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Week 1

We can say that the study of human beings can be the study of a

lifetime. Great thinkers have spent years getting some answers to

questions about human behavior. Today, there are many fields and

sub-fields of study that engage in trying to understand humankind.

In this lesson, we will discuss the nature and beginnings of sociology

and anthropology.

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. Articulate observations on human cultural variation, social

differences, social change and political identities

2. Recognize the common concerns or intersections of

anthropology, sociology and political science with respect to

the phenomenon of change.

3. Identify the subjects of inquiry and goals of anthropology and

sociology

Definitions of Sociology and Anthropology

Sociology “is a scientific study of human society, its origin, structure,

function and direction.”

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Anthropology “is a social science that is concerned with human culture

as well as the physical and social characteristics that create that

culture. Often it will compare one group of humans to another or even

compare humans with animals.”

History of Sociology and Anthropology

In Anthropology, the behavior of others had been observed and

recorded by men since the birth of civilization. Examples of these

great men who did the observations and recordings are Herodotus and

Tacitus. However, it was only in the 18th century that a codified study

of cultures began. The study of culture of other people has been done

by Westerners that brought forth to the racist theories about the overall

advancement of different groups.

Sociology has been practiced by the Greeks also, when they studied

their surrounding society. It was in the 19th century when sociology

was recognized as an academic discipline and became a part of the

university curriculum.

The word Sociology was taken from two foreign words:

 Socius, a Latin term which means companion or associate

 Logos, a Greek term for study

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Nature of Sociology

The nature of sociology is identified by the following characteristics as

enlisted by Robert Bierstadt in his book “Social Order.”

1. Sociology is a social science not a physical science. It

concentrates on man, his social behavior, social activities and

social life.

2. Sociology is categorical not a normative discipline. As a

categorical discipline, it is a body of knowledge about human

society, and not a system of ideas and values.

3. It is a pure science. It aims to provide knowledge about human

society, not the utilization of that knowledge

4. Sociology is the generalizing and not a particularizing or

individualizing science. Sociology tries to find out general laws

or principles about human interaction and association, about

the nature, form, content and structure of human groups and

societies.

5. Sociology is a general science not a special science. It is

concerned with human interaction and human life in general. It

only studies human activities in a general way.

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6. Sociology is both a rational and an empirical science. There are

two broad ways of approach to scientific knowledge.

Empiricism is the approach that emphasizes experience and the

facts that result from observation and experimentation.

Rationalism is a stressed reason and the theories that result

from logical inference.

Nature of Anthropology

1. Anthropology is the study of humankind in all times and

places.

2. It involves the careful and systematic study of humankind

using facts, hypothesis, and theories.

3. It is concerned with other culture’s languages, values, and

achievements in the arts and literature.

4. Anthropology is committed to experiencing other cultures.

Focus of Anthropology and Sociology

 Anthropology “is interested in the overall culture of a group of

people. This includes social institutions, art, history, mythology, and

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common mores, among other traits. Anthropologies now study

societies all over the world, but look for overarching themes that are

reinforced through case studies. It also includes archeology, and due to

a great amount of substantive speculation is thought to be a softer

science than sociology.”

 Sociology “is a quantitative social science. Most theories are based

on polls, statistical analysis, sampling, and large collections of life

histories. Sociologists strive to be as impartial and scientific as

possible as they gather data. The data analyzed by sociologists is often

used by government officials and market researchers alike.”

Summary:

1. Anthropology and sociology are both fields of social science

that study the behavior of humans within their societies.

2. Traditionally anthropology dealt with the study of cultures of

other people, while sociology was used to understand own

society.

3. Today, anthropology tends to look at the big picture of human

culture while sociology spends more time analyzing data from

a specific study.

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Anthropology is considered to be a softer science than sociology as its

conclusions are based on case studies than hard data.

Introduction to Sociology

Sociology is the systematic and scientific study of human social life.

Sociologists study people as they form groups and interact with one

another. The groups they study may be small, such as married couples,

or large, such as a subculture of suburban teenagers. Sociology places

special emphasis on studying societies, both as individual entities and

as elements of a global perspective.

Sociology as a Social Science

Sociology “is a scientific study of human society, its origin, structure,

function and direction.” It studies the influence that society has on

people’s attitudes and behavior. It also seeks to understand the ways in

which people interact and shape society.

