what the differernce sociology and anthropology?

Answer 1

The difference between these two fields is incredibly subtle, so much so that at some schools, like my Alma mater, the disciplines are grouped together and one earns a degree in both. It's true that sociology mainly focuses on societies or groups within societies with an objective, quantitative approach involving mainly statistics and concrete data. It's also true that anthropology mainly focuses on culture and the tribal, horticultural, and agricultural societies of the past with a more subjective, qualitative approach that involves sometimes total immersion into the culture and a record of observation.

But even in this way the line is not so clearly defined. Sociologists love to study sub-cultures within a society; for example bikers, yahoo!answerers, or the goth movement, and analyze how the symbols and ritual behavior of these sub-cultures affects their role in society - a cultural analysis usually thought to be an anthropological practice. Sociology is also very concerned with past societies, the idea that sociologists only study today's modern western societies is ridiculous, if we didn't know our past how would we know how modern society was shaped? Anthropologists also love to study societies and societal sub-groups in the modern world, often using quantitative data to begin a study or support their findings.

The truth I have found is that these two disciplines step on each other's toes a great deal, I am not at all surprised at your confusion. I don't think it's as simple as 'sociology studies societies and anthropology studies culture' because society and culture both past and present are so closely intertwined.

While sociology usually focuses on the objective and quantitative and anthropology on the subjective and qualitative, this is not a steadfast rule. Each researcher defines where they want their studies to fall, and so we have the great thinkers of both disciplines. If anything, a way to tell the difference is who you are studying. If your professor pulls out a text from Marx, Hegel, Weber or (Herbert) Mead, you're probably in a sociology class. If the texts are Lévi-Strauss, Price, or Margaret Mead, you're probably in an anthropology class.

The divergent path is defined by those who have walked before, but as both fields grow and develop, they become similar in many ways and in some ways interchangeable.

FYI - in case you are not familiar:
quantitative data - mostly numerical, yes or no, one or two word answers, or feelings 'on a scale of...'
qualitative data - general observations of a person, event, group of people, society, or culture; can be results of an interview or focus group, or records written during a long-term observation

Answer 2

The word anthropology means the study of humans. It is not just human history but also the study of humans currently. Archaeology, linguistics, cultural anthro, physical anthro, and biological anthro are the major subfields. Sociology is the study of humans in groups, societies, or as individuals. Sociology deals more with numbers and statistics, it is a more objective type of study. Anthropology tends to be a more subjective study, basing analysis on experiences (enthnography) or artifacts and developing theories based on this analysis.

Answer 3

Sociology is the study of people in groups and anthropology is the study of man throughout history.

Answer 4

Sociology is the study of and the attempt to control current populations; anthropology is the study of man's history in a cultural context and man's relationship to the environment at that time.

Answer 5

sociology is the study of interation within a society, anthropology is the study of the history of a society or study of a society that ceases to exist.

Answer 6

Sociologists typically study large, Western societies, while anthropologists typically study smaller, non-western, "tribal" societies, although this distinction is blurring. Another difference is in methods. Sociology relies on surveys, while anthropologists conduct fieldwork, living among studied groups for long periods of time.