USCP REVIEWER

Module #1: Anthropology, Sociology and Political Science

ANTHROPOLOGY

- Anthropos (L) – Man (i.e. humanity); Logos (G) – Study

Franz Boas – The Father of Anthropology

• The study of human beings and their ancestors.

• Anthropology seeks knowledge about what makes people different, and about what they all have in
common.
• Anthropologists is a person that studies the field of anthropology; they formulate and test hypothesis
concerning humankind so they develop theories about our species.
• The roots of Anthropology can be traced to initial accounts of early traders such as Marco Polo, which
focused attention on human differences.

A. PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

• Physical anthropologists study the current, historical, and pre-historical, bio-cultural aspects of
humans to understand human nature.
• They focus on humans as biological organisms (Homo sapiens), tracing their biological origins,
evolutionary development, genetic diversity and variation.
• They analyze fossils and observe living primates (including modern humans) to reconstruct the
ancestry of the human species.

B. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

• Investigate the contrasting ways of groups of humans

• The study of customary patterns in human behavior, thought and feelings.
• Focuses humans as culture-producing and culture-reproducing creatures.
• Three main components: Ethnology, Ethnography and Fieldwork.

C. ARCHAEOLOGY

• Recovers information about human culture by studying material samples, skeletal remains and
settlements in order to describe and explain human behavior.
• Study tools, pottery and other features such as hearths and enclosures that remain as the
testimony of earlier cultures.

D. LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

• Study the nature and nuances of languages (The hallmark of human species!)
• Description of a Language – the way a sentence is formed or a verb conjugated.
• Historical Linguistics – The way languages change over time.
• Sociolinguistics – The study of language in social setting

SOCIOLOGY

Socius (L) – Companion; Logos (G) – Study

- is considered the science of society and social behavior which is viewed as an aggregate of individuals.
Conceptual and Operational Definitions
Socius Logos (study of society) – another more pragmatic definition by Becker (1986): Sociology is the
study of “people doing things together”
AUGUSTE COMTE (1798 – 1857)

• French Philosopher and Founder/Father of Sociology

• Proponent of Positivism - believed that the major goal of sociology was to understand society as it
actually operates.
• argues that scientific method could be applied to social life
• Goal to uncover “laws” that govern society ... lead to social reform and a better place to live
• Coined the term “sociology” – “study of society”
• Recommended the study of social statics and social dynamics

CHARLES WRIGHT MILLS (1916 – 1962)

• American Sociologist and Proponent of Sociological Imagination

• Individuals can still transcend the limitations posed by their respective social locations, by the ability to
understand the intersection of their life situation (biography) and the events of their societies (or
history).
• Converting their personal troubles into public issues
• Ex: Unemployment / Drinking coffee with friends
• One quality of social analysts needs to possess in order to study social phenomena.

THREE MAJOR SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES

1. STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALISM (Herbert Spencer, Robert Merton, Emile Durkheim)

CORE CONCEPT - Functionalists focus on how the “parts” of society contribute in expected and
unexpected ways to social order and stability and to social disorder and instability.
a. It asserts that our lives are guided by social structures (relatively stable patterns of social behavior).
b. Each social structure has social functions, or consequences, for the operation of society as a whole.

Parts of a social system work together to maintain a balance:

a. FUNCTIONS - actions that have positive consequences/permits adaptation or adjustment of a system.

 MANIFEST FUNCTIONS are intended and recognized or anticipated effects that part of a society
has an order and stability within society.
 LATENT FUNCTIONS are unintended and often not recognized or unanticipated effects that part
of a society has an order and stability within society.

b. DYSFUNCTIONS - disruptive actions that have negative consequences to society or to some segment
in society.

 MANIFEST DYSFUNCTIONS – a part’s anticipated disruptions to order and stability.

2. CONFLICT THEORY (Karl Marx)

CORE CONCEPT - Focuses on conflict over scarce and valued resources and the strategies dominant
groups use to create and protect social arrangements that give them an advantage over subordinate
groups.
a. Social-conflict paradigm sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change;
b. Power allows some to dominate others;
c. Conflict and change are inevitable
Conflict is inevitable because:
a. Scarcity of resources such as: 1) Wealth; 2) Prestige; 3) Power;
b. Power differences and group domination;
c. Divergent values and interests
Simmel: conflict is an essential element in group formation and the persistence of group life
Coser: conflict is functional to the group
• Most sociologists who favor the conflict paradigm attempt not only to understand society but also to
reduce “social inequality.”

3. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM (George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, William Isaac Thomas,
Herbert Blumer)

CORE CONCEPT - Focuses on Social Interaction and related concepts of self-awareness/ reflexive
thinking, symbols and negotiated order.
Symbols: anything that socially has come to stand for something else
Society as interaction – by treating society and its parts as “things,” we give them existence and
continuity.
Meaning: constructing reality
Reality is manufactured by us as we intervene in the world and interpret what is occurring there
• Individuals construct the nature of their social world through social interaction
• Social life is possible only because humans can communicate through symbols
• All human communications take place through the perception and interpretation of symbols
• How people define situations is important
• We do not respond directly to reality but to the symbolic meanings we attach to the real world
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES IN A NUTSHELL

Q: Ano ang tingin mo sa inyong mga kasambahay?

Structural – Functionalist:
“Mga katulong namin. nGinagawa nila yung mga gawaing bahay para wala na akong gawin o konti na
lang gagawin ko pagkagaling sa trabaho.”
Conflict Theorist:
“Mga tagasilbi, dahil binabayaran namin sila buwan-buwan upang gawin ang mga gawaing pambahay.
Ganoon naman diba?”
Symbolic Interactionist:
“Di na sila iba sa amin. Tinuturing na naming silang miyembro ng pamilya kasi ang tagal na nilang
nagtatrabaho sa amin, nasubaybayan na nga nila lumaki yung mga bata.”

POLITICAL SCIENCE

Politiká (G) – ‘Affairs of the State’; Scientia (L) – Knowledge

• Political Science – is the body of knowledge relating to the study of the state and government.
• State - political organization of society, or the body politic, or, more narrowly, the institutions of
government.
• Social Contract Theory - view that persons’ moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a
contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live.
• Government – the institution that has authority to oversee a country/state; example of a political
institution.
• Politics – refers to the “theory, art and practice of government.”
3 Branches of PH Government:
Executive – Carries out the law (President, VP, Cabinet)
Judicial – Evaluates the law (Supreme court)
Legislative – Makes the law (Congress, senate, house of representatives)

Module #2: Society and Culture (Concept and Aspect of Culture)

SOCIETY - defined as an organized group of interdependent people who share a common territory,
language and culture; A distinct and relatively autonomous; community whose members' mutual; social
relations are embedded in and; expressed through the medium of culture; A group of people who
occupy a specific locality and who share the same cultural traditions or culture.

CULTURE - is a way of life; Culture distinguishes one human group from others/from other animals,
because only humans have culture; Developed together with the evolution of the human species closely
related to human biology; The ability of people to have culture comes in large part from their physical
features: having big, complex brains; an upright posture; free hands that can grasp and manipulate small
objects; and a vocal tract that can produce and articulate a wide range of sounds.

Functions of Culture

1. Culture defines situations e.g. Raising Fist after crossing finish line/Raising Fist as a sign of protest
2. Culture defines attitudes, values and goals
3. Culture defines myth, legends and the supernatural – Culture provides the individual a ready-made
view of the universe. e.g. Religion, Ghosts, Aswang
4. Culture provides behavior patterns e.g. What to eat, Where to live, How to treat adolescent v. adults

ASPECT 1 - DYNAMIC, FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTIVE

• Culture is adaptive
• All cultures change, or else they would have problems adjusting and adapting environments. People
use culture to flexibly and quickly adjust to changes in the world around them.

ASPECT 2 – SHARED AND CONTESTED

• As we share culture with others, we are able to act in appropriate ways as well as predict how others
will act.
• They preserve it in the form of knowledge, such as scientific discoveries; objects, such as works of art;
and traditions, such as the observance of holidays.
• Despite the shared nature of culture, that does not mean that culture is homogenous.
• It may be challenged by the presence of other cultures and other social forces in society like
modernization, industrialization and globalization.

ASPECT 3 – LEARNING THROUGH SOCIALIZATION OR ENCULTURATION (LEARNED)

• It is not biological; we do not inherit or born out of it, but learned as we interact in society.
• We learn, absorb and acquire culture from families, peers, institutions and the media.
• Learn to speak and understand a language and to abide by the rules of a society.
• Learn a skill to earn money, which they then use to provide for themselves.
• Children learn culture from adults (enculturation, or cultural transmission)

ASPECT 4 – PATTERNED SOCIAL INTERACTIONS

• It sets the pattern in terms of what is appropriate or inappropriate in a given setting.
• Human interactions are guided by some forms of standard and expectation which in the end regularize
it.

ASPECT 5 – INTEGRATED AND AT TIMES UNSTABLE

• All aspects of a culture are related to one another and to truly understand a culture, one must learn
about all of its parts not only a few. e.g. Islam and its tradition of Five Pillars

ASPECT 6 – TRANSMITTED THROUGH ENCULTURATION OR SOCIALIZATION

• As we share our culture with others, we were able to pass it on to the new members of society or the
younger generation in different ways.

