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.