UNIT 1: Introduction

 Definition, Nature and scope of SOCIOLOGY

 Definition, Nature and scope of ANTHROPOLOGY
 Major Branches of SOCIOLOGY
 Major Branches of ANTHROPOLOGY
 Relationship of Sociology With Other Social Sciences
such as history, archaeology, Political Science,
Economics, Psychology
 Relationship of Anthropology Relation With Other
Social Sciences such as history, archaeology, Political
Science, Economics, Psychology
 Major Differences between Sociology and
Anthropology

Definition of SOCIOLOGY
The word sociology is derived from both Latin and Greek origins.

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The etymological meaning of Sociology is thus the” Science of Society”

It was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emanuel Joseph in an

unpublished manuscript. 

Comte used this term to describe a new way of looking at society.Comte had
earlier used the term "social physics", but that had subsequently been
appropriated by others.

After the term Sociology was coined by Auguste Comte, a French Philosopher in
1839. The teaching of Sociology as a separate discipline started in 1876 in the
United States, in 1889 in France, in 1907 in Grat Britian, after world war I in
Poland and India , in 1925 in Egypt and Mexico and 1947 in Sweden.

Some Definitions of Sociology

“Sociology is the study of relationships between man and his environment”

-J.F. Cuber

“Sociology is the study of human inter-action and inter-action and inter-relation ,

Their relations, their conditions and consequences” -M. Gingsberg

“The Subject –matter of sociology is the inter-action of human minds”.

-L.T.Hobhouse
Sociology essentially and fundamentally deals with that network of social relationships we
call society. They may give a snapshot view of society from various angles of vision but
never a view of society in its comprehensive totality and utility. The need was therefore ,
felt for a general science which should purview the society as a whole and Sociology was
designed to achieve this end.

Sociology essentially and fundamentally deals with that network of social relationships we
call society. They may give a snapshot view of society from various angles of vision but
never a view of society in its comprehensive totality and utility. The need was therefore ,
felt for a general science which should purview the society as a whole and Sociology was
designed to achieve this end.

social science " has come to be appropriated as an umbrella term to refer to various

disciplines which study society or human culture

The traditional focuses of sociology have included

• social stratification

• social class

• Culture

• social mobility

•  religion

• Secularisation

• Law

•  Deviance.

As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and
individual agency, sociology has gradually expanded its focus to further subjects, such as 

• Health

• Medical

•  military 

•  penal institutions 

• the Internet, and the role of social activity in the development of scientific
knowledge.

Social analysis in a broader sense, however, has origins in the common stock of philosophy
and necessarily pre-dates the field. Modern academic sociology arose as a reaction to 

• Modernity

•  capitalism

•  urbanization

•  secularization
bearing a particularly strong interest in the emergence of

• the modern nation state

• its constituent institutions

• its units of socialization

Importance of Sociology

1. Sociology makes a Scientific study of Society

2. Sociology studies role of the institutions in the development of the individual

3. The study of Sociology is indispensable for understanding and planning of society

4. Sociology is of great importance in the solution of social problems

5. Sociology has made great contribution to enrich human culture

6. Sociology is great importance in the solution of international problems.

 Nature\characteristics of Sociology

Sociology as a branch of knowledge, has its own unique characteristics, it is different

from other sciences in certain respects. An analysis of its internal logical
characteristics helps one to understand what kind of science it is. The following are
the main characteristics of sociology.

1) Sociology is an independent science:

Sociology as an independent science has its own field of study, its own boundary
and methods. It is not treated and studied as a branch of any other science like
philosophy, Political science and History.

2) Sociology is a Social science and not a Physical science (which is deeply

research on a certain thing):

Sociology is a humanistic science i.e. it deals with the social universe and not with
the physical universe. It is particularly concerned with social facts and man's
relationships, social activities and social life. It is intimately related to the social
sciences like History, Political science, Economic, Psychology, Anthropology etc. It
can be distinguished from Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry and other physical
sciences.

