Cultural Anthropology
by tfangel
Cultural anthropology is the study of human society and culture, a sub-field that describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences. Cultural anthropology examines cultural diversity of the present and recent past and has the largest membership of the sub-fields. To research and interpret cultural diversity, cultural anthropologists engage in two forms of activity.
Ethnography provides an account of a particular community, society, or culture based on fieldwork. During ethnographic fieldwork, the ethnographer gathers information that they organize, describe, analyze, and interpret to build and present that account. Traditionally, ethnographers have lived in small communities and studied local behavior, values, customs, social life, economic activities, politics, and religion.
Since culture generally relates to the way people interact with each other, it is impossible to adequately observe it in a laboratory setting. The firsthand, individual research of regional cultural setting is ethnography. Traditionally, the task of becoming cultural anthropologists has required a field experience in another society. Early ethnographers lived in small-scale societies with simple technologies and economics. Ethnography, therefore, appeared as a research approach in societies with better cultural uniformity and less social differentiation than are found in large, contemporary, industrialized countries. In such non-industrial … ...Read the rest.
“Cultural Anthropology”
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