Final answer:
Anthropology treats culture as a material thing to understand cultural perspectives and practices, facilitating deeper interpretation of human societies. This approach emphasizes the diversity and creativity of cultures worldwide, suggesting that all cultures follow their unique historical paths. Material aspects of culture, like technology or diet, can greatly affect a culture's social structure.
Step-by-step explanation:
Anthropology treats an immaterial idea such as culture as a material thing because it allows for understanding cultural perspectives, examining the various cultural practices of humanity, and facilitating a more in-depth interpretation of human societies. Anthropologists use practices like participant observation, study of material artifacts and linguistic analysis to understand how aspects of culture fit together in both historical and contemporary societies. The study of culture intersects with all the subfields of anthropology, emphasising the importance of human diversity and creativity.
Cultural anthropology in particular is dedicated to describing and understanding the many different cultures that exist, studying everyday thoughts, feelings, actions, norms, values, and societal structure of different groups of people. This involves acknowledging that not all cultures follow a universal model of change, leaning more towards historical particularism - the idea that each culture follows its own unique historical path.
The material aspect of studying the immaterial idea of culture lies also in the fact that cultural practices and customs can become physically marked on the human body - such as certain bone alterations due to specific dietary habits or traditional cosmetic procedures. Lastly, material aspects of culture like technology and economic factors are often seen as fundamental, as they can shape a culture's family life, religion, and politics.
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