[WEEK 1] STARTING POINTS FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS
IDENTITY TAKE NOTE:
• is the distinctive characteristic that defines an individual or
is shared by those belonging to a particular group.
• People may have multiple identities depending on the
groups to which they belong.
IN A FAMILY,
• for instance, one's identity can be that of a daughter, son,
brother, or sister.
IN SCHOOL,
• a person may be a member of the student council, a club,
or an organization.
• He or she may also be known as a football player, music
enthusiast, and performance artist.
• Identity can also be influenced by other factors such as:
o sexual orientation and gender (male, female,
transgender, transsexuals, intersex, gender queers)
and nationality (Filipino, Japanese, French, etc.)
NOTE:
• Festivals and gatherings are ways of expressing collective
and individual identities.
• Identity can also change over the course of a person's
lifetime.
o It is continuously shaped and reshaped through the
passage of time as well as the overall context of one's
life cycle
▪ including his or her activities within the society and
interaction with other people.
• Young people, for example, identify themselves as sons or
daughters
o but would eventually become fathers and mothers
when they start their own families.
• Likewise, when an individual graduates from school, his or
her identity changes from being a student into that of a
professional—a doctor, teacher, or police officer.
o One can also be a member of the Roman Catholic faith
but may convert to a non-Catholic Christian group or
another religious group in the future.
GELAI
• Identities are important because they shape individual and
group behavior as well as people's views about other
people and society.
o Learning about oneself, culture, and society entails
knowledge about various identities and how these
shape peoples' views and behavior.
▪ Reflecting on this enables a person to appreciate
what makes him or her similar to and different from
other people.
• One of the food taboos among Muslims, for instance, is the
eating of pork.
o A keen sense of other people or group's identities
enables a person to understand this aspect of Muslim
culture, and not regard Muslims as “weird" for
observing this practice.
• Another case in point is neighborhood “istambays”.
o They are usually regarded as unruly and are often
suspected of theft and other misdemeanors
o However, many of them are people who have difficulty
in finding jobs because of inadequate employment
opportunities in the
Philippines.
o If there are enough
factories or offices to hire
them, they would not want
to be "istambays" forever.
• A holistic knowledge and
understanding of the characteristics and overall identities of
oneself, of other people, and of different groups in the
society can lead to a better world.
o One concrete way of achieving this is through constant
dialogue and interaction with each other.
CULTURE
• which is loosely defined as a society's way of life, provides
the basis for forging identities.
• It allows people to understand themselves in relation to
others and provides them a lens through which they base
what is considered the "right way" of doing things.
• There are material and nonmaterial aspects associated with
culture.
o Clothes, music, and food are examples of material
things that comprise one's culture for example.
▪ Interpretations of other's behavior, especially the
bases of what we regard as "right" or "wrong", are
examples of nonmaterial dimensions of culture.
• Aside from what is generally regarded as Filipino culture,
there are other subcultures that exist in the Philippines,
depending on geographical origin, religion and class,
among others.
o All societies have some form of subcultures.
• The term "society"
o refers to a group of people living in a community.
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 NOTES: WEEK 1
• According to Maclver and Page, "it is a web of social
relationship, which is always changing."
SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND POLITICAL CHANGE
• The concept of identity is related to social, cultural, and
political change.
• People's individual and collective identities have oftentimes
transformed social order and paved the way for lasting
change.
• For instance, when Filipinos first held elections in the
1900s,
o only Filipino males could vote and participate in
politics.
• However, when Filipino women became more educated
either in the Philippines or abroad
o they were enlightened about their rights, particularly
suffrage or the right to vote.
• Consequently, the campaign for women's suffrage gained
ground in the 1930s.
o The framers of the 1935 Constitution allowed women
to vote by virtue of a law that was passed by the
National Assembly.
▪ The law mandated a plebiscite on the question Of
Filipino women's suffrage, which required at least
300,000 votes to grant women the right to vote.
▪ The results of the plebiscite, held in 1937, yielded
more than 400,000 votes in favor of women's
suffrage.
▪ The outcome forever changed the way women are
regarded in society.
• Before attaining the right to vote,
o women were merely perceived as nurturers of their
families with limited role in the public sphere.
• The suffragist movement is said to be the precursor of
current rights that Filipino women enjoy.
o It is also a good example of how political and social
changes have transformed Filipino women's identities.
o Rapidly advancing technology also has profound
implications for sociocultural and political change.
▪ Because people know more about what is
happening elsewhere in the world, trends in
clothing, hair style, fashion style and food choices,
among others have also been transformed.
o Now, people across the world are becoming more
similar in tastes than they were fifty years ago.
GELAI
ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, AND POLITICAL
SCIENCE
• The disciplines under which identity, culture, society, and
politics are studied
o are collectively called the social sciences.
• The social sciences are comprised of a wide array of
academic disciplines that study the overall functions of
society as well as the interactions among its individual
members and institutions.
• Some of the most prominent academic disciplines in the
social sciences are anthropology, sociology, and political
science.
• Within these fields, there are contending views and specific
ideas regarding the study of culture, politics, and society.
ANTHROPOLOGY
• is the systematic study of the biological, cultural, and social
aspects of man.
• It is derived from two Greek words
o anthropos which means "man,"
o logos, which means "study" or "inquiry."
• It is a significant branch of knowledge
o because it integrates elements from the biological
sciences and humanities
▪ to fully comprehend the complex human species,
▪ including their past practices and social patterns,
across diverse cultures.
• Examples of renowned anthropologists are:
o Edward Burnett Taylor, Franz Boas, Alfred Kroeber,
Bronislaw Malinowski, Clifford Geertz, and Margaret
Mead.
• Anthropologists have diverse fields of study and areas of
interests.
SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
• studies how social patterns and practices and cultural
variations develop across different societies.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
• studies cultural variation across different societies and
examines the need to understand each culture in its own
context.
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
• studies language and discourse and how they reflect and
shape different aspects of human society and culture
BIOLOGICAL OR PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
• studies the origins of humans as well as the interplay
between social factors and the processes of human
evolution, adaptation, and variation over time.
ARCHAEOLOGY
• deals with prehistoric societies by studying their tools and
environment.
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 NOTES: WEEK 1

SOCIOLOGY
• is defined by Anthony Giddens as "the study of human
social life, groups, and society."
• It is an academic discipline that attempts to provide a
deeper assessment of individual and group behavior
o as well as social phenomena, by examining the
interplay between economic, political, and social
factors.
• The discipline has been largely shaped by the works of
August Comte, Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Emile
Durkheim, and Max Weber.
o By incorporating other methods and knowledge from
other academic disciplines, sociologists examine and
present new insights and perspectives on the different
elements and aspects of society
▪ such as culture, gender, race and ethnicity, social
movements, class and other forms of social
stratification, crime, and other organizations and
institutions.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
• is the systematic study of politics
o which Andrew Heywood describes as "the activity
through which people make, preserve, and amend the
general rules under which they live."
• Political science focuses on the fundamental values of
equality, freedom, and justice and its processes are linked
to the dynamics of conflict, resolution, and cooperation.

G E N E R A L I Z A T I O N:
• The social sciences, namely, sociology, anthropology and
political science, developed as a result of the development
of modern society.
• The rise and rapid growth of natural sciences influenced the
direction of the social sciences.
• The social science borrowed mainly from the natural
sciences in developing their own concepts and method.
• However. In the 20th century, the social sciences have
become diverse and pluralistic.
o Nevertheless, they have never abandoned the quest to
be relevant to the people of the 20th century.
SOCIOLOGY
• as a discipline is a product of modern society.
SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
• involve the systematic study of social life and culture in
order to understand the causes and consequences of
human action.
SOCIAL SCIENCES TODAY
• drastically changed from being Western centered to having
a more pluralistic orientation and being multicultural in
nature.
o This has to do with the efforts of social scientists from
non-Western countries to indigenize Western social
sciences.
FEMINIST, POSTCOLONIAL THEORISTS, AND
POSTMODERN SCHOLARS
• have also contributed to the questioning of the assumed
universality of Western concepts and theories of Western
social sciences.
o In particular, Sikolohiyang Pilipino, in the Philippines, is
spearheading the move to decolonize psychology.

