Introduction to Anthropology Study Guide PDF

FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. _1_ INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY MODULE OVERVIEW This mod...

FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. _1_ INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY MODULE OVERVIEW This module seeks to discuss the meaning of Anthropology and its historical background. Also, the subfields of anthropology are clearly stated and its relations to other Social Science disciplines are understandably delineated. A discussion on the uses of anthropology and anthropological methods are likewise included. MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. Define and discuss Anthropology and its basic concerns; 2. Identify the subfields of anthropology; 3. Explain the relations of Anthropology, with other Social Science disciplines and its importance in personal and professional lives; and 4. List methods used in Anthropology. LEARNING CONTENTS Anthropology Anthropology is derived from the Greek words: anthropos, meaning human beings or human kind and logos, meaning science or study. Putting these words together, anthropology means the study of human beings or human kind. As a scientific study of the origins, behavior, physical, social, and cultural development of human across spaces and over time, anthropology studies humankind, past, and present – in all its aspects especially human culture or human development. Anthropology is both broad scope social science and holistic discipline. As a broad scope social science, anthropologists are concerned in all human beings – dead or alive. As holistic discipline, anthropologists are interested in many different features of humans. Subject Matter and Scope of Anthropology The subject matter of anthropology is very vast. The subject covers all aspects of human ways of life and culture, as humans live in a social group relationship. Discovering the meaning, nature, origin, and destiny of humanity is one of the key concerns of anthropology. According to the present stage of scientific knowledge attained in anthropology, the term humanity or mankind is a very difficult term to define. Anthropologists seem to be unsure whether humanity is absolutely dichotomous with other lower forms of animals. Some may even tend to regard humanity and non-humanity as something that is best understood in the form of continuum. This sense of continuum may be particularly in terms of time scale. Thus, the farther we go in time backwards, the narrower becomes the difference between humanity and non- humanity. It has now become a generally accepted fact in anthropology, although no full evidences are forthcoming, that humanity is a product of the evolutionary processes, and that humans have evolved from their closest living primates (Bryan, 1997; Behe, 1996). Anthropology is interested in some of the following questions and issues about humans: 1. Where did human species come from (i.e. what are the origins of mankind)? PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 1  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 2. Were human beings created in the image and likeness of God, or were they just the products of millions of years of the natural, evolutionary process? 3. In what ways does man differ from other animal species? 4. How did mankind arrive at the present stage of biological, intellectual, and cultural development? 5. Is there a common human nature, and if so, what is it like? 6. In what ways do humans who live in various times and places differ? 7. How can we explain why cultures vary? Such and many other related questions are the concerns of anthropology. Brief Historical Overview of Anthropology The beginnings of anthropology date back to the period of discoveries and explorations from the 15th century to the 18th century and to the days of the Western explorations, missionaries, and colonial conquerors. For instance, the discoveries of antique tools and other artifacts in France and other parts in Europe in the beginning of the 19 th century proved the existence of man a million years ago. According to Haviland, “these discoveries took place during the time when advances in chemistry and physics were made.” And these aroused an interest in scientific inquiry. However, modern anthropology in both physical and cultural aspects started only around the 20th century. Modern anthropology was pioneered by Lewis Morgan, Sir Edward Taylor Herbert Spencer. Most of the early anthropologists were armchair theorists. They adopted a common-sense theme of an evolutionary view of humanity and human behaviour. Later, a higher level of research began using a careful and thorough gathering of the data about individual cultures. This new approach was adopted by Franz Boas and Alfred Kroeber. They were followed by Bronislaw Malinowski, Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown and other anthropologists. Sub-fields of Anthropology Anthropology is usually divided in four main sub-fields. These are: physical anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology and archaeological anthropology. Sometimes, applied anthropology is added as a fifth sub-field. 1. Physical Anthropology Physical anthropology is the branch of anthropology most closely related to the natural sciences, particularly biology; that is why it is often called biological anthropology (Scupin and DeCorse, 1995; Howard and Dunaif-Hattis, 1992). It studies the biological dimensions of human beings, including biological evolution, the physical variations between contemporary populations, and the biology and behavior of non-human primates. Physical anthropology itself is further divided into three special fields of study: paleoanthropology, primatology and anthropometry. Paleoanthropology: is a subspecialty in physical anthropology which is interested in the search for fossil remains from prehistoric times to trace the development of outstanding human physical, social and cultural characteristics. Paleoanthropology is the study of human evolution through analysis of fossil remains. Paleoanthropologists use a variety of sophisticated techniques to date, clarify and compare fossil bones to determine the links between modern humans and their biological ancestors (ibid. p3) Despite the highly acclaimed Darwinian theory of human origins, that humans are evolved from lower life forms, it may be appropriate to state that many writers in the evolutionary circle argue that there are limits to fossil evidences and paleoanthropology has many problems to tackle (Behe, 1996). As Bryan (1995) suggests, the great theory of Darwinian Evolution rests on so little evidence. Paleoanthropologists are aware of this limitation but textbook accounts of origins of human beings tend to neglect them. Primatology: The study of the biology and behavior of primates, that is, the animals that most closely resemble human beings in terms of physiological and anatomical structure, is an important field in physical anthropology. Primatologists observe primates such as gorillas, chimpanzees, PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 2  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 gibbons, and orangutans in their natural habitats to ascertain the similarities and differences between these other primates and humans (ibid, same page). Primatological research helps us understand what human beings share with other animals, what makes them part of the natural world and their unique characteristics (Howard and Dunaif-Hattis, 1992). Anthropometry: The study of human variations within and among different populations in time and space, human ecology, population genetics, etc make up the central concerns of this sub- branch of physical anthropology. These physical differences may be in terms of blood types, skin colors, skull shape, facial shape, hair texture, and the like. Anthropometry shades some light on how differing physical characteristics have helped human groups adapt different geographical environments. Population genetics, the study of biological inheritance plays an important role in anthropometry, what is sometimes termed as biological anthropology (Scupin and DeCorse, 1995; Howard and Dunaif-Hattis, 1992). The investigation of human variations among living populations has led to the application of the knowledge in solving practical problems. The development of a specialty known as forensic anthropology is one of the results of these attempts. Forensic anthropology is the identification of human skeletal remains for medical and legal purposes. Forensic anthropologists work often with other forensic specialists in aiding criminal investigations. Forensic anthropologists attempt to determine the sex, age at death, ancestral background, and stature of the deceased individual. Using this knowledge, forensic anthropologists identify crash victims, war causalities, homicide victims, and skeletal remains in unmarked graves (Howard and Dunaif-Hattis, 1992; Scupin and DeCorse, 1995; Kotttak, 2002). 2. Cultural Anthropology Cultural anthropology (also called social or sociocultural anthropology) is the study of patterns of human behavior, thought, and feelings. It focuses on humans as culture-producing and culture- reproducing creatures. To understand the work of cultural anthropologists, we must clarify the meaning of culture—a society’s shared and socially transmitted ideas, values, and perceptions, which are used to make sense of experience and which generate behavior and are reflected in that behavior. These are the (often unconscious) standards by which societies—structured groups of people— operate. These standards are socially learned—not acquired through biological inheritance. Cultures may vary considerably from place to place, but no person is “more cultured” in the anthropological sense than any other. Integral to all the anthropological fields, the concept of culture might be considered anthropology’s distinguishing feature. After all, biological anthropologists are distinct from biologists primarily because they take culture into account. Cultural anthropologists may study the legal, medical, economic, political, or religious system of a given society, knowing that all aspects of culture interrelate as part of a unified whole. They may focus on divisions in a society— such as gender, age, or class. These same categories are also significant to archaeologists who study a society through its material remains, to linguistic anthropologists who examine ancient and modern languages, and to biological anthropologists who investigate the physical human body. Cultural anthropology has two main components: ethnography and ethnology. An ethnography—a detailed description of a particular culture—is based on fieldwork, the term all anthropologists use for on-location research. Ethnographic fieldwork entails a combination of social participation and personal observation within the community being studied and interviews and discussions with individual members of a group. This methodology, commonly referred to as participant observation, provides the information used to make systematic comparisons of cultures all across the world. Known as ethnology, such cross-cultural research allows anthropologists to develop theories about differences and similarities among groups. 