His approach to anthropology was based on functionalism and culture. Functionalism ascribes meaning, function, and purpose to the elements within a whole. Culture defines that whole, and it constitutes the entity in which the various functional elements act and are interdependent. He sought to understand the islanders' ways of life in functional terms of how they created and maintained their society. It marked a radical departure from previous methods of field work and it enabled new insight into the culture under study.
Cultural anthropology focuses on factors including ethnicity, ritual, functionalism, and kinship.
It studies them via field work, structural analysis, and language.