01 Understanding the Concepts of Anthropology, Sociology, and

Political Science

DEFINITION OF ANTHROPOLOGY

ANTHROPOLOGY:

• It is the study of humanity, including our prehistoric origins and contemporary human diversity.
• It is the study of humankind in all times and all place.
• establishes relevant knowledge from the social, physical, and biological sciences, as well as from
Humanities.
• Anthropologists apply the knowledge they garner about mankind, nature and human genetics,
to some extent, to find solutions to the problems that humans face and combat.

GOALS OF ANTHROPOLOGY:

• Discover what makes people different from one another in order to understand and preserve
diversity
• Discover what all people have in common by studying commonalities such as folklores,
traditions, language, etc. in all humanity so that we could understand more about “human
nature"
• Look at one’s own culture more objectively like an outsider
• Produce new knowledge and new theories about humankind and human behavior

Therefore, anthropology teaches us how to evaluate facts and theories about human nature and
human culture by placing them in a total, global perspective.

FOUR MAJOR FIELDS OF GENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY

1. Cultural Anthropology: Refers to the study of living people and their cultures, including
variation and change. It deals with the description and analysis of the forms and styles of
social life of past and present ages. Cultural anthropologists also study art, religion,
migration, marriage, and family.
2. Linguistic Anthropology: Refers to the study of communication, mainly (but not
exclusively) among humans. It includes the study of communication’s origins, history,
and contemporary variation.
3. Archeology: Refers to the study of past human cultures through their material remains.
It is the study of past human cultures through the recovery and analysis of artifacts.
4. Biological Anthropology: Also known as physical anthropology, this refers to the study of
humans as biological organisms, including their evolution and contemporary variation.
5. Applied anthropology: Anthropology put to use.
 Sociology
Definition of Sociology:

• The term sociology was derived from the Latin word socius, meaning "associate" and the
Greek word logos, meaning “study of knowledge.”
• Sociology was coined by August Comte (1798-1857), who was regarded as the “father of
Sociology.”
• It is a science which studies human civilization.
• It is a systematic study of groups and societies that people build and how these affect
their behavior.
• It focuses on various social connections, institutions, organizations, structures and
processes.
• It gathers social inputs which are composed of frequent forms and manners: attitude,
viewpoints, consolidated values and norms of social institutions which form part of
social array.
The scientific study of Sociology enables us to:
1. Obtain possible theories and principles about society as well as various aspects of
social life.
2. Appreciate that all things (in society) are interdependent with each other.
3. Broaden our familiarity on sociological facts which are acquired through empirical
process.
4. Expose our minds to the different perspectives on attaining the truth.
Areas of Sociology:

• Social organization- This includes the study of social institutions, social inequality, social
mobility, religious groups and bureaucracy.
• Population studies- This area includes size, growth, demographic characteristics,
composition, migration, changes and quality vis-à-vis economic, political and social
systems.
• Applied sociology- This is concerned with the specific intent of yielding practical
applications for human behavior and organizations. The goal of applied Sociology is to
assist in resolving social problems through the use of sociological research.
• Social change- It studies factors that cause social organization and social disorganization.
• Human ecology- pertains to the study of the effects of various social organizations
(religious organizations, political institutions and etc.) to the population’s behavior.
• Social psychology- This area focuses on the study of human nature and its emphasis on
social processes as they affect individual or responses which are called “social stimuli.
• Sociological theory and research- It focuses on the discovery of theoretical tools,
methods and techniques to scientifically explain a particular sociological issue.
 Political Science
Definition of Political Science:

• is an academic discipline that deals with the study of government and political
processes, institutions, and behaviors.
• It is the study of the complex behavior of various political actors such as the government
administration, opposition, and subjects.
• It is also the systematic study of political and government institutions and processes.
Definition of politics:

• It was originated from the Greek word, Polis, which means city or state.
• It refers to the art and science of governing city/state.
• It is the social process or strategy in any position of control which people gain, use or
lose power.
Functions of Political Institutions:

• Enact law, ordinances and rules designed to promote the safety, health, peace and order
and morals of the community
• Levy and regulate taxes
• Support education program
• Plan the economy
• Administer justice
• Promote physical, economic, social and cultural well-being of the people
• Preserve the internal and external autonomy of the state
• Administer foreign and diplomatic relations.
Government

