When you visit Japan for the first time, you might notice a few things. Like many people hand business papers and business cards with two hands. Or people bow instead of shaking hands. People also naturally tend to create two lines on an escalator, so that anyone walking faster can pass. And eating in public is considered impolite, and the toilets are… well… complicated. It’s probably the red button. Japanese customs are fairly different from the rest of the world, and that might spark some questions. Like why is respect so important to Japan as a nation, and how did it become that way? Or why weren’t these practices adopted by other cultures around the world? And then we might widen our view and wonder what other unique customs and traditions exist around the world, and what do they say about humanity as a whole? If you’re curious about the answers to any of those questions, then anthropology might be the right major for you, because in anthropology we study culture both past and present, how we evolved to our current state, and so much more. Basically, anthropology is the study of what makes us human. Hi, I’m Erica Brozovsky, and welcome to Fast Guides, a Study Hall series presented in partnership with Arizona State University and Crash Course. In this episode, we’ll be talking about Anthropology degrees and what you can look forward to studying. Humans are often naturally curious about where we came from, and anthropologists help us find out as much as we can by exploring connections to our past, repeating patterns, evolution, and anything else that connects us to our humanity. As anthropologists, we draw conclusions about how people lived hundreds of thousands of years ago based on the things they left behind -- whether those are objects and ruins, fossils and bones of living things, or cave drawings that show us how people used to communicate and live their lives. But anthropologists also help us understand and navigate the modern world. Take business for example. Thanks to anthropologists, we’re able to break down and learn the business practices of groups of people from other countries. This helps us communicate effectively and efficiently. Anthropology allows us to not only understand differences across groups of people around the world but to accept them bringing us closer together. And looking at things like cultures or societies collectively or as wholes made of complex parts is actually an approach that anthropologists call holism. Holism is just one topic that anthropology students will explore through their coursework as they’re trained to think broadly and critically about the world around them. When you major in anthropology you can expect to take an introductory course where you’ll learn the basics like the general history of anthropology, how to interpret and employ statistics to analyze and extract meaning from data, and the difference between the four main subfields of anthropology. You’ll also take a specialized course in each of the four main subfields. Like in archaeology you’ll learn how to use the methods and tools archaeologists use to excavate and study items left behind from thousands to millions of years ago. By assessing the bones and teeth of our ancestors, you’ll discover how people interacted with their environments, as well as the diets and diseases of their time periods. And later in your studies if you choose to specialize in archaeology, you might take more advanced courses like prehistoric archaeology or human osteology. In biological anthropology you’ll learn how people adapt to different environments, how we evolved as animals, and what factors cause disease and early death. In fact, biological anthropologists will study the fossils of human ancestors and other primates (which are generally older than the bones and teeth archaeologists work on!). So this subfield will include more scientific courses, like “human evolution” or “health and human biology,” as well as courses on primatology. In cultural anthropology you’ll analyze different cultures to determine why they do the things they do. Sociocultural anthropologists will often learn from specific cultures by living with the people for an extended period of time. This subfield may lead you to take courses that go into a lot of detail about certain cultures. Like Tradition and Development of Southeast Asia, Peoples and Cultures of Africa, Power and Society in the Middle East, Cultural Expectations of Women and Men, or World Politics and Globalization, as well as broader courses like Gender Experiences or Ethnicity and Identity. And in linguistic anthropology you’ll learn about how different groups of people communicate, and how that communication has changed or stayed the same over the course of history. Linguistic anthropologists focus heavily on how language and communication shape humans, our self-perceptions, and the hierarchies in our cultures. In this subfield, you might study language-specific courses Sounds and Symbols or Language and Power. But there are many other subfields within these big four, like bioarchaeology that just focuses on what we can learn from skeletal remains. Or paleoanthropology where we study how we’ve evolved into modern humans. Like any field, there are so many different twists and turns to explore based on your specific interests and skills. But in general, students who become successful in the field of anthropology usually have one thing in common: an inquisitive mind. Anthropology is almost always driven by a natural desire to learn more about people and their behaviors. These students are curious about other cultures and other times and enjoy solving puzzles. Great candidates for anthropology are also very analytical and very observant. They might even be known for their high social self-confidence, idealism, adventurousness, enthusiasm, and persuasiveness. But beyond wanting to learn more about the world and its people, these skills definitely aren’t requirements. Anyone can be an anthropologist, and almost any field pairs well with anthropology because there are so many different facets of what it means to be human. Like if you’d like to work as a forensic anthropologist and solve crimes using biological anthropology and archaeology techniques, you might consider pairing your degree with forensic science or biology. Pairing your degree with education will be useful if you’re looking to become a teacher, or pairing your degree with psychology or sociology will be useful if you’d like to become a researcher. And pairing your degree