3. Archaeological Anthropology Archaeology studies the ways of lives of past peoples by excavating and analyzing the physical remains they left behind. Artifacts are the material remains of human societies (Scupin and DeCorse, 1995). Archeologists also study ecofacts, the footprints on the ecology by the past societies. PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 3  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 This helps reveal the way human societies interacted with their local ecosystems. Tools, ornaments, pottery, animal bones, human skeletal material, and evidence of how people lived in the distant past are collected, and systematically analyzed. Archeological anthropology has three major goals: 1) classifying and sequencing material culture; 2) reconstructing ancient ways of life; and 3) explaining and delineating cultural processes (Howard and Dunaif- Hattis, 1992). Some branches of study in archeology include: Prehistoric archeology: Prehistoric archeology investigates human prehistory; that is the periods of time in a region before the art of writing developed. Many anthropological archeologists study societies that did not leave behind any written records. Prehistoric archeology uses material remains to reconstruct prehistoric life ways; it also studies contemporary peoples whose styles of life are analogous and or comparable to those of ancient peoples. For example, by studying the ways of life of present hunter and gatherer societies, prehistoric archeologists can gain insights into the ways in which the ancient foraging peoples lived (Ibid. P. 11) Ethnoarchaeology: This may be regarded as an aspect of prehistoric archeology. It is an approach to ethnographic analogy in which archeologists make their own observation of the contemporary cultures rather than relying on information provided by cultural anthropologists. Historical archaeology: uses the evidence provided by excavated remains to enhance our understanding of historic peoples; that is, peoples who had writing and about whom written records are available. Historical archeologists study sites dating from historic times. Much of the work of historical archeologists has been to help preserve historical sites (Ibid. p12). Classical archeology: Is an aspect of historic archeology; it deals primarily with the ancient civilizations and empires of Europe and the Middle East, including Egypt, Greece, Roman and Persia, Axum, etc. There are several other specialized areas of study and research in archeology such as industrial archeology, underwater archeology, marine archeology, cognitive archeology, experimental archeology, biblical archeological, cultural resource management, and so on. 4. Linguistic Anthropology Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists describe and analyze the sound patterns, combinations of sounds, meanings and structure of sentence in human languages (Kottak, 1994). They also attempt to determine how two or more languages are related. Historically, modern linguists are especially interested in whether all human languages share any universal common feature. Some recent work suggests that human infants are born with knowledge of a set of generalized rules that allow them to discover the specific rules of language around them and to formulate new sentences by applying these rules. The terms linguistic anthropology, anthropological linguistics, and ethnolinguistics are often used interchangeably in the linguistic anthropology literature. However, the more preferred term is linguistic anthropology. It is defined as “the study of speech and language within the context of anthropology…. It is the study of language as a cultural resource and speaking as a cultural practice.” (Durnati, 1997:1). Linguistic anthropology usually focuses on unwritten languages (i.e., those languages which have no form of writing, languages used by indigenous peoples of the non-western societies). It is especially concerned with relations between language and other aspects of human behavior and thought. Linguistic anthropologists might describe and analyze a language so far unknown to linguistic science. The branch of linguistic anthropology, called sociolinguistics is interested in how the language is used in various social contexts. For example, what speech style must one use with people of higher social standing? How does a local political leader use language to earn people's allegiance? What can the naming of various parts of the natural and social environment tell as about people's perception of their environments? A second important branch called historical linguistics focuses on the comparison and classifications of different languages to discern the historical links between them. This historical PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 4  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 linguistic research is particularly useful in tracing the migration routes of various societies through time (Scupin and De Corse, 1995). Another branch, called structural linguistics, studies the structure of linguistic patterns. Structural linguists compare grammatical patterns and other linguistic elements to find out how contemporary languages are similar to and different from one another. 5. Applied Anthropology Applied anthropology, the application of anthropological knowledge, methods and approaches to the solving of human problems, is often now seen as a fifth major branch of anthropology, although it is not well-established as the traditionally known four fields. Applied anthropology involves the use of data gathered in other subfields of anthropology in an endeavor to tackle contemporary societal problems. Anthropologists have increasingly become concerned with practically dealing with human problems (Bodley, 1996; Podolefsky and Brown, 1993). The problems may include: environmental, technological, economic, social, political or cultural. Applied anthropologist now work in quite many areas of relevance such as education, mass medical, medicine, development, business, agriculture, crime and urban poverty, etc (Scupin and DeCorse, 1995; Kottak, 2002). Contributions of Anthropology The contributions of anthropology may be categorized in to the following (World Book Encyclopedia 1994, Vol. 1, Howard and Dunaif-Hattis 1992; Aoyagi, 1999): 1. Anthropology gives us an insight into different ways and modes of life of a given society, to understand the logic behind and justification for human activities and behavior. 2. Anthropology also helps us understand our own ways of lives. Many aspects of our lives seem to us normal, so we don't know the logic behind. Eating injera, for example, is assumed to be normal to those whose staple (main) food item is injera. By studying anthropology, we look into ourselves through the others' ways of lives. As we study anthropology, we encounter a different way of lives from ourselves, and hence we get opportunity to appreciate and understand ourselves. 3. Anthropology helps us fight against prejudices and discriminations. It helps us fight against ethnocentrism; the attitude that one's own culture and one's own way of life is the center of the world and the best of all. This arises from ignorance about other ethnic groups and their ways of lives. 4. Anthropology is also used as a tool for development. Applied anthropology, here, is the application of anthropological knowledge and research results in the solution of some social problems or in the implementation of project plans. In addition to the aforementioned points, we may substantiate the contributions of anthropology as follows: 1. Because of its broad scope, anthropology allows us to understand the biological, technological and cultural development of humanity over long period of time in human evolution. 2. Because of its comparative approach to humanity, anthropology allows us to separate what is unique to our way of life from what is general to all people. 3. Because of its relativistic approach, anthropology helps us to be more sensitive and appreciative of cultural diversity and variability. It helps us to avoid some of the misunderstanding that commonly arises when individuals of different cultural traditions come into contact. Anthropology reduces ethnocentrism by instilling an appreciation of cultural diversity. Anthropology can help us be aware that when we interact with people from other cultural traditions, their actions are not always intended to mean what we take them to mean, and therefore much miscommunication can be avoided. Health workers involved in health care provision in various cultural settings will find it very helpful if they develop this mentality. 4. Anthropologists bring a holistic approach to national and international development agencies. PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 5  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 5. Anthropologists use their expertise in particular subjects to formulate practical ways of coping with immediate social problems. Medical anthropologists, for example, investigate the interrelationship between human health, nutrition, and cultural beliefs and practices. In general, anthropology more than any other sciences, can reveal the alternative ways of living developed by diverse segments of humanity. Unique Approaches of Anthropology 1. Anthropology is Holistic: Studying one aspect of the ways of life of a group of people by relating it to other complex related aspects of life. 2. Anthropology is Relativistic: Anthropology tries to study and explain a certain belief, practice or institution of a group of people in its own context. It does not make value judgment, i.e., declaring that ‘this belief or practice is good’ or ‘that is bad.’ 3. Anthropology is Comparative: Anthropology studies certain aspects of the culture of a group of people by comparing it across societies and different times; i.e., the present with the past, the modern with the traditional, etc. Research Methods Anthropologists use both objective (scientific) and subjective (interpretive) methods in their research. As scientists, anthropologists systematically collect information to answer specific research questions. They also document their work so that other researchers can duplicate it. But many anthropologists also conduct informal kinds of research, including impromptu discussions with and observations of the peoples they study. Some of the more common types of anthropological research methods include (1) immersion in a culture, (2) analysis of how people interact with their environment, (3) linguistic analysis, (4) archaeological analysis, and (5) analysis of human biology. A. Cultural Immersion Researchers trained in cultural anthropology employ a variety of methods when they study other cultures. Traditionally, however, much anthropological research involves long-term, direct observation of and participation in the life of another culture. This practice, known as participant observation, gives anthropologists a chance to get an insider’s view of how and why other people do what they do. Polish-born British anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski was the first anthropologist to