GELAI 3
 [WEEK 2] OBSERVATIONS ON SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND CULTURAL BEHAVIOR
OBSERVATIONS ON SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND
CULTURAL BEHAVIOR
• Individuals group themselves because of similarities and
interest.
• Certain bases such as a common ancestral relationship,
physical proximity, body characteristics, common interest,
etc., usually group themselves.
• When an individual becomes a member of a as group, his
social behavior, political interests, and cultural behavior are
affected by the group.
o Through group pressure, the individual's opinions and
beliefs are subjected to the people's beliefs and he
must conform to it a member of the group.
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
• a term to describe the general conduct exhibited by
individuals within a society.
• It is essentially in response to what is deemed acceptable
by a person's peer group or involves avoiding behavior that
is characterized as unacceptable.
• This type of human behavior primarily determines how
individuals interact with one another within a group or
society.
• While social conduct is often modelled to create a
comfortable social environment
o anti-social behavior, such as aggression, scapegoating
and group bullying,
▪ may also be defined as negative social behavior,
particularly in instances where other individuals
within a peer group all behave accordingly.
GELAI
• Just as positive interactions among individuals in a society
help create a pleasant environment for citizens, activities
defined by peer groups to be acceptable, even if harmful to
select individuals or subgroups within a society, are also
part of social behavior.
• Studies Of massive human rights violations have helped
illustrate the extent by which harmful, but socially
acceptable, behaviors have persisted in some societies.
o Examples of widespread acceptance of negative
behavior within a peer group include historical
incidents of mass genocide and human enslavement.
POLITICAL BEHAVIOR
• The focus of political behavior is the individual's
engagement in political life
o such as elections, political partisan, political dynasties,
public opinion, political parties, etc.
• Man's political behavior is only one aspect of his total
behavior as a social being.
• The other aspects are his social and cultural behaviors.
• Political behavior is not only concerned with the individual's
action as such.
• It more often seeks to discuss and explain the political
behavior of a group
o but such do not exist apart from the conduct of the
individual members.
• The political behavior of individual members or groups
o includes their behavior towards elections, political
dynasty, political economy, political parties, and voter’s
behavior, among others.
POLITICS
• is a special form of human authority.
• It cannot be independent of social behavior.
POLITICAL PHENOMENON
• In the Philippines, President Joseph "Erap" Estrada, is
considered a political phenomenon.
o Erap was born as Jose Marcelo Ejercito in April 19,
1937, a Filipino politician who was the 13th President
of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001.
o He has been Mayor of the City of Manila, the country's
capital since 2013.
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 NOTES: WEEK 2

o Estrada gained popularity ▪ such as menstrual period, pregnancy, childbirth,

as a film actor playing the lactation, and - in traditional societies —
lead role in over a preparation for the hunt, battle, wedding, funeral,
hundred films in an acting etc.
career spanning some ▪ On the other hand, food taboos have a long history
three decades. and one ought to expect a sound explanation for
o He used his popularity as the existence and (persistence) of certain dietary
an actor to make gains in customs in a given culture.
politics o Yet, this is a highly debated view, and no single theory
▪ serving as mayor of San Juan for 16 years may explain why people employ special food taboos.
▪ as senator for one-term o Whatever it is that makes something taboo, it is
▪ then as vice president under President Ramos. important to know the local customs, if you happen to
o Despite having been sentenced for plunder but later on be friendly from one region to another or to other
granted pardon by President Arroyo, he was popular to countries.
the masa as "Erap para sa mahihirap". ISTAMBAY
• a tagalong term of the English version "stand-by."
• It is a social behavior which carries a negative connotation.
• People who love to hang around or loiter in an area are
called istambay
o Old folks call istambay as indolent or lazy people
because instead of looking for a job or help the family
in household chores, these people just hang around in
corner streets, in downtown areas, telling stories or
"do-nothing."
▪ This is one reason why the istambays are called
CPAs (counting post around) or are working in the
• The election of Barack Obama in 2008 is also a political PAL (palamunin).
phenomenon in U.S. POLITICAL DYNASTIES OR POLITICAL FAMILY
o He came out of nowhere and got the highest • a kind of political behavior in Philippine political society.
percentage of votes by a presidential candidate in over • There has been a lot of debate regarding the effect of these
100 years. dynasties on the socio-political and economical aspects of
o People were literally taking their close off for him society.
(Obama Girl). • Although political dynasties are typically associated with
o Over 2 million saw his inaugural address more than any higher levels of poverty and corruption
president in history, The Democratic Party picked up o there are no laws that restrict the presence of political
more seats since 1932. dynasties in the Philippines.
o He was so popular that his opponents called him a • A political family or political dynasty is a family in which
"celebrity" several members are involved in politics, particularly
FOOD TABOO electoral politics.
• We all hail from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and all have • Members may be related by blood or marriage; often
personal limitations on what we do and don't eat several generations or multiple siblings maybe involved.
• We generally believe in THIN DYNASTY
stringent table manners at • a political clan that only has two members
a formal dinner and o like father and son- swapping certain positions, as
wouldn't consider eating when a mayor-father
anything that could be a o at the end of his maximum three terms, lets his son,
domestic animal. who may also have reached his 3-year term either as
• The things we consider Vice mayor, councilor and others, running for each
taboos can vary due to our other’s position.
melting pot roots
FAT DYNASTY
o but around the world there are some rules that apply to
• monopolizing power is an undesirable situation
etiquette and actual food consumption as a nation.
o as checks and balances among elected officials in a
TABOOS certain local government are difficult if they are all from
• are technically defined as a practice "proscribed by society, one family.
as improper or unacceptable, social behavior," • In Maguindanao, the “fat” Ampatuan dynasty held eight out
o but what makes something taboo isn't as concrete of the 37 mayoralty posts in the province’s 37 municipalities.
Whether social, religious or cultural, culinary customs
PHILIPPINE ELECTIONS
are commonly associated with a multitude of nationally
accepted "rules." • Election is a political behavior in Philippine society.
• Food taboos are known from virtually all human societies. • The elections in the
o Most religions declare certain food items fit and others Philippines have
unfit for human consumption. several types.
o Dietary rules and regulations may govern particular
phases of the human life cycle and may be associated
with special events

