Understanding the Concepts of Anthropology,

Sociology, and Political Science

 Anthropology is a study of humankind and humanity. It includes the topics such as human origin,
globalization, social change, and world history

 Goals of Anthropology is to discover what makes people different from one another in order to un-
derstand the preserve diversity, discover what all people have in common, look at one’s own culture
more objectively like an outsider and produce new knowledge and new theories about human kind
and human behavior

 Fields of Anthropology:
o Cultural Anthropology refers to the study of living people and their cultures including variations
and change.
o Linguistic Anthropology refers to the study of communication, mainly among humans
o Archaeology refers to the study of past human cultures through their material remains.
o Biological Anthropology also known as “physical anthropology” this refers to the study of hu-
mans as biological organisms.

 Sociology is a systematic study of groups and societies that people build and how these affect
their behavior. It is a science that studies human civilization.

 Branches of Sociology:
o Social Organizations this includes the study of social institutions, social inequality, social mobili-
ty, religious groups and bureaucracy.
o Social Psychology this area focuses on the study of human nature.
o Applied Sociology this is concerned with the specific intent of yielding practical applica-
tions for human behavior.
o Population Studies this area includes size, growth, demographic characteristics, composition,
migration, changes and quality of economic, political and social systems.
o Human Ecology refers to the study of the effects of various social organizations to the popula-
tion’s behavior.
o Sociological Theory and Research it focuses on the discovery of theoretical tools methods and
techniques.
o Social Change It studies factors that cause social organizations and social disorganizations.

 Political Science is an academic discipline that deals with the study of government and political pro-
cesses, institutions and behaviors. It is also a study of the complex behavior of various political actors.
It is a systematic study of political and government institutions and process.

 Politics is the art and science of governing city or states. It is a social process or strategy in any position
of control which people gain, use, or lose power.

 Government it is a agency to which the will of the state is formulated, expressed, and carried out. This
is organized agency in a state tasked to impose social control.
 Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives on
Culture and Society
 Anthropological Perspectives:
o Unilineal Evolutionism state that the new cultural forms emerge from the past that pass
through similar stages.
o Cultural Diffusionism asserts that the culture originates from one or more culture centers.
o Historical Particularism believes that each group of people has its own unique culture influ-
enced by its history geography and environment.
o Anthropological Functionalism believes that cultural elements and practices are interrelated
and interdependent.
o Anthropological Structuralism conveys that cultural phenomena and practices have a relation-
ship to one another.
o Cultural Materialism considers the idea that culture is influenced by technology, resources,
economic values and utilization of things

 Sociological Perspectives
o Functionalism views society as an organized network cooperating groups operating orderly to
generally accepted norms.
o Conflict Perspectives sees the social environment in a continuous struggle which is in contrast
with functionalism.
o Symbolic Interactionism deals with the patterns of behavior in large units of society such as or-
ganizations communities etc.
o Evolutionism- explains how human groups came to exits, grow and develop.
 Society refers to all people, collectively regarded as constituting a community of related, interdepend-
ent individuals living in particular place.

 Culture is a complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms, arti-
facts, symbols and knowledge. It is referred to as being civilized.

 Ethnocentrism is the perception of one’s own culture as a superior compared to other cultures.

 Xenocentrism is a perception of one’s own culture as inferior compared to other cultures.

 Hunting and Gathering Society
 During the Paleolithic Period, which lasted from the beginnings of human life until about 10,000BCE,
people were nomads. The societies are small consisting only 20 to 30 members and people depends
primarily on wild food for subsistence. Their strategies had been very diverse, depending greatly upon
the local environment which includes hunting or trapping wild animals, fishing, gathering shellfish, in-
sects and wild plant foods such as fruits vegetables and many more. They combine a variety of these
strategies in order to ensure a balanced diet.

