Anthropology looks at humanity’s incredible cultural diversity and tries to understand what people create and share in order to make sense of their lives and the conditions in which they live. The science of anthropology is divided into several subfields, including physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, and archaeology.

Our program specializes in cultural anthropology, which looks at ethnocentrism, language and communication, subsistence and other economic patterns, sex and marriage, socialization, social control, political organization, class, ethnicity, gender, religion, and culture change. Students also focus on social anthropology, which is the relationship of culture to the institutions, interpersonal relations, and practices that make up their social structure. Through courses like “Hot Button Issues in the Middle East,” “Sex, Sex Roles, and Family,” and “Sport, Culture, and Society,” you will come to understand how the cultures of world are put together and how they react to pressures and changes.

Anthropology is an outstanding background for business, law, public and private service, and further study in social science. Graduates are prepared to work in any field that requires broad thinking about how habits and background affect the way people work and interact. With its focus on urban life, Northeastern is a superb place to study anthropology, and Boston, with its diverse cultures, provides an excellent point of observation and career influences.