Cultural Anthropology

 

Socio-cultural anthropology is a widely accepted field of study, with different terms and domains of practice in different countries. In America, cultural anthropology is popular, emphasizing the importance of understanding society as a cultural being. This field helps us understand civilizations across time and space, and has led to the creation of ethnology, the science of people. Anthropology is defined as knowledge about cultivated human aspects, which are not natural but related to what is acquired. Cultural anthropology studies how humans cope with their natural settling and social milieu, as well as how customs are learned, retained, and handed down from one generation to the next.

The term 'culture' is complex and has been defined by different anthropologists differently. The most accepted definition is that culture is anything acquired by members of society, including material and non-material things. American anthropologists study both cultural and socially oriented aspects of human life under the domain of cultural anthropology. Cultural anthropology is a broader term that covers all social aspects of man, emphasizing cultural aspects. For cultural anthropologists, social systems are a part of society, and culture cannot emerge without a social system. David Bidney suggests that social and cultural anthropology are branches of a common discipline of anthropology, covering the study of man and his culture in society.