Welcome to anthropology! Anthropology is unlike any oth­er social science. It is part science, and part art. An­thropologists wish to observe human beings and their social patterns, but we also want to step into the shoes of an­other person and see the world from that person's point of view. Today, there are many problems and is­sues which affect all societies and people everywhere. We can say that the most important social problems are global in nature. If that's true, then they also affect people in differ­ent cultures, who each see the world and other people in distinct ways. There­fore, you cannot understand contemporary trends from a single culture's point of view. The world needs anthropo­logy and anthropologists, namely you. In this class, Ryan and Terry want to argue that cultural dif­ferences not only inform how people confront global problems, but global systems of interaction and intercon­nection also produce forms of difference. When you look at the world as an an­thropologist does, you learn to question everything you thought you knew about society and social change.