3The Essence of Anthropology
CHAPTER 1
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How Do Anthropologists Do What They Do?
Anthropologists, like other scholars, are concerned with the description and explanation of
reality. They formulate and test hypotheses—tentative explanations of observed phenomena—
concerning humankind. Their aim is to develop reliable theories—interpretations or explana-
tions supported by bodies of data—about our species. These data are usually collected through
fieldwork—a particular kind of hands-on research that gives anthropologists enough familiar-
ity with a situation that they can begin to recognize patterns, regularities, and exceptions. It is
also through careful observation, combined with comparison, that anthropologists test their
theories.
What Is Anthropology?
Anthropology, the study of humankind everywhere
throughout time, produces knowledge about what makes
people different from one another and what we all have
in common. Anthropologists work within four fields of
the discipline. While physical anthropologists focus on
humans as biological organisms (tracing evolutionary de-
velopment and looking at biological variations), cultural
anthropologists investigate the contrasting ways groups of
humans think, feel, and behave. Archaeologists try to re-
cover information about human cultures— usually from
the past—by studying material objects, skeletal remains,
and settlements. Meanwhile, linguists study languages—
communication systems by which cultures are maintained
and passed on to succeeding generations. Practitioners in
all four fields are informed by one another’s findings and
united by a common anthropological perspective on the
human condition.
How Does Anthropology Compare to
Other Disciplines?
In studying humankind, early anthropologists came to
the conclusion that to fully understand the complexities of
human thought, feelings, behavior, and biology, it was nec-
essary to study and compare all humans, wherever and
whenever. More than any other feature, this comparative,
cross-cultural, long-term perspective distinguishes anthro-
pology from other social sciences. Anthropologists are not
the only scholars who study people, but they are uniquely
holistic in their approach, focusing on the interconnections
and interdependence of all aspects of the human experience,
past and present. This holistic and integrative outlook equips
anthropologists to grapple with an issue of overriding impor-
tance for all of us today: globalization.