Horticultural and Pastoral Society

 There are two types of society that develop about 10,000BCE, the Horticultural and the Pastoral. The
first type of the society tends to be less nomadic, as they are able to keep growing their crops in the
same location for some time. The second type of society is tends to be at least somewhat nomadic, as
they often have to move or to find a better grazing land for their animals. Another side effect of the
greater wealth of both societies is greater conflict. Sharing of food is a key norm in former societies.
Accompanying the greater complexity and wealth of the societies is greater inequality in terms of gen-
der and wealth than in former societies.

Agricultural Society
 Agricultural societies produce so much food. They often become quite large with their numbers some-
times reaching into the millions. The huge food surpluses lead to extensive trade, both within the soci-
ety itself and with other societies. The surpluses and trade both lead to degrees of wealth unknown in
the earlier types of societies and thus to unprecedented inequality exemplified in the appearance for
the first time of peasants, people who work on the land of rich landowners. Their greater size and ine-
quality also produce more conflict. Some of this conflict is internal as rich landowners struggle with
each other for even greater wealth and power, and peasants sometimes engage in revolts.

Industrial Society
 The growth of the society marked such as great transformation in many of the world’s societies. This
revolution has enormous consequence in almost every aspects of the society; some for the better and
some for the worse. Today, these societies consume most of the world’s resources, pollute the envi-
ronment to an unprecedented degree, and compiled nuclear arsenals that could undo thousands of
years of human society in an instant.

Post-Industrial Society
 This is has been called the information age, as a wireless technology vies with machines and factories as the ba-
sis for our economy. In this societies information technology and service jobs have replaced machines and man-
ufacturing jobs as the primary dimension of the economy. All the machines and inventions for producing all
transporting goods reduced the need for human labor so much that the economy transform again.
 Becoming a Member of Society
 Enculturation/Socialization is the process by which a human being, beginning at infancy, acquires per-
sonal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, habits, beliefs, social skills, and accumulated
knowledge of the society through education and training for adult status to his of her soccia lposition.
Through enculturation/socialization a helpless infant is transformed into a more knowledgeable and
cooperative member of the society. It is a lifelong process that starts a birth and ends at death.

 Looking Glass Self Theory proposed by Charles Horton Cooley, which states that a person’s sense of self
is actually derive from the perception of others as we perceive ourselves on how other people think of
us. This is also the one of theoretical perspective on enculturation/socialization.

 Role-taking Theory is proposed by George Herbert Mead, wherein the development of social aware-
ness is traced to our early social interaction. This perception of George Herbert Mead led him into the
idea that out of social interaction, sense of self emerges, which is composed of two parts.

 Agents of Socialization
o Family has a major impact on us. Each one lays down our basic sense of self, forming our initial
motivations, values, and beliefs
o School is a primary agent of socialization, where able us to contribute to self development by
exposing us to people who are not our relatives, thus exposing us to new attitudes, values and
ways of looking at the world.
o Peer or peer group can ease the transition from adolescence to adult responsibilities for it of-
fers young people and identity that supports some independence from their families.
o Mass Media, especially is the form of television, has become the primary sources of information
about the world, thus enabling us to view a wide range of role models and occupations.
o Workplace allow us to learn to behave properly within an occupation, at the same time indi-
cates that one has passed out adolescence stage.

 Conformity is the act of exhibiting the same as the behavior of most other people in the society, group
and many more.

 Deviance is the recognize violation of cultural norms. Deviance makes sense within the context of cul-
tural norms how they change over time, how they are enforced and the likelihood of events when
these norms are challenged or violated.

 Social control refers to the set of means to ensure that people generally behave in expected and ap-
proved ways.
o Internal Social Control refers to the socialization process that developed within the individual as
we do things when we know it is the right thing to do.
o External Social Control refers to the social sanctions or the system of rewards and punishments
designated to encourage desire behavior.