with business or economics or statistics will be helpful if you’re looking to become a market analyst or entrepreneur. But if you get started on the anthropology major and decide it isn’t for you, the good news is that the skills you will have developed will be easily transferable. Understanding human diversity, collecting and interpreting data, and communicating effectively could help you switch to a new major within the social sciences like Economics, Geography, History, Law, Linguistics, Political Science, Psychology, or Sociology. These same skills are often key to other social sciences like these. These social science majors have become increasingly valuable over time, since students graduate with knowledge about both culture and the economy, and anthropology is a very versatile degree. Now, like any major, anthropology comes with its challenges. Anthropology graduates have reported that finding a job can be difficult after college, since anthropology-specific jobs are few and far between Since you may have to cast your net a bit wider than others to find a job that matches your education, it’s important to be proactive in your job search. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t jobs out there for anthropologists. It’s just that the jobs that you apply for likely won’t be labeled “anthropologist” or “anthropology specialist.” They might be more likely to be along the lines of Diversity Officer, International Nonprofit Administrator, Organizational Development Specialist, or other positions that can benefit from your unique understanding of people and different cultures. Recent graduates also recommend taking the time to frame your versatile skill set to match each respective job, since an anthropology degree can be talked about in so many different ways. Like if you’re applying for a financial sector job, you might want to discuss how your experience studying patterns within different cultures over time can be used to predict financial trends. Most importantly, remember the reason you studied anthropology in the first place, and be sure to let that passion and enthusiasm shine through. Everyone wants to work with someone who loves what they do -- and as an anthropologist with extensive cultural knowledge and social and cultural awareness, you’ll bring a lot to the table! In fact, with your degree in anthropology you can immediately start contributing to some exciting studies. You might consider taking on a position working on a research project, which might involve organizing and helping with cultural observation, excavation, or interpretation of found artifacts and remains. You can also pursue a career that uses all of your knowledge of the field of anthropology and look into careers in museum curation. Or you might consider a job managing and developing people, like working in a Human Resources department or in education. Or consider putting your understanding of other cultures to use by working in an international field, which can be almost anything, like worldwide marketing, international sales, or even government! With so many options it’s hard to judge and talking about salaries is hard because so much can change year to year or depending on what location you’re in. But as of 2019, the median salary for anthropology graduates was around $65,000, with the bottom 25% earning about $50,000 per year. Specifically, archivists, curators, and museum workers can expect to earn around $50,000 per year, while survey researchers and professional anthropologists can expect to earn $60,000 per year or more. If you stay in anthropology, as a recent graduate, you’ll continue doing lots of research via interviews and analyzing data. And early in your career you can also expect to take on the majority of the field work that you’ll do in your career, which can involve long, but rewarding days of gathering data in one place or community over a long period of time. And this might involve exciting but often hard work like studying for extended periods of time the way unique communities behave and communicate. Or evaluating landscapes to prepare for excavation as an archaeologist. Or analyzing the remains of our ancestors to find out more about why we are the way that we are. If you’d like to lead these studies one day, you’ll probably need to earn a master’s degree or PhD in order to be qualified as a lead researcher and to get funding from the federal government, foundations, or universities. But just like you shouldn’t be intimidated by picking a major, don’t be intimidated by applying for more school later on. Many students pursuing a master’s degree or a PhD start their careers by using relationships they’ve developed with their professors to secure a position as an assistant on a research project. That’s how I did it! And as a research assistant you can expect to read and digest a lot of publications, hand out surveys, manage and interpret data, transcribe tapes, and proofread papers. Once you make it through the research assistant stage, your next step will likely be trying to get published in academic journals or writing successful grant proposals -- which can be hard for all of us!. If you can find the right opportunity, you might also consider collaborating with a more high-profile anthropologist. Ultimately, anthropologist training concentrates on three universally transferable skills: understanding human diversity, collecting and interpreting data, and communicating effectively. These skills are all extremely useful in any industry, which is why anthropology majors who don’t have an interest in academia will still thrive in other fields. Anthropologists help us bridge the uncharted gap between current and former civilizations, allowing us to point out mistakes in the past and prevent them from happening again in the future. Without anthropologists, we’d be doomed to repeat those same mistakes, and would never have progressed as fast as we have as a society. And if that sounds exciting, then anthropology might be the perfect major for you! Thanks for watching. And whether or not Anthropology is where you want your education to go, check out our other videos to look into more majors to find the one that’s right for you! This series is part of the Study Hall program, a partnership between Arizona State University and Crash Course. If you liked this video, or found it helpful, give it a like and comment and let us know how you chose your degree, or how you’re struggling to choose a degree, or what you wish you’d known before you started your degree.