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The Department of Sociology/Anthropology offers major concentrations in two separate disciplines. Anthropology and sociology have maintained a unique relationship as "sister" disciplines ever since their establishment in higher education at the turn of the century. While their closeness has been acknowledged since their inception, so has their autonomy. Both disciplines study the social and cultural institutions of entire societies through empirical research. The study of culture and human diversity is central to anthropology, which takes a "four-field" (sociocultural, archeological, physical evolutionary, and linguistic) approach to its subject matter, located throughout the world in prehistoric, as well as non-state (so-called "tribal"), "third" and "fourth-world" developing societies, and the transnational relationshps between them and modern industrial/post-industrial societies. Sociology focuses on industrialized societies which have been, until recently, almost exclusively part of Western civilization. The impact of the industrial transformation on social institutions, cultural values, and human behavior has been its major concern. (See our full mission statement.) Faculty Content by Department , Designed by Bruce Owens (bowens@wheatonma.edu) Last update 07/05 |