LESSON 1: Nature and Goals of Anthropology,

Sociology and Political Science

Anthropology
• relates to sociology, it always describes human, human behaviour and human societies around
the world.
• It is a comparative science that examines all societies.
• The term anthropology means scientific study of man or human beings.
• The study of Man and its various aspects
• It may be a subject of science and arts.
✓ It is a branch of sociology.
✓ It also describes the ancestors through time and space in relation to its environmental, social
relations, and culture.
✓ Cultural anthropology studies human societies and elements of cultural life. An example of
cultural anthropology is the Linguistic anthropology which focuses on language in a certain
society.
✓ The goal of studying anthropology is to understand the origin of human evolution and the diverse
forms of its existence throughout time.

Sociology
➢ is the study of human social relationships and institutions.
➢ Its subject matter is diverse, ranging from crime to religion, from the family to the state, from the
divisions of race and social class to the shared beliefs of a common culture, and from social
stability to radical change in whole societies.
➢ Sociology is a social science; it belongs to the family of social sciences.
➢ As a social science, focuses its aspects on man, his social manners, social activities and social
life.
➢ The goal and purpose of sociology is to understand how human action and consciousness both
shape and are shaped by surrounding cultural and social structures.

Political Science
❖ is a social science that deals with humans and their interactions.
❖ It is a branch of sociology; it essentially deals with the large-scale actions of humans, and group
mentality.
❖ is a social science, it is a discipline that deals with several aspects such as the study of state and
government.
❖ It deals with the nature and formation of the state and attempts to understand its forms and
functions.
❖ The goal of Political Science is to constantly deepen the knowledge, discover progress and protect
the quality of life within a group, community, country, and the world.
❖ it is the study of power relationships and competing interests among states around the world.

ANTHROPOLOGY SOCIOLOGY POLITICAL SCIENCE

Where did it started as a science during the time of Sociology was started by the ancient
started? exploration when European countries emerged as an Greeks.
started to colonize academic field
right at the
height of
Industrial
Revolution in
Europe
reign of kings
and queens fell
down, and
when the era of
feudalism had
ended
Who started Franz Boas Auguste Comte Aristotle on his book
this field? His study led to the doctrine of He saw the need for “Politics” stated that
“historical particularism,” where he a systematic Man is a political
stated that each society is considered science of studying animal. It means that it
as having a unique form of culture society and in is our nature to live in
dealing with the a society and to have
solution of its basic power over another.
problems

Concept uses a special research method known use qualitative Political Science is the
as ethnography research systematic study of
method in government, politics, and
doing their political power.
studies.
It is often defined as who
gets what, when, where
and how.

Subject of Biological anthropology refers to the Anything in a political theory, philosopy

Inquiry study of human origins (genetics, society that and different political
race, evolutions, fossils, primates). influences ideologies
Cultural anthropology is the study people’s lives public management
of living people (religion, social can be subjects human rights
system, language, clothing, foods, of inquiry, like international relations and
beliefs, traditions, etc.). different social foreign policies
Linguistics is the study of language, phenomena,
its evolution, its connection to other issues, and
languages, and others. problems.
Archeology refers to the study of
dead culture (religion, social system,
 language, how they dress, foods,
beliefs, traditions, etc.).

Goals The goals of anthropology are the The goals of Make people a better
following: Sociology are citizens.
See the commonalities among people the following: Keep social order and
(tradition, language, kinship, etc). Obtain possible harmony among different
theories and group of people.
Look at what makes us the same to principles Protect the rights of an
understand more about human nature. about society individual.
as well as Avoid conflict and
Discover what makes people different various aspects promote cooperation.
from each other in order to understand of social life.
and preserve diversity.
Study the
Produce new knowledge and new nature of
theories about mankind and behavior. humanity to
Look at one’s own culture more further
objectively. examine our
roles within a
society.

Appreciate that
all things in
society are
interdependent.
Expose our
minds to
different
perspectives in
attaining truth.

Anthropological perspectives are culture, cultural relativism, fieldwork, human diversity, holism, bio-
cultural focus. The four main perspectives of Anthropology are the cross-cultural or comparative
emphasis, its evolutionary/historical emphasis, its ecological emphasis, and its holistic emphasis
(Dudgeon).

Sociological perspective introduces the discipline of sociology, including something about its history,
questions, theory, and scientific methods, and what distinguishes it from other social science disciplines.
Sociology includes three major theoretical perspectives:
1. the functionalist perspective;
2. the conflict perspective
3. the symbolic interaction perspective
Political science perspective studies the tendencies and actions of people which cannot be easily
quantified or examined.

