area of cultural anthropology

BGMEA University Of Fashion & Technology

Topic :Area of Cultural Anthropology

Name IDYamin Islam 151-095-0-145

Asif Rahman Akash 151-110-0-145

Date: 13th November ,2016

IntroductionCultural Anthropology is the study of human society and culture, the subfield that describes, analyzes interprets and explains social and cultural similarities and differences.

Malinowski says- “Culture is the handiwork through he achieves his ends”. (A Scientific Theory of Culture, 1960)

Hofstede defines culture as-“The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another”.(1980, pp. 21-23)

Specialized subject areas of cultural anthropologyCultural Anthropology focuses on the study of contemporary human cultures, their beliefs, myths, values, practices, technologies, economies and other domains of social and cognitive organization.

We now have specialized area of cultural anthropology. These are-

Social Anthropology:It is concerned with the social structure of society. Social anthropology focuses on such matters as- kinship, organization, class, stratification and social relations in general.

Psychological Anthropology: It is concerned with ways in which the culture of a society influences the individuals who grow up within his circumstance.

Medical Anthropology: How cultural factors affect health & disease and the relationship of disease to human biological & genetic characteristics the various habitats that groups occupy.

Economic Anthropology: Economic anthropology attempts to explain human economic behavior using both economic & anthropology. It mainly concerned with production, distribution, exchange, consumption, savings and investment of properties.

Ecological Anthropology: The study of the relationship between subsistence technology and the natural habitat and how those relationships affect and are affected by social patterns, religion and other aspects of culture.

Symbolic Anthropology: It is the investigation of the relationship between the symbols that are part of every group’s culture and the people’s behavior.

Political Anthropology: Concerned with political structure, political party, state, power, law and justice of various societies.

Urban Anthropology: Urban anthropology is the study of the impact of urban environments upon human behavior. It concerned with issues of urbanization, poverty and neoliberalism.

Conclusion: Anthropology is concerned with the lives of people within different parts of the world, particularly in relation to the discourse of beliefs and practices.