Introduction to Socio Cultural

and Anthropological Concepts.

Course Instructor: Mehwish Ashfaq
 Socio Cultural
• The term "sociocultural system" embraces three concepts:
society, culture, and system.
• A society is a number of interdependent organisms of the same species.
• A culture is the learned behaviors that are shared by the members of a
society, together with the material products of such behaviors.
• A system is "a collection of parts which interact with each other to
function as a whole.
 Sociology

Essential Definition
• Scientific study of patterns of human interaction that deals with the study
of group life.
• the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and
consequences of human behavior.
 Sociology as a science

• Sociology is a science every bit as much as biology or

chemistry.
• Social sciences, like natural and biological sciences, use a
vigorous methodology.
• Sociology provides distinctive perspectives on the world that
generate new ideas and critique or modify old ideas.
• scientific”
 Body of knowledge of patterned structure
 Utilizes scientific methodology
 Investigates the social world
 Inquires how groups are formed
 Determines how groups affect the individual and vice versa
3. It is a science
A systematic study of anything that can be examined, tested, and
verified.
DEFINE THE PROBLEM GATHERING OF DATA

ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

FORMULATE HYPOTHESIS GATHERED

PLAN AND DESIGN THE METHOD MAKING OF A CONCLUSION

IMPLEMENT THE METHOD PUBLISH THE RESULTS OF

THE STUDY
 Methods of Sociology
1. The Comparative Method : The methods of comparing different societies or groups
within the same society to show whether and why they are similar or different in certain
respects". To tackle the problems of society effectively and to make fruitful discoveries,
sociology has to employ precise and well tested methods of investigation.
2. Historical Method : A study of events, processes and institutions of past civilizations,
for the purpose of finding the origins of antecedents of contemporary social life and thus
understanding its nature and working.
3. The Statistical Method : The term 'Statistics' may be used in two ways:
To refer to the application of statistical methods to social or non-social problems,
and to refer to the actual numerical data collected in relation to these problems.
4. The Case Study Method : Case studies are in-depth investigations focused on
an individual person, group, community, organization, situation, or event. The
case study may make use of various techniques such as interview,
questionnaires, schedules, life histories, relevant documents of all kinds and also
'participant observation' for collecting information about the case under study.
• In social research, such as in sociology, case studies are a good way to
investigate social phenomena or to understand how certain processes and
groups within society operate.
• A researcher could study the details of a serial killer's deviance (focusing
on one individual) or explore the integration of asylum seekers and
refugees in a particular neighbourhood (focusing on a specific group of
people).
5. The Functional Method ( Functionalism ) : In functional method or
functionalism has been given greater emphasis during recent times in
sociological studies. Functionalism refers " functionalism, in social
sciences, theory based on the premise that all aspects of a society—
institutions, roles, norms, etc. —serve a purpose and that all are
indispensable for the long-term survival of the society.”
6. The Scientific Method : The basis of study of any science or discipline is its methods. Sciences in
general and natural science in particular follow the scientific method. The scientific method is
added much to their credibility and objectivity. The scientific method consists of certain steps or
procedures which are to be followed precisely and they are as given below:
• Formulation of the Problem,
• Formulation of Hypothesis,
• Observation of Collection of Data,
• Analysis and Synthesis,
• Generalisation,
• Formulation of Theory and Law. Scientific method has a few limitations in sociology.
 Socio Cultural Anthropology
• Anthropology is the study of what makes us human. It is concerned both with the
biological features that make us human (such as physiology, genetic makeup, nutritional history and
evolution) and with social aspects (such as language, culture, politics, family and religion).
• It has 4 subfields.
1. Archaeology: Archaeology examines peoples and cultures of the past.
2. Biological Anthropology: Biological anthropology specializes in evolution, genetics, and health.
3. Cultural Anthropology: Cultural anthropology studies human societies and elements of cultural
life.
4. Linguistic Anthropology: Studies the role of language in the social lives of individuals and
communities.
• Socio cultural one approach to understanding why humans behave the
way they do. The sociocultural perspective seeks to understand human behavior and
personality development by examining the rules of the social groups and subgroups
in which the individual is a member.

• Method : Ethnography
• Ethnography is a well-established anthropological method of writing a holistic
description and analysis of a culture. Usually, ethnographies are created through
participant-observation and are a key part of anthropological research.
 Importance of Socio Cultural Anthropolgy
• Because of its focus on behavior, organization and meaning anthropology
is used in a number of contemporary settings.
• Companies such as Google and Intel, for example, use anthropologists to
understand how people interact with technology.
• Anthropological approaches are increasingly used in the health sector to
redesign the patient experience.
 Anthropology Relation to Health
• Anthropology, also serves as an instrumental concept for health professionals
conducting research or health intervention among rural or indigenous populations,
as well as in urban contexts characterized by patients belonging to different social
classes, religions, regions or ethnic groups.
• These patients present unique behaviors and thoughts with regard to the
experience of illness, as well as particular notions about health and therapeutic
practices.
• These particularities do not come from biological differences, but from those that
are social and cultural in nature.
 Concept of Culture
• Culture can be defined as a set of elements that mediates and qualifies any
physical or mental activity that is not determined by biology and which is
shared by different members of a social group.
 Society at Micro and Macro Level
• Macro-level sociology looks at large-scale social processes, such as social
stability and change.
• Micro-level sociology looks at small-scale interactions between
individuals, such as conversation or group dynamics.