Substantive Focus and Practice
Social anthropology is distinguished from subjects such as economics or political science by its holistic range and the attention it gives to the comparative diversity of societies and cultures across the world, and the capacity this gives the discipline to re-examine Euro-American assumptions. It is differentiated from sociology, both in its main methods (based on long-term participant observation and linguistic competence), and in its commitment to the relevance and illumination provided by micro studies. It extends beyond strictly social phenomena to culture, art, individuality, and cognition . While many social anthropologists use quantitative methods (particularly those whose research touches on topics such as local economies, demography, human ecology, cognition, or health and illness), social anthropologists generally emphasize qualitative analysis of long-term fieldwork over quantitative analysis of surveys, questionnaires and brief field visits used by most economists or sociologists.
Read more about this topic: Social Anthropology
Famous quotes containing the words focus and/or practice:
“If we focus mostly on how we might have been partly or wholly to blame for what might have been less than a perfect, problem- free childhood, our guilt will overwhelm their pain. It becomes a story about us, not them. . . . When we listen, accept, and acknowledge, we feel regret instead, which is simply guilt without neurosis.”
—Jane Adams (20th century)
“Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to her inconsistencies in principle.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)