Anthropology and

the Study of
Culture
Design a train cab that would suit the
physical traits of Filipino passengers.
After designing this, write a brief
description about and how it
complements the Filipino passenger.
Anthropology
• study of humans, promotes a holistic study of humans.
Derived from two words antropos (human) and logos
(study). It can be defined as “the study of people – their
origins, their development, and contemporary variations,
wherever and whenever they have been found on the face
of the earth. (Ember, Ember, and Peregrine, 2010)
Points of inquiry are addressed by the five subdisciplines of
anthropology;

• Archaeology – examines the remains of ancient and

historical human populations to promote an understanding
of how humans have adapted to their environment and
developed
• Cultural anthropology – promotes of a society’s culture
through their belief systems, practices, and possessions
• Linguistic anthropology – examines the language of a
group of people and its r elation to their culture
• Physical anthropology – looks into the biological
development of humans and their contemporary variation
• Applied anthropology – attempts to solve contemporary
problems through the application of theories and
approaches of the discipline
• 19th century
* investigate on the beliefs, behaviors, and material
possessions of non-Western, preliterate and technologically
simple societies
• Tristes Tropiques

* was made by Claude Levi – Strauss, French

anthropologist
• 21st century
* human experience diversified, and as globalization’s
effects were left in almost all societies, anthropology extended
its study to cultural and subcultural groups in industrialized
societies
• Philippe Bourgois

* professor of anthropology at the University of

Pennsylvania, studied the lives of street – level drug dealers
• Key Informants
* individuals in a society who have significant
knowledge on the topic being studied by the anthropologist
• Participant – observation methods

* entail the participation of the researcher on the daily

practices and rituals of the group being studied
• Culture
*is everything that a person learns as a member of a
society.
• Culture is everything – it is what a person has, does and think
as part of society.
* material culture – includes tangible and visible parts of
culture
* nonmaterial culture – all the intangible parts of culture,
which consists of values, ideas and knowledge
• Culture is learned – culture is a set of beliefs, attitudes and
practices that an individual learns through his or her family,
school, church and other social institutions.
* enculturation – learning your own culture
* acculturation – adapting others cultures
* deculturation – culture of older generation comes
into conflict with the needs and realities of the younger
generation, culture has been lost and even the cultural trait
itself is in the process of being forgotten.
• Culture is shared – the set of behaviors, attitudes and
beliefs that a person possesses is part of a greater collection
of values and ideas that is communally owned and
practiced by members of a society.
• Culture affects biology – humans are born into cultures that
have values on beauty and body
• Culture is adaptive – culture is a tool for survival that
humans use in response to the pressures of their
environment.
• Culture is maladaptive – environment has changed and
culture has remained the same
• Culture changes – changing needs of humans as they
interpret and survive in their environment.
Theories on Culture

 Theories are perspective that are essential in shaping an

analysis about a particular issue. In the field of anthropology,
one of the key points of discussion is the concept of culture ,

 The following table presents seven theoretical orientations

in anthropology and the ideas on culture thset they espouse .
Anthropology in the 21st Century

 The key strength of anthropology as a discipline of social science is its holistic

approach to the study of humans. It is holistic in the sense that it studies 1 humans,
both as biological and social creatures 2 humans behavior from the time the species
exisfed to the time that it will desisg 3 human behavior from all regions of the world 4
all forms of human actions and beliefs Such lens in understanding the human species
allows anthropology to provide a comprehensive insight into the nature of humans
and the trajectory of their behaviorsAnthropology in the 21sf Century The key
strength of anthropology as a discipline of social science is its holistic approach to the
study of humans. It is holistic in the sense that it studies 1 humans, both as biological
and social creatures 2 humans behavior from the time the species exisfed to the time
that it will desisg 3 human behavior from all regions of the world 4 all forms of
human actions and beliefs Such lens in understanding the human species allows
anthropology to provide a comprehensive insight into the nature of humans and the
trajectory of their behaviors