 Forms of Deviance:
o Innovation is rejecting the use of socially accepted means to achieve success.
 o Ritualism is rejecting the importance of success goals but continue to toil conscientious and dil-
igent workers.
o Retreatism is a withdrawal from the society and does not care for his students.
o Rebellion is the attempts to change the goals and means of society.

 Human Dignity is something that can’t be taken away. Catholic Social Teaching sates that each and
every person has value, worthy of great respect, and must be free from slavery, manipulation and ex-
ploitation. It is inviolable and must be respected and protected. The dignity of the human person is not
only a fundamental right but constitutes the basis of the fundamental rights in international law.also it
is a heart of human identity. Human dignity goes to the heart of human dignity, including a gay, lesbi-
an, bisexual, transgendered and intersex identity, hence the name of the trust.

 Human Rights are inherited to all human beings, whatever our nationality , place of residence, sex, na-
tional or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. These rights are all interrelated, in-
terdependent and invisible. It is something that can be taken away at someone’s whim. They are
“rights” because they are things you are allowed to be, or have. These rights are there for your protec-
tion against people who might want to hurt you.

 Common Good in tribal nation, has served as the moral justification of most social systems. The degree
of society’s enslavement or freedom corresponded to the degree to which that tribal slogan was ig-
nored. This is also referred to the public interest. Actually, it is an undefined concept. It is meaningless
concept, unless taken literally in which case, its only possible meaning is the sum of the good of all the
individual men involved.
 How Society Organized
 Social Group can be defined as a collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the
basis of shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity. With
these qualifications as to what constitute a group will be better to define/describe the categories of
groups based on some standards.

o Primary groups, is typically a small social group whose members share, close, personal, and en-
during relationships. Primary groups are marked by the members’ concern for one another and
shared activities and culture. Including families, childhood friends, and highly influential social
groups.
o Secondary groups, has the opposite characteristics of primary group. Secondary groups can be
small or large and they are mostly impersonal and usually short-term. These groups are typical-
ly found at work and school. Example is committee organized to pain a holiday party at work.

 Organization
o Formal Group is intentionally formed and planned for carrying out of specific purposes.
o Informal Group is formed unplanned and spontaneous established out of random association
and interaction.

 Membership in open group if open for everyone; while closed group is exclusive to a selected number
of persons either by quota or qualifications.

 Interest Groups are formed for the purpose of protecting and promoting the trade, interests, and
well-being of its members; while Pressure Groups are form the private sector of society that are
formed to influence the public’s views. Task Groups, on the other hand, constitute a pool of workers
labor force, to performs following a chain of command for the purpose of completing a task.

 Perspectives:
o In-group members have a sense of loyalty, camaraderie, and solidarity. Non members are con-
siders a “outsiders” , “the other” or “strangers”. While in an out-group one is perceive to be
apart from the others. They often perceived as odd indifferent.
o Minority Groups on the other hand are relatively less dominant in terms of its size, status, or
degree of influence. While reference group one is not necessarily a member but they serve a
comparative basis of self-evaluation.
 Cultural, Social, and Political Institutions
 Kinship is a social institution that refers to relations formed between members of society. It explains
the nature and reason for the formation of the different types of bonds that exist within the society.
Sociologist define kinship as the different forms of socially accepted relations among people developed
through blood or consanguineal relationships, marriage or affinal relationships, adoption and other
culturally accepted rituals.

 Kinship by Blood:
o Unilineal is a descent through either the maternal or paternal line only.
o Matrilineal is a descent through the female line.
o Patrilineal is a descent through the male line.
o Bilateral is a descent through both the mother and father.

 Kinship by Marriage
o Monogamy means married to one spouse. Mono means single while gamy come from the greek
work “gamos” which means marriage.
o Polygamy means the practice of having more than one spouse. Poly means many.

 Types of Household
o One person is an arrangement in which one person makes provision for his/her own food or
other essentials for living without combining with any other person.
o Multi-person is a group of two or more persons living together who make common provision
for food or other essentials for living.

