A comparative science of humankind

Social and cultural anthropology is the comparative study of culture and human societies and the exploration of the general principles of social and cultural life. It seeks to understand humankind in all its diversity and to make cultural assumptions explicit.

Its defining research tradition is participant observation and in-depth, empirical study of social groups, producing knowledge in the form of ethnography.

Not the same as sociology or psychology

• Sociology often studies large-scale, contemporary (frequently the researcher's own) societies, using surveys and statistics.
• Psychology focuses on the individual mind and behaviour.
• Anthropology is distinctively holistic, comparative, qualitative and cross-cultural, grounded in long-term fieldwork and attentive to societies across the whole range of human diversity.

What makes it distinct?

Tylor, Boas, Geertz

The idea of culture has a history:

• Edward Tylor (1871) defined culture as that complex whole of knowledge, belief, art, morals, law and custom acquired by people as members of society.
• Franz Boas insisted culture is learned, plural and particular, and argued for historical particularism against the idea that all societies climb a single evolutionary ladder.
• Clifford Geertz defined culture semiotically as webs of significance that must be interpreted.

Boas on culture

Biology and learning

Humans are both biological and cultural. The nature and culture distinction was a central theme for Claude Lévi-Strauss. Margaret Mead's Samoan work argued that gender and adolescence are strongly shaped by culture, cautioning against biological determinism while not denying biology.

Sort by key concept

Tap a statement, then tap the IB key concept it describes. (Two each.)

Nature and culture

The analytical backbone of the course

HL and SL both use nine key concepts to analyse ethnographic material: belief and knowledge, change, culture, identity, materiality, power, social relations, society and symbolism. HL students are expected to use them with greater depth and breadth, including through anthropological theory.

Spot the key concepts

How anthropologists think

The anthropological attitude combines cultural relativism (understanding practices in context), reflexivity (examining the researcher's role), holism (linking the parts of social life) and comparison. It means making the strange familiar and the familiar strange.

Match each key concept to its meaning

Tap a concept on the left, then its meaning on the right.

The relativist stance

From cases to principles

Comparison is anthropology engine for general insight. By setting cases side by side, kula next to potlatch, one rite of passage next to another, anthropologists identify general principles of social life while still respecting each culture particularity.

More key concepts

Belief and knowledge asks how people know and explain the world; change asks how societies transform over time. Together they remind us that worldviews are both meaningful systems and moving targets, reshaped by history and contact.

Standpoints on knowledge

HL analysis weaves together the emic (insider) and etic (analyst) views with reflexivity, the awareness that the anthropologist own standpoint shapes the account. Holding these together is central to the anthropological attitude.

The big ideas to take away

You now have the higher-level framing of the discipline and its key concepts. Press Finish to see your score.