Social anthropology

Social anthropology is the branch of anthropology that studies how at this time living human beings behave in social groups.

Substantive focus and practice Practioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long term, concentrated field studies (including participant observation methods), the social organization of a particular people: customs, economic and political organization, law and conflict resolution, patterns of consumption and exchange, kinship and family structure, gender relations, childrearing and socialization, religion, and so on.

Social anthropology also explore the role of meanings, ambiguities and contradiction of social life, patterns of sociality, violence and conflict, and the underlying logics of social behavior. Social anthropologists are taught in the interpretation of narrative, ritual and symbolic behavior not merely as text, but with communication examined in relation to action, practice, and the historical context in which it is embedded. Social anthropologists address the variety of positions and perspectives to be found within any social group.