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Anthropology (pron.: /ænθr??p?l?d?i/) is the "science of humanity." [1] It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences.[2] The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthr?pos (?νθρωπος), "man", understood to mean humankind or humanity, and -logia (-λογ?α), "discourse" or "study."

Since the work of Franz Boas and Bronis?aw Malinowski in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, anthropology has been distinguished from other social sciences by its emphasis on in-depth examination of context, cross-cultural comparisons, and the importance it places on participant-observation, or long-term, experiential immersion in the area of research. Cultural anthropology in particular has emphasized cultural relativity, holism and the use of findings to frame cultural critiques.[3] This has been particularly prominent in the United States, from Boas's arguments against 19th-century racial ideology, through Margaret Mead's advocacy for gender equality and sexual liberation, to current criticisms of post-colonial oppression and promotion of multiculturalism. Ethnography is one of its primary methods as well as the text that is generated from anthropological fieldwork.[4][5][6]

In the United States, the discipline is traditionally divided into four sub-fields: cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and biological anthropology. In Europe, the discipline originated as ethnology and was originally defined as the study of social organization in non-state societies. It was later renamed social anthropology. It is now generally referred to as socio-cultural anthropology in most of Europe, the commonwealth, and in the parts of the world that were influenced by the European tradition.[7]

ANTHROPOLOGICAL:  RELATED TO OR DETERMINED BY ANTHROPOLOGY

Courtesy of Wikipedia