Social anthropology belongs to a series of sciences on the process of human development. She studies the evolution of society, as well as the stage at which modern people are.
That is, it is precisely human behavior that is considered to be the cause and the main mechanism of the entire development process, to which culture, the social system, and other forms of activity can be added. This article will open up the question of what social anthropology is studying, and also dwell briefly on the history of this science.
Born of a revolution
When considering the essence of many sciences, it is customary to find the beginnings of a particular discipline, as well as sayings about its necessity in the works of ancient or later philosophers. There are a number of treatises that contain thoughts similar to ideas later developed by social anthropology.
So, in the works of the French writer and thinker of the 18th century, Charles Montesquieu, the theory is considered that the traditional culture, that is, the system of social relations, as well as material and spiritual values, should be carefully analyzed at all stages of human development, and the knowledge gained should be systematized.
The French scientist proposed to conduct this study in order to take the best from the original customs of the peoples of the world and create on their basis a new, universal system of social relations.
Such thoughts visited the great thinker after a series of revolutions that swept through Europe.
These coups, according to the writer, have brought very little benefit to humanity. Therefore, he considered it necessary to create a new theoretical basis for possible social transformations.
In such an analysis of the smallest components of culture and human relationships, as well as in the possible forecasting of further history and improving the existing order, the functions of social anthropology as a science are included.
Putting ideas into practice
Montesquieu was not only a theorist.
He created a series of social theories that were subsequently put into practice. Achievements of his scientific thought are applied today. In particular, he is credited with the detailed development of the concept of separation of powers. This scheme consists in the distribution of powers between the legislative and executive branches. The works of Charles Montesquieu were widely used to create a system of power in the then young state of the United States of America.
His thoughts on the organization of management were adopted and supplemented by later political scientists who transferred the idea of ​​sharing the load from the horizontal plane to the vertical. This was manifested in the delimitation of legislative and executive powers between federal authorities and local self-government.
Following the United States of America, a majority of European countries have chosen a similar form of political organization.
Currently, the vast majority of countries in the world have just such a system of power, where powers are divided between different branches.
Thus, a science such as social anthropology, while still in its infancy, already had practical results on a global scale.
The appearance of the term
The very name of science - social anthropology - arose at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The cradle for the new industry is the universities of Great Britain and the United States of America. It is worth saying that the term for a given science still exists in two versions. In England, it is commonly called social anthropology. Accordingly, the British version has a more politicized bias. In the US, the name "cultural anthropology" is more often used.
From this very name it follows that American scientists consider historical events that determine the development of society, as well as material and cultural values, as social phenomena.
In particular, at Yale , a theory was developed on the relationship of the language spoken by a particular person and his way of thinking. This hypothesis was named in honor of its founders - Sepir and Whorf. In their scientific works, these linguists used the results of observations of the life of the indigenous peoples of America, as well as knowledge about the features of their national languages.
Thus, cultural anthropology takes into account the achievements of numerous sciences about man and society to identify the essence of social behavior, as well as to comprehend the history of mankind. Among this diversity of fields of knowledge, linguistics is also present, which is confirmed by the existence of the Sepir – Whorf theory.
The works of these researchers were of varying popularity throughout the 20th century. Their works were either considered outstanding among representatives of the scientific community, or were ridiculed. However, the appearance of a number of studies at the end of the century proved the viability of this hypothesis. In particular, George Lakoff’s scientific research on metaphor in the languages ​​of the peoples of the world and its role in shaping human thinking uses the achievements of his predecessors from Yale University.
The development of science in France
This branch of knowledge continued its existence and development in the homeland of Charles Montesquieu, his founding father.
In the 20s of the 20th century, the prominent French scientist Marcel Moss, developing the ideas of his predecessors, created a series of works in which he considered the so-called “gift economy”. In his deep conviction, the assertion that at the stage of human development, which preceded commodity-money relations, exchange was used, is deeply mistaken.
In primitive times, there was a system of social relations in which the social status of members of society is determined by how often and in what sizes they made gifts to others. These offerings were to help the poor, to maintain various religious institutions, as well as their servants. Thus, we can conclude that before the advent of commodity-money relations, the moral and ethical ideas of society in some ways even surpassed later models.
