Anthropological perspective

John Rovic G. Guides, RPm

anthropology
Derived from the greek word
“Anthropos” which means man
or human being and “logos”
which means study.
The study of what makes us
human is known as
anthropology. Anthropologists
use a wide approach called
holism to understand the many
distinct facets of the human
experience.
Subfields of anthropology
Archaeology - Archaeologists
investigate human culture by examining
the items that people have created.
They also examine human bones and
teeth to learn about a person's diet
and the ailments they have suffered
from.
Biological Anthropology - Biological
anthropologists study how humans adapt
to varied settings, what causes
disease and premature mortality, and
how humans diverged from other
species. They are also curious about
how biology and culture interact to
shape our lives.
Cultural Anthropology - Sociocultural
anthropologists investigate how
individuals in various locations live
and perceive the world around them.
They want to discover what individuals
value and the norms they have
established for how they should
interact with one another.
Linguistic Anthropology - Linguistic
anthropologists research the various
ways people communicate around the
world. They're curious on how language
affects how we perceive the world and
interact with one another.
Franz boas
German born and originally
trained in Physics.
After a year-long expedition
to Baffin Island, the Inuit
homeland in the Canadian
Arctic, he became interested
in anthropology. He started
learning their language.
Father of American
Anthropology.
HOLISM
Holism is a view of the human
condition which holds that
the mind, body, individuals,
society, and the environment
are all interconnected and
even define one another.
The whole is greater than the
sum of its parts, which
simplifies understanding of
holism.
Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the ability to
understand a culture on its own terms
rather than making judgments based on
one's own cultural standards.

The goal is to foster understanding of

cultural practices that are not
typically found in one's own culture.

When it comes to systems of morality,

law, politics, and so on, no culture
is superior to another.
Cultural relativism
Because there is no absolute standard
of good or evil, each society must
make its own decisions about what is
right and wrong.

Any ethical opinion is subject to the

perspective of each individual within
their own culture.

In a broader sense, cultural

relativism seeks to promote
understanding of cultural practices
that are unfamiliar to other cultures,
such as eating insects, genocides, or
genital cutting.
Ruth benedict
Born on June 5 1877 (NYC).

Student of Franz Boas.

An anthropologist who is
well-known for her leadership
in the field of anthropology.
Culture and Personality
This theoretical school had two main
themes. First is the relationship of
culture and human nature. The other
was about the correlation between
culture and individual personality.

The foundations of personality

development are laid in early
childhood, according to the unique
cultural traits of each society.

They described distinctive

characteristics of people in certain
cultures and attributed these unique
traits to the different methods of
childrearing.
Margaret mead
Student of Franz Boas and
Ruth Benedict.

Lifelong friend and colleague

of Ruth Benedict.
Margaret mead
According to Mead's findings, both
boys and girls are ignored by the
community until they reach the age
of 15 or 16. Children had no social
standing in the community prior to
that point.

Mead also discovered that marriage

is viewed as a social and economic
arrangement in which the husband's
and wife's wealth, rank, and job
skills are all taken into account.
Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies.
“Among the Arapesh, both men and women
were peaceful in temperament and
neither men nor women made war.

“Among the Mundugumor, the opposite

was true: both men and women were
warlike in temperament.

“And the Tchambuli were different from

both. The men ‘primped’ and spent
their time decorating themselves while
the women worked and were the
practical ones – the opposite of how
it seemed in early 20th century
America.”
Bronisław malinowski
widely regarded as the most
influential anthropologist of
the twentieth century,
particularly in British social
anthropology.
conducted research in the
Trobriand Islands located near
Papua New Guinea.
believed that religious beliefs
satisfied psychological needs.
Bronisław malinowski
Religion, he observed, “is not born
of speculation or reflection, much
less of illusion or apprehension,
but rather of the real tragedies of
human life, of the conflict between
human plans and realities.”

As a functionalist, Malinowski
believed that religion provided
shared values and behavioral norms
that fostered interpersonal
solidarity.
Ralph linton
American cultural anthropologist.

was one of the major contributors

to the reconstruction of
anthropology during the second
quarter of the twentieth century.
Status and role
Status - the position of an
individual in society, defined as a
set of rights and responsibilities.
Role - the dynamic aspect of status
behavior, the exercise of rights
and responsibilities.
Statuses and roles can be universal
or specialized, depending on
whether they are shared by all
members of a community or only a
subset of them.
Behavior in a role is just behavior
in accordance with a specific
recognized position.
Statuses or roles are either
bestowed to the individual or
earned by him through his own
efforts.
2 types of roles: “actual” roles,
which are how roles are actually
performed, and “ideal” roles, which
are normative patterns that serve
as models for actual role
performance.
END