• The agency to which the will of the state is formulated, expressed, and carried out
• The organized agency in a state tasked to impose social control
• A group of people that governs a community or unit
• It sets and administers public policy and exercises executive, political and sovereign
power through customs, institutions, and laws within a state

State is more of a political concept. (having a government of their own)

Nation refers to an ethnic concept. (bound together by common ethnical elements)
02 Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives on Culture and
Society

Concepts of Culture and Society;

Anthropological Perspectives:
• Unilineal Evolutionism states that new cultural forms emerge from the past that pass
through similar stages of development.
• Cultural Diffusionism asserts that culture originates from one or more culture centers
which are results of borrowed elements of the new culture.
• Historical Particularism believes that each group of people has its own unique culture
which is influenced by its history, geography and environment.
• Anthropological Functionalism believes that cultural elements and practices are
interrelated and interdependent and persist because they have a purpose.
• Anthropological Structuralism conveys that cultural phenomena and practices have a
relationship to one another by which human organize and structure their experiences.
• Cultural Materialism considers the idea that culture is influenced by technology,
resources, economic values, and the utilization of things.

Sociological Perspectives:
• Sociological Functionalism views society as an organized network cooperating groups
operating orderly to generally accepted norms.
• Sociological Conflict Perspective sees the social environment in a continuous struggle
which is in contrast with Functionalism.
• Symbolic Interactionism deals with patterns of behavior in large units of society such as
organization, communities, etc.
• Evolutionism explains how human groups came to exist, grow and develop.
Society:
• Society is derived from the Latin word “societas” which means companion or associate.
• It refers to all people, collectively regarded as constituting a community of related,
interdependent individuals living in a particular place, following a certain mode of life
(Ariola, 2012).
• According to Kornblum as cited in Baliao & Parcon (2011) society refers to a population
of people that is organized in a cooperative manner to carry out the major function of
life, including reproduction, sustenance, shelter, and defense.
• Robertson (cited in Baliao & Parcon, 2011) defines society as a population that occupies
the same territory which is subject to the same political authority and participates in a
common culture.
Since the study of anthropology deals with culture, it perceives society as a group
of people sharing a common culture within a territory (Banaag, 2012).
Culture:
• It may refer to the individual’s taste, inclination, and interest in the “fine arts.”
• It is referred to as being civilized.
• It is a complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitude.
• Mores, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything that a person learns
and shares as a member of society (E.B. Tylor 1920 [1871]).

Baliao & Parcon (2011) states that culture, in anthropological

perspective, is a unique character of every human society which includes how we
think, act and what we own. While Banaag (2012) implies that culture, in
sociological perspective, is viewed as the imprint made by people.

Aspects of culture: part or feature of culture characteristics:

• dynamic, flexible, & adaptive
• shared & contested through time
• learned through socialization or enculturation
• patterned social interactions, and
• integrated and at times unstable.
Artifacts: Objects made by human beings, either hand-made or mass produced
Arts and Recreation: Arts, Music, Drama and Literatures, Games and Sports, and Use of
Leisure Time
Clothes: The people usually wear in the community
Customs and Traditions: The things we do
Food: The staple food that the people in the community often eat
Government: The one that implement rules, keep peace and order, and address conflicts
in the community
Knowledge: The psychological result of perception, learning, and reasoning
Language: The mental faculty or power of vocal communication
Religion: A strong belief in a supernatural power that control human destiny
Shelter: A structure that provides privacy and protection from danger
Tools: Objects used to improve the performance of a task
Values: The morals that we live by.

There are 3 ways on how people view other culture:

1. Cultural Relativist
-Culture has meaning when taken only into context. This means, it is wrong to
compare, apply, and/or judge one’s own culture from another culture.
2. Ethnocentrism
-The perception of one’s own culture as superior of other cultures.
3. Xenocentrism
-The perception of one’s own culture as inferior of other cultures.

