Physical Anthropology - Essay Example

 Some of the former attributes of the physical anthropology had to be replaced during the changes such as the biological determinism and the social implications. The examination of the science of race was started during World War 1 as the tensions increased between the groups fighting and sympathy from AAA begun the first process of change. What is shocking with this particular reason for the change was the fact that there were still underlying tensions even after the change between some of the races and which is still in existence to date which means further changes in the scientific field needs to be researched and examined (Little & Kennedy, 2010).

It is the different population thoughts and influences that begun the demise process of the race in the old physical anthropology. Scientists took over the anti-race campaign and especially the biological determinism issue and focus seemed to shift to the population as a whole and the social issues they faced such as equality and financial issues. All this has continued to evolve and change for a long time now and is still in the process of being fully cemented. The fact that anthropologists seem to frequently agree and disagree with each other and with other people, as well as the population in general, is the root cause of the changes taking too long to be adopted in the new physical anthropology (Sandford, 2008).

Once the population started being examined as a whole, the issue of modernism and how to synthesis modernism into the anthropological aspects started developing and have been adopted to replace the race. This is actually a good move according to (Erickson & Murphy, 2008) because it incorporates well with the modern changes taking place in the society and hence the social influences that led to the changes in the first place will be readopted in future bearing in mind the modern changes. With the population being subjected and opened up to the idea of adopting changes, they will fill perfectly with especially the technological changes in the modern era.

Conclusion In winding up, the move from old physical anthropology to the new physical anthropology which was caused by changes in scientific as well as social influences was a good one as it paved way for the acceptance of the people and their viewing of them as one entity rather than a group of different races. It also allowed for the changes that have been taking place in the society termed as modernization to be accepted and adopted by the population and embraced as part of the new legacy being set by the new physical anthropology.

References Caspari, R. (2003, March). From Types to Populations: A Century of Race, Physical Anthropology, and the American Anthropological Association. American Anthropologist, 105(1): 65-76. Erickson, P. & Murphy, L. (2008). A History of Anthropological Theory. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Little, M. & Kennedy, K. (2010). Histories of American Physical Anthropology in the Twentieth Century. New York: Rowman & Littlefield. Sandford, M. (2008). Classic and Contemporary Readings in Physical Anthropology.

New York: Cengage Learning.