Lesson 1: NATURE, GOALS, AND PERSPECTIVE OF ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, AND

POLITICAL SCIENCE
Objectives: At the end of the lesson the students will be able to;
1. Define and discuss the nature anthropology, sociology, and political science ;
2. Identify the goals and perspectives of anthropology, sociology, and political science; and
3. Appreciate the value of disciplines of anthropology, sociology, and political sciences as social sciences.

ANTHROPOLOGY
- Is the study of what makes us human.
- They consider the past to see how human groups lived hundreds or thousands of years ago and what was
important to them.
- They consider what makes up our biological bodies and genetics, as well as our bones, diet, and health.

Cultural Variations
- Refers to the differences in social behaviors that different cultures exhibits around the world.
Branches of Anthropology

1. Physical / biological Anthropology

- Biology + culture
- Paleontology (origin of man)
- Evolution of race
- Racial classifications
- Racial differentiations (human genetics)
2. Cultural Anthropology
- Social heritage and customs
- Technology
- Economic life community organizations
- Family life
- Secret societies
- Government
- Law
- Religion
- Arts
3. Linguistics
- Recorded and unrecorded languages
- Relationship between language and culture
4. Archeology
- Man’s prehistoric culture and society
- Fossils (organic)
- Artifacts (man made)

SOCIOLOGY
- Is the study of human social relationships and institutions.

SOCIAL DIFFERENCES
- Differences among individuals on the basis of social characteristics and qualities
GOALS OF SOCIETY
POLITICAL SCIENCE
- Branch of social sciences that studies the state, politics, and government.
Deals extensively with the analysis of political system, the theoretical and practical applications of politics, and the
examination of political behavior.

Scope of Political science

- The field of political science is dived into five disciplines that are political theory, public administration,
comparative politics, international relations, and public law.

POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES
- set of ideas, beliefs, values, and opinions, exhibiting a recurring pattern, that competes deliberately as will
as unintentionally over providing plans of action for public policy making in an attempt to justify, explain,
contest, or change the social and political arrangements and processes of a political community.

Types of political ideologies and style of government

1. Absolutism- system where rulers have unlimited control.
2. Anarchism- society without government, laws, police or other authority. A system is self-control.
3. Aristocracy- The privilege of social class whose members possess a disproportionately large percentage
of society’s wealth, prestige and political influence.
4. Autocracy- Supreme political power is in the hands of one person whose decisions are unregulated.
5. Communism- Extreme left-wing ideology based on the revolutionary socialist teaching of Marx.
Collective ownership and a planned economy. Each should work their capability and received according to
needs.
6. Conservatism- Government system where the existing institutions are maintained emphasizing free-
enterprise and minimal governmental interventions.
7. Democracy- Government by the people, usually through elected representatives.
8. Dictatorship- Government by a single person with absolute control over the resources of the state.

LESSON 2: CHANGES IN CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Objectives: At the end of the lesson the students will be able to;
1. Determine the concepts, aspects and changes in/of culture and society;
2. Describe the approaches to the study of culture and society; and
3. Analyze the concept, aspects and changes in/of culture and society.

What is Culture?
- The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition goes a step further, defining culture as shared
patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding that are learned by
socialization.
- Thus, I t can be seen as the growth of the group’s identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group.
- The word "culture" derives from a French term, derived from the Latin "colere," which means to tend to the
earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture.
- It shares its etymology with several other words related to actively fostering growth.
- Culture is a term that refers to a large and diverse set of mostly intangible aspects of social life. According
to sociologists, culture consists of the values, beliefs, systems of language, communication, and practices
that people share and that can be used to define them as a collective. Culture also includes the material
objects that are common to that group or society.

What is Cultural Change?

- Following are the some of the definitions by renowned sociologists.
1. Horton & Hunt: “changes in the culture of society is called cultural change.”
2. Kingsley Davis: “cultural changes embarrasses Occurring in any branch of culture including, art, science,
technology, philosophy etc. as well as changes in the forms and rules of social organization.”
3. David Dressler and Donald Caens: “It is the modification or discontinuance of existing ‘tried’ and ‘tested’
procedures transmitted to us from the culture of the past, as well as the introduction of new procedures.”

Sources of Cultural Change

1. Discovery- It is a new perception of an aspect of reality that already exists.

2. Invention- It is the combination or new use of existing knowledge to produce something that did not exist
before.
3. Diffusion- It is the spreading of cultural traits from group to another group.
4. Acculturation. It is cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing
traits from another culture.
 5. Assimilation. It is the process of combination of two cultures in to one culture with comprising cultural
traits.

