Sociology and Anthropology
1. Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology
When studying human societies and cultures, both sociology and anthropology adopt an outsider perspective in order to reach a position of much greater insight into the nature of humanity. Sociology prefers to study societies and social groups “from the inside,” and usually has its base in industrially complex or “modern” societies. The focus is often on current issues and topics, looking for patterns of behaviour by testing theories and at times. A group of young children were gathered in a park. Their behaviour suggested that they were establishing a dominance hierarchy among themselves, resulting in one of the children being shunned and isolated from the others. This situation could be used to study several sociological concepts. For example, formulated a theory to explain the different rates of deviance of two groups with the same levels of social integration and social regulation. This could be done by comparing the marginalization of disabled people today to that of leprosy sufferers in the Middle Ages. With this focus on theories and being able to test them through empirical evidence, sociological insight provides an essential basis for applied anthropology.
The fact that you are reading this textbook suggests that you may already have some idea of the subject matter. The very titles – sociology and anthropology – can evoke a variety of responses from curiosity to confusion to outright fear. Both disciplines may seem esoteric and remote, dealing as they do with the “exotic” or the “unusual,” or with features of our own time and place too close or too familiar to be easily understood objectively. At the same time, both disciplines also enjoy a measure of popular success. Television documentaries focusing on sociocultural phenomena from all areas of the world are experiencing a renewal in popularity, while films such as ET, The Gods Must Be Crazy, or Dances With Wolves have taken up themes traditionally reserved for anthropology.
2. Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology and Anthropology
We aim to enable students to understand the more particularistic theoretical interests of sociology and anthropology today within a general frame of ‘comparative macrosociology’, which relates to the work of Ralf Dahrendorf, the possible worlds of Parsons, and the contemporary transformations of Marxist thought, to different levels of socio-economic and political systems and their influences on the lives of people. This approach, to which the present Bernstein has been the major contributor, is not unfamiliar in British social anthropology. Nevertheless, we believe it is important to maintain that the theory and practice of the classical anthropologists and their encountered clients should be viewed as a topic for sociological and anthropological inquiry.
The most enduring legacy of sociological and anthropological theory is the view that all human action and behavior is meaningful and may be understood. The early theoretical writings of Durkheim, Radcliffe-Brown, and Malinowski provided the foundations for functionalism, a theoretical perspective much neglected in recent social and cultural anthropology but which retains its coherence for the understanding of human society. French structuralist thought has been particularly influential in reorienting anthropological thought. Its concern with uncovering hidden levels of meaning and investigating the human mind gave ‘cultural’ anthropology a new, often self-conscious, methodology. Claude Levi-Strauss’s work has been of wide-ranging influence, and it is only with the translation and publication of his most recent writings that a proper assessment can be made.
3. Methods of Research in Sociology and Anthropology
The ideal method to test a hypothesis in sociology or anthropology would involve creating two identical societies, introducing the independent variable to one, and recording the effects over a large period of time. By comparing the two societies at the end of the experiment, it would be possible to gain a conclusive result as to the effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable. Unfortunately, such experiments are beyond the reach of most sociologists and anthropologists as they require large amounts of funding and resources, and also often raise ethical questions. Instead, many sociologists and anthropologists turn to survey and interview methods, which can often prove inconclusive in testing the hypothesis.
A research method is a systematic plan for conducting research. Sociological and anthropological research methods often differ. However, both will use similar methods of research which will be discussed below. The overall method of research usually involves identifying a problem, forming a research question, creating a hypothesis, potential experimentation, and a conclusion. The main difference between a scientific research method and a sociological and anthropological research method are in the hypothesis and experiment. In scientific research, the experiment will test the hypothesis. If there is no experiment to test a hypothesis, it is impossible to be proven wrong, then it is not scientific. However, testing a hypothesis through an experiment in sociology and anthropology is not always possible and will not always yield conclusive results.
Research in sociology and anthropology is often divided into two main methodologies: quantitative and qualitative research methods. Both of these methods employ specific techniques that define the research as a scientific process. This chapter will discuss the various research methods in detail. It will provide a definition, an analysis of the method, discuss the technique involved, summarize any literature on the method, and highlight any problems or issues.
4. Social Structures and Institutions
Social structures play a significant role in shaping individual behavior and the outcomes of interactions. A social structure refers to the pattern of relationships within a society. It is important to note that a social structure is not a physical entity or organization, but rather an invisible network of connections between individuals. For instance, a building itself is not a social structure; its purpose and function within society contribute to the overall social structure. The social structure can have a constraining effect on individuals, influencing their behavior. Institutions, on the other hand, are relatively stable clusters of values, norms, social statuses, and roles that revolve around a specific social objective. Institutions have the potential to impact individuals’ access to valuable resources, their power within society, and the life changes they are likely to undergo. These institutions can be intricate and competitive, often vying against one another. The survival of institutions depends on individuals fulfilling their roles and upholding the values and norms associated with them. While institutions and social structures can be constraining, it is important to recognize that they are created by individuals and can be altered. However, certain individuals and groups possess more power to effect change in social structures and institutions compared to others.
5. Cultural Diversity and Identity
Just as the airplane with its communication ability has leveled geographical differences, it has also affected how people see themselves, inducing what social scientists refer to as identity crisis. With the gap between the type of world symbolized by an American football player or a Japanese business executive who can absorb the whole of modern culture and a peasant farmer in Eritrea or a craftsman in Afghanistan who have no direct experience of other ways of life increasing, the latter may feel that their way of life is no longer viable, but they may also wish to preserve it in the face of what seems an inevitable change. This situation can result in widespread feelings of cultural dislocation and loss.
Cultural diversity is a central topic in sociology and never more so than today. Just a few years ago, an international airline promoting inexpensive air fares advertised its services with photos of exotic destinations encouraging people to “visit other countries.” Those images implying that people can now see different cultures almost as easily as changing the channels on their TV sets have become reality, and the very aircraft we fly in, along with the high-tech stamina used to cull oil from a planet’s depths, and the silicon chips that power our computers are all legacies of Western civilization. So much is this now a global culture, that some worry about its impact on the cultures of the non-Western world, although they are not as separate entities as once they were.
