The 5 Differences Between Sociology And Anthropology
The human being is a creature with a relatively short history compared to others. And even shorter is the history of which modern human beings have true knowledge, with most of the events that our ancestors experienced before the invention of writing not being known.
In this sense, different branches of science have tried to explore both our present and our past to study the different ways in which civilization and humanity in general have been organized. Among them, anthropology and sociology stand out, two disciplines with different characteristics and objects of study that, however, due to the similarity of the topics they cover, are often confused by those who are not dedicated to them.
In this article we intend to make a brief distinction between them, first making a brief description of these social sciences, and then explaining the differences between sociology and anthropology
Anthropology is understood as the discipline or branch of science dedicated to study of the human being in its various aspects, generally focusing on the evolution of man through time. Anthropology is a broad science that aims to study human beings from a global perspective, with a tendency towards qualitative and descriptive analysis.
There is a great diversity of branches within anthropology, which basically take into account, on the one hand, the evolution of the human being as an animal species and, on the other, the sociocultural development that has been carried out throughout said evolution. Thus, anthropology can assess both how a language has evolved and how humans have adapted to changes in temperature or how traditions and beliefs have changed.
Among the many existing branches of anthropology, The one most often confused with other social disciplines is social anthropology Regarding this type of anthropology, it usually places emphasis on the analysis of the evolution of culture, beliefs and perspectives, customs and ways of acting and organizing.
For its part, sociology is the branch of science dedicated to the study of societies, as it refers to the study of the way in which the different members of a community organize themselves and establish different ways of managing their resources and coexistence, generating norms and ways of linking with each other. This analysis of societies is done from a mainly social point of view, that is, focusing on elements of an interpersonal or intergroup nature. It generally has a more qualitative approach and tends to place more emphasis on more operational aspects.
Likewise, within sociology, the study carried out not only with respect to how the members of a society are organized, managed and linked but also regarding the social problems that exist in it having both a theoretical and practical approach.
Main differences between Sociology and Anthropology
Given the definitions made above, we can observe the presence of great similarities between both disciplines. This is why differentiating between sociology and certain types of anthropology can be complex for most people, but this does not mean that it is not possible to observe distinctive elements. Next, let’s highlight some of the most obvious differences.
1. Object of study
The main difference between anthropology and sociology is curiously one of the reasons that causes them to be confused. AND is that both disciplines have different objects of study and analysis although both are closely related.
As we have mentioned in the previous presentation, the main object of anthropology is man and in the case of culture, the culture itself and the development of the community. Regarding sociology, it tends to focus on the study of social interactions and relationships, the organizations that exist in it and the problems that arise from living in a community.
The fact that society and culture are closely linked and are largely indivisible (since social norms are based on the beliefs and values of the culture to which they belong), makes this differentiation difficult to make on a practical level something that facilitates confusion among people who are not dedicated to either of these two areas.
2. Time window explored
Anthropology and sociology can focus on the analysis of the same time period. However, the truth is that sociology tends to be more focused on the study of historical stages closer in time or even today while anthropology tends to focus more on analyzing the evolution of societies throughout history.
3. Level of ethnocentrism
One of the differences between sociology and anthropology is found in the contexts and groups that each one analyzes. The approach of anthropology tends to be holistic, including in its research a global perspective of humanity and often observing cultures other than the one of origin in order to better understand different cultural and social developments.
Sociology, however, tends to be more ethnocentric generally focused on the culture or type of culture from which the research is based (it focuses more on the here and now).
Another of the most notable differences is that while anthropology generally seeks knowledge in order to improve the understanding of what happened and how we got to where we are, in the case of sociology the objective is to analyze the existing reality. generally with the purpose not only of understanding but also of being able to introduce, predict or evaluate the introduction of changes in the system.
In other words, in Western societies, Sociology aims to be a science with a higher level of practical application than anthropology which tends to be more theoretical-explanatory.
5. Type of data used
As we mentioned above, sociology and anthropology also differ in the type of data they usually use. Anthropology usually performs an analysis based on more qualitative data, with the data mainly derived from the observation and analysis of cultural products or observation.
On the contrary, Sociology tends to focus on obtaining data of a more quantitative nature searching and generating research regarding operable elements based on current data and its comparison with previous ones.
