Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Methods in social anthropology. 3. Functionalism to structural functionalism. 4. Structuralism, colonialism and anthropology. 5. Understanding post-modernism. 6. Globalization and engaged anthropology. 7. Medical anthropology. 8. Gender, ethnicity and race. Bibliography. Index.

Social anthropology explores the role of meanings. ambiguities and contradictions of social life, patterns of sociality, violence and conflict, and the underlying logics of social behaviour. It is distinguished from sociology, both in its main methods based on long term participant observation and linguistic competence, and in its commitment to the relevance and illumination provided by micro studies. It extends beyond strictly social phenomena to culture, art, individuality and cognition. Of all the disciplines that examine aspects of human existence and accomplishments, only anthropology explores the entire panorama of the human experience from human origins to contemporary forms of culture and social life. (jacket)