Anthropology is far more than a study of curious primitive customs or a museum collection of potsherds and exotic headgear. It is a complex arm of the social sciences, growing in sophistication and in the number of practitioners, capable of studying an emerging nation as well as a remote jungle village-and vital to an understanding of today's shrinking world.
In this book, a well-known anthropologist guides the Layman and the student through the labyrinth of present-day anthropology, explaining briefly and succinctly its fundamental ideas and methods and its differing schools of thought. With numerous specific examples, ranging from the Dobu Islanders to the wedding plans of a fashionable American bride, the author discusses the concepts of anthropology – culture, function, structure, acculturation - explaining them in terms of their historical development and their usage and relevance today.