This scientific discipline can not be uniquely qualified because the subject itself is ambiguous her studies.That is why in the modern interpretation of cultural anthropology is seen as in a broad sense and narrow.
In the broadest sense, this academic discipline explores the vital functions of the various peoples and races, depending on the type of culture characteristic of these peoples.In this sense, it should not be confused with the physical anthropology, which as a matter of science is used primarily generalized psychophysical properties of societies.Cultural anthropology, which studies the various manifestations of human life in terms of mediation by the very nature of the human race is different from that of philosophical anthropology.
In a narrow sense, this is comparable to a scientific discipline of social anthropology as the study subject areas have about the same.Both are studying primarily the various social institutions which are present in the life of different peoples and social communities.
As a confirmation of this thesis is the fact that social and cultural anthropology have similar methodological aids.They use methods of investigation, which, besides them, are widely used other social science - ethnography, history, sociology, ethnic psychology, statistics and others.
own cultural anthropology is addressing these cognitive tasks:
- description of the customs, traditions, languages, patterns of thinking and behavior of various peoples;
- the study of trends in the development of cultural spaces and interactions of peoples inhabiting them;
- consideration of issues related to the study of identification criteria peoples and communities in today's cultural diversity;
- the study of the genesis of the cultural institutions of different peoples and their comparison in the space-time dimension;
- a better understanding of their culture or community and its place in the cultural diversity;
- the study of the nature, methods and manifestations of the impact of cultural phenomena of the people on the formation of individual outlook of the population;
- the study of the nature of the cultural and ethnic phenomena in all its contradictory aspects.
should be emphasized that in the Western scientific tradition, the term "cultural anthropology" is interpreted more narrowly on the level of self-teaching, which is mentioned under the definitions of "culturalism", "historical school", authors and developers who recognize Fr..Boas, E. Sapir, A. Kroeber, R. Benedict, M. Herskovits.For this doctrine characterized by descriptive and comparison of cultural phenomena of various peoples in their entirety for the purpose of comparison.Methodologically, this is solved by gathering relevant scientific information on the life of a people (community), its classification, grouping around any leading sign and isolating the dominant factors.As a result of this scientific approach culture as it becomes undeniable foundation of survival for any people or society.
As a scientific discipline characterized this phenomenon:
- a sharp denial of evolution and all kinds of cultural development of peoples in particular;
- pronounced cultural relativism - the desire to evaluate the effects of culture on the basis of values and criteria for most of this culture;
- special attention to the problem of interaction "man - culture", where the role of the surrounding society is not accepted at all;
- reducibility of all cultural phenomena to a certain integrity that allows without difficulty to identify the cultural genotype people and compare it with others.
Thus, this discipline is a complex substrate, where the difficulty is defined as a multiplicity of approaches to the allocation of the research subject and the diversity of the methodologies of obtaining knowledge.It turns out that cultural anthropology explores a wide range of issues.
