ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF Anthropology
This is concerned with the study of existing social institutions and their relationships.
An anthropologist is a person who studies the above aspects of society; he has to live among those people and learn their culture thereby enabling him to understand the aspects of life of a certain society and to determine the truth about that society.
Anthropology allows you to understand humanity better than any single other course of study. Anthropology requires you to look at the many perspectives- social, cultural, biological, historical that lead to understanding within context.
Functions of anthropology
1. To investigate the ways of life of a particular society.
2.To explain skills, political organization, social activities, religion and economic activities.
3. To produce information or data about the life of people in various societies.
Advantages of anthropology
1. Helps the historian to find traces of the past in the present social structures of the society
Therefore using the current reliable information helps us to understand how the past was.
2. Helps the historian to reconstruct the past elements of all cultures
The historian studies the information and research techniques used by the anthropologist to arrive at a certain conclusion.
3. one would experience the people’s way of life.
4. One understands and explains social and other structures within their society of study.
5. One explains aspects of the economy on which a given community depends.
6. One is able to determine a people’s cultural past.
7. One has a deeper understanding of a particular aspect of a people’s culture.
Disadvantages of anthropology
1. The works of anthropology are very limited to time and environment. In the present people may be living in a condition far different from what their ancestors lived; in the long run the anthropologist will not get the necessary information required in his study.
2. The knowledge of the anthropologist in this case is very important as one can easily exaggerate or underestimate or interpret basing on his knowledge a thing that will affect the whole process of trying to reconstruct history. This therefore means that objectivity of history does not mean objectivity of facts but interpretation.
3. This method is too tiresome. The anthropologist has to live among the people and learn their culture which enables him to understand all the different aspects of life of a given society and to determine whether it is authentic and worth studying.
4. It is expensive as it involves living with the people on who research is conducted.
5. It is time-consuming.
6. Researchers may not adapt to new environments.
7. The researcher may miss vital information as the people being studied may behave differently in the presence of the researcher.
8. The researcher risks losing his or her own culture in adapting to the environment of study.
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