document a detailed method of participant observation. Malinowski spent two years living with the people of the Trobriand Islands, part of Papua New Guinea, between 1915 and 1918. He learned the Trobriand language and explored the people’s religion, magic, gardening, trade, and social organization. He later published a series of books describing all aspects of Trobriand life. Malinowski's work became a model of research methods for generations of anthropologists. Just as Malinowski did, most anthropologists today learn local languages to help them gain an insider’s view of a culture. Anthropologists commonly collect information by informally asking questions of the people with whom they live. Often anthropologists will find individuals within the society being studied who are especially knowledgeable and who are willing to become so-called informants. Informants typically enjoy talking with a sympathetic outsider who wishes to interpret and record their culture. Informants and anthropologists may also form teams in which the informants work as anthropologists. While informants often provide much useful information, anthropologists also have to take into account the biases that people typically have in explaining their own cultures. In some cases, anthropologists may use interviews to record extensive life histories of individuals with whom they have good relationships. Older people usually volunteer to tell their life PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 6  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 stories, often because they have seen many changes since their youth and enjoy telling of past experiences and lessons learned. Such stories can provide valuable insights on how cultures change. Anthropologists also commonly construct genealogies (diagrams of kinship relations) and maps to show how the people in communities are related to one another, how people organize themselves in groups, and how people and groups interact with each other. These research tools can provide a way for anthropologists to see cultural patterns and complexities of daily life that would otherwise be difficult to discern or comprehend. B. Human Ecology Many anthropologists combine cultural research with studies of the environments in which people live. Human ecology examines how people interact with their natural environments, such as to make a living. Anthropologists may collect large amounts of data about features of a culture’s environment, such as types of plants and animals, the chemical and nutritional properties of medicines and foods, and climate patterns. This information can provide explanations for some characteristics of a people’s culture. For instance, in the 1960s American anthropologist Roy Rappaport analyzed the ecological significance of a ritual cycle of peace and warfare among the Tsembaga people of Papua New Guinea. Rappaport found that the Tsembaga and neighboring groups would maintain peace for periods of between 12 and 20 years. During these periods, the people would grow sweet potato gardens and raise pigs. The people would also guard areas of land they had previously gardened but which were now unused and believed to be occupied by ancestor spirits. When the presence of too many pigs rooting up gardens and eating sweet potato crops became a nuisance, the Tsembaga would feast on the pigs, perform a ritual to remove spirit ancestors from old gardens, and then lift the ban on warfare. The lifting of the ban allowed the Tsembaga to capture abandoned lands from other groups. This regulation of warfare coincided with the amount of time it took for abandoned gardens to regain their fertility, and so made good ecological sense. C. Linguistic Analysis Linguistic anthropologists, as well as many cultural anthropologists, use a variety of methods to analyze the details of a people’s language. The practice of phonology, for example, involves precisely documenting the sound properties of spoken words. Many linguistic anthropologists also practice orthography, the technique of creating written versions of spoken languages. In addition, most study the properties of grammar in languages, looking for the rules that guide how people communicate their thoughts through strings of words. Language reveals much about a people’s culture. Anthropologists have studied such topics as how different languages assign gender to words, shape the ways in which people perceive the natural and supernatural worlds, and create or reinforce divisions of rank and status within societies. For instance, many of the peoples native to North America conceive of time as a continual cycle of renewal, a concept quite different from the European belief that time only moves forward in a progression from the past to the future. Linguists have found that many Native American languages, such as that of the Hopi of the North American Southwest, include grammatical constructions for saying that something exists in a state of “becoming,” even though it does not yet actually exist. English and other European languages cannot as easily express such an idea, nor can most Europeans or Americans of European descent truly understand it. D. Archaeological Analysis Archaeologists use specialized research methods and tools for the careful excavation and recording of the buried remains of past cultures. Remote sensing involves the use of airplane PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 7  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 photography and radar systems to find buried sites of past human cultures. Rigorous methods of excavation allow archaeologists to map the precise locations of remains for later analysis. Seriation, the practice of determining relative age relationships among different types of artifacts based on their shapes and styles, helps archaeologists learn how past cultures changed and evolved. Archaeologists also use a variety of dating methods involving chemical and other types of scientific analysis to reveal the age of buried objects up to millions of years old. In addition, some archaeologists have training in cultural anthropology, and they may use cultural research to help them interpret what they find buried in the ground. For example, people in many small-scale societies continued to make tools of stone into the 20th century, and some still know how. By watching these people make their tools, archaeologists have learned how to interpret patterns of chipped pieces of stone buried in the ground. E. Physical Anthropological Research Physical anthropologists often rely on rigorous medical scientific methods for at least part of their research, in addition to more general observational methods. All physical anthropologists have detailed knowledge of human skeletal anatomy. Paleoanthropologists and forensic anthropologists can construct extremely detailed descriptions of people’s lives from only measurements of bones and teeth. These researchers typically analyze the chemical or cellular composition of bones and teeth, patterns of wear or injury, and placement in or on the ground. Such analyses can reveal information about the sex, age, work habits, and diet of a person who died long ago. Some physical anthropologists specialize in epidemiology, the study of disease and health among large groups of people. In addition to studying diseases themselves, physical anthropologists focus on cultural causes and preventions of disease. They may study such specific medical topics as nutrition and gastrointestinal function, human reproduction, or the effects of drugs on brain and body function. For instance, physical anthropologists working in San Francisco, California, studied how the beliefs and practices of homosexual and bisexual men factored into the spread of the AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) virus in the 1980s. This information helped in the design of effective health education programs to reduce the spread of the disease. Physical anthropologists studying human genetics use sophisticated laboratory techniques to analyze human chromosomes and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the structures through which people inherit traits from their parents. With these techniques, researchers have identified human populations that have genetic predispositions to specific diseases, such as types of cancer. This knowledge has promoted increased focus on the use of preventive measures among people with higher risk for disease. Anthropology and Other Social Sciences Anthropology shares certain interests and subjects of study with other fields of social science, especially sociology, psychology, and history, but also economics and political science. Anthropology also differs from these fields in many ways. Like sociology, anthropology involves the study of human society and culture. But anthropology began as the study of small-scale tribal societies, large-scale chiefdoms, and ancient civilizations, and later moved to include global-scale societies. Sociology, on the other hand, has always emphasized the study of modern and urbanized societies. Anthropology involves the comparison of different societies in order to understand the scope of human cultural diversity. Sociology, on the other hand, frequently examines universal patterns of human behavior. Anthropology also examines certain aspects of human psychology. Anthropology studies how people become enculturated—shaped by their culture as they grow up in a particular society. Through enculturation, people develop culturally accepted ideas of what behavior is normal or abnormal and of how the world works. Anthropology examines how people’s patterns of thought and behavior are shaped by culture and how those patterns vary from society to society. By contrast, psychology PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 8  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 generally focuses on the universal characteristics of human thought and behavior, and studies these characteristics in individual people. The study of history is also a part of anthropology. In its formal sense, the term history refers only to periods of time after the invention of writing. Anthropologists often study historical documents to learn more about the past of living peoples. Historical archaeologists, who specialize in the study of historical cultures, also study written documents. But all anthropologists primarily study people, their societies, and their cultures. Historians, on the other hand, primarily study written records of the past—from which they cannot learn about human societies that had or have no writing. In addition, anthropology examines some topics also studied in economics and political science. But anthropologists focus on how aspects of economics and politics relate to other aspects of culture, such as important rituals. Anthropologists who specialize in the study of systems of exchange in small- scale societies may refer to themselves as economic anthropologists. LEARNING ACTIVITY 1 Review Questions Answer the following questions briefly. 1. What is anthropology? 2. Discuss the historical backgrounds of sociocultural anthropology. 3. What is the difference between ethnography and ethnology? 4. Why do anthropologists study primate behaviour? 