Boas received his training in Germany and became a Professor at Columbia University in 1899 and is perhaps best known for introducing the notion of cultural relativism to the social sciences. Boas's ideas were formed in part by his experiences as a German Jew coming to the United States when there was widespread discrimination against immigrants in general, and Jews in particular. Boas in many ways was the first anthropological activist. He sought to refute ethnocentrism and the idea that some people were genetically superior to others , by arguing that differences in beliefs and behavior were culturally and historically determined. Boas led one of the earliest initiatives of science to combat racism and prejudice.
Anthropology remains a strong source of cultural criticism.
Anthropologists try to use knowledge of other cultures to help us better understand our own. One of the things you should get out of an introductory course in anthropology is that you are, like every other human being, a cultural animal whose behaviors and beliefs are collectively formed and maintained. And since our behaviors and beliefs are culturally formed, they can be changed, particularly, as in the case of racism and prejudice, when they contribute to injustice and suffering. To illustrate the power of anthropology as a source of self-knowledge, we will devote this semester's columns of Editor's Choice to showing how anthropology can help us understand ourselves, particularly when our behavior or beliefs have the potential to do harm. Not only must Americans buy, they must buy more every year, and still more the year after that.