Subdivisions Of Anthropology Essay

“Anthropology is the study of humankind and all its manifestations in all times and places. Anthropologists study the biological, cultural, linguistic, and prehistoric aspects of humans” (Smith, Young 7). There are four main subdivisions in anthropology: biological anthropology, physiological anthropology, linguistic anthropology, cultural anthropology. These subdivisions of anthropologists work in all areas on the world, with all ages and periods of time. “Biological anthropology, in many respects, closely resembles the field of biology, except that anthropologists focus on human beings, their ancestors, and their primate relatives, and not on nonhuman life forms” (Smith, Young 10). One of the major subject matters that biological anthropologists

Linguist anthropology focuses on the multifaceted relationship between language and culture” (Smith, Young 13). Cultural anthropology is a very common anthropology subdivision. It is still misunderstood and not many people know much about it. Cultural anthropology is also called sociocultural anthropology. “The term “sociocultural” is a combination of the words society and culture and is often used as a shorthand for the two. Cultural anthropology is divided in its own subdivisions: social, political, and economic anthropology, human or cultural ecology, anthropology of religion, anthropology of art, medical anthropology, legal anthropology, and ethnoscience or cognitive anthropology (Smith, Young 15). Culture is “the shared knowledge, beliefs and patterns for behavior, the resulting behavior, and the resulting material products” (Smith, Young 19). In my own words, different cultures are different languages, ethnicity, beliefs, and ways of living and life. Important components of culture include language, ethnicity, religion, and occupation. “Thus, culture in our definition is partly a symbolic phenomenon that exists in the mind and a code of sorts that governs the way we act in particular

A long time ago when anthropology was still new, many people did not consider anthropologist’s legitimate scientists. Back in these day’s research done for psychology purposes was geared more towards studying western people. Because anthropological research was geared towards studying foreign people by westerners, many people said anthropologists were not scientists. Anthropological research can be dangerous due to the fact that the scientists may have to stay with a certain group of people for an extended period of time in an unnatural and potentially harmful condition. If scientists were to study a group of people in a lab to examine how they act the research would be flawed due to the fact that they are not in their natural environment. Anthropological research is very accurate and effective when anthropologist want to study of a society of people. The anthropologists don’t want the people to act any different than how they would on daily basis so because of this, they often have to try to be as invisible as possible. While watching a society from a distance can be a useful tool to determine how they act on a day to day basis, it does not always get the deeper meaning as to why they do the things that they