3) Sociology is a Categorical and not a normative discipline:

Sociology as a science cannot deal with problem of good and evil, right and wrong
and moral or immoral. It does not make any recommendations on matters of social
policy or legislation or programme. It maintains a neutral posture making no value
judgments of social issues. It only critically analyses social facts, objectively and
scientifically. It confines itself to "what is" and not "what should be" or "what ought
to be".

4) Sociology is a pure science and not an applied science:

Pure science refers to the acquisition of knowledge and applied science is converted
with the applicability of knowledge of that science. Sociology is a pure science
because its main purpose is to acquire knowledge about human society. It never
bothers about the utilisation of knowledge. It only helps in the systematic analysis of
social facts and issues, which ultimately helps the policy planners to utilise this
knowledge for solutions. But sociologists themselves do not utilise this knowledge
to life.

5) Sociology is relatively as Abstract Science and not a Concrete Science:

Sociology is not interested in concrete manifestations of human events. It is more

concerned with the form of human events and their patterns. It is not concerned
with a particular war or revolution in general as social phenomena. It analyses the
types of social phenomena, social conflict and social control. Sociology does not
confine itself to the study of this society or that particular society. It is in this simple
sense that sociology is an abstract and not a concrete science.

6) Sociology is a Generalising and not a Particularising Science:

It aims to establish general laws or principles about inter-human interaction and

associations; it seeks to find general principles about the nature, form, content and
structure of human groups and societies. But it does not make a comprehensive
description of particular events or societies.

7) Sociology is a General Science and not a Special Science:

Sociology as a science is concerned with human interaction and human life in

general. Other social sciences like Economics, Political Science and History also
study human interaction, but not the all-inclusive aspect of human relationship. The
other social sciences concentrate on certain aspects of human interaction and
activities. For example. Economics deals with the economic activities and political
science deals with political activities and so on and so forth. Sociology of course,
does not investigate economic, religious, political or any other kind of special
phenomena. It studies human activities is a general way.
8) Sociology is both Rational and Empirical science:

Rational approach stresses on reason, logic and theories that result from logical
inference. Empirical method stresses on facts and figures and not on speculation.
Empiricists collect facts and rationalists co-ordinate and arrange them. Both
theories and facts are necessary in the construction of knowledge. It is also required
in sociological inquiry. If a theory is not backed by facts, then it is just a matter of
opinion. Similarly, facts without theories are blind and directionless. Isolated facts
are meaningless without theorisation. Thus, sociology is both empirical and rational
in nature.

So, from the above discussion, we can conclude that sociology is an independent, a
social, a categorical, a pure, an abstract, a generalising and both a rational and
empirical general social science.

 Scope Of Sociology

There are two schools of thought with different viewpoints regarding scope and
subject matter of sociology- formal school and synthetic school. According to formal
school sociology was conceived to be a social science with a specifically defined
field. This school had George Simmel, Ferdinand Tonnies, Alfred Vierkandt and
Leopord Von Wiese as its main advocates. On the other hand the synthetic school
with Durkheim, Hobhouse and Sorokin advocated a synthesis in form of
coordination among all social sciences.

Formal School of Sociology

Formal school argued in favor of giving sociology a definite subject matter to make it
a distinct discipline. It emphasized upon the study of forms of social relationships
and regarded sociology as independent. According to Simmel sociology is a specific
social science which describes, classifies, analyses and delineates the forms of social
relationships or in other words social interactions should be classified into various
forms or types and analysed.Simmel argued that social interactions have various
forms. He carried out studies of such formal relationships as cooperation,
competition, sub and super ordinate relationships and so forth. He said however
diverse the interests are that give rise to these sociations; the forms in which the
interests are realized may yet be identical. He emphasized on the process of
abstraction of these forms from human relationship which are common to diverse
situations.Vierkandt maintained that sociology should be concerned with ultimate
forms of mental or psychic relationship which knit the people together in a society.

