The study of Anthropology is the study of humanity along with its societies, social structures and cultures. By analyzing the differences and similarities in traditions, origins and behaviors we gain an insight into how humans evolved and developed into today’s social and national structures.
Anthropology goes deeper into just the surface laws and mores and into the emotional reactions and religious beliefs that govern how we, as humans interact with each other and our environment. It addresses the holistic concepts of how the key ideas of the biological, cultural, linguistic and social development of the human race interact with each other. This employs the concepts of relativism and holism. To understand how this works it is necessary to examine these key ideas more closely.
Cultural relativism involves the concept that culture is not to be used as an absolute; it is only relative to the time and the prospective of the anthropologist. Although the concept for this was developed in the late 1800s by Franz Boas, the term Cultural Relativism was first used in the early 1900s by Alain Locke. . This aspect of anthropology takes into account that what is considered acceptable in one culture may totally violate the standards and mores of another.
Holism is the understanding that concepts should be viewed as an entirety. Essentially, that the whole can differ from the sum of its parts. In the sense of anthropology this can apply to the view of humankind, or as an aspect of national, subcultures and universal cultures, as well as how the key elements of biological, cultural, linguistic and social development of the human race. .
The biological aspect of anthropology involves the evolution of both the human social and physical interactions. These can be seen in prospective by contrasting them to other primate societies. By observing the social behavior of primates such as lemurs, monkeys, and apes insights can be gained into human society. Physical evolution is traced back through modern and prehistoric skeletal and fossil remains.
Cultural anthropology is the range of learned human behaviors and includes art, food, literature, music and traditions. Cultural anthropology is fluid, changing with the times as new understandings develop. For this reason old traditions can be lost, replaced by new ones. This can occur on a national, subcultural and universal cultural basis. Cultures are not to be confused with national identity, of any of the products of culture such as architecture, ceremonies and traditions that are only products of a culture and not the culture itself.
Although the study of the individual language of a culture is part of linguistic anthropology it also involves how the language expresses and shapes a culture as well. This element of anthropology looks at the cultural and social backgrounds that are part of the development of an individual language. Linguistics also involve the uses of language to contend, discuss and negotiate with each other through language.
Although many anthropologists travel the world in their studies, society is all around us and can be studied as a microcosm in a small element of society. This is what Noel Dyck did in his book Field of Play: An Ethnography of Children's Sport. In this he noted that because sport enjoys widespread popularity it lends itself to ethnographic study. Dyck developed his parental interest in his child’s soccer team into a study of community-oriented youth sports in Canada. In order to diffuse some of the emotional aspects that are generally attendant to children’s sports he considered them as a collection of temporal and spatial "social fields." . In this manner he was able to produce a relevant study.
Social anthropology is the cross cultural study of human societies around the world. This involves comparison between different cultures, subcultures and universal cultural as well as establishing commonalities. Social anthropology involves more of a holistic approach in its design taking into account attributes of biological, cultural, and linguistic anthropology and using it to examine universal, regional, cross cultural and subcultural aspects of anthropology.
The relevance and power of the anthropological perspective reveals itself in how it goes deeper into cultural interactions and involves every day actions such as the preparation and distribution of food, into the emotional reactions and religious beliefs and includes just the surface laws and mores that control humans interact with each other and our environment within the social structures. It addresses this on a relative and holistic basis using the key ideas of the biological, cultural, linguistic and social development of the human race. These elements interact with each other and, play out, quite literally, in forums as small as a child’s soccer field.
Bibliography
Dyck, N. (2012). Field of Play: An Ethnography of Children's Sport.
Eriksen, H. (2003). What Is Anthropology? Pluto Press.
