Chapter 1
What is Anthropology?
Learning Objectives
After reading and studying Chapter 1, students should be able to answer the following
questions:
1. How does anthropology differ from other social and behavioral sciences?
2. What is the four-field approach to the discipline of anthropology?
3. What do anthropologists mean by holism?
4. What is meant by cultural relativism, and why is it important?
5. What skills will students develop from the study of anthropology?
6. How can anthropology help solve social problems?
Chapter Outline
I. WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
A. The study of the origins, development, and contemporary variations of all
humans who have existed anywhere on earth
B. A discipline that spans the gap between the humanities, the social sciences,
and the natural sciences
C. An attempt to understand the human condition
, D. A very diverse four-field study comprised of physical anthropology,
archaeology, anthropological linguistics, and cultural anthropology
E. While most departments have been organized around the four field concept,
a growing number of anthropologists would like to divide the discipline into
four distinct sub-disciplines.
II. FOUR FIELD APPROACH
A. Physical Anthropology
1. Paleoanthropology: examining the biological evolutionary record
2. Applied physical anthropology: forensic anthropology
3. Primatology: the study of humans’ nearest living relatives
4. Human physical variation: racial categories
B. Archaeology: the study of past cultures by analyzing artifacts left behind
1. Prehistoric: before written history
2. Historic: includes written sources
3. Applied archaeology: cultural resource management
, C. Anthropological Linguistics
1. Historical linguistics
2. Descriptive linguistics
3. Cultural linguistics
4. Sociolinguistics
5. Applied linguistics
D. Cultural Anthropology
1. Ethnology
2. Ethnography
3. Areas of specialization
a. Urban anthropology
b. Medical anthropology
c. Development anthropology
d. Environmental anthropology
e. Psychological anthropology
III. GUIDING PRINCIPLES
A. Holism
1. Anthropology is comprehensive and includes the study of:
a. biological and sociocultural diversity
b. a time frame of several million years
c. a global perspective
2. More specialized today and less holistic than in the past, but
anthropologists continue to analyze their findings within a wider
context
B. Ethnocentrism
, 1. The belief that one’s own culture is most desirable and superior to all
others
2. No society has a monopoly on ethnocentrism.
3. Most people are raised in a single culture and never learn another, so
their ways of life seem to be the most natural.
4. Becoming aware of our own ethnocentrism allows us to temporarily
set aside our own value judgments in order to learn how other
cultures operate.
C. Cultural Relativism
1. Early anthropologists recognized a need for dispassionate and
objective descriptions of the people they were studying.
2. Cultural relativism is the notion that any part of a culture must be
viewed in its proper cultural context rather than from the viewpoint
of the observer’s culture.
3. Rejects the notion that any culture, including our own, possesses a set
of absolute standards by which all other cultures can be judged
4. There are both methodological and ethical limitations to cultural
relativism.
A. The Emic (insider view) and Etic (outsider view) Approaches
What is Anthropology?
Learning Objectives
After reading and studying Chapter 1, students should be able to answer the following
questions:
1. How does anthropology differ from other social and behavioral sciences?
2. What is the four-field approach to the discipline of anthropology?
3. What do anthropologists mean by holism?
4. What is meant by cultural relativism, and why is it important?
5. What skills will students develop from the study of anthropology?
6. How can anthropology help solve social problems?
Chapter Outline
I. WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
A. The study of the origins, development, and contemporary variations of all
humans who have existed anywhere on earth
B. A discipline that spans the gap between the humanities, the social sciences,
and the natural sciences
C. An attempt to understand the human condition
, D. A very diverse four-field study comprised of physical anthropology,
archaeology, anthropological linguistics, and cultural anthropology
E. While most departments have been organized around the four field concept,
a growing number of anthropologists would like to divide the discipline into
four distinct sub-disciplines.
II. FOUR FIELD APPROACH
A. Physical Anthropology
1. Paleoanthropology: examining the biological evolutionary record
2. Applied physical anthropology: forensic anthropology
3. Primatology: the study of humans’ nearest living relatives
4. Human physical variation: racial categories
B. Archaeology: the study of past cultures by analyzing artifacts left behind
1. Prehistoric: before written history
2. Historic: includes written sources
3. Applied archaeology: cultural resource management
, C. Anthropological Linguistics
1. Historical linguistics
2. Descriptive linguistics
3. Cultural linguistics
4. Sociolinguistics
5. Applied linguistics
D. Cultural Anthropology
1. Ethnology
2. Ethnography
3. Areas of specialization
a. Urban anthropology
b. Medical anthropology
c. Development anthropology
d. Environmental anthropology
e. Psychological anthropology
III. GUIDING PRINCIPLES
A. Holism
1. Anthropology is comprehensive and includes the study of:
a. biological and sociocultural diversity
b. a time frame of several million years
c. a global perspective
2. More specialized today and less holistic than in the past, but
anthropologists continue to analyze their findings within a wider
context
B. Ethnocentrism
, 1. The belief that one’s own culture is most desirable and superior to all
others
2. No society has a monopoly on ethnocentrism.
3. Most people are raised in a single culture and never learn another, so
their ways of life seem to be the most natural.
4. Becoming aware of our own ethnocentrism allows us to temporarily
set aside our own value judgments in order to learn how other
cultures operate.
C. Cultural Relativism
1. Early anthropologists recognized a need for dispassionate and
objective descriptions of the people they were studying.
2. Cultural relativism is the notion that any part of a culture must be
viewed in its proper cultural context rather than from the viewpoint
of the observer’s culture.
3. Rejects the notion that any culture, including our own, possesses a set
of absolute standards by which all other cultures can be judged
4. There are both methodological and ethical limitations to cultural
relativism.
A. The Emic (insider view) and Etic (outsider view) Approaches
