Introduction to Anthropology

Anthropology

• It includes topics such as human origin, globalization, social change and world history.
• It is the study of humankind in all times and all places, including prehistoric origins and contemporary human diversity.
• Anthropology helps discover what makes people different to understand and preserve diversity.
• Anthropology helps one discover what all people have in common.
• It encourages looking at culture objectively like an outsider.
• Anthropology helps produce new knowledge and theories about humankind and human behavior.

Fields of Anthropology

• Cultural anthropology studies living people and their cultures, including variation and change.
• Linguistic anthropology studies communication mainly in humans.
• Archeology studies past human cultures through their material remains.
• Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, studies humans as biological organisms, including their evolution and contemporary variation.

Sociology

• The term sociology comes from the Latin word "associate" and the Greek word 'logos', meaning "study of knowledge."
• August Comte is regarded as the Father of Sociology.
• Sociology is a science that studies human civilization.
• It is a systematic study of groups and societies people build and how these affect their behavior.
• The scientific study of sociology enables us to obtain possible theories and principles about society and various aspects of social life.
• It is a way to critically study the nature of humanity.
• It helps one appreciate that all things in society are interdependent with each other.
• It broadens our familiarity with sociological facts.
• It exposes our minds to the different perspectives on attaining the truth.

Branches of Sociology

• Social Organization: Study of social institutions, social inequality, social mobility, religious groups, and bureaucracy.
• Social Psychology: Study of human nature and its emphasis on social processes as they affect individual or responses called social stimuli.
• Applied Sociology: Concerned with the specific intent of yielding practical applications for human behavior and organizations.
• Population Studies: Includes size, growth, demographic characteristics, composition, migration, changes, and quality in relation to economics, political and social systems.
• Human Ecology: Study of the effects of various social organizations (religious, political) on the population's behavior.
• Sociological Theory and Research: Focuses on discovering theoretical tools, methods, and techniques to scientifically explain a particular sociological issue.
• Social Change: Factors that cause social organizations and social disorganization, such as calamity, drug abuse, drastic and gradual social change, and unemployment.
• Social Science: 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 the systematic study of political and government institutions and processes.

Politics and Government

• Politics originated from the Greek word 'polis', meaning city or state.
• It is the art and science of governing a city/state.
• Politics is the social process or strategies by which people gain, use, or lose power in any position of control.
• Government is the agency through which the will of the state is formulated, expressed, and carried out.
• It is the organized agency in a state tasked to impose social control.
• It is a group of people that governs a community or unit.
• Government exists for the benefit of the governed.
• State is a political concept referring to a community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently occupying a definite portion of territory.
• Nation is an ethical concept, meaning that people are bound together by common ethical elements such as race, language, and culture.

Anthropological Perspectives

• Unilineal Evolution: New cultural forms emerge from the past and pass through similar stages of development.
• Cultural Diffusionism: Culture originates from one or more culture centers.
• Historical Particularism: Each group of people has its own unique culture influenced by its history, geography, and environment.
• Anthropological Functionalism: Cultural elements and practices are interrelated and interdependent and persist because they have a purpose.
• Anthropological Structuralism: Cultural phenomena and practices have a relationship to one another.
• Cultural Materialism: Culture is influenced by technology, resources, economic values, and the utilization of things.

Sociological Perspectives

• Functionalism: Views society as an organized network of cooperation groups that orderly accept norms.
• Conflict Perspective: Sees the social environment in a continuous struggle, in contrast with functionalism.
• Symbolic Interaction: Deals with patterns of behavior in large units of society, such as organizations and communities.
• Evolutionism: Explains how human groups came to exist, grow, and develop.

Society

• Society is derived from the Latin word ‘societas' meaning 'companion' or 'associate'.
• Society refers to a population of people organized cooperatively to carry out major life functions, including reproduction, sustenance, shelter, and defense.
• Society is defined as a population occupying the same territory, subject to the same political authority, and participating in a common culture.

Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives on Society

• Anthropology deals with culture and perceives society as a group of people sharing a common culture.
• Sociology views society as an association organized by individuals with a territory.

Culture

• Culture may refer to individual taste, inclinations, and interest in the "fine arts."
• It can be referred to as being civilized.
• Culture is a complex whole that encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything a person learns and shares as a member of society.
• Culture is a unique characteristic of every human society, including how we think, act, and what we own.
• Culture, in sociological perspectives, is viewed as the imprint made by people.

Aspects of Culture

• Culture is dynamic, flexible, and adaptive.
• Artifacts are objects made by humans, either by hand or mass-produced.
• Culture includes arts, music, drama, literature, games, sports, and the use of leisure time.
• It includes clothing worn in a community.
• It includes customs and traditions.
• It includes the staple food commonly eaten in the community.
• It includes the government that implements roles, maintains peace and order, and addresses conflicts.
• Culture includes knowledge, which is the psychological result of perception, learning, and reasoning.
• It includes language.
• It includes religion, a strong belief in a supernatural power that controls human destiny.
• Culture include shelter.
• Culture includes tools used to improve task performance.
• It includes values we live by.

