Anthropology and/vs Sociology
When about “us” it is sociology, when about “them” - anthropology
Anthropology
• The discipline consists of five major, interrelated areas: physical/biological anthropology, archaeology, cultural/social anthropology, linguistics, and applied anthropology.
• With the human being as its focus, the discipline of anthropology mediates between the natural and social sciences while incorporating the humanities. Its acceptance and use of discoveries in biology, for example, the DNA molecule, and its attention to relevant ideas in the history of philosophy, such as the concepts presented in the writings of Marx and Nietzsche, make anthropology a unique field of study and a rich source for the relevant application of facts, concepts, methods, theories, and perspectives.
• "the study of humans, past and present. To understand the full sweep and complexity of cultures across all of human history, anthropology draws and builds upon knowledge from the social and biological sciences as well as the humanities and physical sciences."
• AAA website
Sociology
• Sociology is the systematic study of human behavior occurring in a social context
• Two major influences
• are acknowledged to affect human social behavior:
• (1) cultural factors such as values and norms and
• (2) structural factors such as the economic and political structures of society. Sociologists generally study human behavior in complex rather than small-scale societies.
• The term sociology was coined in 1822 by the
• French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857), who was the first to suggest that society itself is an appropriate subject for scientific study