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Glossary:

Acculturation: It is a process where, a changed cultural outcome has occurred due to cultural contacts.

This cultural contact is generally based on first hand contact in which the original pattern of culture and

customs of either or both areas may be altered.

Assimilation: It is a process where, a gradual procedure of cultural adoption has occurred due to

cultural contacts and communication. This may change the originality of a culture to some extent but

not to the level that it loses its identity and the uniqueness. There are certain changes which give

similarity or likeliness with the new (outside) culture where, each cultural trait becomes difficult to

separate from the newly acquired product of culture.

Ethnography: It is a descriptive written (and analyzed) account of the life of a group of people to have

a detail, holistic understanding of people.

Field work: It is an art, a rigorous process of investigation for the collection of data on the study of

people. It is equipped with various methods and techniques where, the researcher employs to establish

facts of human life by staying among themselves. Participant observation is the key to field work.

Malinowski: A British anthropologists who made a path breaking contribution in the field of social

anthropology by conducting ethnographic field work among the Melanesians.

Migration: It is a process of moving people across and within a specified boundary. The basis of it may

vary from subsistence to luxurious way of livelihood.

Trobiand Islanders: People of Melanesia who were studied by Malinowski. His book The Argonauts of

Western Pacific (1922) is based on them.

Urbanization: It is the rapid growth of urban structures along with the migration of people into the

cities. It results into various problems of pollution, employment, health and hygiene etc.

Industrialization: It is the process of development of factories and industries. It is wider social and

economic changes which give changes in relation to technology.

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Adaptation: It is the process of adjustment with the change environment. Various social systems have

developed and adjustments are made in due course of time for a successful livelihood.

FAQ

1.What is Social Anthropology?

Answer: Social Anthropology is a branch of anthropology which deals with the study of social institutions

and relations of society. It studies various social organisations, economic organisations and many other

institutions and also its associated norms and ideas to know the behavior of social groups. It varies from

society to society based on the rules and regulations which are existed in the actual structure of society.

It also focuses on the comparative methods of studying different societies.

2.What is Cultural Anthropology?

Answer: Cultural Anthropology is a branch of anthropology popularly developed and used in American

anthropology. It studies the origin and developmental history of mankind. Its focus is mainly on the

nature, components and interactional process of different cultures and its pattern found in different

societies.

3. Why do we study primitive societies?

Answer: Primitive or the contemporary simple technology society is the best group to understand,

analyse and compare for any study. Their society and institutions are generally found to be simple, not

so much compartmentalised and complex like the modern societies. They can be studied as a blue print

for studying the modern societies for the study of social relations, culture and cultural change.

4. What is the basic method of data collection in Anthropology?

Answer: Field work is the basic method of data collection in anthropology. It is considered as the soul of

anthropology which provides the uniqueness of this subject matter. Through field work, anthropologists

collected rich ethnographic accounts of people. It is based on participant observation in which the

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researcher stays with the natives, becomes one of them and participates in their day to day life

activities.

5. What are the new avenues in the Scope of Social Anthropology?

Answer: The scope of social anthropology opens various vistas of understanding social change and

differences by understanding the customs and traditions of mankind. It opens up into new disciplines

such as visual anthropology, urban anthropology to tackle with and act as repositories of various

knowledge resources. Visual anthropology enables to record myriad events which are difficult to narrate

as a production of ethnographic films and photography.