Definition of Sociology & Anthropology

Sociology and anthropology are separate, but related, branches of the social sciences that study humans and society. Once anthropology and sociology were similar in how they studied humans, but in the early part of the 20th century, their methodologies and foci diverged.

Sociology

Sociology is the study of human social behavior and primarily focuses on studying large-scale, complex, modern Western societies.

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of all people in all times and places and has historically focused on small-scale, traditional non-Western societies, although this is changing because anthropological tools have found to be useful in understanding all cultures.

Anthropological Sub-fields

In the United States, anthropology includes the sub-fields of cultural anthropology, which focuses on the culture and behavior of living societies, archaeology, which studies people who lived in the past using the physical materials left behind, biological anthropology, which studies people and other primates from a biological and cultural perspective in the past and the present, and linguistic anthropology, which combines linguistic and anthropological methods to understand societies.

Sociological Key Figures

Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Alfred Weber are credited as the founders of sociology. Other famous sociologists include Friedrich Engels, Hubert Spencer, George Herbert Mead, Antonio Gramsci, Michel Foucault and Marcel Mauss.

Anthropological Key Figures

Anthropology has been practiced for hundreds of years. Historical figures such as Herodotus, Immanuel Kant and Marco Polo practiced elements of anthropology. Anthropology originated as a discipline in Britain under E.B. Tylor and Sir James Frazier. Franz Boas is considered the father of U.S. anthropology. Marcel Mauss is considered the founder of anthropology in France.

References

• An Invitation to Anthropology: The Structure, Evolution and Cultural Identity of Human Societies, Josep R. Llobera, October 2003.
• Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History, 2nd edition, R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms, 2000
• Anthropoology, 7th edition, William A. Haviland, 1994