According to Von Wiese there are two kinds of fundamental social processes in
human society. Firstly the associative process concerning contact, approach,
adaptation etc and secondly disassociate processes like competition and conflict.
Apart from these two processes a mixed form of the associative and disassociative
also exists. Each of these processes has sub-classes which in totality give
approximately 650 forms of human relationships. Sociology should confine itself to
the discovery of the fundamental force of change and persistence and should abstain
from a historical study of concrete societies. Tonnies divided societies into two
categories namely Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (association) on the
basis of degree of intimacy among the members of the society. He has on the basis of
forms of relationship tried to differentiate between community and society.Max
Weber also makes out a definite field for sociology. According to him the aim of
sociology is to interpret or understand social behaviour.But social behavior does not
cover the whole field of human relations. Indeed not all human interactions are
social. Sociology is concerned with the analysis and classification of types of social
relationships.

Criticism of formal School

Formal school has been criticized on the issue that it has emphasized on merely
abstract forms and neglected the concrete contents of social life. Abstract forms
separated from concrete relations cannot be studied. Ginsberg says that a study of
social relationships would remain barren if it is conducted in the abstract without
the full knowledge of the terms to which in concrete life they relate. Sociology
doesn't alone study the forms of social relationship. Political science, International
law also studies forms of social relationship. The conception of pure sociology is not
practical as no social science can be studied in isolation from other social sciences.

Synthetic School of Sociology

Synthetic school wanted sociology to be synthesis of the social sciences and thus
wanted to widen the scope of sociology. According to Durkheim, sociology has three
principal divisions' namely-Social morphology, social physiology and general
sociology. Social morphology is concerned with geographical or territorial basis of
life of people such as population, its size, density and distribution etc.This can be
done at two levels -analysis of size and quality of population which affects the
quality of social relationship and social groups. Secondly the study of social
structure or description of the main forms of social groups and institutions with
their classification. Social physiology deals with the genesis and nature of various
social institutions namely religion, morals, law and economic institutions etc.In
general sociology the main aim is to formulate general social laws. Attempt is made
to find out if there are links among various institutions which would be treated
independently in social physiology and in the course to discover general social
laws.Hobhouse perceived sociology as a science which has the whole social life of
man as its sphere
Its relations with the other social sciences are considered to be one of mutual
exchange and mutual stimulation. Karl Mannheim's divides sociology into two main
sections-systematic and general sociology and historical sociology. Systematic
sociology describes one by one the main factors of living together as far as they may
be found in every kind of society. The historical sociology deals with the historical
variety and actuality of the general forms of society. It falls into two sections-
comparative sociology and social dynamics. Comparative sociology deals mainly
with the historical variations of the same phenomenon and tries to find by
comparison general features as separated from industrial features. Social dynamics
deals with the interrelations between the various social factors and institutions in a
certain given society for example in a primitive society. Ginsberg has summed up
the chief functions of sociology as it seeks to provide a classification of types and
forms of social relationships especially of those which have come to be defined
institutions and associations. It tries to determine the relation between different
parts of factors of social life for example the economic and political, the moral and
the legal, the intellectual and the social elements. It endeavors to disentangle the
fundamental conditions of social change and persistence and to discover
sociological principles governing social life.

Conclusion

Thus on the basis of viewpoints of different sociologists we can get a general outline
of the scope of sociology. Firstly the analysis of various institutions, associations and
social groups which are results of social relationships of individuals should be the
concern of sociology. Secondly the links among different parts of society should be
studied. This objective is dealt with justice by functionalist school of sociology and
Marxist school also gives importance to this viewpoint. Thus social structure should
be given adequate importance in subject matter of sociology. Thirdly sociology
addresses itself to the factors which contribute to social stability and social change.
Fourthly sociology should also explain the trend of the changing pattern and the
aftermath of the changes in the society.

Definition of Anthropology
The word Anthropology is derived from Greek origins.

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The etymological meaning of Anthropology is thus the” Scientific study of man”

Essential Definition:

Branch of Knowledge which deals with the scientific study of man, his work, body, behavior
and values within a specific time and space.

What is Anthropology?

Anthropology is 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.

In Summary:

 It is the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural
development, biological characteristics, and social customs
and beliefs of humankind. 