03 Human Biocultural and Sociopolitical Evolution

1. Hunting and Gathering Society: during the Paleolithic period, people are NOMADS,
hunts and gather resources from moving to one place to another.
2. Horticultural and pastoral society: less NOMADIC, stays in one place and farms. While
the other often move for hunting. Wealth depends on the land and animals owned.
Sharing of resources are good but lead to dispute to lands and animals. Division of work
between men and women. horticultural= farms. Pastoral= gaze animals.
 3. Agricultural Society: invention of plow and wheel. Created the calendar to keep track of
planting and harvesting. The greater size of resources they produce, the more the
conflict. The division or rich and peasants are common. The government wants to trade
produce for greater wealth. Women are often pregnant to produce bodies who works in
the field.
4. Industrial Society: 1700’s, the development of machines and factories replaced the
plow and other physical works. From steam and water energy, electricity came and
made machines and factories easier for production. These technological advances
improved the people’s life spans. This society has lower economic and gender
inequality. Negatively, the rise and downfall of people are more abundant. The growth
changes the social life. It led to riots and unban violence thus the rise of the police.
Gemeinschaft- consist primarily of villages in which everyone knows everyone.
Gesellschaft- people are modernized, they have little in common with one another.
Relationships are for short-term and for self interest with little concern for others.
5. Post industrial society: information age

Biological and Cultural Evolution

- Key concepts in the study of modern humans.
- Refers to the changes in the genetics and inherited traits of biological populations from
one generation to another
- Charles Darwin, the evolution of man. He theorized that the evolution of species
happens through the process of NATURAL SELECTION.
Natural Selection
-is the outcome of a process that affects the traits in a particular environment, traits that
enhance survival and reproduction.
Principles of natural selection:
1. Every species is made up of a variety of individuals wherein some adapted better to
the environment compare to others.
2. Organisms produce progeny with different sets of traits that can be inherited.
3. Organisms that suit the environment often survives and transfer these variations to
their offsprings
Cultural evolution or sociocultural evolution: refers to the changes or development in cultures,
from simple to complex form of human culture. Sociocultural happens as a result of one’s
adaptation to different factors like climatic changes and population increase.
 04 Becoming a Member of Society
Enculturation/Socialization:
• It is the process by which a human being beginning at infancy acquires personal identity
and learns the norms, values, behavior, habits, beliefs, social skills and accumulated
knowledge of society through education and training for adult status appropriate to his
or her social position.
• Through enculturation/socialization a helpless infant transformed into a more or less
knowledgeable and cooperative member of the society (Baliao & Parcon, 2011).
• It’s a lifelong process that starts at birth and ends at death (Baliao & Parcon, 2011).

Theoretical Perspectives of Enculturation/Socialization:

• Charles Horton Coley propose the Looking Glass Self Theory which states that a
person’s sense of one’s self is actually derived from the perception of others as we
perceive ourselves on how other people think of us.
• While George Herbert Mead propose the Role taking Theory wherein the development
of social awareness is traced to our early social interaction. For example, when we were
infants, our parents would carry and feed us when we cried. Overtime, we learn more
ways drawing out desired behavior from others. This perception of Mead leads him into
the idea that out of social interaction sense of self emerges which is composed of two
parts i.e. the “Me” and the “I.” The “Me” represents the perceptions of what other
people think of us and the “I” is the independent, spontaneous, and unpredictable side
of ourselves.

Agents of Socialization:
The family have a major impact on us. They lay down our basic sense of self, forming our initial
motivations, values, and beliefs.
The school is a primary agent of socialization. Schools were able to contribute to one’s self
development by exposing us to people who are not our relatives nor our family thus exposing
us to new attitudes, values, and ways of looking at the world.
The peers (peer group) can ease the transition from adolescence to adult responsibilities for it
offer young people an identity that supports some independence from their families.
Mass Media, especially in the form of television, it has become the prime source of information
about the world thus enabling us to view wide range of role models and occupations.
The workplace allows us to learn to behave properly within an occupation, at the same time,
indicates that one has passed out adolescence stage.
 Conformity and Deviance:
Conformity is the act of exhibiting the same as the behavior of most other people in a
society, group, etc.
Deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms.
Social Control refers to the set of means to ensure that people generally behave in
expected and approved ways (Baliao & Parcon, 2011).

