“Sociocultural anthropologists examine social patterns and practices across cultures,

with a special interest in how people live in particular places and how they organize,
govern, and create meaning,” writes the American Anthropological Association.

It’s a broad discipline that explores human behavior in all its diversity, from hunter-
gatherer societies to the habits of shopping mall visitors.

For instance, Richard Lee, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, is known
for his studies of the !Kung people that live in several countries in southern Africa (the !
represents a sound). The !Kung are one of a small number of modern-day societies that
live as hunter-gatherers, providing a window into how ancient hunter-gatherers lived.

On the other side of the coin is the growing field of business anthropology where
anthropologists study consumer behavior, including how people act in shopping malls.
It’s something that can help companies produce and market products to meet their
needs and desires.

“Business anthropologists have influenced market research by pointing out that, to be

successful, marketers must understand people — what they do and how they live,”
writes Shirley Fedorak, of the University of Saskatchewan, in her book “Anthropology
Matters” (University of Toronto Press, 2013).

Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of humanity through the materials — the stuff — we leave
behind. This can be in the distant past, such as the pyramids at Giza, or very recent
times, such as a 21st-century marriage proposal carved near a closed quarantine station.
Many archaeologists do not call themselves anthropologists, and archaeology’s
relationship to anthropology is a matter of debate. Archaeologists examine past
societies using some of the methods and theories that sociocultural anthropologists
work with. Additionally, physical anthropologists work closely with archaeologists to
investigate human remains.

Physical anthropology
Physical or biological anthropologists study the remains of human beings and hominids
using a variety of techniques to investigate human disease, diet, genetics and lifestyle.

Some, such as Jane Goodall, specialize in the study of primates, such as chimpanzees.
By studying these creatures, which are closely related to us, we can learn much about
ourselves and how we came to be.
Another important sub-branch is forensic anthropology, which tends to focus on helping
authorities solve crimes and identify human remains found at crime and disaster
scenes.
A 2008 article published in the magazine Chico Statements tells the story of Ben Figura,
who “worked in the foul waters of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and in
Thailand in the aftermath of the 2005 tsunami that killed some 230,000 people.” He also
led “a small team of experts from New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
working to put names to the thousands of human remains still being found at Ground
Zero. Most of the remains at this stage are bone fragments, some very small.”
It’s a tough field to work in. “Working at the site of a historic tragedy and in such intimate
contact with its victims, as well as its survivors — Figura often calls family members
when his team identifies remains — can be emotionally wrenching,” the article notes.

Linguistic anthropology
In some ways, linguistic anthropology can be the hardest branch of anthropology to
identify.

The American Anthropological Association states that it “is the comparative study of
ways in which language reflects and influences social life. It explores the many ways in
which language practices define patterns of communication, formulate categories of
social identity and group membership, organize large-scale cultural beliefs and
ideologies, and, in conjunction with other forms of meaning-making, equip people with
common cultural representations of their natural and social worlds.”

Linguistic anthropologists can be found analyzing languages, both verbal and non-
verbal, around the world. They do things like study American presidential debates to
determine how candidates use non-verbal hand gestures to communicate with voters.
They can also be found analyzing the books and movies read by young teenagers (the
"Twilight" series, for instance) to determine how they affect the teenage mind.
By studying the usage of language, these anthropologists can determine what cultures
value.

“The everyday language of North Americans, for example, includes a number of slang
words, such as dough, greenback, dust, loot, cash, bucks, change and bread, to identify
what an indigenous native of Papua-New Guinea would recognize only as money,”
writes William Haviland, a professor emeritus at the University of Vermont, in his book
“Anthropology” (Harcourt College Publishers, 2000).