 It is the study of human beings' similarity to and divergence from other animals.

 It is the science of humans and their works.

 It is  the study of the nature and essence of humankind.

 Anthropology's basic concerns are the definition of human life and origin, how social
relations among humans are organized, who the ancestors of modern Homo
sapiens are, what the characterizations of human physical traits are, how humans
behave, why there are variations among different groups of humans, how the
evolutionary past of Homo sapiens has influenced its social organization and culture
and so forth.

 Anthropology originated in the colonial encounter between Western people and

colonized non-western peoples, as Europeans tried to understand the origins of
observable cultural diversity. Today anthropology is a global discipline, and
anthropologists study both Western and non-Western societies.

 A central concern of anthropologists is the application of knowledge to the solution

of human problems
In the United States, where anthropology was first defined as a discipline, the field is
traditionally divided into four sub-fields:

1.   Socio-cultural-Anthropology

2. Biological/(Physical)-Anthropology

3. Linguistic anthropology and

4.   Archaeology
1.Socio-cultural-Anthropology:

 Sociocultural anthropologists examine social patterns and practices across cultures,

with a special interest in how people live in particular places and how they organize,
govern, and create meaning.

 A hallmark of socio-cultural anthropology is its concern with similarities and

differences, both within and among societies, and its attention to race, sexuality,
class, gender, and nationality.

 Research in sociocultural anthropology is distinguished by its emphasis on

participant observation, which involves placing oneself in the research context for
extended periods of time to gain a first-hand sense of how local knowledge is put to
work in grappling with practical problems of everyday life and with basic
philosophical problems of knowledge, truth, power, and justice.

 Topics of concern to sociocultural anthropologists include such areas as health,

work, ecology and environment, education, agriculture and development, and social
change.

2. Biological/(Physical)-Anthropology

 Biological anthropologists seek to understand how humans adapt to diverse

environments, how biological and cultural processes work together to shape
growth, development and behavior, and what causes disease and early death.

 In addition, they are interested in human biological origins, evolution and variation.

 They give primary attention to investigating questions having to do with

evolutionary theory, our place in nature, adaptation and human biological variation.

 To understand these processes, biological anthropologists study other primates

(primatology), the fossil record (paleoanthropology), prehistoric people
 (bioarchaeology), and the biology (e.g., health, cognition, hormones, growth and
development) and genetics of living populations.

3. Archaeology

 Archaeologists study past peoples and cultures, from the deepest prehistory to the
recent past, through the analysis of material remains, ranging from artifacts and
evidence of past environments to architecture and landscapes.

 Material evidence, such as pottery, stone tools, animal bone, and remains of
structures, is examined within the context of theoretical paradigms, to address such
topics as the formation of social groupings, ideologies, subsistence patterns, and
interaction with the environment.

 Like other areas of anthropology, archaeology is a comparative discipline; it

assumes basic human continuities over time and place, but also recognizes that
every society is the product of its own particular history and that within every
society there are commonalities as well as variation.

5. Linguistic-Anthropology

 Linguistic anthropology is the comparative study of ways in which language reflects

and influences social life.
 It explores the many ways in which language practices define patterns of
communication, formulate categories of social identity and group membership,
organize large-scale cultural beliefs and ideologies, and, in conjunction with other
forms of meaning-making, equip people with common cultural representations of
their natural and social worlds.
 Linguistic anthropology shares with anthropology in general a concern to
understand power, inequality, and social change, particularly as these are
constructed and represented through language and discourse.

Addressing complex questions, such as human origins, the past and

contemporary spread and treatment of infectious disease, or globalization,
requires synthesizing information from all four subfields.
 Conclusion
 Anthropologists are highly specialized in research interests, yet they remain
generalists in the observations of the human condition and advocates for a public
anthropology that is committed to bringing knowledge to broad audiences.
 An engaged anthropology is committed to supporting social change efforts that
arise from the interaction between community goals and anthropological research.
 Because the study of people, past and present, requires respect for the diversity of
individuals, cultures, societies, and knowledge systems, anthropologists are
expected to adhere to a strong code of professional ethics.