 Family refers to the members of the household who are related to a specified degree, through blood,
adoption or marriage. It is consists of at least two members. Cannot comprise with more that house-
hold.

 Household may consist of only one person. Can contain more than one family or one or more families
together with one or more non-related persons; or it can consists entirely of non-related person.
Members of a multi-person household need not be related to each other.

 Types of Political Organization

o Bands are the most often found in forging societies, and associated with low population densi-
ties, distribution systems based on reciprocity and egalitarian relations.
o Tribes are found among horticulturists and pastoralist societies, has a larger and more seden-
tary populations, lack centralized political leadership and egalitarian relations
o Chiefdoms involve a more formal and permanent political structure, political authority rests
with individuals and rely on feasting and tribute
 Non-state Institution
 Banks are institutions that conduct business purely on profit motive.

 Primary Functions these ate also known as banking functions. These functions pertain to the execution
of the following tasks:
A. Accepting Deposits are the bank collects deposits from the public. These can be classified into four
types:
o Savings encourages saving habit among the public. The rate of interest is low.
o Fixed lump sum amount is deposited at one time for specific period. Higher rate of interest
is paid, which varies with the period of deposits.
o Current is a type of account is operated by businesswomen. Withdrawals are freely allowed.
No interest is paid. In fact there are service charges.
o Recurring is a type of account that is operated by salaried persons and pretty traders. A cer-
tain sum of money is periodically deposited into the bank.

B. Granting of Loans and Advances are bank advances loans to the business community and other
members of the public. The difference in the interest rates including the lending rate and the de-
posit rate is its profits. There are four types of loans and advances:
o Overdraft are advances that given to current account holders. No separated account is
maintained.
o Cash Credits allowed the client to cash credit up to a specific limit fixed in advance. It can be
given to current account holders as well as to others who do not have an account with bank
o Loans are normally for short term or medium term. These days banks lend money for long
term.
o Discounting Bill Exchange is a bank can advance money by discounting or by purchasing bills
of exchange, both domestic and foreign bills.

 Secondary Functions these are also called as non-banking functions. These are responsible for the fol-
lowing tasks:
A. Agency Functions are banks acts as an agent of its customers such as trustees, executors, advisers
and administrators on behalf of its clients.
o Transfer and Funds are banks transfer funds from one branch to another or from one place
to another.
o Collection of Cheques is banks collect the money of cheques through the clearing section of
its customers. The bank also collects
o Periodic Payments on standing instructions of the client, the bank makes periodic payments
in respect of electricity bills and rent.
o Portfolio Management banks also undertakes to purchase and sell the shares and deben-
tures on behalf of the clients and accordingly debits or credits the account.
o Periodic Collections bank collects salary, pension, dividend and such as other periodic col-
lections on behalf of the client.

B. General Utility Functions the banks also perform the following tasks:
o Issue of Drafts and Letter of Credits banks issue drafts of transferring money from one place to
another.
o Locker Facility banks provides a locker facility for the safe custody of valuable documents, gold
ornaments and other valuables.
 o Underwriting of Shares the bank underwrites shares and debentures through its merchant
banking division.
o Dealing in Foreign Exchange is a commercial’s banks are allowed by Reserve Bank of India to
deal in foreign exchange.
o Project Reports the bank may also undertake to prepare project reports on behalf of its clients
o Social Welfare Programs it undertakes social welfare programs, such as adult literacy programs,
public and welfare campaigns.

 Corporations are most common form of business organizations. These are chartered by a state and
given many legal rights as an entity separated from its owners. This form of business is characterized
by the limited liability of its owners, the issuance of shares of easily transferable stock, and existence as
a going concern. It has several key responsibilities and functions, which are as follows:
o Selecting a CEO, the board of directors of a small corporation is responsible for selecting a chief
executive officer. The CEO ensures that the management team and employees adhere to all
policies and procedures instituted by the board of directors, lawyers, and him.
o Providing Continuity, small corporations are formed to stay in business on a permanent basis.
Therefore another corporate function is continuity of business.
o Managing Resources Effectively, a small corporation is also responsible for managing its re-
sources effectively.
o Increasing Profits all corporations are in business to earn profit. However corporations are also
responsible for increasing profits to maximize those of the shareholders.
o Social Responsibilities, corporations are also responsible for giving back to their communities.
Many sponsor events or organizations such as symphony orchestras in their community.