This theory was one of the first achievements in the history of social anthropology. Its practical application was carried out in some forms of modern social relations. In particular, in the so-called virtual culture there is a similar phenomenon. For example, some companies provide new software to everyone at no cost.
Theorists and Practitioners
Despite significant achievements, Marcel Moss and many of his supporters were called "scientists in chairs." This metaphor was attached to a number of researchers due to the fact that their scientific works were not based on such methods of obtaining information as an experiment, etc. However, the generation of social anthropologists that followed them began to widely use practical methods of obtaining material. One such scientist is Claude Levy-Strauss. This French scientist was a student of Marcel Moss. Having received a diploma allowing him to carry out teaching activities in college, Levy nevertheless did not go along the beaten track, but decided to carry out a number of scientific expeditions in order to study the traditions and customs of the indigenous peoples of Brazil.
To carry out his plans, he moves to this country and goes to work at one of the universities. Based on his observations, he created several scientific works on the theory of the occurrence of colloquial speech. According to his hypotheses, the lexical stock of a particular language consists of words that in the course of history developed from a variety of cries and interjections of ancient people. But the circle of problems that he solved in the process of his research extended far beyond the boundaries of linguistics. So, Levy-Strauss devoted much time to the study of traditional forms of marriage and the family that exist on the South American continent.
As a true modern scientist, he understood that comprehension of any global problem requires consideration of the issue from the point of view of various branches of knowledge. Therefore, he worked closely with the mathematician Weil, who wrote chapters on the economic and logical justifications of his theory.
Levy-Strauss lived a long life, reaching 100 years of age.
Until the last days, he remained in his right mind and was engaged in scientific activities. There are not many similar examples in academic circles. He is the founder of the department of socanthropology at the faculties of sociology at several universities.
This researcher was also friendly with Franz Boas, the scientific predecessor of Sepir and Whorf, and used some of his achievements in his work.
Integrated sciences
In connection with the emergence of many new branches of knowledge, as well as the rapid growth of the development of science and technology, in the last two centuries it has become possible to use the achievements of one discipline in works devoted to the problems of another. Over time, this interaction of various points of view has become regarded as a necessity.
It can be argued that the diversity of the branches of human knowledge made it possible to look at the long-studied facts of history from a point of view different from the political and economic.
New studies in the field of culture and art, as well as the study of various forms of social relations have allowed this new approach to be implemented.
Man in Social Anthropology
The life of people and their society is studied by numerous sciences. In recent decades, complex disciplines have appeared that allow us to consider human history even at the molecular level. Such sciences as sociology, history, political science, anthropology and others are sometimes called behavioral.
Since these branches of knowledge deal with various forms of social structure, as well as the process of its development, the subject of social anthropology, one way or another, is man. Different views on this issue differ from each other only in some nuances. Thus, some scientists are inclined to consider the history of mankind as a subject of science, while others - its culture.
In any case, this discipline allows you to look at people from a fundamentally new point of view. This makes it possible to supplement the general picture of the world that is emerging in modern man in the process of studying various theories and hypotheses.
Personality as the engine of history
So, the subject of social anthropology is man. But this term in various contexts can mean completely different concepts. Under the word "man" in the science we are considering can hide the designation of people as a biological species, as well as individuals, members of society and the family.
Thus, when considering a rational being from different points of view, specialists in the field of social anthropology have a fairly complete portrait. The interconnection between the various functions and aspects of human being is emphasized by the fact that all these aspects of life are indicated here with one word - "man."
Unlike history and sociology, which are engaged in the study of processes such as revolution, evolution, and so on, without taking into account individual individuals, the science discussed in this article tries to get away from this depersonalization and analyze this phenomenon on a deeper level.
In the name of this industry, the word "anthropology" is more significant than its definition - "social". This once again proves that the essence of this field of knowledge is the study of social processes, taking into account the smallest structural units - individuals. Therefore, the most important concept of social anthropology is man.
