Answering Questions #2 (Anthropology) - Assignment Example

Sociocultural Anthropology, in focusing on patterns of socialization and culture across nations, has enabled us to understand different societies with regards to cultural differences in philosophical problems such as truth and justice, as well as practical concerns such as environmental studies and social changes to societies (American Anthropological Association, 2012). Biological Anthropology, in studying how people have adapted to different environments, has contributed to human relations through their study of evolutionary theories and how people have taken their place as a whole throughout the world (American Anthropological Association, 2012).

Archaeology, due to its study of the past, has helped societies not only understand their individual histories, but how each culture has come to affect other cultures (American Anthropological Association, 2012). Finally, Linguistic Anthropology has contributed to human relations by assisting in understanding areas such as social identity, large-scale cultural beliefs, and group membership through their focus on languages and the ways in which they have helped and affected different societies and cultures (American Anthropological Association, 2012). 2. Describe the typological and population models.

Both the typological model and the population model are methods of classifying the human race as a whole. Both methods have been found to possess several flaws, albeit for different reasons (O’Neil, 2011). The typological model classifies people into groups based on traits that can be observed from a distance, and assumes that people can be classified based on this reason alone, which is an inherent flaw in its logic (O’Neil, 2011). The typological model is also flawed due to the fact that it assumes that all races have the same inherent traits, which is simply untrue, as humans cannot be classified as “homogenous” by any sense of the word (O’Neil, 2011).

Due to these flaws, the population model was developed, which was based on the idea that certain groups of people were the product of ancestors who had mated more or less only with each other for the previous time period (O’Neil, 2011). It works in almost a completely opposite manner of the typological model, as instead of classifying traits and then determining who has them, instead mating patterns are discerned first, and then considers the traits that make them unique (O’Neil, 2011). However, this too has an inherent flaw; humans do not stay in one place long enough to form concrete classifications for using this method (O’Neil, 2011).

Thus both of these models, while serving their uses for classification purposes, have flaws that make them unusable as one type of classification alone. 3. Describe the impact of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution on studies of divisions of humans. Charles Darwin had a rather dramatic impact on studies of divisions of humans due to his theory of evolution, and literally caused everything to change with his views. The former classifications of humans, both from Aristotle and Carolus Linnaeus, had used principles that, while logical, were at their core quite arbitrary and had no grounded basis at all (Blamire, 1998).

Darwin made the point that humans evolved from something else, and likewise anything could therefore evolve, and change (Blamire, 1998). It soon became obvious that new divisions were needed for humans, because traits that resided as a part of humans could be both seen and unseen, and classifying them