 Cooperatives are autonomous associations of persons united voluntarily to meet their common eco-
nomic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically con-
trolled enterprise.

 Trade Unions on the other hand are organizations based on membership of employees in various
trades, occupations, and professions, whose major focus is representation of its members at the work-
place and in the wider society.
A. Militant Functions
o To achieve higher wages and better working conditions
o To raise the status of workers as a part of industry
o To protect labors against victimization and injustice

B. Fraternal Functions
o To generate self confidence among workers
o To encourage sincerity and discipline among workers
o To provide opportunities for promotion and growth
o To protect women workers against discriminations

C. Social Function
o Welfare activities provided to improve the quality of work life, including organization of mu-
tual find, cooperative credit societies for providing housing , cooperative stores, cultural
programs, banking and medical facilities and training for woman various crafts to help sup-
plement their family income.
 o Education of members in all aspects of their working life, including improvement of their
civic life, awareness in the environment around them, enhancement of their knowledge
particularly about issues that concern them.
o Scheme and procedure for redressing their grievances, some central union organizations
are also assisting the government in implementing the workers’ education scheme.
o Publication of periodicals, newsletters, or magazines for establishing communication with
their members, making letter aware of union policy and stand on certain principal issues
and personnel matters concerning members such as births, deaths, marriages, promotions
and achievements
o Research provides updated information to union negotiations at the bargaining table. Such
research is to be more practical than academic, concerning problems relating to daily affairs
of the union and activities.

D. Political Functions
These include affiliating the union with the political party, helping the political party in enrolling
members, collecting donations, and seeking the help of political parties during the periods of
strikes and lockouts.

 International Organizations are entities established by formal political agreements between their
members who have the status of international treaties. Their existence is recognized by law in their
member countries. There are three principal bodies responsible for regulating international economic
affairs are the following:
o World Bank was set up to help the so-called underdeveloped world to help integrate the poor
countries into the international economy.
o International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created to help stabilize currency exchange rates be-
tween nations; and to come to the aid of countries with temporary liquidity needs.
o World Trade Organization (WTO) it determines and enforces the rules regulating international
trade.
 Transnational Advocacy Groups are advocates of principled causes, ideas, and values such as human
rights or the environment. They do not work alone nor are they limited by national boundaries. The
last several decades have witnessed significant growth in the number loose coalitions or networks of
advocates building across borders to bring about social change.

 Development Agencies establish and support sustainability programs for the community.
 Education and Health System
 Functions of Education towards Individual
o Developments of inborn potentialities, education help us to develop the inborn potentialities of
a child.
o Modifying Behavior, education helps to modify the past behavior through learning and through
different agencies of education.
o Holistic Development, education aims at the all-round development of child-physical, mental,
social, emotional and spiritual.
o Preparing for the future, when a child completes his/her education from kindergarten to ter-
tiary s/he will be able to get a good paying job.
o Developing personality, the whole personality of a child is developed physically, intellectually,
morally, socially, aesthetically, and spiritually.
o Helping for adjustability, human beings from beasts. Men and women have a power to reason
and think for themselves.

 Functions of Education towards Society

o Social change and control, society is never stationary. It is progressive and dynamic. The child
exists in society.
o Reconstruction of experiences, education is a life-long process. Life is education and education
life.
o Development of social and moral values, the lack or absence of education among members of
the society can lead to narrow-mindedness.
o Providing opportunity or equality, the Indian constitution has introduced the term ‘equality’
because ware not getting equal opportunities in all aspects.

