Four-field approach

In America, the subject of Anthropology has been divided up into four smaller subjects. This is called the "four-field approach". The four types of anthropology included are archaeology, linguistics, physical anthropology (or Biological), and cultural anthropology. Together, these four types of anthropology explain how different humans have resided all over the world throughout history.

There are some people who think applied anthropology, which uses the information learned from studying anthropology to solve modern problems of health or education, is it's own subject, which would make it a "five field approach", but this is not as common of a view.

History of The Four-Field Approach

This approach was created by Franz Boas (1858-1942), also named “the father of anthropology.” He is famous for making anthropology popular, as well as an academic discipline in the United States. Boas wanted to show people that human activities, ideas, and choices are different in different places. He believed that the people should be studied holistically or as a whole, not just looking at one part of their life, but how all the parts of their lives fit together and create their culture. This includes studying people's history, the objects they make, their bodies, languages, stories, and customs.

Application

Since the 20th century, most American universities have used the four-field approach. Other countries, like England, do not divide anthropology in the same way. For example, archaeology is a part of the subject of history and not anthropology.

The benefits of a four-field approach allows for different perspectives to be taken into account when studying anthropological topics. This helps to alleviate any bias or general incorrect assumptions about past and present cultures.

The Four Fields

Archaeology

Archaeology is the study of how people lived in the past. Archaeologists, learn from things left by people who lived a long time ago. They examine very old objects like pottery, stone tools, coins, books or anything made or used by humans. Usually, these objects are buried in the ground and need to be excavated, or dug up. These objects help archaeologists understand where and how people lived a long time ago. Most importantly, archaeologists focus on histories of cultures and the past, through artifacts and remains.

Famous archeologists

• Lewis Binford
• Howard Carter
• V Gordon Childe
• Ian Hodder

Cultural Anthropology

Cultural anthropology is the study of human culture. Culture is the way groups of people live their lives based on what is normal or accepted behavior for where they live. Culture can be fluid and change as people’s ideas change. Cultural anthropologists look at how different cultures are by comparing things like people’s ideas, art, and food. The focus of this field is on the differences between cultures.

It is also related to sociology and social psychology.

It is also called "social anthropology" and “socio-cultural anthropology”.

Cultural Relativism

One of Franz Boas' students, Ruth Benedict, helped to bring the term "cultural relativism" popularity. Cultural relativism is a notion that means people's beliefs and actions must be understood from within the context of their own culture. People studying culture should avoid judging culture based on their own assumptions and cultural standards. Boas and Bosnians' celebrated the diversity of culture and did not advocate for ethnocentrism or a superior culture of them all.

Famous sociocultural anthropologists

• Franz Boas
• Clifford Geertz
• Margaret Mead
• Marshall Sahlins
• Bronislaw Malinowski
• Claude Levi-Strauss

Linguistics

Linguistics is the study of how people speak and the words they use and how their language developed over time (evolved). Linguists, people who study linguistics, also examine how language changes what people think and how people change language. They also look at how words make sentences. This field focuses on how language is a significance to culture.

Famous linguists

• Noam Chomsky
• Ferdinand de Saussure
• Roman Jakobson
• Edward Sapir

Physical Anthropology

Physical anthropology is the study of human body science (biology), including how people adapt to where they live and how bodies changed over time (evolution). They do this by comparing bones from very old humans to the bones of humans today.

Physical anthropologists also study non-human primates.

It is also called "biological anthropology".

Famous anthopologists

• Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
• Dian Fossey
• Jane Goodall
• Mary Leaky