5. What common characteristics does anthropology share with the other sciences? 6. What distinguishes anthropology from other human sciences? 7. What are the personal and professional uses of anthropology to you? ASSESSMENT Timeline Create a timeline of history of anthropology. History of Anthropology SUMMARY PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 9  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 Anthropology is broad scientific discipline, which was born lately in the 19th century, with the major aim of scientific study and documentation of the physical, socio-cultural and other diversities among people, past and present. It specially studies simple, small-scale societies in the non-western world. Its holistic, comparative and relativistic approaches, its unit of analysis and method of study along with its broad scope make it unique. However, it shares many things with the other sciences. The science of anthropology has many theoretical and practical importance and contributions. The four main branches of anthropology are physical anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology and archaeological anthropology. Applied anthropology is sometimes regarded as a fifth sub-filed. Each of the major branches of anthropology has several specialized areas of study within it. Anthropology as a science has as its major goal the making, accumulation and dissemination of scientific knowledge on society and culture. REFERENCES Alimbuyugen, M., et al. (2012). Sociology and Anthropology. IBM Publishing Haviland, W., et al., (2017). Cultural Anthropology. CENGAGE Learning Kottak, C. (2017). Cultural Anthropology: Appreciating Cultural Diversity, Seventeenth Edition. McGraw-Hill Education http://individual.utoronto.ca/bopyd/anthro7.htm#:~:text=Anthropology%20traces%20its%20roots%2 0to,the%20organization%20of%20human%20society.&text=They%20treated%20these%20question s%20as,were%20the%20creations%20of%20God PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 10  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 2 STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. ___ NATURE OF CULTURE MODULE OVERVIEW The concept of culture is central to anthropology. The capacity for making culture differentiates mankind from nonhumans. The term culture is not used with consistent meanings. It is used with various meanings in commonsense. In this module, a vivid discussion about culture and its characteristics, components, and patterns are presented. Also, the roles of enculturation and relativism in understanding culture are included. MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. Define the meaning of culture; 2. Understand the significance of enculturation, cultural relativism and diffusion; 3. Identify the emic and etic aspects of culture; and 4. Understand the universal characteristics of culture. LEARNING CONTENTS The Concept and Characteristics of Culture Anthropologists conceived the modern concept of culture toward the end of the 19th century. Reaching deeper than observable behavior, culture is a society’s shared and socially transmitted ideas, values, and perceptions, which are used to make sense of experience and generate behavior and are reflected in that behavior. Through the comparative study of many human cultures, past and present, anthropologists have gained an understanding of the basic characteristics evident in all of them: Every culture is socially learned, shared, based on symbols, integrated, and dynamic. A careful study of these characteristics helps us to see the importance and the function of culture itself. Culture Is Learned All culture is socially learned rather than biologically inherited. One learns one’s own culture by growing up with it, and the process whereby culture is passed on from one generation to the next is called enculturation. Enculturation is the process by which a child learns his or her culture. Most animals eat and drink whenever the urge arises. Humans, however, are enculturated to do most of their eating and drinking at certain culturally prescribed times and feel hungry as those times approach. Eating times vary from culture to culture, as does what is eaten and how and where it is acquired, prepared, and consumed. Also, humans rely on food for more than nutrition. When used to celebrate rituals and religious activities, food “establishes relationships of give and take, of cooperation, of sharing, of an emotional bond that is universal” (Caroulis, 1996, p. 16). Through enculturation every person learns socially appropriate ways of satisfying the basic biologically determined needs of all humans: food, sleep, shelter, companionship, self-defense, and sexual gratification. It is important to distinguish between the needs themselves, which are not learned, and the learned ways in which they are satisfied—for each culture determines in its own way how these needs will be met. For instance, Sinhalese children growing up in fishing families on the tropical island country of Sri Lanka surely have different ideas about what constitutes a great meal and a comfortable way to sleep than do the offspring of semi-nomadic Kazakh herders living in the high steppe grasslands of Central Asia. All mammals exhibit learned behavior to some degree. Several species may even be said to have elementary culture, in that local populations share patterns of behavior that, as among humans, PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 11  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 each generation learns from the one before and that differ from one population to another. It is important to note that not all learned behavior is cultural. For instance, a pigeon may learn tricks, but this behavior is the result of conditioning by repeated training, not the product of enculturation. Beyond our species, examples of socially learned behavior are particularly evident among other primates. Chimpanzees, for example, will take a twig, strip it of all leaves, and smooth it down to fashion a “fishing” tool, which they use to extract termites from the insects’ dirt mounds. Such toolmaking, which juveniles learn from their elders, is unquestionably a rudimentary form of cultural behavior once thought to be exclusively human. Research shows that in both nature and in captivity, primates in general and apes in particular “possess a near-human intelligence, generally including the use of sounds in representational ways, a rich awareness of the aims and objectives of others, the ability to engage in tactical deception, and the faculty to use symbols in communication with humans and each other” (Reynolds, 1994, p. 4). Our increasing awareness of such traits in our primate relatives has spawned movements to extend human rights to apes—rights such as freedom from living in fear, respect for dignity, and not being subjected to incarceration (caging), exploitation (medical experimentation), or other mistreatment (Hays, 2015; O’Carroll, 2008). Culture Is Shared Culture is an attribute not of individuals per se but of individuals as members of groups. Culture is transmitted in society. A society is an organized group or groups of interdependent people who generally share a common territory, language, and culture and who act together for collective survival and well-being. The ways in which these people depend upon one another can be seen in features such as their economic, communication, and defense systems. They are also bound together by a general sense of common identity. Because culture and society are such closely related concepts, anthropologists’ study both. Obviously, there can be no culture without a society. Conversely, there are no known human societies that do not exhibit culture. Without culture, human society quickly falls apart. This cannot be said for all animal species. Ants and bees, for example, instinctively cooperate in a manner that clearly indicates a remarkable degree of social organization, yet this instinctual behavior is not a culture. Although members of a society share a culture, it is important to realize that no two people share the exact same version of their culture. At the very least, there is some distinction between the roles of children and elders, men and women. This stems from the fact that there are obvious differences between human infants, adults, and highly aged individuals, as well as between female and male reproductive anatomy and physiology. Every society gives cultural meaning to biological sex differences by explaining them in a particular way and specifying what their significance is in terms of social roles and expected patterns of behavior. Because each culture does this in its own way, there can be tremendous variation from one society to another. Anthropologists use the term gender to refer to the cultural elaborations and meanings assigned to the biological differentiation between the sexes. So, although one’s sex is biologically determined, one’s gender is culturally constructed within the context of one’s particular society. Apart from sexual differences directly related to reproduction, biologically based reasons for contrasting gender roles have largely disappeared in modern industrialized and postindustrial societies. A major factor in this change is technology, which evens up the capabilities of men and women in many tasks requiring muscular strength—such as moving heavy automobile engines in assembly lines equipped with hydraulic lifts. Nevertheless, all cultures exhibit at least some role differentiation related to biology— some far more so than others. In addition to cultural variation associated with gender, there is also variation related to age. In any society, children are not expected to behave as adults, and the reverse is equally true. But then, who is a child and who is an adult? Again, although age differences are natural, cultures give their own meaning and timetable to the human life cycle. In North America, for example, individuals are generally not regarded as adults until the age of 18. In many other cultures, adulthood begins earlier— often around age 12, an age closer to the biological changes of adolescence. Subcultures: Groups Within a Larger Society PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 12  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 Besides age and gender differentiation, there may be cultural variation between subgroups in complex societies that share an overarching culture. These may be occupational groups in societies with an extensive division of labor, or social classes in a stratified society, or ethnic groups in pluralistic societies. When such a group exists within a society—functioning by its own distinctive set of ideas, values, and behavior patterns while still sharing some common standards—we call it a subculture. Amish communities are one example of a subculture in North America. Specifically, they are an ethnic group— people who collectively and publicly identify themselves as a distinct group based on various cultural features such as shared ancestry and common origin, language, customs, and traditional beliefs. The Amish originated in western Europe during the Protestant revolutions about 500 years ago. Today, members of this group number