Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics PDF

**UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS** **Lesson 1 : Sharing One's Cultural and Social Backgrounds** *[CULTURAL AND SOCIAL BACKGROUNDS]* Understanding cultural and social backgrounds helps us appreciate the diversity of the world. It allows us to build empathy, foster inclusion, and celeb...

**UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS** **Lesson 1 : Sharing One's Cultural and Social Backgrounds** *[CULTURAL AND SOCIAL BACKGROUNDS]* Understanding cultural and social backgrounds helps us appreciate the diversity of the world. It allows us to build empathy, foster inclusion, and celebrate the unique stories that shape who we are. This lesson will guide you in exploring and sharing your own cultural and social identity. **Key Concepts** 1. **Culture** - The shared practices, beliefs, customs, values, and traditions of a group of people. - Examples: language, food, clothing, music, festivals, and art. 2. **Social Background** - Refers to the environment in which you were raised, including your family, community, and experiences. - Examples: socioeconomic status, education, traditions, and local customs. 3. **Identity** - A combination of factors like culture, personal values, beliefs, and life experiences that shape who you are. ***UNDERSTANDING SOCIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND POLITICAL SCIENCE*** Sociology, Anthropology, and Political Science are fields that help us understand human behavior, societies, cultures, and governance. They are essential in studying the complexities of human life and the factors that influence our relationships, institutions, and communities. ### **Key Concepts** #### **1. Sociology** - **Definition:** The study of human society, social behavior, and social institutions. - **Focus Areas:** - Social structures (e.g., family, education, religion). - Social interactions and relationships. - Issues like inequality, social change, and group dynamics. - **Key Question:** How do people interact and organize themselves in groups? #### **2. Anthropology** - **Definition:** The study of humanity, including culture, evolution, and human behavior across time and space. - **Focus Areas:** - **Cultural Anthropology:** Studies traditions, customs, and beliefs. - **Physical Anthropology:** Explores human evolution and biology. - **Archaeology:** Examines material remains of past societies. - **Linguistic Anthropology:** Focuses on language and communication. - **Key Question:** What makes us human, and how do we understand cultural diversity? #### **3. Political Science** - **Definition:** The study of governments, political processes, systems, and behavior. - **Focus Areas:** - Power and authority. - Political ideologies and policies. - Relationships between citizens and the state. - International relations and global politics. - **Key Question:** How do power and governance shape societies? A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated **Why Are These Fields Important?** 1. **Sociology:** Helps address social issues like inequality, education, and poverty. 2. **Anthropology:** Promotes cultural understanding and respect for diversity. 3. **Political Science:** Guides effective governance and informed citizenship **Lesson 2** **Anthropology** Culture in terms of anthropology is the shared way of thinking and behaving of a group of people. This can be seen as the similarities found within a group of people. Culture helps a group of people to survive, and vice-versa. The role of culture in anthropology is that it shows the way a group of people live in comparison to other groups of people. By studying another culture, one can learn to understand one\'s own culture better as well through comparison (Study.com, 2023). \- A symbol is an object, word, or action that represents a concept. Culture is all of the behaviors, languages, beliefs, traditions, and its shared meaning that guides the standards of a group. Together, a cultural symbol is a symbol that holds meaning and understanding for a **Xenocentrism** **Lesson 3** ***A. Looking back at Human Biocultural and Social Evolution*** 1\. Biological and cultural evolution: from Homo habilis (or earlier) to Homo sapiens sapiens in the fossil record **Biological Evolution**-refers to the changes, modifications, and variations in the genetics and inherited traits of biological populations from one generation to another. \- based on the theory of evolution that was introduced by the famous English naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin (1809-1882). Because of the result of his studies, he introduced the concept of evolution to explain the origins of modern humans. **Human evolution**-is the revolutionary process leading to the appearance of modern-day humans. **HOMO**- is used to determine the species of human beings. **HOMINIDS**- is the direct ancestors of homo species. **Australopithecus**-the first definite hominids, lived 4.4 million to 1.4 million years ago. \- they were fully bipedal which means that they could walk using their two legs. **2 groups of Australopithecus** 1\. **Gracile Australopithecines**- have smaller dentition and facial muscle. - they lacked bony crests for the attachment of heavy chewing muscles, that's why they are frugivores (feeds on fruit). \- shared several traits with modern apes and humans and were widespread throughout Eastern and Southern Africa as early as 4 to as late as 1.2 million years ago. \- the earliest evidence of fundamentally bipedal hominids can be observed at the site of Laetoli in Tanzania. 