Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of human cultures in all their diversity, including beliefs, practices, social organization, language, religion, economy, and material culture. It seeks to understand what it means to live as a human being in different cultural contexts and explores why people around the world live so differently while also identifying what they have in common

. This field relies heavily on ethnographic methods, especially participant observation, where anthropologists immerse themselves in a community for extended periods to observe and participate in daily life, gaining deep insights into the culture from an insider perspective

. Cultural anthropologists collect data through interviews, surveys, and systematic fieldwork to make scientific claims about human behavior and cultural systems

. Key concepts in cultural anthropology include culture itself-defined as the shared system of behaviors, beliefs, values, and social arrangements that shape a group’s way of life-and cultural relativism, which promotes understanding cultures on their own terms rather than through ethnocentric biases

. The discipline also examines how cultures adapt to their environments, change over time, and interact with one another

. Cultural anthropology has practical applications in areas such as international development, education, business, policymaking, and conflict resolution by fostering cross-cultural understanding and challenging cultural biases

. In summary, cultural anthropology is the scientific study of human cultures through immersive research methods to understand the diversity and commonality of human life across the globe