more than 200,000 and live mainly in the United States—in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin—as well as in Ontario, Canada. These rural pacifists base their lives on their traditional Anabaptist beliefs, which hold that only adult baptism is valid and that “true Christians” (as they define them) should not hold government office, bear arms, or use force. They prohibit marriage outside their faith, which calls for obedience to radical Christian teachings, including rejection of material wealth and social separation from the “evils” of the “outside” world. Resisting government attempts to force their children to attend regular public schools, Amish communities insist that education take place near home and that teachers be committed to Amish ideals. Among themselves, they usually speak a German dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch (from Deutsch, meaning “German”). They use formal German for religious purposes, although children learn English in school. Valuing simplicity, hard work, and a high degree of neighborly cooperation, they dress in distinctive plain garb and even today rely on the horse for transportation as well as agricultural work. In sum, the Amish share the same ethnicity. This term, rooted in the Greek word ethnikos (“nation”) and related to ethnos (“custom”), refers to the set of cultural ideas held by an ethnic group. Because economic challenges make it impossible for most to subsist solely on farming, some Amish work outside their communities. Many more market homemade goods to tourists and other outsiders. Their economic separation from mainstream society has declined somewhat, but their cultural separation has not (Kraybill, 2001). They remain a reclusive community, more distrustful than ever of the dominant North American culture surrounding them and mingling as little as possible with non - Amish people. The Amish are but one example of the way a subculture may develop and be dealt with by the larger culture within which it functions. Different as they are, the Amish actually put into practice many values that other North Americans often respect in the abstract: thrift, hard work, independence, a close family life. The degree of tolerance accorded to them, in contrast to some other ethnic groups, is also due in part to their European origin; they are defined as being of the same “white race” as those who historically comprise dominant mainstream society. Amish subculture in North America developed gradually in response to how members of this strict Protestant sect have adapted to survive within the wider North American society while holding tightly to the conservative rural lifeways of their European ancestors. In contrast, North American Indian subcultures are distinctive ways of life rooted in traditions of formerly independent societies. Native Americans endured invasion of their own territories and colonization by European settlers and were brought under the control of federal governments in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Although all American Indian groups have experienced enormous changes due to colonization, many have retained traditions significantly different from those of the dominant Euromerican culture surrounding them. This makes it difficult to determine whether they persevere as distinct cultures as opposed to subcultures. In this sense, culture and subculture represent opposite ends of a continuum, with no clear dividing line between them. The Anthropology Applied feature on the next page examines the intersection of culture and subculture with an example concerning Apache Indian housing. Pluralism Our discussion raises the issue of a multi-ethnic or pluralistic society in which two or more ethnic groups or nationalities are politically organized into one territorial state but maintain their cultural differences. Pluralistic societies emerged after the first politically centralized states arose 5,000 years ago. With the rise of the state, it became possible to bring about the political unification of two or more PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 13  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 formerly independent societies, each with its own culture, thereby creating a more complex order that transcends the theoretical one culture–one society linkage. Anthropology makes an important distinction between state and nation. States are politically organized territories that are internationally recognized, whereas nations are socially organized bodies of people who share ethnicity—a common origin, language, and cultural heritage. For example, the Kurds constitute a nation, but their homeland is divided among several states: Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. The international boundaries among these states were drawn up after World War I (1914–1918) with little regard for the region’s indigenous ethnic groups or nations. Similar state-formation processes have taken place throughout the world, especially in Asia and Africa, often destabilizing inherently fragile political conditions in these countries. Pluralistic societies, which are common in the world today, all face the same challenge: They are composed of groups that, by virtue of their high degree of cultural variation, are all essentially operating by different sets of rules. Because social living requires predictable behavior, it may be difficult for the members of any one subgroup to accurately interpret and follow the different standards by which the others operate. Ethnocentrism—defined in Chapter 1 as the belief that the cultural ways of one’s own culture are superior—is prevalent around the world and contributes to cross-cultural misunderstanding and distrust among different subgroups within a pluralistic society. There are many current examples of troubled pluralistic societies, including Afghanistan and Nigeria, where central governments face major challenges in maintaining peace and lawful order. In countries where one ethnic group is substantially larger than others, such as the Han in China, greater numbers may be used to political and economic advantage at the expense of minority groups. Culture Is Based on Symbols Nearly all human behavior involves symbols. A symbol is a sound, gesture, mark, or other sign that is linked to something else and represents it in a meaningful way. Because often there is no inherent or necessary relationship between a thing and its representation, symbols are arbitrary, acquiring specific meanings when people agree on usage in their communications. Symbols—ranging from national flags to wedding rings, money, and words—enter into every aspect of culture, from social life and religion to politics and economics. We are all familiar with the fervor and devotion that a religious symbol can elicit from a believer. An Islamic crescent moon, Christian cross, or a Jewish Star of David—as well as the sun among Inca, a mountain among Kikuyus, or any other object of worship—may bring to mind years of struggle and persecution or may stand for a whole philosophy or religion. The most important symbolic aspect of culture is language—using words to represent objects and ideas. Through language humans are able to transmit culture from one generation to the next. In particular, language makes it possible to learn from cumulative, shared experience. Without it, one could not inform others about events, emotions, and other experiences. Language is so important that one of the four main subfields of anthropology is dedicated to its study. Culture Is Integrated The breadth and depth of every culture is remarkable. It includes what people do for a living, the tools they use, the ways they work together, how they transform their environments and construct their dwellings, what they eat and drink, how they worship, what they believe is right or wrong, what they celebrate, what gifts they exchange, who they marry, how they raise their children, and how they deal with misfortune, sickness, death, and so on. Because these and all other aspects of a culture must be reasonably well integrated in order to function properly, anthropologists seldom focus on one cultural feature in isolation. Instead, they view each in terms of its larger context and carefully examine its connections to related features. For purposes of comparison and analysis, anthropologists conceptualize a culture as a structured system made up of distinctive parts that function together as an organized whole. Although they may sharply identify each part as a clearly defined unit with its own characteristics and distinctive place within the larger system, anthropologists recognize that social reality is complex and subject to change, and that divisions among cultural units are seldom clear-cut. Broadly speaking, a society’s cultural features fall within three categories: social structure, infrastructure, and superstructure, as depicted in our “barrel model”. PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 14  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 The Barrel Model of Culture Every culture is an integrated and dynamic system of adaptation that responds to a combination of internal factors (economic, social, ideological) and external factors (environmental, climatic). Within a cultural system, there are functional relationships among the economic base (infrastructure), the social organization (social structure), and the ideology (superstructure). A change in one lead to a change in the others. The Barrel Model of Culture To ensure a community’s biological continuity, a culture must provide a social structure for reproduction and mutual support. Social structure concerns rule-governed relationships—with all their rights and obligations—that hold members of a society together. Households, families, associations, and power relations, including politics, are all part of social structure. It establishes group cohesion and enables people to consistently satisfy their basic needs, including food and shelter for themselves and their dependents, by means of work. There is a direct relationship between a group’s social structure and its economic foundation, which includes subsistence practices and the tools and other material equipment used to make a living. Because subsistence practices involve tapping into available resources to satisfy a society’s basic needs, this aspect of culture is known as infrastructure. It comprises strategies for the production and distribution of goods and services considered necessary for life. Supported by this economic foundation, a society is held together by a shared sense of identity and worldview. This superstructure is composed of a collection of ideas, beliefs, and values, including religion, by which members of a society make sense of reality. Worldview, also known as ideology, comprises a people’s overarching ideas about themselves and the world around them, and it gives meaning and direction to their lives. Influencing and reinforcing one another—continually adapting to changing demographic, technological, political, economic, and ideological factors—the interconnected features in these three interdependent structures together form part of a cultural system. Culture Is Dynamic Cultures are