Cultural anthropology

Cultural anthropology is a major branch of anthropology concerned with the systematic study of cultural variation among human societies. It investigates the ways in which people understand the world around them, organise social life, and develop systems of knowledge, belief, and behaviour. Rooted in comparative enquiry, the field focuses on both cultural diversity and the shared patterns that underpin human societies. Cultural anthropologists typically emphasise lived experience, examining how individuals and groups navigate their cultural environments whilst also contributing to broader theoretical debates about humanity, social organisation, and meaning-making.

Background and Scope

Cultural anthropology developed as a distinct discipline in the late nineteenth century, emerging alongside expanding global connections, colonial encounters, and intellectual debates about civilisation and humanity’s origins. Early Western scholars were increasingly confronted with social forms outside their own experience, prompting questions about cultural difference, human unity, and the nature of social progress. As these debates evolved, the field came to centre on the documentation and interpretation of cultural systems, including kinship structures, belief systems, subsistence practices, ritual life, and expressive traditions.
A core premise of cultural anthropology is that human beings adapt to their surroundings through learned cultural practices rather than solely through genetic traits. As a result, cultural forms differ widely across social environments. This understanding foregrounds the importance of investigating cultures within their own contexts and appreciating how cultural norms shape behaviour, identity, and social relations.
The discipline is closely linked to social anthropology, especially in the British tradition, yet cultural anthropology typically places greater emphasis on symbolic meaning, belief, and expressive culture. The term sociocultural anthropology is often used to encompass both traditions.

Historical Development

Modern anthropology took shape during the nineteenth century, a period marked by rapid developments in science, industrialisation, and global exploration. Early theories were heavily influenced by debates about primitive and civilised societies, categories frequently applied by European thinkers seeking to classify human social forms. Encounters with distant societies through colonial expansion further stimulated attempts to construct universal models of cultural development.
The first generation of cultural anthropologists sought to compare societies across a spectrum of technological and social complexity. Some communities—especially those without writing systems or industrial technologies—were assumed to represent earlier stages in human history. Although these assumptions were later challenged, early ethnological models provided an initial framework for theorising cultural variation.
By the twentieth century cultural anthropology had moved towards a more pluralistic and relativistic understanding of human societies. Scholars increasingly recognised that each culture possesses its own internal logic and historical trajectory, encouraging deeper ethnographic engagement and a shift away from broad, universal classifications.

Key Theoretical Foundations

The Concept of Culture

One of the earliest comprehensive definitions of culture was proposed by Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, who described it as the “complex whole” encompassing knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities acquired by individuals as members of society. This broad conception emphasised the learned and shared nature of culture.
Subsequent scholars refined this view. V. Gordon Childe distinguished between culture as a general term for collective practices and civilisation as a specific type of culturally advanced social formation. Kay Milton later differentiated between general culture—the capacity for culture shared by all humans—and specific cultures, meaning the structured systems characteristic of particular groups. These specific cultures function as integrated wholes: altering one component can disrupt the overall structure.

Critique of Classical Evolutionism

Nineteenth-century ethnologists often attempted to classify all societies along a single evolutionary pathway, moving from simple to complex forms. Thinkers such as Lewis Henry Morgan argued that similarities between cultures signalled shared stages of cultural evolution. Others, such as Grafton Elliot Smith, emphasised diffusion, asserting that cultural traits spread from one place to another through contact and borrowing.
By the mid-twentieth century these unilineal evolutionary models were largely abandoned. Ethnographers demonstrated that cultural similarities may arise independently through similar adaptations to comparable environments (independent invention) or through diffusion, but in both cases the resulting cultural expressions often hold distinct meanings in different societies. Moreover, numerous examples of rapid cultural change—such as shifts from foraging to industrial employment within a generation—revealed the inadequacy of fixed evolutionary stages.
Consequently, anthropologists began to focus on documenting particular cultures in detail rather than seeking universal developmental laws, leading to an emphasis on cultural relativism and contextual analysis.

Structuralism and Patterns of Thought

The mid-twentieth century also saw the rise of structuralism, influenced by the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss. Drawing on both American cultural anthropology and French sociological traditions, structuralists argued that the underlying structures of human thought shaped cultural expressions across societies. Though distinct from earlier universalist models, structuralism sought to identify deep cognitive patterns that manifest in myths, kinship systems, and symbolic classifications.

Methods and Research Approaches

Cultural anthropology possesses a distinctive methodology centred on long-term, immersive fieldwork. Participant observation—living within a community, learning local languages, and taking part in everyday activities—remains the hallmark of the discipline. This approach enables anthropologists to understand cultural practices from an insider’s perspective whilst maintaining analytical distance.
Additional methods include:

• Ethnographic interviewing to gather personal narratives and explanations.
• Surveys and statistical analysis when broader demographic patterns are relevant.
• Archival and historical research to contextualise contemporary cultural forms.
• Comparative analysis across societies to identify variation and shared patterns.

Early anthropologists such as Lévi-Strauss emphasised the importance of empirical foundations, advocating rigorous fieldwork to expand theoretical understanding.

Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativism became a foundational principle of the discipline, particularly through the work of Franz Boas. Rejecting earlier assumptions of cultural hierarchy, Boas argued that cultural norms must be understood relative to their own historical and social contexts. He stressed that no culture can be judged by the standards of another, and that observers must recognise how their own cultural background influences perception.
Cultural relativism carries important methodological implications. It requires anthropologists to:

• Recognise and challenge their own ethnocentrism.
• Understand local meanings through close engagement with community members.
• Interpret cultural practices within their broader symbolic and social frameworks.

While some debate continues regarding whether cultural relativism entails ethical relativism, in anthropology it primarily serves as an epistemological stance that shapes fieldwork and analysis rather than moral judgement.

Applications and Contemporary Significance

Cultural anthropology plays a key role in understanding how global processes intersect with local cultural forms. Studies of large urban populations, transnational communities, and globalised cultural flows demonstrate how people maintain, adapt, or transform cultural practices in rapidly changing environments. Multidisciplinary research has also highlighted the ethical dimensions of interactions between societies, especially in contexts involving colonial legacies or inequalities.
Modern applications of cultural anthropology include:

• Public policy, particularly in areas such as health, education, and development.
• Cultural resource management, preserving heritage and intangible traditions.
• Business and organisational culture, informing cross-cultural communication.
• Migration studies, illuminating experiences of displacement and identity formation.