What is the difference between anthropology and sociology?

Question

What is the difference between anthropology and sociology?

Answer 1

Anthropologists think sociology is part of anthropology, sociologists know that anthropology is just part of sociology (check that department organization.)

Anthropology claims such a broad range of topics as to become more than a bit absurd, and someone should have long ago severed the evolutionary science off, moved most of the archaeologists into the history department, and moved the cultural anthropologists into sociology (Isn't it a bit of prejudice to claim a people aren't modern enough to be studied by sociologists?)

Sociology  would be better named bureaucrat production as that seems to be the point of most of the curriculum.

Answer 2

Anthropology is the study of past objects. Sociology is the study of a society as a wholle.

Answer 3

Ok the person who wrote that anthropology is the study of past objects is a moron.

Here is a simple answer:

Anthropology is the study of humans and human culture (utilizing the fields of linguistic, physical, cultural, and archaeological anthropology).

Sociology is the study of society and its human interaction with systems in place.  

Anthropology = Culture; Sociology = Systems

Depending on what school of thought you are from (ie: Durkheim, Malinowski, Benedict) there is some overlap between the two.

Answer 4

I'm about to rgaduate with my BA in anthropology, and your question is a huge one to answer! there are many differences-- but, Sparkles, I'm sorry to say, is incorrect!!  anthropologists study so much, I can't cover it all, but most importantly there are four fields: cultural, biological, linguistic, and archaeology

cultural- this is the biggest subfield, and most people still imagine anthropologists as studying "native," "primitive" tribes blahblah, but today, it's common to study the drug culture, bums, rich people's lives, etc!  large and small societies can be studied in anthropology.  This is usually the classic difference cited between anth and soc-- sociology typically studies the larger,more complex socieities.  this is certainly changing!

Biological anth-- studies evolution and such in MODERN and ancient prinmates and early humans.  or even modern humans! (genetics and such is a growing field).  it helps us understand where humans come from and all that.  Sociology does not dive into this category at all!

linguistic anthropolgoy... hmm, i don't know much about this one.  I think linguistic anthropologists spend a lot of time trying to preserve languages that are disappearing- trying to save languages, or at least a record of them.  I think sociolinguistics is pretty similar to linguistic anthropology....

Archaeology-- this one is probably what Sparkles was talking about.  Everyone knows about archaeologists looking for ancient artifacts and everything, but in the US, at least, there's a huge shift towards historical and collabrative arch--  this means there is a lot of work being done with Native American tribes, who often hire archaeologists to interpret the past in order to set up museums and such for the tourists who come in.  but this DOES require working with MODERN people and negotiating how the past is seen by modern Americans.  Sociologists don't deal with this at all either.

Since I've only taken two sociology classes, I can't say for absolute certainty, but it seems that mostly, sociologists like to deal with statistics and major social issues that our Western society deems important... like the suicide rate, alcoholism, murder.... then perhaps try to theorize what causes these social problems and how to fix it.  but, for the most part, I've always been told in my anth class that sociologists are pretty ineffective!

i bet most sociology majors would disagree with me though!!

Anthropology is hard to define and isolate like other disciplines (history, English...).  It incorporates so much and can be taken in so many directions.  it really should be a required subject in high schools (possibly middle schools!) just to get an idea of how vast and huge and important our world is.  but, anthropology is also seen as status quo challenger, so it is rarely offered before college.  Sociology, on the other hand, is offered in high schools across the country, so that might give you an idea of how it's a less dangerous way to study the social world.