Defining Culture and

Society from the

Perspectives of
Anthropology and
Sociology
 Society
Society is a group of people living
together in 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.
 The focal point in the society is man’s
social; behavior since his behavior is
greatly shape by society and culture where
he belongs.
 Culture
People live together in a large scale grouping such as community, state
which is international in nature, or in small number of people like the family,
clan, tribe and neighborhood. Each social group exhibits a shared common traits,
beliefs, values and way of life which we call Culture.

 Culture- is a dynamic medium through which societies create way of life reflected in
such a things such as beliefs, values, music, literature, art, dance, science, religion, ritual
technology and others.
 Culture- is that “a complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices, values,
attitudes laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything that a person learns
and share as a member of society” (Edward B. Taylor, 18 th Century English
anthropologist).
According to Allan G. Johnson,
Culture is the sum of symbols,
ideas, forms of expressions and
material products associated with
social system.
Robert Redfield states that Culture is
an organized body of conventional
understanding manifested in art and
artifacts which persisting through
tradition.

Thus, Culture is a very powerful force that affects the lives of the member of the
society. It shapes and guides people’s perception of reality.
Can we consider society as a complex
whole?
We can consider society as a complex whole
because it is a social system. As a complex whole; it
is made up of individuals and groups that interact in
a relatively stables and patterned manner.

Why is it called a system?

It is called a system because it

consist of sub-parts. A change in one
segment will affect all the other parts of
the system. Society is regarded as the
largest and most inclusive unit that exist.
 Anthropological Perspective on Cultures and Society
1. The Evolutionist-Intellectual Perspective
 Proponents are: Edward Burnett Tylor, Johann Jacob Bachofen and James G.
Frazer
 According to them death and the belief in the soul and the spirits play important
roles in this perspective.

2. The French Sociology School

 Proponents are: Emile Durkheim and his followers (including Robert
Hertzand Marcell Mauss
 They investigated the mechanisms by societies sustain and reproduce
themselves.
3. The British Functionalist School

 Proponent is: Bronislaw Malinowski

 He considered the anxiety caused by the rationally uncontrollable happenings
as the basic motivation for the emergence of religious faith.
 He suggested that religion was not born of speculation and illusion, but rather
out of the real tragedies of human life, out of the conflict between human plans
and realities… The existence of strong personal attachments and the fact death,
which all of human events is the most upsetting and disorganizing to man’s
calculations, are perhaps the main sources of religious belief.
 Arnold Radcliffe-Brown according to him in the case of certain rights, it would
be easy to maintain… that they give men fears and anxieties from which they
would otherwise be free- “ The fear of black magic or of spirits, fear of God, of
the devil, of Hell”.
 Sociological Perspective on Culture and Society
Sociological Perspective Level of Analysis Focus

Symbolic Interactionism Micro Use of Symbols; Face-to-Face

interactions

Relationships between the parts

Functionalism Macro of the society: How aspects of
society are functional (adaptive)

Competition for scarce

Conflict Theory Macro resources; How the elite control
the poor and weak
1. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
 People attach meanings to symbols, and then they act according to their
subjective interpretation of the symbols.

2. Functionalist Perspective

 Also called Functionalism, each aspect of society is interdependent and

contributes to society’s functioning as a whole.

3. The Conflict Perspective

 Originated primarily out of Karl Marx’s writings on class struggles,
presents society in a different light than do the functionalist and symbolic
interactionist perspectives.