sets the stage for all other behaviors. It prescribes the "rights' and "wrongs" of a group of people. Culture is "all aspects of human adaptation, including technology, traditions, language, religion, marriage patterns, and social roles." (Jurmain, Kilgore, & Trevathan 2006: 493). Culture represents learned behaviors, but provides the basis for understanding humans in their own (culturally constructed) environment. When one thinks about the difference between, for example, Germans and Americans, one is invoking notions of culture. When a person moves from one area to another, s/he may experience what is known as culture shock, which, essentially, is the inability to rectify the differences between one's home culture with the new culture that s/he or finds him/herself in. Anthropology tries to understand these differences (and similarities) to make them relatable to everyone. Anthropology feels it is its job to turn the unfamiliar into the familiar.

Anthropology's Position among Other Social Sciences

Anthropology has the responsibility of tapering and, actually, contextualizing other disciplines. Some examples include economics, geography, history, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology. Because of its all-encompassing ability to understand the human experience from multiple perspectives, anthropology sets the stage for other Social Science disciplines. It allows linguistics to study language out of an understanding that humans live in a symbolic world and communicate symbolically (a cultural phenomenon). It allows sociologists to study the (oft Western, American) society as an entity in and of itself (and anthropology understands society as a product of culture, and that product allows for the ability for humanity to continue its existence. Without the ability to cohabitate amicably, humanity would not, most likely, have survived as long or prospered as much). It allows historians to understand the culture and the "ways" of the people of the past (through, often, written texts (i.e., cultural artifacts) and anthropological archaeology). It allows for economics to understand humanity through "rationality" agreement (which presupposes that humans work in a cultural landscape and have a market driven, rational reason for acting (for only anthropology can explain why one would want, allow, or act rationally in a market society)). It allows for the Political Scientist to understand the political makeup of society (which requires a cultural adherence and approval of a political system of power0, and for geographers to understand humanity (from a viewpoint that requires humans to be members of a group that are, generally, geocentric (i.e., culturally centered)), and for other social sciences to understand humanity from a point-of-view that takes for granted their humanity (e.g., psychology).