Anthropology is often described as a holistic discipline whose aim is to appreciate, in all of its complexity, the human being from biological, cultural, linguistic, and historical perspectives. This scope is reflected in anthropological research methodology, which is different from that of disciplines in the social sciences such as sociology, psychology, or political science. All social sciences seek to know something about people and societies but spend prolonged periods observing methods of getting to know their subjects in-depth and how people are best known through the cultural and natural environments they’re a part of.
In this blog, we will delve deeper into the methods used in anthropological research and how they distinguish the subject from the rest. Such anthropological and comparative techniques may help us discern the essence of anthropología.
Ethnography: Immersion and Participant Observation
Anthropology’s most characteristic research approach is ethnography, which studies people and cultures through participant observation. Fieldwork is often how ethnography is conducted, with anthropologists living in their study communities for long periods—sometimes months or years. This enables anthropologists to access communities’ social practices, beliefs, rituals, and everyday life in situ.
One vital method in ethnography is participant observation, where anthropologists observe and participate in community activities. This tactic allows researchers to fulfill the golden rule of fieldwork, to walk a mile in the shoes of those they study, and in doing so, discover things that can’t be led to by survey or interview alone.
What is Ethnography in Anthropology: Example of Ethnography in Anthropology
An anthropologist researching the rituals and everyday lives of an isolated indigenous tribe in the Amazon rainforest, for example, might live in close quarters with the tribe, learning their language and celebrating along with their ceremonies, and observing first hand their customs, traditions, and challenges. This ethnographic study provides far richer insight than could come from second-hand accounts or even formal interviews.
How It is Different From Other Social Sciences
Titles in this category include Sociology. Sociologists might utilize survey research, statistical work, or interviewing, often in urban or institutional contexts. Ethnographic methods are used in some sociological studies, though they do not usually involve long-term immersion in the field like anthropology does.
Psychology: Research in psychology tends to center on individuals or small groups and often employs controlled experiments, psychological testing, or clinical observation. Psychology doesn’t tend to offer the same immersive cultural point of view that ethnography demands.
Life in a Full Context: A Holistic Approach to Human Experience
The holistic method represents an in-depth study of how anthropologists want to realize the interplay between different domains of human life. That encompasses our culture, sure, but also our biology, our language, and our history. Anthropologists can see all this together and get a clearer picture of the human condition.
For instance, other social sciences may concern themselves with narrower dimensions of society or behavior. Sociology might provide insight into social structures and institutions, political science might offer tools for understanding governance and power relations, and psychology might understand individual thought processes or behaviors in a vacuum.
Anthropology Holistic Approach Example
A biological anthropologist studying human evolution would still study skeletal remains but also consider how the evolution of objects — tools, language, social structures — shapes the species’ adaptation. A cultural anthropologist might examine how economic systems, family structures, and cultural beliefs come together in a specific community.
Primary Factors that Distinguish It from Other Social Sciences:
Sociology: Sociological analysis is typically the study of social structures, such as institutions (e.g., the family, education, or the economy), but it rarely examines biological or linguistic components of society.
Political science: Politicians focus on power, government systems, and political behavior, narrower than the broader interdisciplinary approach of anthropology, which looks at how things like the environment, social context, and cultural traits all interact.
Psychology usually focuses on individuals or small populations, often studying specific behaviors or mental processes in isolation. It doesn’t usually take a broad, culturally diverse perspective, including historical and environmental contexts.
Band with Cross Cultural Band: Humanity Studying Time and Space
Cross-cultural comparison helps anthropologists understand human behaviors and cultural schemas. Anthropology is concerned with the ways that cultures are at once the same for all humans and the ways that they are different from one another, so anthropologists study other cultures to find out what is universal about the human experience and what is culture-specific (the way that societal factors from one culture do not determine every aspect of the next).