The Origins of Sociology

Sociology is a relatively young science, beginning in late nineteenth-

century Europe during a time of great social upheaval. Intellectuals

such as Auguste Comte, Harriet Martineau, Emile Durkheim, and

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others began to explore ideas for regaining a sense of community and

restoring order. After World War II, however, the greatest

development of sociology has taken place in the United States. Two

early contributors were activists Jane Addams and W.E.B. DuBois,

who helped focus people's attention on social issues.

Pioneers in the Study of Sociology

The early scholars who contributed significantly for the development

of Sociology as a young science are listed below:

Auguste Comte (1778 - 1857)

- He was born after the French revolution of 1789

- He proposed the Philosophical position of Positivism. He

theorized that the methods of physical science are regarded as

the accurate means of obtaining knowledge and therefore,

social science should adhere to the same.

- He developed the idea and coined the term “sociology”

- He was the founder of Sociology.

Harriet Martineau (1802 – 1876)

- She translated Comte’s work in English

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- She spoke out in favor of the rights of women, the

emancipation of the slaves, and religious tolerance.

- Her book, “Society in America” examines religion, politics,

child rearing, and immigration in the young nation.

- She emphasized the impact that the economy, law, trade, and

population could have on the social problems of contemporary

society.

- She said that intellectuals and scholars should not simply offer

observations of social conditions, but they should act upon

their conditions in a manner that will benefit society.

Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)

- He is considered as one of the thinkers of the modern times

- He was a native German and later exiled in England

- He said that the sociologist’s task is to explain conflict

- That conflict is shaped by the means of production

- He said that industrialization resulted in two classes: owners

and laborers

Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)

- He grew up in England

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- He proposed that there is the parallelism between how society

evolves in the same manner as animal species do

- This principle is attributed to “Darwin’s Theory of Evolution”

- Through Spencer’s theory, it could be further said that, man as

a member of society is in a never ending competition and the

name of the game is to win.

Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917)

- He was the only person who studied the discipline in the school

of higher learning thoroughly

- He provided insights into the social forces that contributed to

the rise of the global village

- He proposed four types of suicide, based on the degrees of

imbalance of two social forces: social integration and moral

regulation

- He concluded that suicide is not an ordinary phenomenon

Max Weber (1864 – 1920)

- He focused on how industrial revolution changed thoughts and

action and how it brought about a process called rationalization

- Rationalization refers to the way daily life is organized so as to

accommodate large groups of people.

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Other sociologists:

Albion Small

- founder of the department of sociology at the University of

Chicago

- he established the American Journal of Sociology

W.E.B Du Bois

- a black American who conducted research on race relations in

the U.S.

Wright Mills

- urged sociologists to get back to social reform

Robert K. Merton

- he stressed that sociologists need to develop middle-range

theories as explanations of human behavior that go beyond the

particular observation or research but avoid sweeping

generalizations that attempt to account for everything

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The Development of Sociology in the Philippines

Serfin M. Macaraig

- the first Filipino to acquire a doctorate degree in Sociology and

published a book entitled “An Introduction to Sociology” in

1938.

Fr. Valentin Marin

- he introduced Sociology in the Philippines with the opening of

criminology program at University of Santo Tomas in 1950

Conrado Benitez and Luis Rivers

- among the first teachers of sociology in the Philippines

In 1952, Filipino pioneers in Sociology organized the Philippine

Sociological Society which main trust is to collect, interpret and

proposed possible solutions to different Philippine sociological

phenomena.

In 1957, the Community Development Research Council was created

to conduct and support social science researchers.

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In 1960, Fr. Frank Lynch, SJ, founded the Institute of the Philippines

Culture at the Ateneo de Manila University

In 1972, Xavier University was given credit as the first school, which

opens a program in PhD in sociology.

It was the University of the Philippines that offered a bachelor degree

in sociology.

Three Major Perspectives in Sociology

Sociologists analyze social phenomena at different levels and from

different perspectives. Sociologists today employ three primary

theoretical perspectives: the symbolic interactionist perspective, the

functionalist perspective, and the conflict perspective. These

perspectives offer sociologists theoretical paradigms for explaining

how society influences people, and vice versa. Each perspective

uniquely conceptualizes society, social forces, and human behavior.

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Sociological Perspectives

Sociological Perspective Level of Focus

Analysis

1. Symbolic Micro Use of symbols; Face-

Interactionism (small to-face Interactions

social

patterns)

2. Functionalism Macro Relationship between

(large the parts of society;

patterns) How aspects of society

are functional

(adaptive)

3. Conflict Theory Macro Competition for scarce

resources; How the elite

control the poor and

weak.

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Symbolic Interaction

The founding father is Mead (1863-1931), an American philosopher.

