Quote: (07-16-2016 06:50 PM)hydrogonian Wrote:
Oh, please. Anthropology is the most politicized science in existence outside of "social science".
This goes double for Cultural Anthropology, which by my estimation has been more influential than Physical Anthropology.
Cultural Anthropology is perhaps the most dishonest of all the social sciences, because ethnography has no meaningful peer review. You observe and live with a traditional group whose language almost no outsiders speak and few of your colleagues have investigated. Nothing you report in your "findings" can be easily independently verified. Misrepresentations often stand for decades (Margaret Mead). No wonder there is a powerful drift towards confirmation bias. Dissidents in the field (Chagnon) are drummed out.
Another problem is that exceptions are given undue weight. When the vast majority of cultures organize in a certain way -- women perform child rearing -- anthropologists point to a few (questionable) exceptions as evidence for culture over biology. A reasonable observer from outside would more likely conclude that the near universality of a feature supports the opposite argument.
Among social scientists, anthropologists are the most vehemently liberal. Last year they voted almost 10 to 1 to boycott Israeli academic institutions.