2\. **Robust Australopithecines**- or Paranthropus, are characterized by several features of the skull that give them a \"robust\" appearance when compared to gracile hominids. \- they existed in East and Southern Africa between approximately 2.5 and 1.4 million years ago. \- the most notable of these features are large, thickly enameled, post canine teeth that were supported by deep and broad mandibular corpora with tall and broad rami. \- robust forms adapted to consume heavy and gritty vegetation as they are herbivores. **Homo Species**- have a brain larger compared to the Australopithecus species which appeared about 2.3million years ago. **2 species of Homo Species** 1\. **Homo habilis**- has a larger brain and reduced the size of molars and premolars compared to the Australopithecus. \- a.k.a Handy man because this species was thought to represent the first maker stone tools. 2\. **Homo rudolfensis**- somehow the same as the features of Homo habilis. \- many paleoanthropologists make no distinctions between the two species. Some say that the difference lies on their cheek teeth and face. \- it has a broader face, larger braincase, and larger molar and premolar teeth compared to the Homo habilis. **Homo erectus**-the first hominid species that was distributed in the "Old world". \- it was seen in parts of Africa and Asia, and was discovered by Eugene Dubois which he called Pithecanthropus erectus at first which means erect ape man. \- had smaller teeth than other Homos genus. \- it is known that they have the capacity to control fire, because of this, they survived the cold weather. \- lower paleolithic tools and other artifacts were probably produced by them. **Homo sapiens sapiens**- appeared 50,000 years ago and was characterized as the modern human beings. \- have a domed skull, chin, small eyebrows, and a rather puny skeleton. - is thought to have evolved sometime between 160,000 and 90,000 years ago in Africa before migrating first to the Middle East and Europe and later to Asia, Australia, and the Americas. 2\. Cultural and sociopolitical evolution: from hunting and gathering to the agricultural, industrial, and post-industrial revolutions **Cultural Evolution** -- Theory of social change. Information capable of affecting individual's behavior that they acquire from other members of the society through teaching, imitation, and other forms of social transmission. **Sociopolitical Evolution** -- The process by which structural reorganization is affected through time, eventually producing a form or structure which is qualitatively different from the ancestral form. **Different Types of Society** **1. Hunting and Gathering** \- Produces simple form of tools used to hunt for animals and gather plants and vegetation for food. \- Men are tasked to hunt large animal game like deer, elk, moose, and other animals available in their areas on the other hand, women are responsible for the collection of vegetation, berries, and small edible crops. \- The rely on nature for their food, they frequently move and do not have permanent settlements. \- They are nomadic societies. They live in caves and pot or underground that are dug and covered with tree branches and leaves. **2. Horticultural and Pastoral Societies** \- Horticultural societies developed around 10,000 years ago and they are described as semisedentary societies because they do not frequently move as opposed to hunting and gathering societies. \- They produce and use simple forms of hand tools to plant crops. \- They use hoes and digging sticks to bore holes in the ground for seed planting. \- In horticultural societies, there is a surplus of food. - Because food supply is more than enough to feed the members of society, some of its members engage in other forms of subsistence like making crafts and trading. **3. Pastoral Societies** \- The principal means of subsistence of pastoralists is animal domestication. \- They developed in dry regions of the world. \- They are classified as animal herders and subsist based on the resources provided by their animals. \- They are also engaged in small-scale trading with other groups. **4. Agricultural Societies and the neolithic revolution** \- Agricultural societies began 5,000 years ago during the neolithic period. During this time, the neolithic revolution occurred. \- With this major sociocultural and economic development, agricultural societies started to cultivate wheat, barley, peas, rice, and millet between 3500 BCE. \- During this time, humans began to farm and domesticate animals as their form of subsistence. \- By 7000 BCE, Neolithic people produced cultivation tools and developed farming skill that can support and sustain a town with a population of over a thousand people.. \- The agricultural revolution that started in west asia moved to the east of india. \- The cultivation of wheat and barley crops also spread northward to europe where people also developed the cultivation of oats and rye. \- Sheeps, goats, and pigs were the first animals domesticated in west asia between 8500 and 7000 BCE. **5. Industrial Societies** \- Began when the industrial revolution swept through Europe during the late eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century. \- During the industrial revolution, new sources of energy where harnessed, advanced forms of technology were applied, and machineries were invented. \- These changes led to industrialization on the transformation of an agricultural society onto a production-and manufacturing- based one. \- This was made possible but the use of advanced sources of energy that operated factory machineries. \- Industrialization created centralized workplaces, economic interdependence, formal education, and complex social systems. \- During this time, people left their farm lands and transferred to the urban areas to work in factories. **6. Post