GELAI 2
 NOTES: WEEK 2

ELECTED FOR A SIX-YEARS TERM • Unlike in the olden days, the present Philippine election is
• The President, Vice President and the Senators generally a dirty game with dirty tricks.
ELECTED TO SERVE FOR A THREE-YEAR TERM. o Generally, it is money that counts, entertainment that
• the members of the House of Representatives runs and popularity that wins.
• Governors o It is no longer "pera sa bulsa at boto sa balota" but
• Vice-Governors more on "pera sa balota at boto sa bulsa" slogan.
• members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial
o In short, the COMELEC's motto of a "peaceful, honest,
clean, credible and orderly election" has been
board members)
relegated to the background. What can you say?
• Mayors
G E N E R A L I Z A T I O N:
• Vice-Mayors
• The results of the 2013 Philippine mid-term elections
• members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod/members of the
highlighted the dominance of political dynasties in the
Sangguniang Bayan (city/municipal councilors)
country.
• Barangay Officials
• With all 80 provinces littered with political families,
• members of the Sangguniang Kabataan (youth councilors)
o 74 percent of the elected members of the House of
THE CONGRESS OR KONGRESO Representatives came from such dynastic groups.
• has two chambers. ▪ Despite overwhelming recognition that political
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OR dynasties breed patronage politics and corruption,
KAPULUNGAN NG MGA KINATAWAN no substantial steps have been undertaken to
• has 292 seats as of 2013 address this issue.
• 80% are contested in single seat electoral district • The reasons for their continuing existence and their
• 20% are allotted to party-lists according to a modified Hare adverse impact on the country.
quota with remainders disregarded and a three- seat cap, • This problem emanates basically from three factors:
o which are only accessible to marginalized and under- o the political and socio-economic foundations upon
represented groups and parties, local parties, and which political dynasties are built.
sectoral wings of major parties that represent the o the inability to effectively implement Philippine
marginalized. constitutional provisions by enacting an enabling law;
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PHILIPPINES and
• allows the House of Representatives to have more than 250 o the weakness of potential countervailing forces that
members by statute without a need for a constitutional would challenge political dynasties.
amendment. • Indeed, our discussion on Observations on social, political
THE SENATE OR SENADO and cultural behavior plays a vital role that an individual
must do his/her part and accept and respect one’s culture.
• has 24 members which are elected on a nationwide at-large
basis
o they do not represent any geographical district.
• Half of the Senate is renewed every three years.
THE PHILIPPINES HAS A MULTI-PARTY SYSTEM
• with numerous parties in which no one party often has a
chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with
each other to form a coalition government.
THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS (COMELEC)
• is responsible for running the elections.
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION,
ELECTIONS FOR THE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
AND LOCAL POSITIONS (EXCEPT BARANGAY
OFFICIALS)
• occur every second Monday of May every third year after
May 1992
PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE-PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTIONS
• occur every second Monday of May every sixth year after
May 1992.
ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS, EXCEPT THOSE AT THE
BARANGAY LEVEL,
• start (and end) their terms of office on June 30 of the
election year

GELAI 3
 [WEEK 3] OBSERVATIONS ON SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE
THE NATURE, ORIGIN AND DYNAMICS OF
CULTURE AND SOCIETY SOCIETY
• is universal among human beings.
• For ages, it has performed major adaptive functions that
have increased the chances for man to survive.
o Society is dynamic because of culture.
o The members in a society share their culture.
o Culture is a powerful force that affects the lives of the
people.
o Culture shapes and guides people’s perceptions of
reality.
o It provides fundamental avenues to the meaning of
existence, rules of proper conduct, among others.
o The presence of a government plays a vital role in
ensuring and protecting the rights of every individual in
the society in enjoying, practicing, and preserving their
respective culture.
• Culture changes as society changes too. The changes in
society affects the social, political and cultural behavior of
the people.
WHAT BRINGS CHANGES IN THE SOCIETY AND ITS
CULTURE?
• The changes may be brought by liberalism, modernization
and development of people’s lives, culture may be modified
or altered because of these changes.
o Among these changes are population growth,
migration, illegal activities, ethnic and political conflicts,
texting, transnational families, dating, bayanihan, local
public services and youth volunteerism.
• People have devised various ways of dealing with social,
political, and cultural change through involvement and
collective action.
o These collective actions are influenced and defined by
political, social, and cultural forces.
▪ In turn, social actions and movements have
themselves become sources of change in their
respective societies.
GELAI
A. TEXTING/CHATTING
• Texting is one of the socio-cultural changes that take place
in our society. Generally, Filipinos are lovers of texting.
• Almost all the youngsters are holding their mobile phones
while travelling or conversing in groups.
• The device is used for information and communication
purposes, but sometimes it is used for illegal means to
commit a crime.
• Texting is the act of composing and sending brief, electronic
messages between 2 or more mobile phones, or fixed or
portable devices over a phone network
• The term texting originally referred to messages being sent
using the SMS (short message service)
• It has grown to include messages containing image, video,
and sound content (MMS)
• Text messages can be used to interact with automated
systems for example, to order products or services, or to
participate in contests.
B. SELFIE/GROUFIE
• Related to the newest trend in photography, the Selfie,
shortcut for self-photograph.
SELF-PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPH
• typically taken with a digital camera or camera phone held
in the hand or supported by camera stick.
SELFIES
• are often shared on social networking services.
o Although a selfie has benefits to people and the
camera industry, there are also harmful effects such as
being too narcissistic, accidents as well as death
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 NOTES: WEEK 3

C. TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES (FAMILY ACROSS G E N E R A L I Z A T I O N:

MEMBERS)
• This is another form of socio-cultural change in our society.
• Contemporary transnational arrangements are present in
the world, with one or more family members located in
different countries.
• Transnational families exist because of migration, working
abroad to support the needs of the family, or fleeing violent
conflict or persecution.
D. LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICES
• Indeed, the society is universal among human beings.
o Society is dynamic because of culture.
• The members in a society share their culture.
o Culture is a powerful force that affects the lives of the
people.
o Culture shapes and guides people’s perceptions of
reality.
▪ It provides fundamental avenues to the meaning
of existence, rules of proper conduct, among
others.
• We also learned that culture changes as society changes
too.
• The changes in society affects the social, political and
cultural behavior of the people.
o The changes may be brought by liberalism,
modernization and development of people’s lives,
culture may be modified or altered because of these
changes.
o Among these changes are population growth,
migration, illegal activities, ethnic and political conflicts,
texting, transnational families, dating, bayanihan, local
public services and youth volunteerism.

• This is a form of service provided by local government

agencies, private companies or by the barangay people for
community development.
• Government and private sectors have social responsibilities
to undertake as part of their core values.
• Private associations and barangay leaders undertake local
community work to enhance peace and order,
beautification, sanitation, literacy training, safety and
security of the barangay people (brigada-eskwela, tree-
planting and beautification of a certain barangay).
E. YOUTH VOLUNTEERISM

• This is a new trend in socio-cultural change in our present

society. Why Youth Service?
o When young people have the chance to serve their
communities, everyone benefits.
• Young people gain skills necessary to succeed in school, in
the workplace, and in life.
• The community develops strong, diverse groups of inspired,
civically engaged young people.
THE BENEFITS OF YOUTH SERVICE
• a. Increases young people’s feelings of community
connectedness and reduce engagement in risky behavior.
• b. Contributes to higher reported levels of academic
success, graduation rates, positive civic behavior, and self-
esteem.
• c. Volunteering at any age is associated with increased
likelihood of finding employment.

