UNDERSTANDING

CULTURE, SOCIETY AND

POLITICS
CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION TO CULTURE,
SOCIETY AND POLITICS
 COMPLETE THE THOUGHT
1. IDENTITY IS _______________________________________________________________.
2. CULTURE IS _______________________________________________________________.
3. SOCIETY IS _______________________________________________________________.
 Identity, Culture and Society
• Identity is the distinctive characteristic that defines an
individual or is shared by those belonging to a particular
group.
Family School Sexual Nationality
Orientation

Daughter Teacher Female Filipino

and sister
 Identity, Culture and Society
• Identity can change over the course of a person’s lifetime.
Example:

YOUNG SON / FATHER /

PEOPLE DAUGHTER MOTHER
 Identity, Culture and Society
• Culture refers to the total lifestyle of a people, including
all of the ideas, values, knowledge, behaviors and
material objects that they share.
TYPES OF CULTURE
• Material culture consists of all the physical objects or
artifacts made or used by people.

• Nonmaterial culture are aspects of culture that have no

physical existence such as language, knowledge, ideas
and behavior.
 Identity, Culture and Society
• Society refers to a group of people living in a community.
• According to MacIver and Page, it is a web of social
relationship, which is always changing.
 SOCIAL SCIENCES

POLITICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY SOCIOLOGY
SCIENCE
 ANTHROPOLOGY
• Anthropology is the systematic study of the biological,
cultural, and social aspects of man.
• Derived from greek word, anthropos which means man
and logos which means study or inquiry.
 ANTHROPOLOGY

SOCIAL Studies how social patterns and practices and cultural variations
ANTHROPOLOGY develop across different societies.

CULTURAL Studies cultural variations across different societies and examines

ANTHROPOLOGY the need to understand each culture in its own context.

LINGUISTIC Studies language and discourse how they reflect and shape
ANTHROPOLOGY different aspects of human society and culture.

BIOLOGICAL OR Studies the origins of humans as well as the interplay between

PHYSICAL social factors and the processes of human evolution, adaptation,
ANTHROPOLOGY and variation over time.

Deals with prehistoric societies by studying their tools and

ARCHAEOLOGY environment.
 Renowned Anthropologists

Franz Boas Margaret Mead Clifford Geertz Alfred Kroeber

 SOCIOLOGY
• Sociology is define by Anthony Giddens as “the study of
human social life, groups, and society”.
• It is an academic discipline that attempts to provide a
deeper assessment of individual and group behavior as
well as social phenomena, by examining the interplay
between economic, political, and social factors.
 Renowned Sociologists

August Comte Emile Durkheim Max Weber Herbert Spencer Karl Marx

Sociologists examine and present new insights and

perspectives on the different elements and aspects of
society.
 POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Political Science is the systematic study of politics which
Andrew Heywood describes as “the activity through
which people make, preserve and amend the general
rules under which they live”.
• Political science focuses on the fundamental values of
equality, freedom, and justice.
 POLITICAL SCIENCE

PUBLIC Examines how the government functions and how

ADMINISTRATION decisions and policies are made.

Evaluates the interplay between economics,

POLITICAL politics, and law and its implications to the various
ECONOMY
institutions within society.

COMPARATIVE Compares domestics politics and governance

POLITICS systems across different sovereign states.
 Renowned Political Scientist

JEAN JACQUES-
ARISTOTLE PLATO JOHN LOCKE THOMAS HOBBES
ROUSSEAU

Political scientist helps us understand the nature and characteristics

of authority and power and how it shapes the way society is
organized.