V. Understanding Human Diversity

Anthropologists have particular ways of approaching their studies. They compare differences among human societies to get an appreciation of cultural diversity. They also study the full breadth of human existence, past and present. In addition, anthropologists try to appreciate all peoples and their cultures and to discourage judgments of cultural superiority or inferiority.

A. Making Comparisons

Most anthropological studies involve making comparisons. Only through comparison can anthropologists learn about the uniqueness of particular cultures as well as the characteristics that people in all cultures share.

For example, comparison has helped anthropologists learn about the variety of ways in which people classify their kinship relations. People of European descent, as well as various Eskimo and Inuit groups, regard all children of their parents’ siblings as “cousins.” But in many other cultures, people may regard some of those same relations as the equivalent of a European or Eskimo “brother” or “sister.” See also Kinship and Descent.

Anthropologists also study how culture has evolved, and continues to evolve, by comparing cultural traits among different groups of people, both past and living. Patterns of similarity and increasing complexity over time can be seen in such cultural traits as forms of language or types of tools. These patterns indicate when and where cultural innovation has occurred and how ideas and people have moved around the world.

A linguistic anthropologist, for instance, might trace the development and spread of new words or forms of grammar through history. A cultural anthropologist might look for the same kinds of trends and changes in the organization of families in societies of different scale or economic system. Archaeologists, as well, often study trends of styles in artifacts, such as types of pottery.

By comparing humans with other animals, and particularly other primates, anthropologists can learn about the uniqueness of humans as a species. For instance, unlike other primates, humans commonly use language; use fire; adorn themselves with clothing, jewelry, or body markings; manufacture and decorate objects; and have beliefs about the supernatural.

Comparison also reveals what humans and nonhuman primates have in common. Most primates, including humans, share many biological characteristics, such as relatively large brains, grasping hands, acute vision and depth perception, and teeth designed to eat a variety of foods. Many primates, particularly our closest biological relatives, the chimpanzees, are highly intelligent and social animals like people. Anthropologists believe that many of the characteristics shared by humans and nonhuman primates, but not found in other animals, were probably also shared by our earliest ancestors.

Some physical anthropologists study human genetics, the science of biological heredity. By comparing genetic differences among contemporary human populations, anthropologists try to understand when various populations branched off from a common ancestor, and how each population has adapted to its environment (see Race). For instance, anthropological research suggests that highly pigmented, or dark, skin evolved in the tropics as a protection against intense sunlight. Lighter, unpigmented skin most likely evolved in temperate climates to absorb more light, which is crucial for the body’s ability to make vitamin D.

Comparative genetic research has also shown that despite genetic differences, all humans are extremely closely related. Such research suggests that all humans probably share a common ancestor who lived as recently (in evolutionary terms) as 150,000 to 200,000 years ago.

A cross-cultural perspective allows anthropologists to step back and view human cultural and biological development with relative detachment. As recently as the late 19th century, sociologists and early anthropologists believed that cultural development meant progress—a series of improvements in human life marked by inventions and discoveries. However, as anthropologists studied more cultures, their research suggested that cultural developments are not always advantageous, but that every cultural group lives in a way that works well for many of its people.

For example, anthropological research has revealed how the technology of food production changed over the past 15,000 years. All people once made their living by hunting and foraging using tools of stone, wood, and bone. Subsequently, some societies moved to gardening and herding, then to plow agriculture using metal tools, and then to industrial factory production using machinery powered by internal combustion engines.

Many people think of the evolution of food production as a story of progress and improvement. But archaeological evidence shows that the first development of agriculture, as early as 9000 bc in the Middle East, may have hurt people's health. These early farmers, who settled in villages, became dependent on a very limited diet of harvested crops as opposed to the varied and nutritious diet available to them as nomadic foragers.

B. Examining Many Perspectives

Because anthropology examines human culture from so many perspectives, anthropologists commonly characterize their discipline as holistic, meaning all-encompassing. The holistic approach of anthropological research can provide insight into complex contemporary problems.