GELAI 2
 [WEEK 4] DEFINITION OF ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLGY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICAL
SCIENCE
• The disciplines under which identity, culture, society, and
politics are studied are collectively called the social
sciences.
• The social sciences are comprised of a wide array of
academic disciplines
o that study the overall functions of society as well as the
interactions among its individual members and
institutions.
• Some of the most prominent academic disciplines in the
social sciences are anthropology, sociology, and political
science.
• Within these fields, there are contending views and specific
ideas regarding the study of culture, politics, and society.
ANTHROPOLOGY
• is the systematic study of the biological, cultural, and social
aspects of man.
• It is derived from two Greek words:
o anthropos which means "man,"
o logos, which means "study" or "inquiry."
• It is a significant branch of knowledge because it integrates
elements from the biological sciences and humanities to
fully comprehend the complex human species
o including their past practices and social patterns,
across diverse cultures.
EXAMPLES OF RENOWNED ANTHROPOLOGISTS
ARE:
• Edward Burnett Taylor, Franz Boas, Alfred Kroeber,
Bronislaw Malinowski, Clifford Geertz, and Margaret Mead.
• Anthropologists have diverse fields of study and areas of
interests.
SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
• studies how social patterns and practices and cultural
variations develop across different societies.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
• studies cultural variation across different societies and
examines the need to understand each culture in its own
context.
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
• studies language and discourse and how they reflect and
shape different aspects of human society and culture
BIOLOGICAL OR PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
• studies the origins of humans as well as the interplay
between social factors and the processes of human
evolution, adaptation, and variation over time.
ARCHAEOLOGY
• meanwhile, deals with prehistoric societies by studying their
tools and environment.
GELAI
SOCIOLOGY
• is defined by Anthony Giddens as "the study of human
social life, groups, and society."
• It is an academic discipline that attempts to provide a
deeper assessment of individual and group behavior
o as well as social phenomena, by examining the
interplay between economic, political, and social
factors.
• The discipline has been largely shaped by the works of
August Comte, Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Emile
Durkheim, and Max Weber.
BY INCORPORATING OTHER METHODS AND
KNOWLEDGE FROM OTHER ACADEMIC
DISCIPLINES
• sociologists examine and present new insights and
perspectives on the different elements and aspects of
society such as:
o culture, gender, race and ethnicity, social movements,
class and other forms of social stratification, crime, and
other organizations and institutions.
• It also seeks to explain the bases of social order and social
change.
• Improvements in social policy and welfare rely on research
performed by sociologists.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
• the systematic study of politics, which Andrew Heywood
describes as "the activity through which people make,
preserve, and amend the general rules under which
they live."
• Political science focuses on the fundamental values of
equality, freedom, and justice and its processes are linked
to the dynamics of conflict, resolution, and cooperation.
• The works of Greek philosophers such as:
o Plato and Aristotle as well as later European thinkers
such as Niccolo Machiavelli, Jean Jacques Rousseau,
Baron de Montesquieu, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke,
and Karl Marx
▪ are influential in the field of political science.
• Political scientists help us understand the nature and
characteristics of authority and power distribution and how
it shapes the way society is organized
• They also analyze a wide array of topics including:
o systems of governance, political theories, the
lawmaking process, political behavior and ethics,
policies and their implications, political organization,
and the electoral process
1
 NOTES: WEEK 4

• Political science is further divided into various areas of

interest.
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• which examines how the government functions and how
decisions and policies are made.
POLITICAL ECONOMY
• which evaluates the interplay between economics, politics,
and law and its implications to the various institutions within
society.
COMPARATIVE POLITICS
• which compares domestic politics and governance systems
across different sovereign states.

• Others analyze the fundamental concepts, theories, and

doctrines related to politics such as power and authority,
law, and justice.
• Several political scientists engage in international or global
politics
o whereby relations among states and transnational
actors are examined.
GENERALIZATION
• The discussion on social, cultural, and political changes
highlights the importance of learning about our society and
its processes.
o In many ways, the disciplines mentioned above help
people understand their social roles and how they can
participate in the changes they wish to make in their
respective societies.
• Though each of the social sciences focuses on a particular
subject and adheres to specific perspectives, their views
often overlap and complement one another.
o In this sense, continuous discourse and exchange of
knowledge among the three disciplines are
instrumental in deepening the discussion of culture,
society, and politics toward a better understanding of
the world around us.

GELAI 2
 [WEEK 5] ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE AND SOCIETY
• Society is an entity that allows individuality yet provides
space for other individuals and groups to pursue mutual
goals and aspirations.
o Hence, culture is one of the important bases that define
and influence a society
ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE AND SOCIETY
• The focal point in the study of society is man's social
behavior
o since his/her behavior is greatly shaped by the society
and culture where he/she belongs.
SOCIETY
• is a group of people living together in a definite territory,
having a sense of belongingness, mutually interdependent
of each other, and follows a certain way of life.
• It is a group of people sharing a common culture People live
together either in a large-scale grouping
o such as community, state which is international in
nature, or in a small number of people like the family,
clan, tribe and neighborhood.
• Each social group exhibits shared common traits, beliefs,
values and ways of life which we call culture.
CULTURE
• is a dynamic medium through which societies create a
collective way of life reflected in such things as beliefs,
values, music, literature, art, dance, science, religion, ritual,
technology and others.
• Culture is that "complex whole which encompasses
beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms,
artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything that a-
person learns and shares as a member of society"
(Edward B. Taylor, 18th century English Anthropologist).
• According to Allan G, Johnson, culture is the sum of
symbols, ideas, forms of expressions and material-
products system.
• Robert Redfield likewise states that culture is an
organized body of conventional understanding
manifested in art and artifacts, which persisting
through tradition.
• culture is a very powerful force that affects the lives of the
members of society. It shapes and guides.
GELAI
ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE
AND SOCIETY
• There are three (3) anthropological perspectives of culture
and society:
1. EVOLUTIONIST — INTELLECTUAL PERSPECTIVE
• According to Edward Burnett Tylor, Johann Jakob
Bachofen and James G., “Death and the belief in the soul
and the spirits play important roles in this perspective”.
IN 1871
• Tylor assumed that in the background of the appearance of
the soul beliefs,
o there may be such extraordinary and incomprehensible
experience as dreams and vision encounters in various
states of altered consciousness, and the salient
differences between the features of living and dead
bodies.
• In his view, "the ancient savage philosophers" were only
able to explain these strange, worrying experiences
o by considering humans to be dual unity consisting of
not only a body but of an entity that is able to separate
from the body and continue its existence after death.
• Tylor argues that this concept of spirit was later extended
to animals, plants, and objects, and it developed into "the
belief in spiritual beings"
o that possess supernatural power(polytheism).
Eventually it led to monotheism.
• Tylor, who considered "the belief in spiritual beings," which
he called animism, the closest definition and starting point
of the concept of religion, argues that notion of death was
brought into being by human worries concerning death.
TYLOR’S THEORY WAS ATTACKED PRIMARILY
• because he did not attribute the origin of religion to the
interference of supernatural powers but rather to the activity
of human logic.
• He was also criticized to the grounds that a part of his
concept was highly speculative and unhistorical:
o He basically intended to reconstruct the evolution of
religion from contemporary ethnographic data and
through the deduction of his own hypotheses.
▪ Although most of these critiques were correct.
Tylor can only partly be grouped among the
"armchair anthropologists" of his time.
TWO OTHER INDIVIDUALS JOHANN JAKOB
BACHOFEN AND JAMES G. FRAZER
• are also acknowledge as pioneers during this early period
of anthropology.
BACHOFEN
• prepared a valuable analysis of the few motives of wall
paintings of a Roman columbarium in 1859 such as black
and — white painted mystery eggs,
o He was among the first authors to point out that the
symbolism of fertility and rebirth is closely connected
with death rites.
1
 NOTES: WEEK 5
o Based on his monumental collection of ethnographic
data from several cultures,
FRAZER
• in the early twentieth century and again in the 1930’s
intended to prove that the fear of the corpse and the belief
in the soul and life after death is a universal phenomenon.
2. FRENCH SOCIOLOGY SCHOOL
• The perspective of the authors of the French sociology
differed considerably from the psychology-oriented,
individual-focused views of this evolutionist-intellectual
anthropologist.
EMILE DURKHEIM AND HIS FOLLOWERS
(INCLUDING ROBERT HERB AND MARCELL MAUSS)
• studied human behavior in a “sociological framework,” and
• focused their attention primarily on the question of societal
solidarity, on the study of the social impact rites, and on the
various ties connecting individuals to society.
• In other word they investigated the mechanisms by which
societies sustain and reproduce themselves.
IN HIS MONUMENTAL WORK, THE ELEMENTARY
FORMS OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE (1915)
• Durkheim argues that the most important function of death
rites and religion in general is to reaffirm societal bonds and
the social structure itself.
o In his view, a society needs religion.
3. THE BRITISH FUNCTIONALIST SCHOOL
• While the evolutionist—intellectual anthropologists were
interested in finding the reason of the origin of religion and
the followers of the French sociology school concentrated
on the social determination of attitudes concerning death.
• Members of the British functionalist school were concerned
with the relation of deaths rites and the accompanying.
• They focused their attention on the question of the social
loss caused by death
o such as the redistribution of status and rights.
• The two most significant authors of his school had opposing
views on the relationship between religion/rites and the fear
of death.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE AND
SOCIETY
• Sociologists today employ three primary theoretical
perspectives: the symbolic interactionist perspective, the
functionalist perspective, and the conflict perspective.
o These perspectives offer sociologists theoretical
paradigms for explaining how society influences
people, and vice versa.
o Each perspective uniquely conceptualizes society,
social forces, and human behavior.
PHILOSOPHER GEORGE H. MEAD (1863 — 1931)
• introduced this perspective to American sociology in the
1920's. There are three (3) sociological perspectives of
culture and society.
1. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE
• according to this perspective, people attach meanings to
symbols, and then they act according to their subjective
interpretation of these symbols.
VERBAL CONVERSATIONS
• in which spoken words serve as the predominant symbols,
make this subjective interpretation especially evident.
• The words have a certain meaning for the "sender," and,
during effective communication, they hopefully have the
GELAI
same meaning for the "receiver." In other terms, words are
not static "things"; they require intention and interpretation.
CONVERSATION
• is an Interaction of symbols between individuals who
constantly interpret the world around them.
• Of course, anything can serve as a symbol as long as it
refers to something beyond itself.
WRITTEN MUSIC
• serves as an example.
• The black dots and lines become more than mere marks on
the page
o they refer to notes organized what meanings
individuals assign to their own actions and symbols, as
well as to those of others.
THE FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
• is also known as functionalism.
• Each aspect of the society is interdependent and
contributes to society's functioning as a whole.
GOVERNMENT/STATE
• provides education the family
o which in return pays taxes on which the state depends
to keep itself running.
• That is, the family is dependent upon the school to help
children to grow up, to have good jobs so they can raise and
support their own families.
• In the process, the children become law—abiding,
taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the government.
• If all goes well
o the parts of society produce order, stability, and
productivity.
• If all does not go well
o the parts of society then must adapt to recapture a new
order, stability, and productivity.
• For example, during a financial recession with its high rates
of unemployment and inflation, social programs are
trimmed or cut.
o Schools offer fewer programs. Families tighten their
budgets. And a new social order, stability, and
productivity occur.
FUNCTIONALISTS BELIEVE THAT SOCIETY IS HELD
TOGETHER BY SOCIAL CONSENSUS, OR
COHESION
• in which members of the society agree upon, and work
together to achieve, what is best for society as a whole.
Emile Durkheim suggested that social consensus takes one
of two forms:
MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY
• is a form of social cohesion that arises when people in a
society maintain similar values and beliefs and engages in
most commonly occurs in societies such as those in which
everyone herds cattle or farms.
• Amish society exemplifies mechanical solidarity.
ORGANIC SOLIDARITY
• is a form of social cohesion that arises when the people in
a society values and beliefs and engage in varying types of
work.
• most commonly occurs in industrialized, complex societies
such as those in large cities.
2
 NOTES: WEEK 5

