社会人類学と文化人類学は、人間ならではの特質である文化の検証、文化相対主義の原則、実地調査と民族誌の方法論を通じ現代の思潮に寄与をしてきました。そうした人類学とその方法論の基本概念、さらに私たちの日常との関係性についてメキシコとインドネシアでの著者の経験をもとに具体例を挙げながら紹介します。この新版ではジェンダーなどの社会的カテゴリーの概念創造、そして移民や「存在論的人類学」の進展といった次世代の人類学にも注目します。
   

• A very good idea, these Very Short Introductions, a new concept from OUP' Nicholas Lezard, Guardian
• Authors draw on their own experience of anthropology, including fieldwork in Mexico and Indonesia
• Accessible and stimulating

 
If you want to know what anthropology is, look at what anthropologists do. 

This Very Short Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology combines an accessible account of some of the disciplines guiding principles and methodology with abundant examples and illustrations of anthropologists at work. 

Peter Just and John Monaghan begin by discussing anthropologys most important contributions to modern thought: its investigation of culture as a distinctively human characteristic, its doctrine of cultural relativism, and its methodology of fieldwork and ethnography. They then examine specific ways in which social and cultural anthropology have advanced our understanding of human society and culture, drawing on examples from their own fieldwork. The book ends with an assessment of anthropologys present position, and a look forward to its likely future.