Ethnology is a social science whose object of study is human cultures. That said, there is some confusion in the use of the term, since its relationship with words such as “ethnography” or “anthropology” is often unclear, and also because it is sometimes confused with terms such as “enology”.
Ethnology is a social science whose object of study is the different cultures that exist in the world. However, we must recognise some confusion in the use of the term as it is very often mixed up with other terms such as “ethnography” or “anthropology” and other concepts such as “enology”. Let’s clarify the differences between these different words, step by step.
Anthropology is the science that studies culture in the more general sense that distinguishes us as humans, not in a sense linked to refinement or any kinds of knowledge that a person may have. That is, what each and every person learns as they grow up, what makes us see the world in a certain way. In summary, everybody has a culture, although sometimes we are not aware of that. Anthropology compares data about the different forms that culture takes in various parts of the world and formulates theories based on patterns shared among all people as social beings.
On the other hand, Ethnography is the way of collecting data from a culture in anthropological research when doing fieldwork. It is a research method or a set of methods that must be used if you want to collect data systematically. Regarding the term ethnology, we could say that it is almost a synonym of anthropology. The distinction between both terms is marked by the different academic traditions. While French people have historically opted for ethnology, the Anglo-Saxon world have had a tendency to use the term anthropology.
Finally, someone may confuse the word ethnology with enology - the technique of producing wine - as it is very similar term and more popular. Nevertheless, they are not entirely wrong because enology can be an object of study for ethnology as wine is considered a component of culture.
Life-changing phenomena such as globalisation and the fast-moving technological development that all societies have been experiencing in recent decades make anthropology more necessary than ever. It will help us understand what we do and why we do it as members of a given society.