The Nature/ Characteristic of Anthropology

 Anthropology is the holistic study of people, their culture and structure of society ,
history, biology and linguistic aspects.
  Anthropology is Physical Science that studies about human diversity as biology,
zoology archaeology

 Anthropology is empirical science as it collect facts and figure and rationalists

coordinate and arrange them. If the theory is not backed by facts , then it is just a
matter of opinion, Similarly facts without theories are blind and directionless.

 Anthropology is an applied Science as it is about how we can take what we know of

ourselves and apply to help improve the human condition and wellbeing.

The scope of anthropology

• The scope of anthropology is much broader because it studied the human being
physically and biologically.

• As it study the human beings so it concern with all natural sciences and social
sciences like economics, political science, social relations etc.

• Study of anthropology is very important to know about history and past culture. we
can compare one culture with the culture of other society through anthropology.

• we can know about knew things through anthropology.

Major Branches of SOCIOLOGY

According to Emile Durkheim, sociology is made of three main branches and then breaks
down further into different types of sociology. The three main branches of sociology are:
 1. Social morphology - a study of geographical data and settings

2. Social physiology - the study of religion, law, economics, politics and other
influences of society

3. General sociology - the study of how different social laws are derived from various
processes

 Other sociologists throughout history have defined just two or three other branches
of sociology, but all of these ideas have one thing in common. They are all focused on
studying cultural and social phenomena, and the sociologist may use scientific data
to draw conclusions and develop theories about why people behave in a certain
way.

Some other branches of Sociology

1. Anthropology

2. Linguistics

3. Criminology

4. Politics

5. Economics

6. Commerce and Trade

7. Communication

8. Art and Culture

9. Mass Media

10. Psychology

Major Branches of ANTHROPOLOGY

 Anthropology has been divided into two main branches:

1. Physical /biological Athropology and

 2. Cultural Anthropology.

 These two main branches have been again, sub-divided into several other branches
which have been given in the following chart:

1. Physical /biological Anthropology.

 Human body
 Biology and culture
 Racial differentiation(Human Genetics )
 Paleontology(Origin of man)
 The status of man among living beings.
 Evolution of Race
 Racial classification

Another important field of study in Physical Anthropology is the process of human

evolution which shows how human body has evolved through different stages. Thus
'Physical Anthropology has now been divided into the following five branches
according to the specialization of study.

(i) Human Genetics

(ii) Human Palaeontology

(iii) Ethnology

(iv) Anthropometry.

(v) Biometry.

(i) Human Genetics.

 Human genetics is the branch of physical anthropology which studies
the genesis of man. In the words of E.C. Colin, "Genetics is that branch of
biology which deals with the laws or principles of heredity and variations as
observed in plants, in animals and in man." Human genetics is the study of
human heredity.
 It studies the human physical characteristics that are transmitted through
heredity from generation to generation.
(ii) Human Palaeontology.
 Human Palaeontology studies the old human skeletons of different stages. It
also studies the history of earth evolution. According to Webester's New
International Dictionary, "Human palaeontology is the science that deals
with life of the past geographical periods.
  It is based on the study of the fossils remains as organisms." Thus it has
traced the evolution of man. This in its turn has thrown much light on
primitive man. The study of fossilman and the process of evolution have been
possible by it.

(iii) Ethnology.

Ethnology studies human races. In the words of S.C. Dube, "Ethology is a

comparative study of the races and cultures of mankind in their different
aspects." Ethnology classifies human races and studies their physical
characteristics. Ethnology is based upon anthropometry and biometrics,
since both these measure racial characteristics.

(iv) Anthropometry.

According to Herskovits, Anthropometry may be defined as the measurement of

man. Anthropologists have decided certain definite traits by the measurement of
which human races may be classified.
Anthropometry, again, has been classified into two branches:
 study of the physical structures of living human beings
 study of human fossils.
For example, anthropologists have fixed upon traits like length and breadth of head,
length and breadth of nose, etc., which may be measured. Still other traits can not be
measured but only observed and described such as the colour and texture of skin,
eyes, hair, etc.