Industrial Societies** \- Many societies transformed into post-industrial societies due to the development of information technology and computers. \- The united states, like many other developed countries, have reached the post-industrial revolution. \- The post industrial revolution is an important development from the industrial revolution as econimic production focused on the use and application of new information technology rather than factories. \- On this era, macionis writes that production "centers on computers and other electronic devices that create, process, and apply ideas and information." **7. Political evolution and the development of early civilization** \- The development of the early civilization showed the political evolution of society. \- A civilization develops because of a society's highly advanced level of culture, social organization, political developments, judical system, arts and other forms of culture. **Four Major Civilizations** 1\) **Sumer (Mesopotamia)** -- was an ancient civilization founded in the Mesopotamia region of the Fertile Crescent situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Known for their innovations in language, governance, architecture and more, Sumerians are considered the creators of civilization as modern humans understand it. Their control of the region lasted for short of 2,000 years before the Babylonians took charge in 2004 B.C. 2\) **Indus Valley** -- started along the indus river valley in india. Indus Valley was a cultural and political entity which flourished in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent between c. 7000 - c. 600 BCE. 3\) **Shang (Shang Dynasty)** -- developed near the huang ho river. The Shang is the earliest dynasty in Chinese history that can be verified through written and archaeological evidence. Established around 1600 BCE, it was centered in north China along the Yellow River valley, the so-called cradle of Chinese civilization. 4\) **Egyptian** -- started along the nile river. Ancient Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world for almost 30 centuries---from its unification around 3100 B.C. to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. From the great pyramids of the Old Kingdom through the military conquests of the New Kingdom, Egypt's majesty has long entranced archaeologists and historians and created a vibrant field of study all its own: Egyptology. **A. Neolithic Revolution** \- The wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the neolithic period from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, making an increasingly larger population possible. \- These settled communities permitted humans to observe and experiment with plants to learn how they grew and developed. This new knowledge led to the domestication of animals and cultivate crops. \- also called the Agricultural Revolution, marked the transition in human history from small nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger, agricultural settlements and early civilization. \- it started around 10,000 B.C. in the Fertile Crescent, a boomerang shaped region of the Middle East where humans first took up farming. Shortly after, Stone Age humans in other parts of the world also began to practice agriculture. \- Neolithic Age is sometimes called the New Stone Age. - Neolithic humans used stone tools like their earlier Stone Age ancestors, who eked out a marginal existence in small bands of hunter-gatherers during the last Ice Age. **B. Early Civilization and the rise of the state** \- A civilization (US) or civilisation (UK) is any complex society characterized by urban development, social stratification, symbolic communication forms(typically, writing systems), and a perceived separation from and domination over the natural environment by a cultural elite. **C. Democratization** **Democratization** is the building of political institutions, common interests, and new forms of legitimization. Consolidating a democracy requires building political parties and alliances capable of establishing credible national agenda and control of the military, making the security forces accountable to electoral representatives, and crafting a constitutional arrangement (voting rules, distribution of powers, checks on arbitrary action) that will seem fair, open, and in the interests of all major social sectors, including old and new elites. Thus, democratization emerges from the political process of clash and compromise and consensus building. It is said that democracy is the highest human achievement in political development because it gives the people a collective voice in the art of governance. The idea of democracy originated in ancient Greece **Democracy** is a form of government in which the people have the authority to choose their governing legislators. The decisions on who is considered part of the people and how authority is shared among or delegated by the people have changed over time and at different speeds in different countries, but they have included more and more of the inhabitants of all countries. Cornerstones include freedom of assembly and speech, inclusiveness and equality, membership, consent, voting, right to life and minority rights. The term democracy first appeared in ancient Greek political and philosophical thought in the city-state of Athens during classical antiquity. The word comes from demos \'(common) people\' and kratos \'strength\'. Generally, the two types of democracy are direct and representative. In a direct democracy, the people directly deliberate and decide on legislation. In a representative democracy, the people elect representatives to deliberate and decide on legislation, such as in parliamentary or presidential democracy.