dynamic systems that respond to motions and actions within and around them. When one element within the system shifts or changes, the entire system strives to adjust, just as it does when an outside force applies pressure. To function adequately, a culture must be flexible enough to allow such adjustments in the face of unstable or changing circumstances. All cultures are, of necessity, dynamic, but some are far less so than others. When a culture is too rigid or static and fails to provide its members with the means required for long term survival under changing conditions, it is not likely to endure. On the other hand, some cultures are so fluid and open to change that they may lose their distinctive character. The Amish mentioned earlier in PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 15  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 this chapter typically resist change as much as possible but are constantly making balanced decisions to adjust when absolutely necessary. North Americans in general, however, have created a culture in which change has become a positive ideal, reflecting rapid and ongoing transformations in their society’s demography, technology, economy, and so on. Every culture is dynamically constructed and, not unlike a thermostat regulating room temperature, able to cope with recurrent strains and tensions, even dangerous disruptions and deadly conflicts. Sharing a culture, members of a society are capable of dealing with crises, solving their conflicts, and restoring order. Sometimes, however, the pressures are so great that the cultural features in the system are no longer adequate or acceptable, and the established order is changed Main Features of Culture Cultural anthropologists characterize culture as follows (Kottak, 2002; Howard and Dunaif- Hattis, op cit; Clifton, 1968; Scupin and DeCorse, 1995): 1. Culture is all- encompassing: Culture encompasses all aspects, which affect people in their everyday of their lives. Culture comprises countless material and non-material aspects of human lives. Thus, when we talk about a particular people’s culture, we are referring to all of its man- made objects, ideas, activities whether those of traditional, old time things of the past or those created lately. Culture is the sum total of human creation: intellectual, technical, artistic, physical, and moral; it is the complex pattern of living that directs human social life, the things each new generation must learn and to which they eventually add. 2. Culture is general and specific Generally, all human societies of the world have a culture. It distinguishes them from other nonhuman beings. Specifically, there are as specific cultures as there are diverse peoples in the world. Humanity shares a capacity for culture (general), but people live in particular cultures where they are encultured. 3. Culture is socially learned Culture is a natural outgrowth of the social interactions that constitute human groups whether in societies or organizations. Whenever and wherever people come to gather over time, culture develops. The essence of culture is that it is learned, shared, interrelated, and adaptive Culture is learned through social interaction. And the learned behavior is communicated in the group through forms of socialization such as observation, instruction, reward, punishment and experience. Three different ways of learning should be noted here: Individual situation learning: this means an individual animal or person learns something by himself as specific situations lead him. Social situational learning: this involves learning from other members of a group, through imitation. Even animals can learn this way. Cultural learning: this is uniquely human. It is possible only through the utilization of intelligence and the ability to communicate through attaching meanings to words, objects or things. This is called symbolic communication. People learn culture directly and through observation and social interaction. 4. Culture is symbolic Symbolic thought is unique and crucial to humans and to culture. Symbolic thought is the human ability to give a thing or event an arbitrary meaning and grasp and appreciate that meaning Symbols are the central components of culture. Symbols refer to anything to which people attach meaning and which they use to communicate with others. More specifically, symbols are words, objects, gestures, sounds or images that represent something else rather than themselves. Symbolic thought is unique and crucial to humans and to culture. It is the human ability to give a thing or event an arbitrary meaning and grasp and appreciate that meaning. There is no obvious natural or necessary connection between a symbol and what it symbolizes. PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 16  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 Culture thus works in the symbolic domain emphasizing meaning, rather than the technical/practical rational side of human behavior. All actions have symbolic content as well as being action in and of themselves. Things, actions, behaviors, etc, always stand for something else than merely, the thing itself. 5. Culture seizes nature Culture imposes itself on nature. It suppresses the natural, biological instincts in us and expresses it in particular ways. For example, we as biological beings feel the desire for food; but what type of food to eat, how many times per day to eat, with whom to eat, how much to eat, how fast or slow to eat, etc, are all determined by the cultural values and norms of a particular group of people. Or, we feel the desire to urinate, but one cannot do that any time and anywhere, unless one is an animal, an immature child or a mentally sick person. The nature- nurture debate is, however, a very heated one in the social sciences, and we need to underscore the fact of the dialectical relationship between the two. Nature in terms of the natural environment, the evolutionary growth and development in biological dimensions, genetic make-up of people, etc, is said to have its own important effect in determining the creation, expression and continuity of human culture. 6. Culture is shared It is a possession of individuals as members of a social group; observing, listening, talking and interacting with other people learn it. Culturally distinct ways of thinking, behaving, feeling, and responding become habitual very early in life through sharing. Behavior and ways of thinking or interacting must be shared within a group of people in order to be considered part of culture. Some cultural patterns are shared by nearly all people in some culture; and shared culture gives people common experiences. However, we should note that not all things shared among a group of people are cultural. There are many biological and psychological characteristics are shared among a group of people. 7. Culture is patterned Cultures are not haphazard collection of customs and beliefs, but are integrated, patterned systems. The parts are interrelated. Culture is an integrated whole, that is the parts of culture are interrelated to one another. No one single cultural trait has its meaning outside of its integrated context. 8. People use culture creatively There is difference between ideal culture and real culture. What culture-rules say and what people do may be different; cultural rules tell us what to do and how to do it, but we don't always do what the rules dictate. We use culture creatively. 9. Culture is adaptive and maladaptive People adapt themselves to the environment using culture. The ability to adapt themselves to practically any ecological condition, unlike other animals, makes humans unique. This ability is attributed to human’s capacity for creating and using culture. Culture has also maladaptive dimensions. That is, the very cultural creations and achievements of peoples may turn out to threaten their survival. When we see the contemporary problems of the environments, the side effects of rapid growth and in science and technology, etc, we see that culture is also maladaptive. 10. Culture is stable and yet it changes Culture is stable and yet changing: Culture is stable when we consider what people hold valuable and are handing over to the next generation in order to maintain their norms and values. However, when culture comes into contact with other cultures, it can change. That is, cultural diffusion, the spread of cultural traits from one are to the other, may cause cultural change However, culture changes not only because of direct or indirect contact between cultures, but also PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 17  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 through innovation and adaptation to new circumstances. That is, the forces of culture change are not only external, but they are also internal. Components of Culture For the sake of anthropological analysis, culture may be broken down into three main component parts. These components are: culture trait, culture complex and culture pattern. A culture is more than the sum of its parts. A mere listing of customs and norms and the material objects associated with them would by no means give a true picture of the culture. Culture Traits (elements): are the smallest (simplest) units of a certain culture. They are the building blocks of culture. It can be material or non- material culture. For example, pen, car, computer, plow, pot etc. (material); greeting, the custom of eating injera, respect for the elderly, treating patients, the practice of smoking using fork, knife, playing football, etc. (non-material) Culture Complex: when a number of culture traits or elements are fitted or combined together, they give a meaningful whole called culture complex. Culture complex is any integrated and patterned system of culture traits that function as a unit in a society. It is sometimes referred to as culture trait complex. Culture pattern is the organization of culture complexes constituting the entire cultural configuration of a society. E.g., the culture of sport in Ethiopia, the culture of medicine, the traditional medical beliefs, practices and institutions of Ethiopia. Pattern of Culture At a fairly high level of abstraction, there are substantial similarities in the patterns of culture found among different groups of men. That is, “there are traits common to all cultures. This universal culture-pattern may be expressed in terms of the following: (i) All peoples have a family system, (ii) All have a language, (iii) All have developed some sort of a system relating to food, clothing, shelter, etc. (iv) Every social group has some kind of government and patterns of social control, (v) Property systems and inheritance rules are found in all lands, (vi) People in all groups worship a Higher Power. Role of Enculturation and Relativism in Understanding Cultures Enculturation Growing up in any culture, all humans go through the process of enculturation. This process is the way in which we obtain and transmit culture. It describes how each individual comes to terms with the already set ideals that their culture has established, and how each person adapts to prohibited behaviors and beliefs, which are ‘proscribed’, versus encouraged behaviors and