Orientations in Viewing Other Cultures

• In cultural relativism, culture only has meaning when taken into context.
• It is wrong to compare, apply, or judge one's culture from another culture.
• Ethnocentrism is the perception of one's own culture as superior compared to other cultures.
• Xenocentrism is the perception of one's own culture as inferior compared to other cultures.
• Enculturation is the gradual acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group.
• Culture shock is the feeling of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety when visiting, living, or doing business in a society different from one's own.
• Explicit culture refers to similarities in words and actions that can be directly observed.
• Implicit culture exists in abstract forms that are not obvious.

Characteristics of Culture

• Culture is social because it is the product of behavior.
• Culture varies from society to society.
• Culture is shared.
• Culture is learned.
• Culture is transmitted among members of society.
• Culture is continuous and cumulative.
• Culture is gratifying and idealistic.

Functions of Culture

• Culture defines the situation.
• Culture defines attitude, values, and goals.
• Culture defines myths, legends, and the supernatural.
• Culture provides behavior patterns.

Levels of cultural understanding

• Ethnocentrism is the tendency of each society to place its cultural patterns at the center of all things.
• Cultural relativism is the idea that all norms, beliefs, and values are dependent on their cultural context and should be treated as such.
• Xenocentrism is the preference for the foreign.
• Xenophobia is the fear of what is perceived as foreign or strange.

Hunting and Gathering Groups

• During the Paleolithic period, which lasted from the beginning of human life until about 10,000 BCE, people were Nomads.
• These societies are small, consisting of only 20 to 30 members, and people depend primarily on wild food for subsistence.
• They move from one place to another in search of new food supplies and may eat a large kill as a result of seasonal changes and conflict within the group.
• Kin groups include Nuclear Families and Extended Families.
• Nuclear families include a man, his wife or wives, and their unmarried children.
• Extended families contain multiple nuclear families linked by parent-child relationships.

Horticultural and Pastoral Societies

• First developed about 10,000 BCE.
• Horticultural societies use simple hand tools to raise crops.
• Pastoral societies raise and herd domesticated animals and use them as a major source of food.
• Some combine both forms and establish permanent settlements.

Agricultural Society

• Developed about 5,000 years ago in the Middle East with the invention of the plow pulled by animals, allowing more cultivation.
• The wheel was invented around the same time, and written language and numbers began to be used.
• Ancient Egypt was along the Nile river
• Iraq was along the Mesopatamia Tigris river
• China was along the Yellow river
• India developed simple calendars to keep track of planting and harvesting.
• Agricultural societies produce so much food, they often become quite large, sometimes reaching into the millions.
• Their food surpluses lead to extensive trade within society and with other societies.
• Greater size and inequality produce more conflict, both internal and external.

Industrial Society

• Emerged in the 1700s as machines and factories replaced the plow and agricultural equipment.
• First machines were powered by steam and water; electricity became the main source of power.
• Technological advances improved people's health and expanded their life span.
• There is a rise and growth of large cities, concentrated poverty, and degrading conditions.

Ferdinand Tonnies' divided societies

• Gemeinschaft Societies: Consist primarily of villages where everyone knows each other, relationships are life-long and based on kinship.
• Gesellschaft Societies: Are modernized, people have little in common, and relationships are short term and based on self-interest.

Post-Industrial Society

• We are increasingly living in the information age, where wireless technology vies with machines and factories as the basis for our economy.

Biological and Cultural Evolution

• Biological evolution refers to changes, modifications, and variations in the genetics and inherited traits of biological populations from one generation to another.
• Natural selection is the outcome of a process that affects the frequencies of traits in a particular environment.
• Traits that enhance survival and reproductive success increase in frequency over time.
• Every species is made up of a variety of individuals wherein some are better adapted to their environment compared to others.
• Organisms produce progeny with different sets of traits that can be inherited.
• Organisms that have the most suitable to their environment will survive and transfer these variations to their offspring in subsequent generations.
• Cultural or Sociocultural Evolution refers to changes or development in cultures from a simple form to a more complex form of human culture.
• Sociocultural evolution happens due to human adaptation to climatic changes and population increase.
• Sociological evolution explains how human societies change through time.

Levels of Development

• Hunting and Gathering Societies is the oldest and most basic way of economic substance.
• Horticultural and Pastoral Societies subsist through small-scale farming; Pastoral societies are classified as animal herders who subsist based on the resources provided by their animals.
• Agricultural Societies started to cultivate wheat, barley, peas, rice, and millet; during the Neolithic Revolution, agricultural societies developed and their population increased into millions.
• Industrial Societies began when the industrial revolution swept through Europe in the late 18th century; new sources of energy were harnessed, advanced forms of technology were applied, and types of machinery were invented.
• Post Industrial Societies saw the development of information technology and computers, with production centering on computers and other electronic devices.

