Merits of anthropology?

Question

specific merits

Answer 1

Some of the basics

CULTURAL/SOCIAL  ANTHRO

Opens people's minds to solutions and ideas that would not typically occur in their own culture.

Helps develop more global inter-cultural understanding and respect.

Facilitates free exchange of knowledge, ideas and beliefs

CONS:  Way too sensitive to political issues, generally not as scientific as it should be; ethnographers have sometimes been used as spies.

ARCHAEOLOGY:

In the grand scale of human history, our times are a very short segment with arguable significance.

State-level society does not tend to last more than a century or two, especially once it begins Empire-building.

We have faced almost all of these problems before.

Culture can not be understood fully without knowing its history

CONS:  Popularization of this field has diluted its intellectual effectiveness. Weakness of empirical data permits its use for various political agendas.

PHYSICAL/BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Has helped to clarify our evolutionary roots

Puts humanity into a proper biological context

Capable of confronting and debunking a lot of troublesome myths about human biology - such as racial and gender stereotypes

CONS:  Tries too hard to appear scientific despite less evidence than would be scientifically acceptable inmany cases; Shies away from many of the social issues it could confront.

LINGUISTIC ANTHRO

Connects anthropology more closely with psychology and communication science

Helps us understand our most important social behavior (communication)

CONS:  Often pedantic and esoteric to the point of being completely inneffective.  Tendency to communicate only with Social anthropologists.

Answer 2

By studying other peoples cultures, past and present, we can better understand ourselves and our place in global society.