LESSON 2: Concepts, Aspects and Changes in/of Culture

and Society
Culture
• refers to a group or community which shares common experiences that shape the way its members
understand the world. It includes groups that we are born into, such as race, national origin, gender, class,
or religion. It can also include a group we join or become part of.
• is a strong part of people's lives. It influences their views, values, humour, hopes, loyalties, worries and
fears. It helps to have some perspective and understanding of their cultures.
• It consists of the beliefs, behaviours, objects, and other characteristics common to the members of a
particular group or society.
• Through culture, people and groups define themselves, conform to society's shared values, and contribute
to society.

TYPES OF CULTURE:
• MATERIAL CULTURE
• NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

Major Elements of Culture

1. A symbol is anything that is used to stand for something else.
2. Language is a system of words and symbols used to communicate with other people.
3. Systems of values are culturally defined standards for what is good or desirable.
4. Cultural artifact or artefact is a term used in the social sciences, particularly anthropology, ethnology,
and sociology for anything created by humans which gives information about the culture of its creator and
users.
5. Human values are essential in our life because they help us to grow and develop.
6. Social and cultural norms are rules or expectations of behaviour and thoughts based on shared beliefs
within a specific cultural or social group.
Social change - variations or modifications in the patterns of social organization of sub groups
within society
Cultural change - refers to all alterations affecting new traits or trait complexes and changes in
a cultures content and structure.

TYPES OF NORMS
Proscriptive norm - defines and tells us things not to do
Prescriptive norm- defines and tells us things to do
ASPECTS OF CULTURE
Anthropology and
Culture
Relationship
“Culture” is the sum
of learned non-
instinctual behaviors
and beliefs that
humans pass on from
generation to
generation.
“Anthropology” is
the study of
humankind. One of
the things having to
do with humans, is their culture — its wide variety, as well as the underlying universals. The branch of
anthropology that focuses on the study of culture is “cultural anthropology.

MODES OF ACQUIRING CULTURE

1. Imitation
Children and adults alike have the tendency to imitate the values, attitudes, language and all other
things in their social environment.
2. Indoctrination or Suggestion
This may take the form of formal training or informal teaching. Formally, the person learns from
school. Informally, he may acquire those behaviors from listening or watching, reading, attending training
activities or through interaction.
3. Conditioning
The values, beliefs, and attitudes of other people are acquired through conditioning. This
conditioning can be reinforced through reward and punishment.

CAUSES OF CULTURAL CHANGE

1. Discovery
- is the process of finding a new place or an object, artefact or anything that previously existed.
2. Invention
- implies a creative mental process of devising, creating and producing something new, novel or
original.
3. Diffusion
 - is the spread of cultural traits or social practices from a society or group to another belonging to
the same society or to another through direct contact with each other and exposure to new forms.
a. Acculturation
– cultural borrowing and cultural imitation
Example: The Filipinos are said to be the best English-speaking people of Asia.
b. Assimilation
- the blending or fusion of two distinct cultures through long periods of interaction
Example: Americanization of Filipino immigrants to the US.
c. Amalgamation
- the biological or hereditary fusion of members of different societies
Example: Marriage between a Filipino and an American
d. Enculturation
- the deliberate infusion of a new culture to another
Example: The teaching of American history and culture to the Filipinos during the early American
Regime

4. Colonization
- refers to the political, social, and political policy of establishing a colony which would be subject
to the rule or governance of the colonizing state. For example, the Hispanization of Filipino culture when
the Spaniards came and conquered the Philippines.
5. Rebellion and revolutionary
- movements aim to change the whole social order and replace the leadership. The challenge the
existing folkways and mores, and propose a new scheme of norms, values and organization

Society - product of human interactions as humans subscribe to the rules of their culture.

CONCEPTS OF SOCIETY
functional definition and the structural definition
functional point of view, society is defined as a complex of groups in reciprocal relationships,
interacting upon one another, enabling human organisms to carry on their life-activities and helping each
person to fulfill his wishes and accomplish his interests in association with his fellows.
structural point of view, society is the total social heritage of folkways, mores and institutions;
of habits, sentiments and ideals.

George Herbert Mead's Theory of Social Behaviorism

believed that people develop self-images through interactions with other people.
“Society is an exchange of gestures that involves the use of symbols.”