Viewing Culture in terms of Patterns and Configurations

 Cultural Traits
- is generally regarded as the unit of culture. A trait may be an object (knife), a way of doing something
(weaving), a belief (in spirits), or an attitude (the so-called horror of incest).
- But, within the category of culture, each trait is related to other traits.
- A distinguishable and relatively self-contained cluster of traits is conventionally called a culture complex.
- The association of traits in a complex may be of a functional and mechanical nature, such as horse, saddle,
bridle, quirt, and the like, or it may lie in conceptional or emotional associations, such as the acts and
attitudes involved in seclusion in a menstrual hut or retrieving a heart that has been stolen by witches.

 Cultural Areas
- The relationship between an actual culture and its habitat is always an intimate one, and therefore one
finds a close correlation between kind of habitat and type of culture. This results in the concept of culture
area.
- This conception goes back at least as far as the early 19th century, but it was first brought into prominence
by the U.S. anthropologist Clark Wissler in The American Indian (1917) and Man and Culture (1923). He
divided the Indian cultures (as they were in the latter half of the 19th century) into geographic cultural
regions: the Caribou area of northern Canada; the Northwest coast, characterized by the use of salmon and
cedar; the Great Plains, where tribes hunted bison with the horse; the Pueblo area of the Southwest; and so
on. Others later distinguished culture areas in other continents

 Cultural Types
- Appreciation of the relationship between culture and topographic area suggests the concept of culture type,
such as hunting and gathering or a special way of hunting--for example, the use of the horse in bison
hunting in the Plains or the method of hunting of sea mammals among the Eskimo; pastoral cultures
centered upon sheep, cattle, reindeer, and so on; and horticulture (with digging stick and hoe) and
agriculture (with ox-drawn plow).

 Economic Systems
- “An economic system is a means by which societies or governments organize and distribute available
resources, services, and goods across a geographic region or country. Economic systems regulate the
factors of production, including land, capital, labor.” https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/
- Division of labour along occupational lines is rare, although not wholly lacking, in preliterate societies--
despite a widespread notion that one member of a tribe specializes in making arrows, which he exchanges
for moccasins made by another specialist.

 Education
- In its broadest sense may properly be regarded as the process by which the culture of a sociocultural system
is impressed or imposed upon the plastic, receptive infant. It is this process that makes continuity of culture
possible.
- Education, formal and informal, is the specific means of socialization. By informal education is meant the
way a child learns to adapt his behaviour to that of others, to be like others, to become a member of a
group. By formal education is meant the intentional and systematic effort to affect the behaviour of others
by transmitting elements of culture to them, be it knowledge or belief, patterns of behaviour, or ideals and
values.

 Religion and Belief

- Man's oldest philosophy is animism, the doctrine that everything is alive and possesses mental faculties like
those possessed by man: desire, will, purpose, anger, love, and the like.
- This philosophy results from man's projection of his own self, his psyche, into other things and beings,
inanimate and living, without being aware of this projection.
LESSON 3: CULTURAL RELATIVISM

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. Define cultural relativism in the perspective of sociology
2. State the importance of Cultural Relativism in attaining cultural understanding.

What is cultural relativism?

- According to Khan Academy (2020), cultural relativism refers to not judging a culture to our own
standards of what is right or wrong, strange or normal. Instead, we should try to understand cultural
practices of other groups in its own cultural context.
- a person’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual’s own culture.

What is ethnocentrism?
- JUDGING ANOTHER CULTURE SOLELY BY THE VALUES AND STANDARDS OF ONE’S OWN
CULTURE BELIEVING THAT YOUR NATIVE CULTURE IS SUPERIOR THAN THE OTHERS

Examples of cultural relativism

1. Here in the Philippines, premarital sex is morally unacceptable. If go to another country, teenagers want to lose
their virginity at a young age.
2. Here in the Philippines, we do not cease to debate on the moral acceptability of contraceptives. In another country,
abortion is perfectly normal, more so the use of artificial contraceptives.
3. One society makes any prohibitions on women; while another society allows women to have equal opportunities
and obligations as men.