THE FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE GENERALIZATION

• achieved its greatest popularity among sociologists in the • Different societies have different cultures; however, it is
1940's and 1950's. important not to confuse the idea of culture with society.
• While European functionalists originally focused on • A culture represents the beliefs and practices of a group,
explaining the inner workings of social order, American while society represents the people who share those beliefs
functionalists focused on discovering the functions of and practices.
human behavior. o Neither society nor culture could exist without the
• Among these American functionalist sociologists is Robert other.
Merton • The relation of culture and society can be perceived by
o who divides human functions into two types: Manifest looking into the Anthropological and sociological
functions are intentional and obvious, while latent perspectives.
functions are unintentional and not obvious • Anthropological perspective defined culture as the shared
THE MANIFEST FUNCTION set of (implicit and explicit) values, ideas, concepts, and
rules of behavior that allow a social group to function and
• is attending a church or synagogue, for instance, is to perpetuate itself while
worship as part of a religious community
• Sociological perspective focuses on the biological
o but its latent function may be to help members learn to
explanations of behavior, in part
discern personal from institutional values.
o because these explanations implicitly support the
• With common sense, manifest functions become easily status quo and may be used to justify claims of
apparent. biological inferiority.
• Yet this is not necessarily the case for latent functions which
often demand a sociological approach to be revealed.
• A sociological approach in functionalism is the
consideration of the relationship between the functions of
smaller parts and the functions of the whole.
• Functionalism has received criticism for neglecting the
negative functions of an event such as divorce.
• Critics also claim that the perspective justifies the status
quo and complacency on the part of society's members.
3. THE CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE
• originated primarily out to Karl Marx's writing on class
struggles, presents society in a different light than do the
functionalist and symbolic interactionist perspectives.
• It focuses on the negative, conflicted, and ever-changing
nature of society.
• Unlike functionalists who defend the status quo, avoid
social change, and believe people cooperate to effect social
order
o conflict theorists challenge the status quo, encourage
social change (even when this means social
revolution), and believe rich and powerful people force
social order on the poor and the weak.
• Conflict theorists, for example, may interpret an "elite"
board of regents raising tuition to pay for esoteric new
programs that raise the prestige of a local college as self-
serving rather than as beneficial for students
• Whereas American sociologists in the 1940s and 1950s
generally ignored the conflict perspective in favor of the
functionalist.
• They also expanded Marx's idea that the key conflict in
society was strictly economic.
• Today, conflict theorists find social conflict between any
groups in which the potential for inequality exist:
o racial, gender, religious, political, economic, and so on.
CONFLICT THEORIES NOTE THAT:
• unequal groups usually have conflicting values and agenda,
causing them to compete against one another.
o This constant competition between groups forms the
basis for the ever - changing nature of society.
o Critics of the conflict perspective point to its overly
negative view of society.
• The theory ultimately attributes humanitarian efforts,
altruism, democracy, civil rights, and other positive aspects
of society to capitalistic designs to control the masses not
to inherent interests in preserving society and social order.

