博阿斯的影响继续在文化人类学关注种族，更广泛地说，作为社会建构而非生物学基础的力量的身份。博阿斯坚决反对当时流行的科学种族主义思想，如颅相学和优生学。相反，他将种族和族裔群体之间的差异归因于社会因素。在博阿斯之后，人类学系成为美国大学的常态，文化人类学是研究的核心内容。博阿斯的学生继续在全国各地建立人类学系，包括：西北大学启动该计划的Melville Herskovits和加州大学伯克利分校的第一位人类学教授Alfred Kroeber。玛格丽特米德继续成为国际知名人士，无论是作为人类学家还是学者。该领域在美国和其他地方越来越受欢迎，让位于新一代极具影响力的人类学家如ClaudeLévi-Strauss和Clifford Geertz。这些文化人类学的早期领导者共同巩固了一门明确专注于世界文化比较研究的学科。他们的工作受到了对不同信仰系统，实践和社会组织的真正理解的承诺的激励。作为一个学术领域，人类学致力于文化相对主义的概念，认为所有文化在根本上是平等的，只需要根据自己的规范和价值观进行分析。北美文化人类学家的主要专业组织是文化人类学学会，该学会出版“文化人类学”杂志。
The influence of Boas continues to be concerned with ethnicity in cultural anthropology, and more broadly, as the power of social construction rather than biological basis. Boas resolutely opposed the popular scientific racist ideas of the time, such as phrenology and eugenics. Instead, he attributed the differences between racial and ethnic groups to social factors. After Boas, the Department of Anthropology became the norm of American universities, and cultural anthropology was the core of research. Boas students continue to establish anthropology departments throughout the country, including: Melville Herskovits, who initiated the program at Northwestern University, and Alfred Kroeber, the first anthropology professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Margaret Mead continues to be an international celebrity, both as an anthropologist and a scholar. The field is becoming more popular in the United States and elsewhere, giving way to a new generation of influential anthropologists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss and Clifford Geertz. These early leaders of cultural anthropology have consolidated a discipline that clearly focuses on comparative studies of world culture. Their work is motivated by a commitment to a true understanding of different belief systems, practices and social organizations. As an academic field, anthropology is committed to the concept of cultural relativism, arguing that all cultures are fundamentally equal and only need to be analyzed according to their own norms and values. The main professional organization of North American cultural anthropologists is the Cultural Anthropology Society, which publishes the journal Cultural Anthropology.