Concepts of Anthropology
Concepts of Anthropology
Anthropology
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Comes from the Greek word Anthropos which means human and logy which
means the study of. The word anthropology means the study of humankind throughout
history.
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Different fields in anthropology
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Physical Anthropology (Biological Anthropology)
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Systematic study of humans as biological organisms
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Archeology
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Study of human cultures through the recovery and analysis of material
remains and environmental data.
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Linguistic Anthropology
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Study of human languages
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Cultural Anthropology
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Study of customary patterns in human behavior, thought, and feelings.
- Two components of cultural anthropology
1. Ethnography
– Detailed description of a particular culture based on fieldwork. Fieldwork is
a term anthropologists use or on-location research. Participant observation is the
means of learning people’s culture through social participation and personal
observation within the community over a long period.
2. Ethnology – Analysis of different cultures from a comparative or historical point
of view.
- Major schools of thought in cultural anthropology
a. Early evolutionism by Edward Taylor and Lewis Henry Morgan
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States that most societies were believed to pass through the same series
of stages, to arrive ultimately at a common end.
b. Later Evolutionism by Leslie White
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States that culture evolves as the amount of energy harnessed per capita
per year is increased or as the efficiency of instrumental means of putting the
energy to work increases.
c. Historical Particularism by Franz Boas
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States that it was premature to formulate universal law since there is a
need to study the context of the society in which they appeared.
d. Functionalism by Bronislaw Malinowski
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States that all cultural traits serve the need of individuals in a society;
the function of cultural traits is to satisfy some basic needs of the people.
e. Structural Functionalism by Radcliffe Brown
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Assumes that the various aspects of social behavior maintain a society’s
social structure or network of relationships, rather than satisfying individual
needs. It works in the following assumptions: stability, harmony, equilibrium, and
evolution.
f. Structuralism by Claude Levi-Strauss
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States that culture as it is expressed in art, ritual, and the pattern of
daily life is a surface representation of the underlying patterns of the human
mind.
g. Psychological Approaches by Edward Sapir, Ruth Benedict, and
Margaret Mead
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Seek to understand how psychological factors and processes may help us
explain cultural practices.
h. Interpretive Approaches
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Consider cultures as a test to be analyzed for their hidden meanings.
i. Feminist Anthropology
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Theories that answer who, what, and where are the women in society?.
j. Conflict Theory
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Assumes that society can be explained based on economic determinism,
dialectical process, and social action.
