Sociology studies human behavior in groups. So it is the science of society. Anthropology is the science of human beings which studies human behavior in social situations. Therefore, the subject matter of sociology and social anthropology is very common. But the concept of considering them as two separate independent sciences is relatively new. Both have made a huge impact on each other. According to E. A. Hoebel, “Sociology and social anthropology in their broadest sense are one and the same.” There is content which is so similar to the subject matter of sociology that many thinkers have considered it as a branch of sociology.
Therefore, social anthropology can be considered as a branch of sociological studies, the branch which mainly studies primitive societies. Kirsing and Dr. Dhuriye have also emphasized on this relation of social anthropology and sociology. Kroeber has considered sociology and anthropology as twin sisters. According to Robert Redfield, “Looking at the United States as a whole, there appears to be a closer relationship between sociology and anthropology than between politics and anthropology. This is due, in part, to a greater similarity in working methods.”
The closest branch of anthropology to sociology is social anthropology which aims at studying the behavior of human beings in social situations. Sociology has taken the concepts of cultural field, cultural apparatus, interdependent apparatus, cultural westernization etc. from social anthropology and on the basis of them cultural sociology has developed. Important discoveries of famous anthropologists like Rolf Lintke and Abraham Cardiner have greatly influenced sociology. According to them, every society has “a basic personality type” which is formed by cultural influence on the individual from childhood. This basic personality type also varies due to varying cultural influences. Cardiner has written about Eloris, a Negro ethnic society of India, that in their society the basic personality form is of distrustful, suspicious, quarrelsome and courage less and exploitative person whereas in our society this type of person would be considered mentally ill or unnatural.
The people of the Marquesas Islands in the Pacific Ocean have the same concerns and rituals, prohibitions and rules regarding food items as are found in our society regarding sexual feelings. So it is clear that every society has its own culture and the personality of its members changes accordingly from childhood.
Apart from social anthropology, many discoveries of physical anthropology have also thrown light on many problems of sociology. Anthropological investigations have proved that social conditions have a huge hand in making a person criminal. Another major contribution of anthropology to sociology is the denial of the notion of speciesism. It has been well established by anthropological research that today no race can claim to be completely pure or superior to others.
In short, thus anthropological discoveries have proved very useful for sociology. Sociologists like Maciver have considered this contribution of anthropology to be the most important.
The above statements clearly prove that social anthropology and sociology are closely related to each other.
• Distinction between Social Anthropology and Sociology :– At present social anthropology and sociology have developed so much that the differences between them have become more important in this regard. In this way sociology and social anthropology are closely related to each other but both are different from each other. The following are the main differences between these two sciences:-
- The scope of sociology and social anthropology is different. Social anthropology studies the primitive society and sociology studies the present society.
- Sociology studies social relations and social interactions, while social anthropology studies all parts of society, social, economic, political and cultural. Thus the study of sociology is more specific and that of anthropology more general.
- Along with the study of sociology, it also gives suggestions for improvement, but the study of social anthropology is neutral. So he does not give any suggestion.
- Social anthropology especially uses functional methods in which under the method of participant observation the anthropologist himself lives in the society which he has to study. On the other hand, the main methods of sociology are based on survey, statistics etc.
- There is also a substantial difference between sociological and social anthropological approaches. One is specific, the other is general, one has an expert approach, the other scientific, one has a sense of reform, the other is neutral.
In short, sociology and social anthropology and their findings can contribute significantly to human welfare. For example, they help a lot in eradicating dangerous elements like racism, apartheid. These can generate a sense of tolerance towards individuals, institutions and cultures of other societies and also help in understanding and solving social, economic and political problems. For example, anthropological studies will no doubt prove to be very helpful and useful in the measures of welfare of tribes and primitive societies in India.