beliefs, which are ‘prescribed’. Parents and other authority figures in young children’s lives are usually the initiators of this process, steering the children toward activities and beliefs that will be socially accepted in their culture. Through this process these authority figures definitely shape the child’s view on life. Enculturation results in the interpretation of these ideals established by our culture and the establishment of our own individual behaviors and beliefs. For example, the Kung Bushman who live in the Kalahari were raised quite differently than someone who grew up in Washington State, or the States in general. In the United States, we tend to tolerate arrogance more so than the Kung people. For example, when we give people gifts and they thank us graciously for it, we acknowledge their acceptance by saying “It was no big deal”, which by accepting their gratitude makes us in a way arrogant because we accept the fact the PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 18  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 receiver appreciates the gift. Growing up in another culture, there are different guidelines that people have to follow in order to be socially accepted. In the Kung Bushman tribe, they look down upon people who think highly of themselves and who are arrogant. To avoid these characteristics, each child was raised to put down and mock others when they do things such as hunting and other activities. Their view is that by telling someone who had just hunted a huge ox, that the ox is a “bag of bones” or “thin, sick, and dead,” then they are preventing this person from being arrogant and full of them self. In contrast, enculturation in the United States teaches people to see this behavior as mean and wrong. Often in the United States culture arrogance is also viewed as a negative quality, but it is not discouraged in the same way. A common way member of the United States culture discourage displays of arrogance is simply by telling the younger generation that it is a bad quality. The Kung people use enculturation strongly to impress their cultural value of humility; in United States culture, it is emphasized less and it shows in the much wider acceptance of arrogance. In the US, a hunter might have been praised for doing good things such as hunting large game and providing food for everyone else. All of the members of these two cultures went through the process of enculturation but just into different cultures with different established ideals. Cultural Relativism The Cross-Cultural Relationship is the idea that people from different cultures can have relationships that acknowledge, respect and begin to understand each other’s diverse lives. People with different backgrounds can help each other see possibilities that they never thought were there because of limitations, or cultural proscriptions, posed by their own traditions. Traditional practices in certain cultures can restrict opportunity because they are “wrong” according to one specific culture. Becoming aware of these new possibilities will ultimately change the people that are exposed to the new ideas. This cross-cultural relationship provides hope that new opportunities will be discovered but at the same time it is threatening. The threat is that once the relationship occurs, one can no longer claim that any single culture is the absolute truth. Cultural relativism is the ability to understand a culture on its own terms and not to make judgments using the standards of one’s own culture. The goal of this is promote understanding of cultural practices that are not typically part of one’s own culture. Using the perspective of cultural relativism leads to the view that no one culture is superior than another culture when compared to systems of morality, law, politics, etc. It is a concept that cultural norms and values derive their meaning within a specific social context. This is also based on the idea that there is no absolute standard of good or evil, therefore every decision and judgment of what is right and wrong is individually decided in each society. The concept of cultural relativism also means that any opinion on ethics is subject to the perspective of each person within their particular culture. Overall, there is no right or wrong ethical system. In a holistic understanding of the term cultural relativism, it tries to promote the understanding of cultural practices that are unfamiliar to other cultures such as eating insects, genocides or genital cutting. There are two different categories of cultural relativism: Absolute: Everything that happens within a culture must and should not be questioned by outsiders. The extreme example of absolute cultural relativism would be the Nazi party’s point of view justifying the Holocaust. Critical: Creates questions about cultural practices in terms of who is accepting them and why. Critical cultural relativism also recognizes power relationships. Absolute cultural relativism is displayed in many cultures, especially Africa, that practice female genital cutting. This procedure refers to the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or any other trauma to the female reproductive/genital organs. By allowing this procedure to happen, females are considered women and then are able to be married. FGC is practiced mainly because of culture, religion and tradition. Outside cultures such as the United States look down upon FGC, but are unable to stop this practice from happening because it is protected by its culture. Cultural relativism can be seen with the Chinese culture and their process of feet binding. Foot binding was to stop the growth of the foot and make them smaller. The process often began between four and seven years old. A ten-foot bandage would be wrapped around the foot forcing the toes to go under the foot. It caused the big toe to be closer to the heel causing the foot to bow. PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 19  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 In China, small feet were seen as beautiful and a symbol of status. The women wanted their feet to be “three-inch golden lotuses” It was also the only way to marry into money. Because men only wanted women with small feet, even after this practice was banned in 1912, women still continued to do it. To Western cultures the idea of feet binding might seems torturous, but for the Chinese culture it was a symbol of beauty that has been ingrained the culture for hundreds of years. The idea of beauty differs from culture to culture. Diffusion Diffusion may be simply defined as the spread of a cultural item from its place of origin to other places. A more expanded definition depicts diffusion as the process by which discrete culture traits are transferred from one society to another, through migration, trade, war, or other contact. Acculturation Acculturation is a process through which a person or group from one culture comes to adopt the practices and values of another culture, while still retaining their own distinct culture. Assimilation Assimilation, or cultural assimilation, is the process by which different cultural groups become more and more alike. When full assimilation is complete, there is no distinguishable difference between the formerly different groups. Assimilation is most often discussed in terms of minority immigrant groups coming to adopt the culture of the majority and thus becoming like them in terms of values, ideology, behavior, and practices. This process can be forced or spontaneous and can be rapid or gradual. Two Views of Culture: Etic & Emic An etic view of a culture is the perspective of an outsider looking in. For example, if an American anthropologist went to Africa to study a nomadic tribe, his/her resulting case study would be from an etic standpoint if he/she did not integrate themselves into the culture they were observing. Some anthropologists may take this approach to avoid altering the culture that they are studying by direct interaction. The etic perspective is data gathering by outsiders that yield questions posed by outsiders. One problem that anthropologists may run in to is that people tend to act differently when they are being observed. It is especially hard for an outsider to gain access to certain private rituals, which may be important for understanding a culture. The World Health Organization (WHO) is an example of an “etic” view. The WHO created a group that specializes in Health and Human Rights. Although the idea that all cultures should have their rights protected in terms of health seems logical, it can also be dangerous as it is an “etic” view on culture. The WHO posits that “violations or lack of attention to human rights (e.g., harmful traditional practices, slavery, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, violence against women) can have serious health consequences.” Although some cultures may see this as a big step in health care, others could see it as an attack on their way of life. This problem of right and wrong in terms of crossing cultural lines is a big one. It can be hard for some cultures to watch other cultures do things that are seen as damaging when to the culture itself it has a purpose and a meaning. An emic view of culture is ultimately a perspective focus on the intrinsic cultural distinctions that are meaningful to the members of a given society, often considered to be an ‘insider’s’ perspective. While this perspective stems from the concept of immersion in a specific culture, the emic participant isn’t always a member of that culture or society. Studies done from an emic perspective often include more detailed and culturally rich information than studies done from an etic point of view. Because the observer places themselves within the culture of intended study, they are able to go further in-depth on the details of practices and beliefs of a society that may otherwise have been ignored. However, the emic perspective has its downfalls. Studies done from PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 20  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 an emic perspective can create bias on the part of the participant, especially if said individual is a member of the culture they are studying, thereby failing to keep in mind how their practices are perceived by others and possibly causing valuable information to be left out. The emic perspective serves the purpose of providing descriptive in-depth reports about how insiders of a culture understand their rituals. LEARNING ACTIVITY 1 Sharing of Thoughts In your own way, illustrate how the following work in you. 1. Culture is learned. 2. Culture gratifies human needs. 3. Culture is a product of social interaction. 4. Culture is integrated. 5. Culture is ideational. ASSESSMENT Reflective Essay Questions for reflection 1. Many modern societies are complex and pluralistic. Are you familiar with any subcultures or different ethnic groups in your own society? Could you make friends with or even marry someone from another subculture or ethnicity? What kind of cultural differences or problems would you be likely to encounter, and how would you deal with ethnocentrism? 