ASPECT 7 – REQUIRES LANGUAGE AND OTHER FORMS OF COMMUNICATION

• In the process of learning and transmitting culture, we need symbols and language to communicate
with others in society.
• Language is a shared set of spoken (often written) symbols and rules for combining those symbols in
meaningful ways.
• Language has been called “the storehouse of culture”.

WEEK 3: CULTURAL RELATIVISM

- a concept which states that there are no universal moral standards of right and wrong. an idea
articulated by Sir Franz Boas standards are relative to the culture in which they appear. it
advocates cross-cultural understanding.

Diversity - understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences

Philippines as a melting pot of cultural diversity - home to various early civilizations, exposed to almost
400 years of colonization, different geographical landscapes, hundreds to thousands of tribes and
indigenous people.

Inferior - Latin word inferus, meaning 'below' lower in rank, status, or quality.

Superior - Latin word super, meaning 'above' higher in rank, status, or quality.

WEEK 4: ETHNOCENTRISM & XENOCENTRISM

ETHNOCENTRISM - Greek word ethno, meaning "people" and centric, meaning "center"

- term coined by William Sumner

- characterized by the attitude that one’s own group, beliefs, culture
- and customs are superior to another

XENOCENTRISM - Greek word xeno, meaning "foreign guests" and centric, meaning "center"

- term coined by Donald Kent & Robert Burnight

- is the feeling when people consider their culture inferior compared to other culture
- showing preference to other cultures rather than their own.

WEEK 5: CULTURAL AND SOCIAL SYMBOLS AND PRACTICES

Symbols - an object, word, or action that stands for something else

Symbolism - when something represents abstract ideas or concepts articulated within a narrative

Functions of Symbols and Symbolism

1. Social symbols are used to transfer culture, ideologies, or beliefs from group to another group of
people
2. Used to preserve traditions or beliefs of a certain group of people
Culture - consists of many elements such as the values, beliefs, and norms that are understood and
shared by its members; Values are instilled on us by society.
“When we start to value something, it becomes normative.”

Tradition - the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation.

Practices - the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method.

Common Filipino Practices

1. Mano Po - an "honoring-gesture" used in Filipino culture performed as a sign of respect to

elders and as a way of requesting a blessing from an elder.
2. Hospitable - It is giving more than your best to make any guest feel at home as much as
possible. “Mi casa es su casa”
3. Close Family Ties - Filipinos place high regard and put importance on their family before
anything else. They work all day and do all they can to feed and provide for their family.
4. Bayanihan - The Bayanihan spirit shows Filipinos’ concept of helping one another most
especially in times of need without expecting anything in return.
5. Courtship (Panliligaw)
Types of Courtship:
 Pagsaguli or Riddle Courtship – love riddles are delivered
 Harana or Serenade – singing songs of love
 Paninilbihan or Servitude – giving certain presents for the family
6. Living with Parents - In a Filipino household, it is common to find three generations living
together. Often, grandparents play a large role in raising their grandchildren.
7. Eating with Fork and Spoon - As part of the table manners, spoon is held with the right hand
and the fork in the left. Use the fork to spear and hold down a piece of food while the spoon is
used to cut or tear off small pieces.
8. Eating with Hands (kamayan) - The act of eating food with your hands, is not only a practical
way of eatingyour food (as it eliminates the need to clean spoons and forks), but also a good
way of bonding with the locals.

WEEK 6: CULTURAL AND SOCIAL SYMBOLS AND PRACTICES PT. 2

Social Construct Theory

- Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckman people develop knowledge of the world in a social context
- what we perceive as reality depends on shared assumptions

Cultural Symbols

- physical manifestation that signifies the ideology of a particular culture

- Something that merely has meaning within a culture.
- Examples: religious practice, culinary, and medical treatments

Cultural Symbols

- Draws inspiration from historical figures, colors, shapes, music styles, and local wildlife
- Can be shared with other cultures

Components of Culture (NonMaterial and Material)

1. Nonmaterial Culture - Symbolic culture

Gesture - signs we make with our bodies; Can mean different things depending on the culture
Language - can be combined in an infinite number of ways for the purpose of communicating abstract
thought. Same sound may mean different things in different culture
Values - the ideas of what is desirable in life; judgments of what is good or bad
Norms - unspoken rules that govern how people interact with each other
Sanctions - reactions people receive from following or breaking a norm
✗ Positive Sanction - approval
✗ Negative Sanction - disapproval
Folkways - norms that are not strictly enforced; etiquette
Mores - norms of morality; “would it be immoral or unethical?”