This comparative approach enables anthropologists to consider broader conclusions about human nature and society by interpreting a range of cultural contexts. Anthropologists can contrast societies related to time (for example, ancient civilizations with contemporary societies) or space (comparing societies in several locations).
Cross-Cultural Comparison In Anthropology- An Example of Indian Polarity
An anthropologist might compare marriage practices in two very different societies: one from the U.S. and one from India. This would help the anthropologist further understand the role that different cultural values, religions, and economics play in influencing the practice of marriage.
How It Differs From Other Social Sciences
Sociology: Sociologists compare social structures or institutions, but they often do so by looking at a particular aspect—class, race, or family dynamics—within one society rather than comparing a couple of cultures or societies.
Political Science: Political scientists study how political power is used; they compare political systems, governance, and policies across countries, but they are usually more interested in political institutions than cultural acts of love or rituals outside the realm of politics.
Psychology: Psychological research tends to study individuals or small groups and is less common in cross-cultural, large-N comparisons. Cultural psychology seeks to understand how culture shapes behavior but does not typically include the comparative cultural perspective that anthropology does.
Short-term Experiences, Long-term Impact
As mentioned earlier, anthropologists often do long-term fieldwork where they live with their study communities. This extended engagement enables anthropologists to develop relationships, trust, and a more nuanced appreciation of their subjects. Many anthropologists also use informal interviews, conversations, and life histories. Still, they do so to provide a window into the local perspectives and experiences that structured questionnaires or experiments might miss.
Part of the reason is that fieldwork in anthropology is generally open-ended and flexible, unlike other forms of research , which tend to proceed more rigorously.
Long-Term Anthropological Fieldwork Exemplars
An anthropologist could live for a few years in a small village in West Africa, getting to know the community closely and learning about social structures, gender roles, and religious practices through informal conversation and participation in local activities.
How It Differs from Other Social Sciences
Sociology: While sociological fieldwork may involve participant observation, it is typically shorter (days or weeks) and generally urban or institutional rather than the deep immersion of anthropology.
Political Science: Political scientists commonly utilize surveys, quantitative data, or case studies to analyze political systems and behavior. Some political scientists have conducted ethnographic research on political matters, but immersing themselves in fieldwork over time spanning multiple cultures is not their forte.
Psychology: While psychologists sometimes study people over long periods or in small groups (particularly in clinical settings), they use controlled experiments or standardized tests rather than participant observation or the dynamic, flexible strategy employed in anthropology.
Shift to the Subjective Experience: Maximizing Emic versus Etic Perspectives
In anthropology, we focus on etic understanding, which means the knowledge of culture, the way people in a culture interpret and understand their world. Anthropologists try to describe how things are from the inside out, as experienced by their subjects, instead of imposing theories or external categories. This differs from the etic view, the outsider’s more scientific (or sometimes general) perspective on the same phenomenon.
The emic perspective is a critical distinction between anthropology and other social sciences. These sciences seek external explanations for behavior or practice, using theories or other interpretive frameworks developed independently of the people being studied.
Anthropological Emic and Etic Perspectives
For example, in studying a religious ritual, an anthropologist might start by looking at it first, in the emic mode, to understand beliefs about why it is believed to be essential and what role the ritual plays in participants’ worldviews. Later, they could analyze the ritual from the etic point of view and start to pull it apart thematically or in terms of its social function or symbolic value.
Conclusion: What Makes Anthropology Unique among the Social Sciences
The research methods of anthropology — ethnography, cross-cultural comparison, seasonally and longitudinally protracted fieldwork, and the reduction or elimination of presumptions of the subjective experience of the Other — distinguish it from other social sciences. Sociology, Psychology, and Political Science describe group behavior. Still, anthropology looks deeper and, when done thoroughly, describes groups and people through immersion in the culture—its holistic approach offers a better understanding of humanity from many angles: politics, sociology, economics, psychology, and family studies. With a core balance between scientifically rigorous methods and cultures of mind and experience, anthropology will always be relevant for investigating the human experience difficult.
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