TYPES OF SOCIAL CONTROL:

• Internal Social Control refers to the socialization process that developed within
the individual as we do things when we know it is the right thing to do (Baliao &
Parcon, 2011).
• External Social Control refers to social sanctions or the system of rewards and
punishments designated to encourage desired behavior (Baliao & Parcon, 2011).

Forms of Deviance:
Innovation:
Ex. theft, burglary, embezzlement
Ritualism:
Ex. A teacher goes to class without any concern for his students.
Retreatism:
Ex. Alcoholics, Drug Addicts, Gambler
Rebellion:
Ex. Terrorists, Leftist, Guerrillas

Human Dignity, Human Rights, and the Common Good

Human Dignity:
It is something that can’t be taken away. Catholic Social Teaching states that each and
every person has value, are worthy of great respect and must be free from slavery, manipulation
and exploitation.
 It is the basis of fundamental human rights. It is inviolable and it must be respected and
protected. The dignity of the human person is not only a fundamental right in itself, but
constitutes the basis of fundamental rights in international law. The 1948 Universal Declaration
of Human Rights enshrined this principle in its preamble: ‘recognition of the inherent dignity and
of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of
freedom, justice and peace in the world’. For this reason, the dignity of the human person is part
of the substance of any right protected by international human rights law. It must, therefore, be
respected, even where a right is restricted.
Also, it is at the heart of human identity. Human dignity goes to the heart of human
identity, including a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and intersex identity, hence the name
of the thrust. Without dignity, none of the protections of the various legal human rights
mechanisms can have real meaning, which is why the concept has held, and continues to hold, a
central place in the international human rights framework.

Human Rights:
It is inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex,
national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. These rights are all
interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
It is not a privilege. It is something that can be taken away at someone’s whim. They are
“rights” because they are things you are allowed to be, to do or to have. These rights are there
for your protection against people who might want to harm or hurt you. They are also there to
help us get along with each other and live in peace.
When human rights are not well known by people, abuses such as discrimination, intolerance,
injustice, oppression and slavery can arise.
Born out of the serious atrocities and enormous losses of lives during World War II, the United
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948 to provide a common
understanding of what everyone’s rights are. It forms the basis for a world built on freedom,
justice and peace.
The Common Good:
In tribal notion, it has served as the moral justification of most social systems in history.
The degree of a society’s enslavement or freedom corresponded to the degree to which that
tribal slogan was invoked or ignored. It is also referred to the public interest. Actually, it is an
undefined and undefinable concept. It is a meaningless concept, unless taken literally, the sum
of the good of all the individual men involved. But in that case, the concept is meaningless as a
moral criterion which leaves an open question of what is the good of individual men and how
does one determine it?
When “the common good” of a society is regarded as something apart from and superior to the
individual good of its members, it means that the good of some men takes precedence over the
good of others, with those others consigned to the status of sacrificial animals. It is tacitly
assumed, in such cases, that “the common good” means “the good of the majority” as against
the minority or the individual.

05 How Society is Organized

Classification of social groups
Structure:
1. Primary group- informal, personal level of intimate relationship, strong bonds, and
attachment. Ex. Family, couple, church members
2. Secondary group- conducts themselves in their expected role, transactional
relationships for pursuit of interests and goals. Ex. Co-workers, sports teammates…
Organization
1. Formal group- intentionally formed for carrying specific purposes. Ex. Student org…
2. Informal group- unplanned, random association and interaction. Ex. Peer group…
Membership
1. Open group- open for everyone. Ex. Clubs, public forums, …
2. Closed groups- exclusive to selected members either by quota or qualifications. Ex.
All-girls school, political party, …
Purpose
1. Interest groups- formed to protect and promote trade and interest. Ex. Art clubs,
labors…
2. Pressure groups- private sector of society, to influence the public’s view. Ex. Militant
groups, advocacy group…
3. Task group- constitute a pool of workers labor force, following a command for
completing a task. Ex. Sports team, orchestra…
Perspective
1. Ingroup- members have a sense of loyalty, camaraderie, and solidarity.
2. Outgroup- part of the others.
3. Minority group- less dominant in terms of size and status. Ex. Ethnic groups
4. Reference group- comparative basis of self-evaluation. Ex. Goths, rockers, …