The Importance of Cultural Relativism

1. Cultural relativism does not mean anything a culture or group of people believe is true
2. Cultural relativism does not mean that anything a culture does is good or moral.
3. Cultural relativism doesn’t mean that cultures can’t be compared
LESSON 4: CULTURAL, SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYMBOLS
Specifically, the lesson aims to:
1. Identify what symbols convey
2. Discuss the meaning of social, cultural, political and economic symbols
3. Cite social, cultural, political and economic practices in the different societies

What is symbol?
- GESTURES
- SIGNS
- OBJECTS
- SIGNAL
- WORDS
 PROVIDE CLUES TO UNDERSTANDING EXPERIENCES
 CONVEY RECOGNIZABLE MEANINGS SHARED BY SOCIETIES
 ARE BASIS OF CULTURE

SYMBOLISM
 IS WHEN SOMETHING REPRESENTS ABSTRACT IDEAS OR CONCEPTS
 IT MEANS DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE
 SOME ARE GAINED FROM EXPERIENCE, OTHERS FROM CULTURE

LANGUAGE – MOST COMMON CULTURAL SYMBOL

(EX. LETTERS OF ALPHABET)
CULTURAL SYMBOLS
- Physical manifestation signifying ideology of a particular culture which is meaningful to them.
Ex. Handshakes, hand signals
- will mean different things in different cultures ( Thumbs up for American may mean dirty finger in Greeks)

SOCIAL SYMBOLS
- relating to human society and its modes of :
 organization
 social classes
 social problem
 social issue
- Symbol that people want to have because they will be admired (education, occupation, marital status,
accomplishments and other factors)

POLITICAL SYMBOLS
- Represent a political standpoint
- Occurs in various media like banners, acronyms, pictures, flags, mottos
Ex. Red flags flown by socialists

ECONOMIC SYMBOLS
- Symbols used in production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services
Ex. Currency, market, labor, demands and other economic activities

CULTURAL, SOCIAL , POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PRACTICES

Specifically, this lesson aims to:
1. Understand socio cultural evolution
2. Identify the six categories of societies
3. Classify the six categories according to description, characteristics and people’s major activities in a
particular society

SEVEN CATEGORIES OF SOCIETIES

1. HUNTING AND GATHERING SOCIETY

- Earliest form of society
- Hunting, trapping, fishing, gathering edible plants
- Time is spent looking for food
2. PASTORAL/HERDING SOCIETY
- RELY ON ANIMAL DOMESTICATION AS RESOURCE FOR SURVIVAL
- BREEDS LIVESTOCK FOR FOOD, CLOTHING , TRANSPORTATION
- STILL NOMADIC BECAUSE THEY FOLLOW THEIR ANIMALS TO FRESH FEEDING GROUNDS

3. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
- GROWING OF STABLE CROPS (RAINY AREAS)
- DEPENDS ON ENVIRONMENT FOR SURVIVAL
- START PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS
- MORE STABILITY AND MATERIAL GOODS –led to first revolution to human survival

4. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
 RELIED ON PERMANENT TOOLS FOR SURVIVAL
 ROTATE CROPS, REUSE WASTE PRODUCTS (FERTILIZER)
 TOOLS ARE MADE OF METALS
 HUMAN SETTLEMENTS GREW INTO TOWNS AND CITIES-(CENTER FOR TRADE AND
COMMERCE
 PEOPLE ENGAGE IN MUSIC, POETRY & PHILOSOPHY
 PERIOD OF “DAWN oF CIVILIZATION”
 CRAFTS -PEOPLE SUPPORT THEMSELVES THROUGH CREATIVE OBJECTS
 CLASSES BECAME DIVISIVE
 DIFFERENCES IN SOCIAL STANDING

5. FEUDAL SOCIETY
 STRICT HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM BASED ON LAND OWNERSHIP & PROTECTION
 VASSALS TAKE CHARGE THE LANDS
 VASSALS PROMISED TO FIGHT FOR THEIR LORDS

6. INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY
 DRAMATIC RISE IN TECHNOLOGICAL INVENTION IN EUROPE (Industrial Revolution)
 New inventions influenced people’s lives
 Steam power appear everywhere
 Mills, gas lights, seeders, machines, education, health care developed

7. POST INDUSTRIAL/INFORMATION SOCIETY

 A.K.A. DIGITAL SOCIETIES
 PRODUCTION OF INFORMATION AND SERVICES
 DRIVEN BY KNOWLEDGE AND NOT MATERIAL GOODS
 POWER LIES TO THOSE IN CHARGE OF STORING & DISTRIBUTING INFORMATION
 MEMBERS ARE SELLERS OF SERVICES, PROGRAMMERS, BUSINESS CONSULTANTS