Social Anthropology Overview Quiz

Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics: LESSON 1

Sharing Social and Cultural Backgrounds

• Gender: The range of characteristics pertaining to and differentiating between masculine and feminine.

Socioeconomics Status (SES)

• A combined economic and sociological measure.
• Shows the person's work experience and family's economic condition.

Ethnicity

• Cultural traits shared by a group of people, including language, religion, or national origin.
• When people integrate ethnicity into their identity and create a shared community, they’re demonstrating cultural self-awareness.

Religion

• A unified system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things, with separation/taboo-ing elements.
• These shared beliefs/practices unite people in a moral community.

Identity

• Distinctive characteristics that define an individual or group.

Observation About Social, Political and Cultural Behavior

• Food Taboos: Examples of food taboos are eating pork among Muslims. Students should look at culture instead of regarding them as odd.
• Istambays: People regarded as unruly or thieves who face job difficulties due to limited opportunities.

Political Dynasties

• Groups of people whose members are involved in politics.
• Often families in the Philippines who have held government positions for multiple generations.

Elections

• A formal decision-making process where a population chooses an individual to hold a public office.
• Can occur in legislative, executive, and judiciary branches of governments.

Observations on Social, Political and Cultural Change

• Social Change: Transformations that alter people's roles, statuses, and the structure/organization of society.
  • Examples given are women's rights and LGBTQIA+ issues.
• Political Change: Alterations in the way power and authority are exercised within a state.
  • Caused by conflicts, protests, or riots.
  • Example given is the transition from dictatorship to democratic government in the 1980s.

Definition of Anthropology, Political Science, and Sociology

• Anthropology: A systematic study of biological, cultural, and social aspects of humans.
• Political Science: The activity by which people create, maintain, and change the regulations they live under (Andrew Heywood).
• Sociology: The study of human social life. (Anthony Giddens)
  • Focus on the interplay between economic, political, and social factors.

Four Fields of Anthropology

• Cultural Anthropology,
• Biological Anthropology,
• Linguistic Anthropology,
• Social Anthropology.

Fields of Anthropology Continued

• Social Anthropology: Study of human societies, examining social patterns, practices and how different cultures develop.
• Cultural Anthropology examines the variations between societies and attempts to understand different cultures within their contexts. It includes customs patterns, and behaviors.
• Linguistic Anthropology: Examine the relationship between language, discourse, and the aspects that define a society. Also examines how language shapes human societies.
• Biological Anthropology: Studies the origin of humans, their adaptations, interplay between social factors and evolution, and how human characteristics evolve over time.