Introduction
Anthropology is an academic approach to studying social reality around people. It discovers the critical junctures and development traits prevalent among different societies. It is especially applicable for interpretivists studies that aim to understand the meaning and power relations under people’s actions rather than find objective truth about empirical reality. In this essay, some examples will be discussed to show the broad meaning of anthropology for social science.
Political System
One of the fundamental areas that present increasing interest for anthropologists is politics. Political anthropology investigates human behavior that is related to decision-making and implementation of public goals. An important role is given to understanding the connection between legitimacy and coercion. While in Medieval times, legitimacy was mostly manifested through the cruelty of torture and the king’s despotism, modern legitimacy is based on citizenship and civic virtues.
One interesting example that may illustrate anthropology’s applicability to political processes is the 2020 Belarusian protests. Participants of these protests presented the authentic identity of Belarusian people that are driven by a desire to become a European country. Anthropologists will certainly be interested in how popular protests demonstrate special values and ideals in contrast to the image many outsiders originally gave them (Mavrodieva 2). Concerning the influence of popular protests worldwide on global society, these protests showed that western values appeal to the population in post-Soviet space. The Belarusian movement was democratic and pro-European, while Lukashenka’s legitimacy was built on ties with conservative Russia and anti-globalist sentiments (Victor). Such global shifts in popular movement make up the great volume of anthropologists’ interest in political systems.
Religion
The interest of anthropologists in religion is evident because the idea of sacred and divine has formed national identities for centuries. In basic terms, anthropologists aim to systemize, describe, and explain religious beliefs and practices (Bowie 3). To start this discussion, it is useful to formulate the proper definition of religion from an anthropological perspective. Although there are many disagreements about what may be classified as a religion, there is a consensus that it should incorporate worship of a superhuman power that forms the general order of existence (Bowie 5). It should also be noted that many anthropologists tend to have either agnostic or atheistic views, so it heavily determines how they perceive religion.
Religion had a significant effect on the way cultures and social-spatial arrangements of world order are formed. Firstly, many cultural forms, such as paintings, poems, and architecture, derived their inspiration from religious stories. As a result, even if a person holds aesthetic views, religion will certainly find avenues for influence. Secondly, in most religions, sacred texts serve the role of moral codes for societies. Therefore, because of various religions across civilizations, the perceptions of morally good or bad actions may be divergent. Recently, this polarization influenced the creation of different regional civilizations with their own cultural mindsets. Nevertheless, there could be a change to a more cosmopolitan identity through time because of the dominance of economics over religion.
Conclusion
Anthropology is one of the broadest scientific studies in social sciences. In principle, any expression of human relationships may interest anthropological analysis. In this essay, anthropology has been examined from the point of view of political systems and culture. Analyzing politics, one can see how social relations affect changes in the content of legitimacy. In religion, however, anthropologists study myths and try to determine how they affect contemporary social relations.
Works Cited
Bowie, Fiona. “Anthropology of Religion.” The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion, Second Edition, edited by Robert A. Segal and Nickolas P. Roubekas, Wiley-Blackwell, 2021, pp. 3–24.
Mavrodieva, Elisaveta. The Belarusian Protests: A Spectacle of Aesthetic Resistance. 2021. Chicago U, M.A. Thesis.
Victor, Daniel. “What’s Happening in Belarus?” New York Times, Web.