(iv) Biometry.
In the words of Charles Winik, "Biometry is the statistical analysis of
biological studies specially as applied to such areas as disease, birth, growth
and death." Thus biometry is the statistical study of biological characteristics.

2. Cultural /Social Anthropology.

Cultural/ Social anthropology studies

1. Social Heritage and Customs
2. Family /Social life
 3. Religion
4. Economic organizations
5. Politic organizations
6. Science
7. Literature
8. Secret societies
9. Religion
10. Arts
11. Government
12. Law
13. Technology

Relation of Sociology With Other Social Sciences:

Sociology is a more comprehensive Science and includes the special social sciences.
That is why Sociology has been called the mother of all social Sciences. It is thus obvious
 that the different social sciences cannot have their existence independent of others. As
they all have a common subject-human social behavior, it is but natural that they should
be interrelated.

 Sociology and other social sciences have much in common.

1. Sociology and History

2. Sociology and Political Science

3. Sociology and Economics

4. Sociology and Social Psychology

1. Sociology and History

 Sociology and History are so intimately related discipline

 Sociology is concerned with then study of historical development of the societies. It

studies various stages of life , modes of living, customs, manners and their expression in
the form of social institutions. Sociology has thus to depend upon History for its
material.

 History supplies facts which are interpreted and coordinated by the sociologist.

 It is rightly said that study of history would be meaningless without the appreciation of
social significance.

 G.E. Howard to remark that History is past Sociology and Sociology is present history.

But in spite their close relationship the two subjects are distinct:

I. History is Concrete Sociology is abstract: The Primary interest of the sociologist is to find
the general laws of society and that of the historian to narrate the historical events in
the chronological order.

II. Sociology and History have different attitude: History deals with events in all their
aspects while Sociology would study the from the viewpoint of Social relationship
involved.

2. Sociology and Political Science

 Political Science and Sociology are the two facets or aspects of the same figure.
 Political Science is the branch of Social Science deals with the social groups organized
under the sovereign of the state. It is rightly said that without sociological background
the study of political science will be incomplete . The forms of government , the nature
of governmental organs, the laws and the sphere of the state activity are determined by
the social process.

 Sociology is also depend on political science for its conclusions.

The two subjects are however different from each other.

1. Sociology is the science of society and political science is the science of the state.

2. The scope of Sociology is wider than that of political science .

3. Sociology deals with social man , Political Science deals with political man.

4. Sociology deals with both organized and unorganized communities. Political science
deals with organized communities only.

5. Sociology deals with unconscious activities also. Unlike Political Science which treats
only conscious activities of man.

3. Sociology and Economics

 Many of the problem of Sociology and Economics are common. The problems of
population growth, environmental pollution, slum clearance, Child and family welfare
and urbanization are as much as economic as sociological which cannot be solved unless
and until the social attitutes of people are given consideration.

 The fact that society is influenced by economic factors while economic processes are
largely determined by the social environments .

 The economic phenomena is constantly determined by all kinds of social need and
activity of every kind. Economic forces play a very important role in every aspects of
Social Life.

In spite of interdependence of those two sciences , they are quite distinct

from each other.
 The field of Sociology is wider where as field of Economics is restricted only to economic
activities of man.

 Economics is much older than Sociology.

4. Sociology and Social Psychology

 Social Psychology deals with mental process of man considered as a social being. It
studies particularly the influence of group life on the mental development of individual,
the effect of individual mind on group, and the development of the mental life of the
groups within themselves and their relations with one another, Sociology , on the other
hand , studies the various kind of groups which compose the society.

 Social Psychology has to depend on Sociology to understand properly human nature

and behaviour as it is sociology which provides the necessary material regarding the
structure, organization and culture of societies to which individuals belong .

Difference

1. Of Subject matter

2. Of Attitude

Relation of Anthropology With Other Social Sciences

 Different fields of anthropology such as physical anthropology, ethnology and applied
anthropology study man in different aspects. It is clear that the anthropologist gets
important help from sociology, psychology, history, linguistics, logic, economics and
many other social sciences.