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 [WEEK 6] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOCIETY AND CULTURE
SOCIETY
• The term society has been derived from the Latin word
‘Socius’ which means a companion, association or
fellowship.
• It is because man always lives in the company of his fellow
beings.
• This led George Simmel to remark that sociability is the
essence of society.
• The term society is understood in different sense.
• In our day to day discussion society is used to refer to the
members of specific in group for example-Adivasi Society,
Harijan Society etc.
• Some other time it refers to some institutions like Arya
Samaj, Brahmo Samaj.
• At some other time society refers to an association like
consumer’s society, co-operative society or cultural society.
• Society is also used in the sense of a group such as rural
society or urban society.
BUT IN SOCIOLOGY,
• Society refers not to a group of people but to the complex
pattern of the norms or interaction or relationships that arise
among them.
• People exists only as an agent of social relationships.
• Mere congregation of individuals do not constitute society.
• Rather society refers to the complicated network of social
relationships by which every individual is interrelated with
his fellowmen.
• Hence Society is abstract, not concrete, in nature.
o We can’t touch it but fill it.
o Because society resides in the minds of individual.
• Society is a process of living not a thing,
o a motion rather than structure.
o A system of social relationships is the most important
aspect of society.
• Not all relationships are social.
• A social relationship implies reciprocal awareness among
individuals.
o This reciprocal awareness direct and indirect are the
characteristic of every social relationship.
o This idea of reciprocal awareness is implied in F.H.
Giddings definition of society i.e. “a number of like-
minded individuals, who know and enjoy their like-
mindedness and are, therefore, able to work together
for common ends.”
o Thus elements of society exists in the ‘Consciousness
of Kind’ of Giddings, ‘we feeling’ of cooley or ‘a
common propensity of W.I. Thomas.
GELAI
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIETY
• A group of people living together is considered to be a
society if it has the following characteristics.
SOCIETY IS A COMPLEX WHOLE.
• As a complex whole, it is a social system consisting of
individuals socially interacting with each other.
• A change in one group of individuals will affect the stability
of the other parts of the whole system.
SOCIETY IS RELATIVELY LARGE.
• Being a complex whole, the people must be socially
integrated to be considered relatively large than if the
people are individually scattered.
• Thus, the people in a family, clan, tribe, neighborhood,
community are socially integrated to be relatively large in
scope.
SOCIETY SOCIALIZES ITS MEMBERS AND FROM
THOSE FROM WITHOUT.
• Since most of society's members are born to it, they are
taught the basic norms and expectations.
• Those who come from other society before being accepted
as functioning members, are socialized and taught the
basic norms and expectations of such society.
SOCIETY ENDURES, PRODUCES AND RESTRAINS
ITS MEMBERS FOR GENERATIONS.
• For society to survive, it must have the ability to produce,
endure and sustain its new members for at least several
during generations. their extreme.
• For instance, in a society cannot assist its members during
their extreme conditions of hunger and poverty, that society
will not survive long
SOCIETY HOLDS ITS MEMBERS THROUGH A
COMMON CULTURE.
• The individuals in a society are held together because that
society has symbols, norms, values, and patterns of
interactions, vision and missions that are commonly shared
by the members of such society.
SOCIETY HAS CLEARLY DEFINED GEOGRAPHICAL
HABITAT TERRITORY.
• And members in a society must live in certain specific
habitat or place and have a common belongingness and
sense of purpose.
1
 NOTES: WEEK 6
CULTURE
• (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to
cultivate")
• generally refers to patterns of human activity and the
symbolic structures that give such activities significance
and importance.
• Cultures can be "understood as systems of symbols and
meanings that even their creators contest, that lack fixed
boundaries, that are constantly in flux, and that interact and
compete with one another."
• Culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts,
beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down
from generation to generation.
• Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire
society."
o As such, it includes codes of manners, dress,
language, religion, rituals, art. norms of behavior, such
as law and morality, and systems of belief.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
• Since culture is a design, a recipe or a roadmap for living
that guides the behavior of members in a society, it has the
following characteristics:
CULTURE IS LEARNED AND ACQUIRED.
• Culture is not instinctive nor a part of biological equipment
of man. It is acquired through the senses and experiences
— from the neighbors, family, playmates, through the
schools, senses churches and other agents of socialization.
• The means of acquisition are imitation, conditioning,
suggestion, formal or informal instruction and mass media.
CULTURE IS SHARED AND TRANSMITTED.
• To continuously preserve culture, it is best to share to other
people or to transmit it to the next generation, or else it will
die a natural death.
• Culture is transmitted through language (oral, written or
symbolic).
CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE OR DYNAMIC.
• Culture is always changing, new ideas, procedures and
techniques are added, modified or discarded.
• People must be prepared and ready to conform to these
changes.
• The changes going on today is very rapid than in the
primitive times due to fast advancement of science and
technology.
4. CULTURE IS CUMULATIVE.
• Certain features of culture have been retained today and
they are modified and innovated to make them new and
updated.
• Thus, man's modification and innovation are learned from
already existing culture in the past.
5. CULTURE IS IDEATIONAL.
• Culture is an ideal pattern of behavior which the members
are expected to follow. Thus, the members of society are
society from the standpoint of culture.
6. CULTURE GRATIFIES HUMAN NEEDS.
• Culture continues to exist if it satisfies human needs
biologically and psychologically.
• An individual is likely to follow and observe cultural
techniques that satisfy his needs.
7. CULTURE IS SOCIAL.
• Culture is a group product developed by many individuals
Interacting in a group.
• The habits and knowledge of the members in a group are
shared by other members out of the sharing of ideas,
culture sprouts.
GELAI
8. CULTURE IS INTEGRATED.
• By integration, it means that there is a tendency for
individuals to fully appreciate those elements in culture that
are best for them, and these are very often integrated in
their personality and become a part of behavior.
• Most often, these bundles of traits or e elements which are
already rooted in their behavior are very difficult to remove
as they were a ready ingrained or were already integrated
over the years.
CULTURE IS NOT USUALLY KNOWN BY PEOPLE.
• The way people interact and do things. In their everyday
Iives seems "natural" to people. People are unaware of their
culture because they are so close to it and know it well. For
most people, it is as if their learned behavior was
biologically inherited. It is usually known only when they
come into contact with people from another culture that they
become aware that their patterns of behavior are not
universal.
NO ONE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT HIS/HER
CULTURE.
• In all societies, there are bodies of specialized cultural
knowledge that are gender specific, they are known to men
but not to women or vice versa.
• In many societies there are also bodies of religious groups,
or other special purpose associations.
• Gender—based skills, knowledge and perception largely
stem from the fact that boys and girls to some extents are
treated differently from each other in all societies.
CULTURE GIVES PEOPLE A RANGE OF
PERMISSIBLY BEHAVIOR PATTERNS.
• Culture commonly allows a range of ways in which men can
be men and women can be women.
• Culture also tells people how different activities should be
conducted such as how one should act as a husband, wife,
parent, child, etc.
• Then rules of permissible behavior are usually flexible to a
degree there are some alternatives rather than hard rules.
CULTURE IS LEARNED THROUGH
ENCULTURATION.
• Enculturation is the process through which we learn about
the culture we live in. Through enculturation, we learn what
behavior, values, language and morals are acceptable in
our society.
• We learn by observing other members of our society,
including our parents, friends, teachers and mentors.
Enculturation provides a means for us to become functional
members of our society.
GENERALIZATION
• Culture encompasses human elements beyond biology:
o for example, our norms and values, the stories we tell,
learned or acquired behaviors, religious beliefs, art and
fashion, and so on.
▪ Culture is what differentiates one group or society
from the next.
• Different societies have different cultures.
o however, it is important not to confuse the idea of
culture with society.
o A culture represents the beliefs and practices of a
group, while society represents the people who share
those beliefs and practices.
o Neither society nor culture could exist without the
other.
• Humans acquire culture through learning processes of
enculturation and socialization, people living in different
places or different circumstances develop different culture.
2
 NOTES: WEEK 6

o Through culture, people can adapt to their environment

in non – genetic ways so people living in different
environment will often have different cultures.
o We must always respect one another regardless of our
culture and ethnicity.
o Therefore, culture makes an individual different from
one another.

