SOCIAL SCIENCE 110

CHAPTER 1 – CULTURAL VARIATION

Cultural Variation – derived from the behavior of human groups influenced by

beliefs, practices and material possessions.
- happens due to difference in environment and history.
ELEMENTS OF CULTURAL VARIATION:
 NATIONALITY
- identity that is tied to being part of a nation or country.
- Legal relationship that binds a person and a country.
 ETHNICITY
- expression of the set of cultural ideas held by a distinct ethnic or
indigenous group.
- ETHNIC GROUP – people who collectively and publicly identify
themselves as distinct and unique based on distinguishable cultural
features that set them apart from others.
 GENDER
- socially constructed roles, behaviors, acivites, and attributes that a
given society considers appropriate for men and women.
- Diifers from SEX which refers to the biological characteristic of
humans.
- Becomes a basis of one’s identity.
 TYPES OF GENDER
 Heterosexual – attracted to person of opposite sex.
 Homosexual –attracted to person of same sex
 Bisexual – attracted to both sexes
 Asexual – totally incapable of being attracted to any sex
 Polysexual – attracted to different types of gender.
 Pansexual – accommodates all types of gender.
 Transexual – persons who undergo medical sexual reaasignment.
 Transgender – people whose gender identitied do not much their
biological identity.
 SOCIOECONOMIC CLASS
- category of persons who have more or less the same
socioeconomic prvileges in a society.
- Due to inherited wealth and/or occupational status of the
breadwinner in the household.
  RELIGION
- organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere or the
supernatural, along with associated ceremonial of ritualistic
practices by which people try to interpret and/or influence aspects
of the universe otherwise beyond human control.

 POLITICAL IDENTITY
- the set of attitudes and practices that an individual adheres to in
relation to the political systems and actors within his or her society.
- Can be acquired through subscription of a political ideology or
religious belief.
 EXCEPTIONALITY
- the state of being intellectually gifted and/or having physically or
mentally challenged conditions concerning personality/behavior,
intellect, physical appearance, or combination of more than one
specific exceptionality or diability.
- May place an individual in compromising situations as the
environment demans conformity.
EFFECTS OF CULTURAL VARIATION:
1. Promotes diversity and plurality in cultural traditions
 Cultural Relativism – cultures must be understood in the context of their
locality.
2. In some cases, may lead to discrimination and ostraciscm
 Ethnocentrism – individual’s culture is most efficient and superior
 Racism and discrimination
3. Towards biological egalitarianism
 Biological Egalitarianism – equality of biological make-up desire of our
ancestry.

CHAPTER 2 – TRIUMVIRATE: ANTHROPOLOGY, POLITICAL SCIENCE, AND

SOCIOLOGY.

 ANTHROPOLOGY
Anthropology – study of human beings and their ancestors
Antropos – human
Logos – study
BRANCHES OF ANTHROPOLOGY:
 ARCHAEOLOGY – examination of remains of ancient and historical human
population
 CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY – study of society’a xulture through belief
sstems, practices and possesions.

 LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY – examines the language of a group of people

and its relation to their culture.
 PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY – biological development of humas and their
contemporary variation.
 APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY – solving contemporary problems through applying
concepts in anthropology.
 POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political Science – study of governments, public policies and political processes,
systems, and political behavior.
Polis – city
Scire – to know
BRANCHES OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
 POLITCAL THEORY – application of political ideas and concepts form
answering political phenomena.
 COMPARATIVE POLITICS – study of context different political and government
systems.
 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS – study of political interactions between state
and non-state actors.
 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION – study of various administrative schemes
implemented by the government.

 SOCIOLOGY
Sociology – study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social
interaction, and culture.
Auguste Comte – father of sociology
BRANCHES OF SOCIOLOGY:
 HUMAN ECOLOGY – relationship of human behavior to exisiting social
institutions.
 DEMOGRAPHY – relationship of population characteristics and dynamics to the
political, economic and social system.
 APPLIED SOCIOLOGY – use of sociological research and methods to solve
contemporary issues.
CHAPTER 3 – A CLOSE EXAMINATION OF THE CONCEPT OF SOCIETY AND
CULTURE

Society – organization that caters to a huma’s need for belongingness in a

group
- group of people sharing a common identity, culture, territory, and language
who act together for collective survival and well-being.
SOME PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIETY:
 AUGUSTE COMTE
- society as social organism possessing a harmony of a structure and function.
 EMILE DURKHEIM
- society as reality
- collective consciousness is important to the survival of the society.
 TALCOTT PARSONS
- society as total concept of human relationships in so far as they grow out of
the action in terms of means-end relationship.
 GEORGE HERBERT MEAD
- society as exchange of gestures that involves the use of symbols.
 GEORGE DOUGLAS COLE
- society as the complex of organized associations and instituitions with a
community.

Culture – complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices values, atitudes,

laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge and everything that a person learns and
shares as a member or society.
ASPECTS OF CULTURE:
 Culture is adaptive and dynamic
 Culture is shared
 Culture is learned and transmitted
 Culture is composed od patterned social interactions
 Culture requires communication
SOME PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE:
 Culture evolutionism
 Diffusionism – all societies change as a result of cultural borrowing from one
another.
