Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology

Author: Robert F. Murphy [USA]
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: This book covers the main topics typically found in a one-semester course in cultural and social anthropology at a four-year university. The field of anthropology is vast and diverse, with numerous branches, yet it also has fundamental unifying directions and goals. I strive to capture these and convey them to the readers. To this end, I have deliberately avoided easily misinterpreted neat definitions to facilitate the theoretical explanation of specialized terminology. This approach allows each chapter, as well as the entire book, to revolve around a series of key, interconnected themes, synthesizing the subject matter rather than breaking it into fragmented parts. Similarly, the chapters are integrated into an organic whole designed to demonstrate the interconnectedness of various aspects of social life. The scope and standards of this book align with those of standard textbooks, but its style is quite distinct. My intention is for Introduction to Social Anthropology to serve as a guiding text in the field of social and cultural anthropology, but I also hope that outsiders with an interest in this area will find the book both readable and highly informative.