 Functions of education toward Nation

o Inculcation of civic and social responsibility, education allows members of the next generation
to understand their rights and duties as citizens in a democratic country.
o Training for leadership, an individual’s leadership qualities are developed when s/he partici-
pates in all spheres of social, political, religious and educational activities.
o National integration, we are living in one country having differences in color, caste, language,
diet, habits, and physical environment.
o Total national development, education helps for bringing about total national development by
developing all aspects.

 Health System
It is the sum of total of all organizations, institutions, and resources whose primary purpose is to im-
prove health. It needs staff, funds, information, supplies, transport, communications and over all guid-
ance and direction.

 Cross cultural Health Systems

o Culture-specific Syndrome and illness, in medicine and medical anthropology, a culture-
bound syndrome, culture-specific syndrome or folk illness is a combination of psychiatric
and somatic symptom. It is considered to be a recognizable disease only within a specific
society or culture.
o Ethnomedicine refers to the study of cross-cultural health systems, which first came into
use in the 1960’s. it expanded its focus to include topics such as perceptions of the body,
culture and disability and change in indigenous or “traditional” healing systems, especially
as resulting from globalization.
o Perception of the body, according to western biomedicine a person may be declared dead
while the heart is still beating so long so the brain is judged to be “dead”. In ethnomedicine
the body is a bounded physical unit and people do not accept a person brain death.
o Defining and classifying health problems, in western biomedicine, disease is referred to as a
biological health problem that is objective and universal, such as a bacteria or viral infection
or a broken arm. In ethnomedicine, this is the basis for labeling and classifying health prob-
lems such as its cause, vector, affected body part symptoms or combinations of these.
o Prevention it is based on either religious or secular beliefs, exist cross-culturally for prevent-
ing misfortune suffering and illness.
o Healing systems in western biomedicine, humoral healing emphasizes balance among natu-
ral elements within the body. In ethnomedicine, community healing emphasizes the social
context as a key component and is carried out within the public domain.
 Religion and Belief Systems
 Christianity is the world’s biggest religion with about 2.2 billion of followers. It is based on the teaching
of Jesus Christ who lived in the Holy Land 2000 years ago. Christianity has spread the most parts of the
globe. Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples to show everyone
that there is another life with one eternal loving God.

 Islam is the second most popular religion in the world with over a thousand million of followers. It is
more often thought of as a complete way of life rather than a religion. Those who follow Islam are
called Muslims. Muslims believe that there is only one God, called Allah. It mainly followed in the Mid-
dle East, Asia, and the North Africa.

 Hinduism is often referred to as Sanatana Dharma. A Sanskrit phrase meaning “the eternal law”. It is
the world’s third most popular religion with around 750 million followers. The religion of Hinduism
originated in Northern India, near the river Indus, about 4000 years ago and is the world’s oldest exist-
ing religion, dating to prehistoric times.

 Buddhism began in northeastern India and is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. The reli-
gion is 2,500 years old and is followed by 350 million Buddhist worldwide. It is the main religion of
Asian countries. It is a religion suffering and the need to get rid of it. They believe that nothing in the
world is perfect, and that the Buddha found the answer to why it is like this. They do not believe that
the Buddha was a god.

 Institutionalized Religion it is formed by a sect meaning it is not limitless and it is closed. It is also
known as “organized religion” which belief systems and rituals are systematically arranged and formal-
ly established. It is typically characterized by official Doctrine. It also refers to the world’s largest reli-
gious groups., especially those known by name internationally and to organizations with which one can
legally or officially affiliate oneself or not.

