Essay on "Anthropology: The Fundamental Social Science"

Essay 3 pages (815 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Some examples include economics, geography, history, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology. Because of its all-encompassing ability to understand the human experience from multiple perspectives, anthropology sets the stage for other Social Science disciplines. It allows linguistics to study language out of an understanding that humans live in a symbolic world and communicate symbolically (a cultural phenomenon). It allows sociologists to study the (oft Western, American) society as an entity in and of itself (and anthropology understands society as a product of culture, and that product allows for the ability for humanity to continue its existence. Without the ability to cohabitate amicably, humanity would not, most likely, have survived as long or prospered as much). It allows historians to understand the culture and the "ways" of the people of the past (through, often, written texts (i.e., cultural artifacts) and anthropological archaeology). It allows for economics to understand humanity through "rationality" agreement (which presupposes that humans work in a cultural landscape and have a market driven, rational reason for acting (for only anthropology can explain why one would want, allow, or act rationally in a market society)). It allows for the Political Scientist to understand the political makeup of society (which requires a cultural adherence and approval of a political system of power0, and for geographers to understand humanity (from a viewpoint that requires humans to be members of a group that are, generally, geocentric (i.e., culturally centered)), and for other social sciences to understand humanity from a point-of-view that takes for granted their humanity (e.g., psychology).

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