Ethnology studies all problems associated with the existence of an ethnic group. It is almost impossible to outline the boundaries that this discipline covers, and all new problems fall into the field of view of ethnologists in line with the rapid development of the human community. The work made an attempt to give a retrospective analysis of the formation and evolution of ethnological thought, which often led it into dead ends such as "racial theory," as well as to designate the place of ethnology in the modern cultural space.