Peter van der Veer (2013: 11) on the “comparative advantage of anthropology”:

1) anthropology offers a critique of the universalization of Western models
2) holistic approach to social life offers a greater potential for social science than the analysis of large data
3) anthropological holism implies the drawing of larger inferences from the intensive study of fragments of social life
4) anthropological contribution to the study of embodied practice emphasizes the social and provides a critique of sociobiological determinism

Van der Veer, P. (2013). The value of comparison. Transcript of the Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture given on November 13, http://www.haujournal.org/vanderVeer_TheValueOfComparison_LHML_Transcript.pdf