The theoretical perspective supports that:

 People attach meaning to symbols, then they act according to

the subject interpretations

 Individual, social groups meaning to experience of life: we

negotiate meaning

 Meanings can change or be modified through interaction and

through time.

Structure Functionalism

Two words can give an idea of this approach: structure and function.

The founding fathers of this perspective are Comte, Spencer and

Durkheim.

This theoretical perspective says that society is stable, ordered system

of interrelated part of the structures. Each structure has a function that

contributes to the continued stability or equilibrium of the whole.

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 Structures are explained as social institutions like the family,

the educational system, politics, religion, mass media systems,

and the economy

 Structures meet the need of society by performing different

functions:

 What would be the functions of above mentioned social

institutions? (in terms of manifest* vs. latent** functions,

Robert Merton, b. 1910)

 Dysfunction: a disturbance to or undesirable consequence of

some aspect of the social system

 Harmony & stability

 Manifest : the obvious intended functions of a social

institution (or social system)

 Latent: the less obvious, perhaps unintended functions of a

social structure

Cultural Theory

The founding father is Karl Marx.

The principles embodied in this theory are:

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 A materialistic view of society (focused on labor practices and

economic reality, we play by the rules (roles and functions) of

these social systems

 Unequal groups usually have conflicting values and agenda

causing them to compete against one another.

 This constant competition between groups forms the basis of

the ever changing nature of society.

Sociological Imagination

Sociological imagination is a new concept to social sciences

introduced by C. Wright Mills in 1959 in his book titled ‘Sociological

Imagination’. This coined phrase is used throughout sociology today.

This ‘sociological imagination’ is the concept of being able to “think

ourselves away” from the familiar routines of our daily lives in order

to look at them anew. Mills defined sociological imagination as “the

vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and wider

society.” It is the ability to see things socially and how they interact

and influence each other. To have a sociological imagination, a person

must be able to pull away from the situation and think from an

alternative point of view. It is also the willingness to view the social

world from the perspective of others. It involves moving away from

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thinking in terms of you and your problems (private issues), but

focusing rather on the social circumstances that produce social

problems (public issues).

In short, sociological imagination is all about determining the

relationship between your ordinary lives and the wider social forces. It

is turning your private troubles into ‘public issues”.

Example of Sociological Imagination

We will see a common example. Suppose, there is a boy who is unable

to find employment and he is worried about a loan that he needs to pay

back. He tries very hard to get a job, but he fails. Now, he joins a

group and engages in illegal and criminal activities. If you analyze this

case individually, then you may say that this boy did not try hard

enough to get a job and resorted to illegal activities to gain easy

money.

We analyze the issue:

Issue – Unemployment

Private Trouble – When one person is unemployed that is a private

trouble

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Public Issue – When 5 million people are unemployed, that is a public

issue

If you see this case in the social imagination perspective, then you

would see that the larger forces such as economic meltdown,

unemployment, the lack of regulation in the subprime mortgage

industry, etc., had a direct impact on the life of this guy. We could

have blamed the personal character of the individual if very few guys

went through the similar situation. But when there is a significant

number of youth facing the same problem, then it becomes a social or

public problem where government policies about employment and

banking needs to be looked at.

In the above example, you can analyze the problem by tracing the root

cause of the problem in society and find how this particular issue

developed. It is clear from the example of sociological imagination

that this concept tries to study how large social forces influence

individual behavior and actions of people living in that society.

So, the next time you are confronted with a personal problem or

situation, you know how to connect it to the wider social happenings.

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This process would help you find out long-term, permanent solutions

to some of the grave individual problems.

References

Acton, Ashton Q. (2014. Issues in international sociology and social

work research and application. USA: Scholarly EditionsPrint

Difference Between Anthropology and Sociology.

www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/...anthropology-and-
sociology. Web. 06 June 2015.

Ferrante, J. (2014). Sociology a Global Perspective. 9th edition. USA:

Cengage Learning. Print

Mauss, M. (2005). The Nature of Sociology Berghahn Series.USA:

Durkheim Press. Print

Acton, Ashton Q. (2014. Issues in international sociology and social

work research and application. USA: Scholarly Editions.Print

Difference Between Anthropology and Sociology.

www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/...anthropology-and-
sociology. Web. 06 June 2015.

Ferrante, J. (2014). Sociology a Global Perspective. 9th edition. USA:

Cengage Learning. Print

Mauss, M. (2005). The Nature of Sociology Berghahn Series.USA:

Durkheim Press. Print

Sociology/Anthropology.
www.stolaf.edu/catalog/9697/socanthro.html. Web. 06 June 2015.

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