1. Anthropology and History

2. Anthropology and Archaeology

3. Anthropology and Political Science

4. Anthropology and Economics

5. Anthropology and Psychology

6. Anthropology and Archaeology

Anthropology and History

 Anthropology studies man everywhere on earth. It studies man in both the periods
historic and pre-historic. It studies man on all levels, civilized and uncivilized as well as
the origin and evolution of man from material, cultural and social points of view.
Anthropology has thus to depend upon History for its material.

 History supplies facts which are interpreted and coordinated by the Anthropologist.

 It is rightly said that study of history would be meaningless without the appreciation of
Anthropological significance.

Differences:
 History deals with past events where as Anthropology deals with both past and present
in a holistic approach.

Anthropology and Archaeology

 Archaeology and anthropology have had a longstanding and often changing relationship.

 Archaeology is part of Anthropology which is concerned with humans that are dead and
the material things they left behind

 Some decades ago the New Archaeologists claimed that “archaeology is anthropology or
it is nothing”: a view in which archaeology was meant to address an anthropological
research agenda albeit with less ideal data. Today, the interaction between the two
disciplines has evolved to a more balanced partnership, in which we note an increasing
 convergence of ideas and approaches, epitomized by the rise of material culture studies:
an anthropological sub-discipline that was developed in part by archaeologists.

Anthropology and Political Science

Political science is defined as a social science that is concerned with the study of the
government, the state and politics. The science deals with both the practice and the
theory of politics as well as analyzing political systems and political behavior. Political
scientists aim to reveal the underlying relationships within political conditions and
events in order to construct principles about the way politics work.

Political anthropology deals with the structure of political systems and is a branch of
anthropology that has been well-defined only since the 1940s and 1950s. There are
many themes that have made an appearance within anthropology over the last couple
of decades that have made it very politically focused. These themes have contributed
towards making political anthropology an even more recognizable study and include
aspects such as globalization, post-colonialism, post-communism, gender, migration and
multiculturalism.

Both political anthropology and political science can fall under the umbrella term of
political sociology. Both study how the people work within politics and how politics
works across the world on a whole

Anthropology and Economics

 The fact that Human aspects are influenced by economic factors while economic
processes are largely determined by the human needs.

 Since the economic phenomena is constantly determined by all kinds of social need and
activity of every kind. Economic forces play a very important role in every aspects of
Human Life. Therefore, Anthropology and Economics are intimately related discipline.

Anthropology and Archaeology

 Archaeology and anthropology have had a longstanding and often changing relationship,
marked by periodic rapprochement and distancing.

 Some decades ago the New Archaeologists claimed that “archaeology is anthropology or
it is nothing”: a view in which archaeology was meant to address an anthropological
research agenda albeit with less ideal data.

 Today, the interaction between the two disciplines has evolved to a more balanced
partnership, in which we note an increasing convergence of ideas and approaches,
epitomized by the rise of material culture studies: an anthropological sub-discipline that
was developed in part by archaeologists.

Major Differences between Sociology and Anthropology

 Anthropology and sociology are both fields of social science that study the behavior of
humans within their societies.

 Today anthropology tends to look at the big picture of human culture while sociology
spends more time analyzing data from a specific study

Major Differences

 1) Sociology deals with practical and present social situations. Anthropology deals with
"pure" and "past".

 2) Sociology deals with modern industrial literate people and societies. Anthropology
deals with primitive, pre-industrial pre-literate societies.

 3) Sociology studies a particular aspect of society. While Anthropology studies the whole
society. Sociology studies parts of a society such as family, marriage, social cha and
social mobility. Anthropology studies societies in entirely i.e. all aspects as whole.

 4) Sociologists study, "small" as well as vast societies. It studies dynamic aspects society
and processes. Anthropology, on the other hand, studies small society culture, which
are relatively static in nature.

 Sociologists focus more on institutions and organized social actions while

anthropologists give attention to every day activities and ways of life of a particular
society.