GELAI 3
 [WEEK 7] CULTURE RELATIVISM AND ETHNOCENTRISM
• Ethnocentrism is the belief of superiority in one's personal
CULTURE RELATIVISM ethnic group, but it can also develop from racial or religious
difference
• Ethnocentric individuals believe that they are better than
other individuals for reasons based solely on their heritage.
o Clearly, this practice is related to problems of both
racism and prejudice.
o While many people may recognize the problems, they
may not realize that ethnocentrism occurs everywhere
and everyday at both the local and political levels.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM MITIGATES
ETHNOCENTRISM
• Sociologists use generalizations to explain tendencies,
shed light on values and compare cultures.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM BASED ON MORAL
RELATIVISM (WHICH SAYS THERE IS NO RIGHT AND
WRONG)
• argues that all cultures are valuable and none is better than
• This concept was first formulated by William Graham another.
Summer in his book folkways. • An example of cultural relativism might include slang words
o He said that there are no universal—moral standards from specific languages (and even from particular dialects
of right and wrong, good and bad for evaluating cultural within a language).
phenomena. o For instance, the word "tranquilo" in Spanish translates
▪ This means that what is right in one place may be directly to "calm" in English.
wrong in another place or vice versa. ▪ However it can be used in many more ways than
• Standards are relative to the culture in which they appear. just as an adjective (e.g., the seas are calm).
• Customs can only be judged by how well or how poorly they o Tranquilo can be a command or suggestion
fit in with the standards of a certain society. encouraging another to calm down.
o For example, having several wives (polygyny) o It can also be used to ease tensions in an argument
functions in a society where women are needed to work (e.g., everyone relax) to indicate a degree of self -
in the fields. composure (e.g., I'm calm).
ETHNOCENTRISM o There is not a clear English translation of the word, and
• Is judging another in order to fully comprehend its many possible uses, a
culture solely by the culture relativist would argue that it would be necessary
values and standards of to fully immerse oneself in culture where the word is
one's own culture. used.
• Ethnocentric individuals • Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and
judge other groups intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited
relative to their own from past generalization, maintained in the present and
ethnic group or culture bestowed for the benefit of future generations:
o especially with TANGIBLE HERITAGE
concern for • includes buildings and historic
language, behavior, places, monuments, artifacts,
customs and these etc. which are considered
ethnic distinctions and subdivisions serve to define worthy of preservation for the
each ethnicity's unique cultural identity. future.
• Ethnocentrism may be overt or subtle, and while it is • These include objects
considered a natural proclivity of human psychology significant to the archeology,
o it has developed a generally negative connotation. architecture, science or
• Ethnocentrism is a major reason for divisions amongst technology of a specific
members of different ethnicities, races, and religious groups culture.
in society. • Objects are important to the study of human history
because they provide a concrete basis for ideas, and can
validate them.

GELAI 1
 NOTES: WEEK 7

• Their preservation demonstrates recognition of the • Undoubtedly, the frequency and intensity of some disasters
necessity of the past and of the things that tell its story. have increased recently due to the impact of Global Climate
• Preserved objects also validate memories; and the actuality Change, as well as social, economic and political changes.
of the object, as opposed to a reproduction or surrogate, • Considering these challenges, the ICOMOS Advisory
draws people in and gives them a literal way of touching the Committee symposium in Beijing on "Reducing Risks to
past. Cultural Heritage from Nature and Human-Caused
• This unfortunately poses a danger as places and things are Disasters" aimed to assess this risk and formulate policies,
damaged by the hands of tourists, the light required to strategies and techniques for reducing risks to disasters,
display them, and other risks of making an object known responding to emergencies and recovering from disasters.
and available • A brief was prepared from the one-day symposium soliciting
• The reality of this risk reinforces the fact that all artifacts are position papers and case studies on the following five sub-
in a constant state of chemical transformation so that what themes:
is considered to be preserved is actually changing — it is o 1. Techniques and strategies for motivating risks to
never as it once was. cultural heritage from human-caused disasters.
• Similarly changing is the value each generation may place o 2. Methodology and tools for undertaking risk-
on the past and on the artifacts that link it to the past. assessment of cultural heritage.
INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE (ICH) o 3. Protecting cultural heritage in times of conflict and
• is promoted by UNESCO as other emergencies.
a counterpart to the World o 4. Planning for post disaster recovery of cultural
Heritage focusing mainly on heritage.
tangible aspects of culture. o 5. Awareness-raising and capacity building for
• In 2001, UNESCO made a managing disaster risks to cultural heritage.
survey among States and GENERALIZATION:
NGOs to try to agree on a ETHNOCENTRISM
definition and the • is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the
Convention for the perspective of one’s own culture.
Safeguarding of Intangible • Part of ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own race,
95 Cultural Heritage was ethnic or cultural group is the most important or that some
drafted in 2003 for its protection and promotion. or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other
• UNESCO has called on the media, communities and the groups.
government of Zimbabwe to help in safeguarding local o Some people will simply call it cultural ignorance.
culture so that the country does not continue to lose its • Ethnocentrism often leads to incorrect assumptions about
valuable intangible cultural products. others’ behavior based on your own norms, values, and
• Speaking in Kadoma at a media workshop director and beliefs.
representative Of UNESCO Harare, Professor Luc o In extreme cases, a group of individuals may see
Rukingama said UNESCO's work was about the protection another culture as wrong or immoral and because of
and conservation of tangible heritage, in particular this may try to convert, sometimes forcibly, the group
monuments, objects and cultural sites. to their own ways of living.
• Intangible cultural heritage includes oral tradition, o War and genocide could be the devastating result if a
performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, group is unwilling to change their ways of living or
knowledge and practices concerning nature and the cultural practices.
universe, and skills involved in producing traditional crafts. • Ethnocentrism may not, in some circumstances, be
"Intangible heritage has become an exciting and important avoidable.
component of cultural heritage with communities and o We often have involuntary reactions toward another
cultural groups taking center stage in its protection," said person or culture’s practices or beliefs, but these
Rukingama. reactions do not have to result in horrible events such
THREATS TO TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE as genocide or war.
CULTURAL HERITAGE o In order to avoid conflict over culture practices and
• Cultural Heritage is exposed to numerous disasters beliefs, we must all try to be more culturally relative.
resulting from natural CULTURAL RELATIVISM
hazards, such as • is the principle of regarding and valuing the practices of a
earthquakes, floods, and culture from the point of view of that culture and to avoid
cyclones and increasingly making hasty judgments.
from human-induced • Cultural relativism tries to counter ethnocentrism by
hazards, like arson, armed promoting the understanding of cultural practices that are
conflict and civil unrest. unfamiliar to other cultures such as eating insects,
• The great East Japan Tohuko genocides or genital cutting.
Earthquakes and Tsunami o Take for example, the common practice of same-sex
(2011); Thailand Floods friends in India walking in public while holding hands.
(2011); Haiti, Chile and Christchurch earthquakes (2010); ▪ This is a common behavior and a sign of
and recent civil unrests in Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, connectedness between two people. In England,
Yemen, and Syria have caused serious damage to tangible by contrast, holding hands is largely limited to
and intangible attributes of cultural heritage sites ranging romantically involved couples, and often suggests
from historic buildings, museums, historic settlements, as a sexual relationship.
well as cultural landscapes.