Auguste Comte’s Theory of Positivism

Theory of Positivity, in which he establishes that society progresses through three well-defined
stages. These stages are: the theological stage, the metaphysical stage, and the positive stage.
“Society as a social organism possessing a harmony of structure and function.”
George Douglas Cole’s Socialist Philosophy
public ownership of industries and their organization into guilds, each of which would be under
the democratic control of its trade union.
“Society as the complex of organized associations and institutions with a community.”
Talcott Parsons’ Action Theory
He laid the foundation for what was to become the modern functionalist perspective and
developed a general theory for the study of society called action theory
“Society is a total complex of human relationships in so far as they grow out of the action in
terms of means- end relationship.”
Emile Durkheim’s Social Integration
people's norms, beliefs, and values make up a collective consciousness, or a shared way of
understanding and behaving in the world.
“Society as a reality in its own right. Collective consciousness is the key importance to society,
which society cannot survive without.”
Robert MacIver and Charles Page
made it clear that society is a complex network of social relationships and has basic elements
such as: 1) Plurality of individuals; 2) Social Relationships and 3) Social Interactions.
“Society as a system of usages and procedures of authority and mutual aid of many groupings
and divisions of controls to human behaviour and liberties.”

Morris Ginsberg
Society is comprised with social groups, their internal forms or modes of organization, the
processes that tend to maintain or change these forms of organization and relations between
groups.
“Society as a collection of individuals united by certain relations or mode of behaviour that
marks individuals off from others who do not enter into these relations or who differ from
them in behaviour.”
 CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIETY
1. It is composed of people.
2. It satisfies the needs of its members.
3. One of the characteristics of society is having sense of belonging and cooperation.
4. It should be organized e.g., will be having division of labor.
5. It is always changing.
6. It has its own means to survive.
7. It lasts for a longer period than groups and communities.
8. It will form a social structure through social institutions i.e., family, education economic, political and
religious institutions. These basic five institutions are found in all societies of the world.
9. One of the characteristics of society has its own culture.

LESSON 3: Cultural Relativism and

Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism
- is the view that one’s own cultural elements such as norms, values, ideology, customs, and traditions are
dominant and superior to others (Brown, 2007).
- William Graham Sumner (1906) coined the term ethnocentrism in his work Folkways that served as the
foundation in social analysis of every culture.

Sumner mentioned some characteristics of an individual with an ethnocentric view. Ethnocentric persons:
• have a dominant cultural element which they see as superior to other cultures;
• view rigidly their own socio-economic, political, and cultural elements;
• see their cultural elements as normal and acceptable to all;
• consider in-group norms can be universalized;
• discard out-group ethnicities and cultures;
• believe that other cultures are inferior; and
• look at other culture’s elements as inferior and unacceptable

It can be seen in Philippine society that ethnocentrism is still emerging. The sense of identity seems to be a
contributing reason for this.

Chin of (2016) made some observations on how to address this growing concern on Filipino ethnocentrism.
1. Identify indigenous culture that truly reflects Filipino identity.
2. Eliminate foreign influences and stick to “home-grown" practices.
3. If we want to settle our identity, we must accept the good part of the foreign influences that come to us.

TWO TYPES OF ETHNOCENTRISM

1. INTRAGROUP
2. INTERGROUP

Cultural Relativism
Culture, just like a story, conveys different meanings and it can vary among the people who created it. It poses a
challenge to the idea that culture is the same for everyone. Also, culture like a story has a life of its own. This notion rejects
the concept of cultural universality.

According to James Rachels (2003), the following claims have all been made by cultural relativists:
1. Each society has a diverse set of moral conducts.
2. The rightfulness of an action within a society is primarily determined by the moral standards of that
society.
3. There is no objective standard that can be used as a basis of comparison among societies.
4. The moral code of our own society is just part of a larger body of morality and ethical standards.
5. High tolerance among all culture must be exercised always.

However, in his critical analysis, he also posited some observations and consequences of accepting cultural
relativism.
1. It is difficult to determine if the custom of other societies is morally inferior to others.
2. The decision whether actions are right or wrong can be done just by consulting the standards of our
society.
3. The idea of moral progress is always questionable.
4. The objective criticism of one’s own culture is shallow.
5. There will be no idea of moral progress because of acceptance of other’s culture.

