Thomas Hylland Eriksen (1962 – 2024) was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and former President of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA). He was among the most highly cited anthropologists of his generation, and his classic and accessible textbook Small Places, Large Issues remains a cornerstone in anthropology courses. His later books, including Overheating, tackled the important issue of climate change within the discipline.

• Series PrefacePreface to the fifth edition1. Anthropology: Comparison and Context2. A Brief History of Anthropology3. Fieldwork and Ethnography4. The Social Person5. Local Organisation6. Person and Society7. Kinship as Descent8. Marriage and Relatedness9. Social differentiation 1: Gender and Age10. Social differentiation 2: Caste and Class11. Religion and Ritual12. Language and Cognition13. Politics and Power14. Political identity 1: Ethnicity and the Politics of Identity15. Political identity 2: Nationalism and Minorities16. Economic Anthropology 1: Exchange and Consumption17. Economic Anthropology 2: Production and Technology18. Humanity and the Biosphere19. Complexity and Change20. Medical Anthropology21. Anthropology and the Paradoxes of Globalisation22. The Anthropology of Climate ChangeEpilogue: Making Anthropology MatterBibliographyIndex

'A masterful introduction to the wide range of subjects studied by anthropologists as well as to the distinctive perspectives they bring to bear on these matters.'