UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS

THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: ANTHROPOLOGY,SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICAL
SCIENCE

Anthropology- the study of origin of man (biological)

-comes from the greek word "anthropos" which means man and "logos" which means study.
-Study of human beings.

What does anthropology deals with? - with the works and achievement of man.
-these achievements may be in form of arts, sciences, technology, literature, inventions, and
architecture.

What is anthropology interested in? -man's bodily structure and behavior such as similar and different
in physical features, evolution and classification. Behaviors in politics, religion, social life, aesthetics, and
health are also taken in anthropology

SOCIOLOGY
- comes from the word "socius" which means group and "logos" which means study.
- study of groups, their interactions, and relationships
-a scientific study of society and human behavior.
-the study of patterns and process of human relations.

What do they seek?

-sociologist tries to seek patterns of shared behavior that are unusual.
-ordinary behavior that are in accord with norms (prevailing rules)
-structures created to organized social unit.
-social changes and development
-social behavior

Political Science is the systematic study of governance by the application of the scientific methods of
analysis.

What is culture?
-means care or civilization.
-this is base from the fact that humans have long period of dependency on fellow humans and have to
be taken care of by people around them.
which a person is born with provides him world of meaning, necessary care and attention as the person
grow.
- a design for living or a road
-guides the behavior of members
-permitting them to live together in an organized and orderly manner.
- man's social heritage
- transmitted from one generation to another through language
-it tells man what man does, what and how to do things.
-how to relate
-can be seen through person's clothing, tools, mannerisms, language, belief, taste for foods, and patterns
of behavior.
Understanding about culture

Every aboriginal race has its own culture, beliefs, religions and how things are done. Children are taught
how to act, how to do things that will show respect of others and of course how to treat their parents with
love and respect of one another..

GREAT SCIENTISTS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE NATURAL WORLD

Auguste Comte –(1798-1857), a French Philosopher and mathematician, is founding as father of

sociology. He the term ‘’ sociology’’ but he originally used ‘’social physics’’ as a term for sociology.
Comte suggested that there were three stages in the development of societies, namely, the theological
stage ,metaphysical stage and positive stage.

Harriet Martineau—(1802-1876), an English writer and reformist . In her accounts expressed in How to
observed morals and manners .the deep sociological insights that we now call as ethnographic narratives
are fully expressed.

Karl Marx – (1818-1883) ,further contributed to the development of sociology . Marx advocates the
scientific methods that underlie great social transitions in society. He belonged to the realist tradition of
social sciences that believed in the power of scientific reason to know the nature of society and human
beings. He was considered as the father of scientific socialism.

Emile Durkheim-(1858-1917), another French sociologist, made possible the professionalization of

sociology by teaching in the University of Bordeaux. Durkheim was responsible for defending sociology
as an independent discipline from psychology .Durkheim was the pioneer of functionalism in sociology.

Max Weber – (1864-1920), stressed the role of rationalization in the development of society. For Weber,
rationalization refers to disenchantment of the world. And the greatest application of scientific way of life
is bureaucracy. Because in bureaucracy efficiency is considered as the supreme value .Max Weber was
the pioneer of interpretive sociology.

Franz Boas – (1858-1942), is often considered as the father of American anthropology .He was the first
anthropologist rejected the biological basis of racism . Also rejected the popular idea of social evolution
or the development of the society from lower to higher forms.

Bronislaw Kasper Malinawski- (1884-1942) , another anthropologist who contributed to the

development of modern anthropology . He was a Polish immigrant who study of Trobriand Island. Based
on his field study ,he developed what social scientist now call as participation observation. It is a
method of social science research that requires the anthropologists to have the ability to participate the
way of life of a given group of people. He is considered as the most influential ethnographer in the 20th
century.

Alfred Reginald Radcliffe Brown –(1881-1955), another influential anthropologist . He fieldwork in

1906-1908 on the Andaman Island east of India. In 1937, he became the Chair in Social Anthropology in
0xford. He is considered as an English social Anthropologist who developed the theory of structural
functionalism .

Rene’ Descartes –(1596-1650), was a French philosopher, mathematician, and writer who is considered
the father of modern philosophy. He advocates analysis to arrive truths rather than basing them to
dogmas.
Charles Tilly- believed that trade and commerce is one of the major factors in a large scales.

Galileo Galilei – (1564-1642), who invented the telescope.

Nicolaus Copernicus –(1473-1543), popularized the view that the sun is the center of the solar system.

Isaac Newton-(1643-1727), discovered the gravity.

Charles Darwin-(1809-1882), proposed the controversial theory of evolution.

Albert Einstein –(1879-1955),developed the theory of’’ big bang’ ’to account for the beginning of the
universe.

Francis Bacon-established the supremacy of reason over imagination.

Rene’ Descartes –(1596-1650), was a French philosopher, mathematician, and writer who is considered
the father of modern philosophy. He advocates analysis to arrive truths rather than basing them to
dogmas.

Immanuel Kant- challenged the use of metaphysics or absolute truth derived from tradition such as the
existence of God. He wrote the famous essay ‘’Enlightenment’’.

Harriet Martineau –a British political economist and sociologist and social scientist ,also model of early
stage of Western civilization .

George Simmel –(1858-1918), a German sociologist in the early 20th century ,to decry the growing
depersonalization of life due to the introduction of money. Simmel characterized the modern period as
the’’ tragedy of culture’’.

Walter Lippmann –(1889-1974), was a newspaper commentator and respected World news columnist.