ethnologist

/ɛθˈnɑlədʒɪst/

Other forms: ethnologists

A scientist who compares the way different human societies and cultures function is an ethnologist. An ethnologist is sometimes called a cultural anthropologist.

An ethnologist is an anthropologist who specializes in studying data about the way different groups of people live, and then comparing and contrasting this information. By looking at the religious beliefs, languages, and social norms of various cultures, ethnologists can discover the things we all have in common. The ultimate goal of this work is to better understand humanity. The Greek root of ethnologist is ethnos, "people."

Definitions of ethnologist

1. noun

   a scientist who studies various aspects of human beings like their race, origin, and social structures and relationships
   examples:

   Kund Johan Victor Rasmussen

   Danish ethnologist and Arctic explorer; led expeditions into the Arctic to find support for his theory that Eskimos and North American Indians originally migrated from Asia (1879-1933)

   Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

   United States geologist and ethnologist and explorer who discovered the source of the Mississippi River (1793-1864)

   type of:

   anthropologist

   a social scientist who specializes in anthropology