The interpretative approach in social and cultural anthropology is primarily concerned with understanding culture through the meanings, symbols, values, beliefs, and interpretations that people themselves attach to their social world. Rather than treating culture simply as a system of observable behaviours or social institutions, this approach views culture as a web of meanings through which individuals understand and organize their lives. It emphasizes understanding society from the perspective of its members. The interpretative approach is strongly associated with the work of anthropologist Clifford Geertz. Influenced by hermeneutics and symbolic anthropology, Geertz argued that anthropology should focus on interpreting the meanings embedded in cultural practices. According to him, culture is a system of symbols through which people communicate, preserve, and develop their knowledge and attitudes towards life. Anthropologists therefore need to interpret these symbols in their social and cultural contexts. A major feature of the interpretative approach is the concept of “thick description.” Geertz distinguished between merely describing an action and explaining the cultural meaning behind it. For example,