 Separation of Church and State in the Philippines this can be traced from the 1987 constitution.
o Article II. Section 6 the separation of church and state shall be inviolable.
o Article III. Section 5 no law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship,
without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall require
for the exercise of political rights.
o Article VI. Section 5 (2) one half of the seats allocated to the party-list representatives shall be
field as provided by law, by selection or election from labor, peasant, urban poor indigenous
cultural communities, women, youth, and such other sector as may provided by law, except the
religious sector.
o Article IX (C) Section 2 (5) religious denominations and sects shall be registered as a political
party, organization or coalition by the COMELEC.
 Social Stratification
 Why does social stratification exist?
o Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences
o Social stratification persists over generations
o Social stratification in universal (it happens everywhere) but variable (it takes different forms
across different societies)
o Social stratification is consequential
o Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs as well (inequality is rooted in a soci-
ety’s philosophy)

 Class and Caste System are the general forms of stratification. In India, a special type of stratification in
the form of caste can be found. The ancient Aryas were devided into five varnas; the Brahmins, Kshat-
riyas, Vaishyas, Sudras and Huriian (untouchables).

 Major Premises of Social Stratification, wealth refers to material possessions as a valuable in partivular
societies. Power refers to the degree to which individuals or groups can impose their will on others
with or without the consent of others. Prestige relates to the amount of esteem or honor associated
with social positions, qualities of individuals and styles of life.

 Perspective on social Stratification

o Functionalism according to Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore, structural functionalist argue
that social inequality plays a vital role in the smooth operation of society. The Davis-Moore
theisis states that social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society.
o Conflict Theory according to Karl Marx and Max Weber social conflict theorists disagree that so-
cial stratification is functional for a society. Instead they argue that social stratification benefits
some at the expense of others. Karl Marx based his theory on the idea that society has two
classes of people: the bourgeoisie and proletariat. On the other hand Max Weber argue that
social standing consists of three parts of dimensions the class which he regarded as determined
mainly by economic standing or wealth; the second one is the party which was equivalent to
political power and the last is status or social prestige.

 Social Inequality refers to the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards or different social posi-
tions or statuses within a group or society. These are differences in income resources, power and sta-
tus within and between societies. There are two main ways to measure social inequality: inequality of
conditions and inequality of opportunities:
o Inequality of conditions refers to the unequal distributions of income, wealth and material
goods
o Inequality of opportunities refers to the unequal distribution of life chances across individuals
this is reflected in measures such as level of education, health status and treatment by the
criminal justice system.
 Cultural, Social, and Political Change
 Sources of Change in Society
o Innovation is the social creation and institutionalization of new ideas, products, processes or
structures.
o Diffusion is the spread of innovations forms one social setting to another. It occurs when one
group borrows something from another group such as norms, values, food, clothing, and other
innovation.
o Assimilation is the process where some of the “majority community’s” (dominant community)
cultural aspects are absorbed in such as manner that the home cultural aspects get mitigated
or lost.
o Acculturation is a process where the cultural aspects of the “majority community’s” are
adapted without losing the traditions and customs of the “minority community”
o Social Contradictions and Tensions may include inter-ethnic conflicts, class-struggle, armed
conflict, terrorism, protests, and gender issue.

 Effects of the Social Change in Society

o Change our made of living and lifestyle, the advancement of technology enables people to lived
in greater and comfort that ever before.
o Development, it is viewed as a important indicator of the importance of the quality of life of a
people in a particular society.
o Modernization, this is the far-reaching process by which a society moves from traditional to-
wards the characteristics of most developed societies.

 Theories on Changes in Societies

o Evolutionary Theory implies that societies evolved from the simple and primitive to the more
complex and advanced form.
o Conflict Theory suggests that societies progress as oppressed groups struggled to improve their
lives.
o Cyclical Theory suggests that every society is born, matures, decays and eventually dies.
o Structural Functionalism Theory believes that society is a balanced system of institution.

 Things we can do
o Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the changes in society, think first before doing
something or going with the flow of changes in the societies.
o Adapt instead resist, cope with the changes happening in the societies to survive.
o Stand firm with your principles, if you think some changes in the society does not fit your ideals
in life, hold on with your principles.