Ways of development of science
In different years, anthropology was influenced by various scientists and philosophers. Their thoughts largely determined the direction in the development of this branch of knowledge at specific stages.
For example, at the very beginning of its existence, science was largely guided by the idea that any discipline should first of all collect the most important facts that can be applied in further research. After that, such information should be analyzed, and laws based on it, and the number of these rules should be reduced to a minimum.
The next area of ​​social anthropology arose under the influence of the ideas of the French thinker Dilthey. In contrast to the previous theory, he was of the opinion that not all phenomena relating to human life can be explained logically. Therefore, if veils relating to the history of mankind, various social conditions can be studied by the method of cognition, then everything that concerns the personality of people should not be analyzed, but simply understood and felt.
The main thing in this area of ​​social anthropology is the parallel between the qualities of individuals belonging to a particular ethnic group and the phenomena of culture and art.
Dilthey said that in the sciences that study human relationships, it is not enough to use only logical thinking. In such areas of knowledge, one needs to delve deeper into all analyzed processes. This situation can provide only sensual empathy for representatives of different cultures. This approach provides respect for the material and cultural values ​​of other countries. And it allows you to preserve the legacy of different eras and increase it.
Communication with other sciences
As already mentioned, the subject of study of a number of disciplines is man. Therefore, to draw boundaries between areas of knowledge such as sociology, cultural studies, social anthropology, sociology and others, it is sometimes very difficult. Some scientists are considered the founders of several disciplines at the same time.
An even closer connection exists between ethnology and social anthropology. Today, when considering these terms, it is customary to say that the last of the sciences is a more extensive field of knowledge, since it includes, among other things, psychological and cultural components.
It is worth mentioning that in Soviet times there was a single name for both sciences - ethnography.
A close relationship also exists between sociology and cultural anthropology.
Claude Levy-Strauss proposed to separate the fields of these sciences. In his opinion, sociology should deal with the conscious component that determines the development of human society, that is, various external factors, as well as the deliberate actions of people.
Social anthropology, he assigned the function of studying the unconscious. That is, in their research, such scientists should rely on the study of various superstitions, rites, and so on.
It must be said that the science in question in this article, at the dawn of its formation, was engaged in the study of only primitive primitive societies. Therefore, it can be argued that this branch of knowledge in the process of its development not only deepened, but also expanded the territory of its study, not only analyzed the behavioral characteristics of representatives of various ethnic groups, but also considered more and more historical eras.
We can say that modern social anthropology has sided with sociology, since it is studied in the framework of the training program for specialists in this discipline.
The convergence of the two sciences began to occur after the Second World War. Then, sociologists realized the need to recognize a number of anthropological achievements.
In particular, they adopted studies on such small groups as the family, clan community, residents of the same city, and so on. Such knowledge was useful to sociologists, since they had to admit that it was these societies that strongly influenced many historical processes. It is such groups that are in the field of close attention of cultural anthropology.
At the same time, the achievements of sociology were also useful to representatives of related science. For example, until the middle of the 20th century, anthropology was mainly engaged in societies with a traditional way of life, where people are mainly employed in peasant farming and live in small towns. Since the fifties, social anthropology has shifted its attention to studying the features of socialization of residents of large cities and industrial centers. One of the most important topics being developed today by this discipline is ancient beliefs in an industrial society.
Learning programs
The study of this discipline, as a rule, takes place as part of a program for the training of sociologists in Russian universities. In particular, a department of this science is available at St. Petersburg State University at the Department of Sociology. This science is mastered by graduate students.
Also, this subject are students in the specialty "Sociology" under the undergraduate program.
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Conclusion
This article was devoted to social anthropology, which is a fairly young branch of knowledge in Russian science. In several sections of the article, the question of the subject of this discipline, as well as its relationship with other areas of knowledge, was highlighted. This area of ​​knowledge is one of the humanities that study human relationships. Interacting with other disciplines, she contributes to the system of knowledge about people both as a set of separate individuals and as members of a single society. Social anthropology not only deals with the study of modern society and its history, but also makes numerous predictions for the near and distant future.