ABSTRACT
The central concept in anthropology is culture. In this respect, anthropology differs from history, which is generally concerned with what happened in the past and with change over time and from sociology, which focuses its attention on groups and institutions. One topic that interests many cultural anthropologists or ethnographers is myth. From an anthropological perspective, myth refers to what might be called "sacred stories", narratives which describe the creation of the earth, the actions of deities, and related concerns. In their quest to understand the world view of the members of a given culture or subculture, anthropologists also study their rituals—structured or what might be described as "coded" behavior patterns, often of a sacred nature, which are frequently connected to myths. Ralph Linton, a distinguished anthropologist, wrote a classic article to show that many things which Americans use and which they think are "one hundred percent American" actually come from foreign countries.
