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 the current human being has true evidence, not Knowing most of the events that our ancestors experienced before the invention of the writing.

In this sense, different branches of science have tried to explore both in our present and in 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, and due to the similarity of the themes that they touch on, they are often confused by those who are not dedicated to they.

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.

• Related article: "The 10 branches of social sciences"

The definition of these two social sciences

Anthropology is understood as the discipline or branch of science devoted to the study of the human being in its various aspects, generally focusing on the evolution of man through the ages. Anthropology is a broad science, which aims to study the human being from a global perspective, with a tendency to 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 human being in terms of animal species and on the other the sociocultural development that has been carried out throughout said evolution. In this way, anthropology can assess both how a language has evolved and how human beings have adapted to changes in temperature or how traditions and beliefs have changed.

Among the multiple branches of existing anthropology, the one most often confused with other social disciplines is social anthropology. With regard to this type of anthropology, it tends to emphasize 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 devoted to the study of societies, as it refers to the study of the way in which the different members of a community are organized and establish different ways of managing their resources and coexistence, generating norms and ways of linking each other Yeah. This analysis of societies is made 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 a practical approach.

• You may be interested in: "The 4 main branches of Anthropology: what they are like and what they investigate"

Main differences between Sociology and Anthropology

Given the definitions made above, we can observe the presence of great similarities between both disciplines. That is why differentiating between sociology and certain types of anthropology can be complex for most people, but this does not imply that it is not possible to observe elements distinctive. Next, we will highlight some of the most obvious differences.

1. object of study

The main difference between anthropology and sociology is curiously one of the reasons why they are confused. AND is that both disciplines have different objects of study and analysisAlthough 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. When it comes to sociology, it tends to focus on the study of interactions and relationships social, the organizations that exist in it and the problems that arise from living in community.

The fact that society and culture are closely linked and to a large extent indivisible (since that social norms are based on the beliefs and values ​​of the culture of membership), 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 fields.

2. explored time window

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. Ethnocentrism level

One of the differences between sociology and anthropology is found in the contexts and groups that each 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 developments and social.

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).

4. applicability level

Another of the most notorious 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 reality generally existing for the purpose of not only understanding but also being able to introduce, predict or assess the introduction of changes in the system.

In other words, in Western societies, sociology claims to be a science with a higher level of practical application than anthropology, which tends to be more theoretical-explanatory.

• You may be interested in: "The 4 differences between Psychology and Sociology"

5. Type of data used

As we have mentioned before, sociology and anthropology also differ in the type of data they tend to use. Anthropology usually performs an analysis based on more qualitative data, the data being derived mainly from the observation and analysis of cultural products or from observation.

On the contrary, sociology tends to focus on obtaining data of a more quantitative nature, seeking and generating research regarding operable elements based on current data and its comparison with previous ones.