Social anthropology is the study of human society and cultures through a comparative lens. Social anthropologists seek to understand how people live in societies and how they make their lives meaningful. Social anthropology study all peoples everywhere – what they make, what they do, what they think and how they organise their social relationships and societies. By living with people in different communities, observing, and learning to participate in their ways of life (‘fieldwork’), social anthropologists produce in-depth descriptions of their customs and ways of life (‘ethnographies’). They also compare different cultures and societies to explore their similarities and differences, to test the generalisations of historians, social scientists and philosophers, and to produce theories of how best to study and understand human nature. Historians, sociologists, psychologists and philosophers have all drawn inspiration from anthropological writings. The subject has had a major impact on the way we deal with cultural and political issues in the contemporary world. Specializations within social anthropology shift as its objects of study are transformed and as new intellectual paradigms appear; musicology and medical anthropology are examples of current, well-defined specialities. This concise and legible book will provide key text to all students of social and cultural anthropology. 

Samrat Sen is a distinguished anthropologist known for his research on social structures and cultural dynamics. His scholarly interests encompass kinship studies, political anthropology, and the anthropology of development. Sen's publications include critical analyses of caste systems and social inequality, offering insights into the complexities of social organization and identity politics.