Studies of the connections among human ecology, biology, and culture in small-scale societies have given anthropologists insights on large-scale, even worldwide, problems. Anthropologists have studied how small-scale hunter-gatherer, gardening, and farming societies manage to make a living without destroying species of plants or animals, or ruining the soil or water. Their findings may provide new approaches to urgent global environmental problems, such as deforestation and the loss of biological diversity. Anthropologists have learned, for instance, about gardening methods that allow patches of forest to grow back after land has been used for planting and harvesting crops.

Studies of small-scale societies have also provided much information about the importance of various species of plant and animal life to human survival. For instance, anthropologists with knowledge of entomology (the study of insects) have learned how people in small-scale societies have developed food production techniques that allow them to grow healthy crops without artificial fertilizers or pesticides. These techniques benefit insect species that help fertilize plants and help eliminate unwanted animal pests.

Physical anthropologists, along with physicians and other researchers, have also conducted health and nutritional surveys on many relatively self-sufficient societies. For instance, they have analyzed the health of peoples living throughout the Amazon rain forest. This research has consistently shown that people native to the Amazon typically are in excellent physical condition and eat a varied and nutritious diet.

Anthropological studies of hunter-gatherers, such as the San people of the Kalahari Desert, has revealed that they enjoy great amounts of leisure time, despite their need to provide themselves daily with food, shelter, and other basic necessities. Anthropologists have made similar findings in studies of people in other small-scale societies. Such people appear to have far more leisure time than do most people living in urban, industrialized societies.

Anthropological research has also shown that the key to people’s well-being in most small-scale societies centers on their relationship with their environments. For instance, anthropologists trained in botany and linguistics have found that individuals living in many small groups throughout the Amazon use hundreds of rain forest plants for medicine, food, and cosmetics. These societies have long maintained a successful way of life, satisfying their needs according to what the forest can sustainably provide.

Drawing on their knowledge of small-scale societies, anthropologists also now study large-scale urban societies in an attempt to understand the long-term significance and potential impacts of cultural change. Paleoanthropological research has shown that all people lived in small-scale societies for about 99 percent of human existence. With their holistic perspective on cultural evolution and diversity, anthropologists question the ability of rapidly growing urban, industrialized societies to manage the growth of human populations and the potential overuse of natural resources.

C. Avoiding Cultural Bias

An anthropologist tries to understand other cultures from the perspective of an insider—that is, as someone living within the culture. This technique, known as cultural relativism, helps anthropologists to understand why people in different cultures live as they do. Anthropologists work from the assumption that a culture is effective and adaptive for the people who live in it. In other words, a culture structures and gives meaning to the lives of its members and allows them to work and prosper.

Assuming the insider’s perspective presents a challenge, because most people, including anthropologists, harbor some ethnocentrism, the belief that their own culture makes the most sense or is superior. Ethnocentrism somewhat resembles and sometimes occurs with racism, the belief that some groups of people are genetically superior to others. Ethnocentrism and racism make it difficult to view other people and cultures objectively, according to their own merits. By trying to break the barriers of culturally and racially bound perspectives, anthropologists aim to reduce ethnocentrism and racism and the misunderstandings that they cause.

Anthropological research gives a view of human physical and cultural development that challenges many people’s common beliefs. For example, research by physical anthropologists demonstrates conclusively that humans do not fall into sharply defined races. Although many people have tried to identify the characteristics of pure human races, anthropologists have shown that all human populations contain variability and that all people differ from each other very little genetically. In addition, the most easily observed physical variations—in skin color, facial features, and body form—are only a miniscule portion of the almost endless variety of differences that make every person unique.

• Introduction
• Key Concepts
• Fields of Antrhopology
• Anthropology and Other Social Sciences
• Understanding Human Diversity
• Research Methods
• Documenting and Presenting Research
• Ethical Concerns
• History of Anthropology
• Anthropology Today