Four Major Civilizations

• The Sumerian civilization developed along the Tigris and Euphrates River in West Asia.
• Indus Valley civilization started along the Indus River in India.
• Shang civilization of China developed near the Huang Hi/Huang He River.
• Egyptian civilization started along the Nile River.

Becoming a Member of Society: Enculturation/Socialization

• This process is by which individuals acquire personal identity and learn societal norms, values, behavior, habits, beliefs, social skills, and accumulated knowledge, starting at birth and continuing throughout life.
• Looking Glass Self Theory (Charles Horton Cooley): A person's sense of self is derived from how others perceive them.
• Role-taking Theory (George Herbert Mead): Social awareness develops through early social interactions; the sense of self includes the "Me" and the "I."

Agents of Socialization

• Family forms basic sense of self, motivations, values, and beliefs.
• School exposes individuals to new attitudes and values.
• Peers support independence from family and aid in transitioning to adult responsibilities.
• Mass Media provides information about the world and role models.
• Workplace teaches occupational behavior and marks the transition from adolescence.

Conformity and Deviance

• Conformity: Following societal norms.
• Deviance: Violating cultural norms.
• Social Control: Internal (personal values) and external (rewards and punishments).

Forms of Deviance

• Innovation: Rejecting the use of socially accepted means to achieve success.
• Ritualism: Rejecting the importance of success goals but continuing to work diligently.
• Retreatism: Withdrawing from society and not caring about success.
• Rebellion: Attempting to change the goals and means of society.

Human Dignity, Human Rights, and the Common Good

• Human Dignity: Inviolable and the basis of human rights.
• Human Rights: Inherent, interrelated, and indivisible rights for all humans.
• The Common Good: Often used to justify social systems but can be ambiguous.

Socialization and Enculturation

• Socialization is a lifelong process where people develop their human potential and learn culture; enculturation involves learning cultural requirements and values.
• Goals of socialization is to teach impulse control, prepare individuals for social roles, and cultivate shared values.

Mead and the Development of the Social Mind (Self)

• The self develops through social interactions.

Stage of Development of the Self

• Imitation: A child starts mimicking behaviors and actions of significant others.
• Play: The child takes on different roles they observe in "adult" society and plays them out to gain an understanding of various social roles.
• Game: The child must take the role of everyone else involved in the game, which involves organization and definite personalities.
• Generalized Others: Children function in organized groups and determine what they will do within a specific group, learning to consider the perspectives of others.

Identities and Identity Formation

• Involves cultural, ethnic, national, religious, and master identities.

Norms and Values

• Norms guide behavior, while values are standards for what is desirable.

Status and Roles

• Status is a social position, and roles are behaviors associated with that status.

Deviance

• Deviance is behavior that violates expected rules and norms.
• Structural Strain Theory: Deviance arises from the gap between cultural goals and available means.
• Labeling Theory: Criminality is defined by those in power.
• Social Control Theory: Deviance occurs when social bonds are weakened.

How Society is Organized: Classifications of Social Groups

• Primary Group: Members interact informally, spontaneously, and sympathetically, enjoying each other's company. They engage on a personal level with intimate relationships, strong bonds, and emotional attachment (Family, Couple, Church).
• Secondary Group: Members conduct themselves according to role expectations, acknowledging status, and degree of acquaintance (Co-workers/Officemates, Sports Teammates, Committee).

Social Groups categorized by Organization

• Formal Group: Intentionally formed and planned for carrying out specific purposes (Student Organizations, Professional Associations, Religious Orders)
• Informal Group: Formed unplanned and spontaneously established out of random association and interaction (Peer Group, Dating Group, Study Group)

Membership in social groups

• Open Group: Membership is open to everyone (Clubs, Public Forums).
• Closed Group: Membership is exclusive to a selected number of persons (School exclusive for Girls, Political Party).

Purpose of social groups

• Interest Groups formed to protect and promote the trade, interests, and well-being of its members (Guilds, Art Clubs, Labor Unions).
• Pressure Groups are those from the private sector, formed to influence the public's views (Militant Group, Advocacy Group).
• Task Groups consist of a pool of workers or performers following a chain of command for completing a task (Production Team, Sports Team, Orchestra).

Characteristics of social groups

• Social Group can be defined as a collection of people who regularly interact with each other based on shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity.
• Primary Group: Typically a small group whose members share close, personal, and enduring relationships.
• Secondary Group: Can be small or large and mostly impersonal and usually short-term; typically found at work and school.
• Reference Group: A group to which we compare ourselves; may also be called identity association groups since their creation is fueled by a person's desire to provide a character connection.
• In-Group: A social group to which an individual feels they belong; individuals can feel loyalty and respect for these groups.
• Out-Group: Social groups that an individual does not identify with; individuals can feel antagonism and contempt for these groups.
• Group Think is a process by which the members of a group ignore ways of thinking and plans of action that go against the group consensus.