TWO TYPES OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM

1. ABSOLUTE CULTURAL RELATIVISM – not be questioned.
2. CRITICAL CULTURAL RELATIVISM- asking questions is fine.

• Cultural relativism is the ability to understand a culture on its own terms and not to make judgments
using the standards of one's own culture.
• promote understanding of cultural practices that are not typically part of one's own culture.
• important to anthropology and one of the things that makes anthropology unique because it is a tool, a
method for attempting to see things from a multiplicity of viewpoints so as to better understand them.
• does not mean that anything a culture does is good or moral. This is one of the ones that confuse people.
• teaches us that, marriage patterns are cultural options, not objective truth.
• doesn’t mean that cultures can’t be compared. There is sometimes a strange notion that there are no
commonalities between cultures.
• This is one of the reasons why those trained in cultural anthropology are often great problem solvers for
complex issues

LESSON 4: Significance of Cultural, Social, Political and

Economic Symbols and Practices
Symbols
- often get noticed when they are used out of context. Used unconventionally, symbols convey strong
messages. Symbols are the basis of culture.
-A symbol is an object, word, or action that stands for something else with no natural relationship that is
culturally defined.

Cultural Symbols
-are a physical manifestation that signifies the ideology of a particular culture or that merely has
meaning within a culture.
-Cultural symbols don't have to be actual symbols or signs; they can also be gestures such as handshakes
and hand signals.

Social Symbols
-are relating to human society and its modes of organization: social classes; social problems or a social
issue.
 -A symbol that something people want to have or do because they think other people will respect or admire
them for it such as education, occupation, marital status, accomplishments, or other factors.

Political Symbols
-are symbolism that is used to represent a political standpoint. The symbolism can occur in various media
including banners, acronyms, pictures, flags, mottos, and countless more.

Economic Symbols
-are symbols used in production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services like currency,
market, labor, demands and other economic activities.

What is sociocultural evolution?

Sociocultural evolution are theories of cultural and social evolution that describe how cultures and
societies change over time. Sociocultural evolution is "the process by which structural reorganization is affected
through time, eventually producing a form or structure which is qualitatively different from the ancestral form.

TYPES OF SOCIETY
A. Hunting and gathering -societies are the earliest form of society. The members survive primarily by
hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering edible plants.
B. Pastoral- Pastoral societies rely on the domestication of animals as a resource for survival. Pastoral groups
were able to breed livestock for food, clothing, and transportation, and they created a surplus of goods.
Herding, or pastoral, societies remained nomadic because they were forced to follow their animals to fresh
feeding grounds.
C. Horticultural - societies formed in areas where rainfall and other conditions allowed them to grow stable
crops. They were similar to hunter-gatherers in that they largely depended on the environment for survival,
but since they didn’t have to abandon their location to follow resources, they were able to start permanent
settlements.
D. Agricultural societies - relied on permanent tools for survival. Farmers learned to rotate the types of
crops grown on their fields and to reuse waste products such as fertilizer, which led to better harvests and
bigger surpluses of food.
This is also the age in which people had the time and comfort to engage in more contemplative and
thoughtful activities, such as music, poetry, and philosophy. This period became referred to as the “dawn
of civilization” by some because of the development of leisure and humanities.
E. Feudal- These societies contained a strict hierarchical system of power based around land ownership and
protection. The nobility, known as lords, placed vassals in charge of pieces of land. In return for the
resources that the land provided, vassals promised to fight for their lords.
F. Industrial Society- In the eighteenth century, Europe experienced a dramatic rise in technological
invention, ushering in an era known as the Industrial Revolution.
G. Post-Industrial Society- Information societies, sometimes known as postindustrial or digital societies,
are a recent development. Information societies are based on the production of information and services.
H. Global – A global society can be seen as the natural consequence of globalization, which is the process of
increasing interdependence among nations and cultures.

The Significance of Cultural, Social, Political and Economic Symbols and Practices
Cultural practices are the manifestation of a culture or sub-culture, especially concerning the traditional and
customary practices of a particular ethnic or other cultural group. It plays an important role for a civilization and
character of its citizens and society.
Social practices refer to everyday practices and the way these are typically and habitually performed in a
society. It shapes everyday life and are familiar to all members of the community, even if not everybody
participates in them. They are relevant to community and help reinforce a sense of identity and continuity with the
past.

Economic system or practices are the means by which societies distribute resources and trade goods and
services. They are used to control the five factors of production, including: labor, capital, entrepreneurs, physical
and information resources.
Political practices are a set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other
forms of power relations to individual such as the distributions of resources.