2. An often overlooked first step for developing an understanding of another culture is having knowledge and respect for one’s own cultural traditions. Do you know the origins of the worldview commonly held by most people in your community? How do you think that developed over time, and what makes it so accepted or popular in your group today? SUMMARY The commonsense meaning of culture, as we use it in our ordinary conversations, is often too much limited in scope; it does not capture the complex aspects of culture. However, culture is defined as being equivalent to the entire learned and shared behaviors, beliefs, practices, institutions, of a society or a group of people; all the material and non-material objects created and used by the group is culture. Anything apart from the naturally or biologically occurring thing is cultural. However, this all-encompassing view culture should be viewed cautiously, because it may mislead beginners to assume that society itself is cultural. The concept of culture has been defined in quite several ways; there are as many definitions as there are writers in the fields of anthropology or sociology. One of the most often cited definitions of culture was the one formulated by the British anthropologist by the name of Tylor. His definition basically equates culture with all the habits and capabilities that a person acquires as a member of a group. PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 21  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No. 1 The important features of culture are that culture is all- encompassing; it is socially learned; it seizes nature; it is adaptive and maladaptive; is stable yet changes; is shared; is symbolic; is specific and general; is shared; patterned and people use it creatively. All human beings are cultured; there is no cultural superiority or inferiority among societies. However, all people to some extent tend to regard their own cultural values and norms as better and somewhat normal or natural; this tendency is called ethnocentrism; on the other hand we need to realize that every cultural trait need to be understood in its own context; this necessitate cultural relativism. Cultural relativism taken to its extreme however, pauses danger and controversies. Some cultural beliefs and practices are universal, meaning they are found among all human groups; others are generalized, meaning they are practiced by most peoples in the world; while others are particular, meaning they are limited to few human groups. Culture has components within it; culture traits represent the simple strands or elements in people’s culture, like the use of knife or fork when eating food; culture traits combined together are culture complexes, and culture complexes combined together give us the culture pattern of people. Culture and the behaviors of individual persons in group or society are intimately tied together. Individuals usually behave, act, think, and view things according to the general cultural values, norms, beliefs of the group to which they belong. Peoples’ character and personality types are mainly the reflections of their culture. REFERENCES Haviland, W., et al., (2017). Cultural Anthropology. CENGAGE Learning Kottak, C. (2017). Cultural Anthropology: Appreciating Cultural Diversity, Seventeenth Edition. McGraw-Hill Education https://courses.lumenlearning.com https://www.sociologydiscussion.com/ https://anthropology.ua.edu/theory/diffusionism-and-acculturation/ PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 22  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No.4_ 4 STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. ___ DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTION MODULE OVERVIEW This module discusses the development of production beginning with the food foraging down to industrial production. Also, the characteristics of each adaptive strategy and the types of agriculture are incorporated in this module. MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. Understand how energy production have developed through time; 2. Identify some of the food hunting and gathering techniques of early people; and 3. Enumerate the different types of agriculture. LEARNING CONTENTS FOOD PRODUCTION Theories about why food production originated are still quite controversial, but most archeologists think that certain conditions must have pushed people to switch from collecting to producing food. Some possible causal factors include (1) population growth in regions of bountiful wild resources (which may have pushed people to move to marginal areas where they tried to reproduce their former abundance); (2) global population growth (which filled most of the world’s habitable regions and may have forced people to utilize a broader spectrum of wild resources and to domesticate plants and animals); and (3) the emergence of greater seasonal variation in rainfall (which may have forced people to plant crops and raise animals to get themselves through the dry seasons). In today’s globalizing world, communities and societies are being incorporated, at an accelerating rate, into larger systems. The first major acceleration in the growth of human social systems can be traced back to around 12,000–10,000 years ago, when humans started intervening in the reproductive cycles of plants and animals. Food production refers to human control over the reproduction of plants and animals, and it contrasts with the foraging economies that preceded it and that still persist in some parts of the world today. To make their living, foragers hunt, gather, and collect what nature has to offer. Foragers may harvest, but they don’t plant. They may hunt animals, but (except for the dog) they don’t domesticate them. Only food producers systematically select and breed for desirable traits in plants and animals. With the advent of food production, which includes plant cultivation and animal domestication, people, rather than nature, become selective agents. Human selection replaced natural selection as food collectors became food producers. The origin and spread of food production (plant cultivation and animal domestication) accelerated human population growth and led to the formation of larger and more powerful social and political systems. The pace of cultural transformation increased enormously. Anthropologists generally distinguish three major types of food-production systems – horticulture, intensive agriculture, and pastoralism. Adaptive Strategies The anthropologist Yehudi Cohen (1974) used the term adaptive strategy to describe a group’s main system of economic production—its way of making a living. Cohen argued that the most PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 23  FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020 Study Guide in SSE 104 – Socio-Cultural Anthropology Module No.4_ important reason for similarities between two (or more) unrelated societies is their possession of a similar adaptive strategy. For example, there are clear similarities among societies that have a foraging (hunting-and-gathering) strategy. Cohen developed a typology of societies based on correlations between their economies and their social features. His typology includes these five adaptive strategies: foraging, horticulture, agriculture, pastoralism, and industrialism. Foraging Foraging—an economy and way of life based on hunting and gathering—was humans’ only way of making a living until about 12,000 years ago, when people began experimenting with food production. To be sure, environmental differences did create substantial contrasts among foragers living in different parts of the world. Some, like the people who lived in Europe during the Ice Ages, were big-game hunters. Today, hunters in the Arctic still focus on large animals. Those far northern foragers have much less vegetation and variety in their diets than do tropical foragers. Moving from colder to hotter areas, the number of species increases. The tropics contain tremendous biodiversity, and tropical foragers typically hunt and gather a wide range of plant and animal species. Some temperate areas also offer abundant and varied species. For example, on the North Pacific Coast of North America, foragers could draw on varied sea, river, and land species, such as salmon and other fish, sea mammals, berries, and mountain goats. Despite differences caused by such environmental variation, all foraging economies have shared one essential feature: People rely on nature to make their living. They don’t grow crops or breed and or tend animals. Animal domestication (initially of sheep and goats) and plant cultivation (of wheat and barley) began 12,000 to 10,000 years ago in the Middle East. Cultivation based on different crops, such as corn (maize), manioc (cassava), and potatoes, arose independently in the Americas. In both hemispheres, most societies eventually turned from foraging to food production. Today most foragers have at least some dependence on food production or on food producers (Kent 1992, 2002). Foraging economies survived into modern times in certain forests, deserts, islands, and very cold areas—places where cultivation was not practicable with simple technology (see Lee and Daly 1999). We should not assume that foragers will inevitably turn to food production once they learn of its existence. In fact, foragers in many areas have been—and still are—in contact with farmers or herders, but they have chosen to maintain their foraging lifestyle. Their traditional economy supported them well enough, lacked the labor requirements associated with farming and herding, and provided an adequate and nutritious diet. In some places, people tried food production, only to abandon it eventually and return to foraging. All contemporary foragers live in nation-states. Typically, they are in contact with food-producing neighbors as well as with missionaries and other outsiders. We should not view contemporary foragers as isolated or pristine survivors of the Stone Age. Modern foragers are influenced by national and international policies and political and economic events in the world system. Adaptive Strategies Based on Food Production In Cohen’s typology, the three adaptive strategies based on food production in nonindustrial societies are horticulture, agriculture, and pastoralism. With horticulture and agriculture, plant cultivation is the mainstay of the economy, while with pastoralism, herding is key. All three strategies originated in nonindustrial societies, although they may persist as ways of making a living even after some degree of industrialization reaches the nation-states that include them. In fully industrial societies, such as the United States and Canada, most cultivation has become large-scale, commercial, mechanized, agrochemical-dependent farming. Rather than simple pastoralism, industrial societies use technologically sophisticated systems of ranch and livestock management. Food producers typically carry out a variety of economic activities. In Cohen’s typology, each adaptive strategy refers to the main economic activity. Pastoralists (herders), for example, consume milk, blood, and meat from their animals as mainstays of their diet. However, they also add grain to their diet by doing some cultivating or by trading with neighbors. Horticulture