LU 1 Locating Anthropology and Sociology (1) (1).pptx

LU 1: LOCATING ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY? Definition of Anthropology and Sociology The importance of anthropology and sociology in academia Historical development of anthropology and sociology Sub-disciplines in anthropology and sociology The relevance of anthropology an...

LU 1: LOCATING ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY? Definition of Anthropology and Sociology The importance of anthropology and sociology in academia Historical development of anthropology and sociology Sub-disciplines in anthropology and sociology The relevance of anthropology and sociology in contemporary settings Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  Part I: Definition of Anthropology ‘Anthropology’ comes from the Greek word, ‘anthropos’ (human being) and logia (study). A discipline that studies humans, focusing on the study of differences and similarities, both biological and cultural, in human populations in all periods and parts of the world. An anthropologist with Indigenous American people. Source: Wikipedia Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Anthropologists generally focus on typical characteristics of a population, such as traits or customs. How does one explain the differing characteristics of human groups? Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  The importance of anthropology in Academia  Anthropology does not in itself profess to solve the problems facing humanity, but it provides practitioners the skills and knowledge that enable them to tackle complex questions in a very competent and relevant ways.  The key concepts: holism, cultural relativism, ethnocentrism  The key approaches: ethnography & cross-cultural comparison Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Historical development of anthropology  The Formulatory period (before 1835)  The Convergent Period (1835-1859)  The Constructive Period (1859–1900)  The Critical Period (1900 onwards): Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Subdiscipline in Anthropology Source: https://pressbooks.calstate.edu/explorationsbioanth2/chapter/1/  Click icon to add picture Fields of Anthropolo gy Biological Anthropology:  Human Paleontology  Human Variation  Biological anthropology poses questions about the emergence of humans and their later evolution (palaeontology) and about how and why contemporary human populations vary biologically (human variation). Source: https://as.tufts.edu/anthropology/ Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  Fields of Anthropology Cultural anthropology Culture refers to the customary ways that a particular population or society thinks and behaves. Cultural anthropology includes: Archaeology Linguistics Ethnology Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  Fields of Anthropolo gy Archaeology Archaeologists try to reconstruct history from the remains of human cultures. Most studies deal with prehistory Some specialize in historical archaeology Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  Fields of Anthropolo gy Anthropological Linguistics includes: Historical Linguistics Descriptive or Structural Linguistics Sociolinguistics Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  Fields of Anthropolo gy Ethnology Often called cultural anthropology, ethnology is concerned with patterns of thought and behaviour. Types of ethnologists: Ethnographers Ethnohistorian Cross-Cultural Researcher Source: https://photos.com/featured/1- Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. ethnology-print-collector.html  Fields of Anthropology Applied (Practicing) Anthropology About half of all professional anthropologists are applied, or practicing, anthropologists. Applied anthropologists may be trained in one or more of the subfields of anthropology. Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  Specialization  Economic Anthropologists  Political Anthropologists Psychological Anthropologists  Cultural Ecologists  Medical Anthropologists Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  The Relevance of Anthropology  In order to understand humans, it is essential that we study humans in all times and places. Anthropological studies can illustrate why other people are the way they are, both culturally and physically. Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  Online Activity: The Relevance of Anthropology Watch this keynote speaker of Dr Wade Davis, an anthropologist and ethnobotanist talking about cultural relativism and the importance of anthropology in the modern age Link: https ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgfXHy4pIDM And provide the summary of the relevance of Anthropology in the Online Activity 3 Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  Part II: Definition of Sociology Sociology dervies from the Latin word socius (companion) and the Greek word logos (speech or reason) Sociology is a systematic and objective study of human social life, groups and societies. Howard Becker (1986), who suggests that sociology can best be understood as the study of people “doing things together” (companion). This version reminds us that neither society nor the individual exists in isolation and that humans are essentially social beings. Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. The importance of sociology in Academia  Sociology will help you look deeply and neutrally into societal issues. It throws its focus to how societies balance together and change, and the cost of that social change.  A study of Sociology provides the theoretical tools and methods for understanding the social issues that affects society be it group attitudes, values, behaviors, families, consumers, governments and organizations. Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Historical development of Sociology  August Comte, French, 1798-1857; key concepts: social static and social dynamic  Karl Marx, German, (1818-1883), key concepts: class conflict, alienation, historical materialism, etc  Emile Durkheim, French, 1858-1917; key concept: social fact  Max Weber, German, 1864=1920; key concepts: social action; subjective meanings  Herbert Spencer, British, 1820-1903; key concept: social Darwinism  Harriet Martineau, British, 1802-1876; active advocate of abolition of slavery and gender issues Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  Subdiscipline in Sociology  The Field of Social Organization and Theory of Social Order: focuses on institutions and groups, their formation and change, manner of functioning, relation to individuals and to each other.  Social Control: Focuses on the ways in which members of a society influence one another so as to maintain social order.  Social Change: Focuses on the way society and institutions change over time through technical inventions, cultural diffusion and cultural conflict, and social movements, among others.  Social Processes: Focuses on the pattern in which social change takes place, and the modes of such processes. Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  Subdiscipline in Sociology  Social Groups: Focuses on how social groups are formed, structured, and how they function and change.  Social Problems: Focuses on the social conditions which cause difficulties for a large number of persons and which the society is seeking to eliminate. Some of the problems may include: juvenile delinquency, crime, chronic alcoholism, suicide, narcotics addiction, racial prejudice, ethnic conflict, war, industrial conflict, slum, areas, urban poverty, prostitution, child abuse, problem of older persons, marital conflicts Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  The Relevance of Sociology Sociological knowledge is highly applicable in dealing with today's most crucial social problems, and in facilitating developmental activities in socioeconomic sectors Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.