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 NOTES: WEEK 7

▪ These are simply two different ways of PERHAPS THE GREATEST CHALLENGE FOR
understanding the meaning of holding hands. SOCIOLOGISTS STUDYING DIFFERENT CULTURES
o Someone who does not take a relativistic view might IS THE MATTER OF KEEPING A PERSPECTIVE.
be tempted to see their own understanding of this
behavior as superior and, perhaps, the foreign practice • It is impossible for anyone to keep all cultural biases at bay;
as being immoral. the best we can do is strive to be aware of them.
DESPITE THE FACT THAT CULTURAL RELATIVISM • Pride in one’s own culture doesn’t have to lead to imposing
its values on others.
PROMOTES THE APPRECIATION FOR CULTURAL
• And an appreciation for another culture shouldn’t preclude
DIFFERENCES, IT CAN ALSO BE PROBLEMATIC. individuals from studying it with a critical eye.
• At its most extreme, cultural relativism leaves no room for
criticism of other cultures, even if certain cultural practices
are horrific or harmful.
• Many practices have drawn criticism over the years.
• In Madagascar, for example, the famahidana funeral
tradition includes bringing bodies out from tombs once
every seven years, wrapping them in cloth, and dancing
with them.
o Some people view this practice disrespectful to the
body of the deceased person.
o Today, a debate rages about the ritual cutting of
genitals of girls in several Middle Eastern and African
cultures.
o To a lesser extent, this same debate arises around the
circumcision of baby boys in Western hospitals.
• When considering harmful cultural traditions, it can be
patronizing to use cultural relativism as an excuse for
avoiding debate.
o To assume that people from other cultures are neither
mature enough nor responsible enough to consider
criticism from the outside is demeaning.
THE CONCEPT OF CROSS-CULTURAL
RELATIONSHIP
• is the idea that people from different cultures can have
relationships that acknowledge, respect and begin to
understand each other’s diverse lives.
• People with different backgrounds can help each other see
possibilities that they never thought were there because of
limitations, or cultural proscriptions, posed by their own
traditions.
• Becoming aware of these new possibilities will ultimately
change the people who are exposed to the new ideas.
• This cross-cultural relationship provides hope that new
opportunities will be discovered, but at the same time it is
threatening.
• The threat is that once the relationship occurs, one can no
longer claim that any single culture is the absolute truth.
WHEN PEOPLE ATTEMPT TO RECTIFY FEELINGS OF
ETHNOCENTRISM AND TO PRACTICE CULTURAL
RELATIVISM, THEY SWING TOO FAR TO THE OTHER
END OF THE SPECTRUM.
• Xenocentrism is the opposite of ethnocentrism and refers to
the belief that another culture is superior to one’s own.
o (The Greek root word xeno, pronounced “ZEE-no,”
means “stranger” or “foreign guest.”)
▪ An exchange student who goes home after a
semester abroad or a sociologist who returns from
the field may find it difficult to associate with the
values of their own culture after having
experienced what they deem a more upright or
nobler way of living.

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 [WEEK 8] BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL EVOLUTION
• Today, cultural evolution has become the basis for a
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION growing field of scientific research in the social sciences,
• is the change in inherited traits over successive generations including:
in populations of organisms. o anthropology, economics, psychology and
• Adaptation is a key evolutionary process in which variation organizational studies.
in the fitness of traits and species are adjusted by natural • Previously, it was believed that social change resulted from
selection to become better suited for survival in specific biological adaptations, but anthropologists now commonly
ecological habitats. accept that social changes arise in consequence of a
• The environment acts to promote evolution through combination of social, evolutionary, and biological
changes in development. influences.
o Therefore, determining how developmental changes • There have been a number of different approaches to the
are mediated is critical for understanding the study of cultural revolution, including dual inheritance
mechanisms of evolution. theory, sociocultural evolution, memetics, cultural
• Biological processes are often studied in model organisms. evolutionism and other variants on cultural selection theory.
• A model organism is a species that is studied extensively in • The approaches differ not just in the history of their
the laboratory with anticipation that the results can be development and discipline of origin
applied to biological phenomena in general. o but in how they conceptualize the process of cultural
• Cave animals can serve as excellent models to study the evolution and the assumptions, theories, and methods
relationships between the environment, evolution, that they apply to its study.
adaptation, and development. • In recent years, there has been a convergence of the cluster
TROGLOMORPHIC (CAVE-RELATED) TRAITS of related theories towards seeing cultural evolution as a
• including elongated appendages, unified discipline in its own right.
lowered metabolism, specialized HUMAN EVOLUTION
sensory systems, and loss of eyes • The first humans emerged in Africa around two million years
and pigmentation have evolved as ago, long before the
a response to the effects of modern humans known as
perpetual darkness. Homo sapiens appeared
• In this article, we describe the on the same continent.
characid fish Astyanax mexicanus, as a vertebrate model • There’s a lot of
system for studying the developmental basis of evolution anthropologists still don’t
and adaptation to the cave environment. know about how different
EVOLUTION groups of humans
• is the great unifying principle of Biology, we need it to interacted and mated with
understand the distinctive properties of organisms each other over this long stretch of prehistory.
o their adaptations; as well as the relationships of greater • Thanks to new archaeological and genealogical research,
or lesser proximity that exist between the different they’re starting to fill in some of the blanks.
species. • First things first: A “human” is anyone who belongs to the
CULTURAL EVOLUTION genus Homo (Latin for “man”).
• is an evolutionary theory of social change. It follows from • Scientists still don’t know exactly when or how the first
the definition of culture humans evolved, but they’ve identified a few of the oldest
as "information capable ones.
of affecting individuals' HOMO HABILIS OR “HANDY MAN,”
behavior • One of the earliest known humans is,
o that they acquire from other members of their species o who lived about 2.4 million to 1.4 million years ago in
through teaching, imitation and other forms of social Eastern and Southern Africa.
transmission. HOMO RUDOLFENSIS
• Cultural evolution is the change of this information over • who lived in Eastern Africa about 1.9 million to 1.8 million
time. years ago
• Cultural evolution, historically also known as sociocultural o (its name comes from its discovery in East Rudolph,
evolution Kenya)
o was originally developed in the 19th century by HOMO ERECTUS, THE “UPRIGHT MAN”
anthropologists stemming from Charles Darwin's • who ranged from Southern Africa all the way to modern-day
research on evolution. China and Indonesia from about 1.89 million to 110,000
years ago.

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 NOTES: WEEK 8

“SUPERARCHAIC” GROUP NATURAL SELECTION

• In addition to these early humans, researchers have found • is a force that selects which variants will survive and get
evidence of an unknown offspring capable for reproduction.
“superarchaic” group SEXUAL SELECTION
o that separated from
other humans in Africa • means that by selecting their sexual partners organisms in
around two million years fact select for genes which the offspring receive from the
ago. partner.
• These superarchaic humans • Thus, the two forms of selection operating in the biological
mated with the ancestors of world determine how the relative frequencies of different
Neanderthals and Denisovans, according to a paper gene forms and gene combinations evolve in a given
published in Science Advances in February 2020. population
• This marks the earliest known instance of human groups o and this process is the very essence of the biological
mating with each other—something we know happened a evolution.
lot more later on. ▪ By this way the mean fitness of the population
increases as long as there exists genetic variation
AFTER THE SUPERARCHAIC HUMANS CAME
in fitness in the population.
• the archaic ones: Neanderthals, Denisovans and other ▪ In other words, the adaptation of the population for
human groups that no longer exist. the environmental circumstances continuously
HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS increases.
• Archaeologists have known about Neanderthals, or Homo
neanderthalensis, since the 19th century, but only
discovered Denisovans in 2008 (the group is so new it
doesn’t have a scientific name yet).
• Since then, researchers have discovered Neanderthals and
Denisovans not only mated with each other, they also
mated with modern humans.
“WHEN THE MAX PLANK INSTITUTE [FOR
EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY] BEGAN
GETTING NUCLEAR DNA SEQUENCED DATA FROM
NEANDERTHALS,
• then it became very clear very quickly that modern humans
carried some Neanderthal DNA,” says Alan R. Rogers
o a professor of anthropology and biology at the
University of Utah and lead author of the Science
Advances paper. “That was a real turning point… It
became widely accepted very quickly after that.”
• As a more recently discovered group, we have far less
information on Denisovans than Neanderthals.
o But archaeologists have found evidence that they lived
and mated with Neanderthals in a Siberian love shack
for around 100,000 years.
o The most direct evidence of this is the recent discovery
of a 13-year-old girl who lived in that cave about 90,000
years ago.
o DNA analysis revealed that her mother was a
Neanderthal, and her father was a Denisovan.
GENERALIZATION

BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL EVOLUTION

• have certain similarities but also many dissimilarities.
o Both are based on variation, heredity and selection, but
how these appear and work differ.
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
• is unconscious, opportunistic and not goal-directed
CULTURAL EVOLUTION
• is conscious, at best planned, and can have a goal. In the
biological world the sources of variation are mutations and
genetic recombination.
HEREDITY
• is connected with reproduction and is mediated to
subsequent generations via the genetic material.
SELECTION
• operates in two ways, natural selection and sexual
selection.

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