ANTHROPOLOGY

AND THE STUDY OF

CULTURE
Human studying humans. This is
the field of anthropology. Unlike
the other disciplines of the
social sciences, anthropology
promotes a holistic study of
humans.
•Derived from two Greek words
Anthropos which means
humans and logos means
study.
•Anthropology seeks to answer
this primary question:
What does it mean
to be human?
This allows for an extensive
and inclusive approach such
that anthropology studies
humans as both biological
and social creatures.
Biologically, it inquires on the
genetic composition of
humans, their relationship
with other primates, and their
evolution.
Socially, it requires on human
behaviors, attitudes, and
belief systems, which range
from birth practices to burial
rites.
Anthropology can be defined as
the study of people-their origins,
their development, and
contemporary variations, wherever
and whenever they have been
found on the face of the earth.
FIVE SUBDISCIPLINES
OF ANTHROPOLOGY
1. ARCHEOLOGY
-examines the remains of ancient
and historical human populations to
promote an understanding of how
humans have adapted to their
environment and developed.
2. Cultural Anthropology
-the study of a society’s
culture through their belief
systems, practices and
lessons.
3. Linguistic Anthropology
-examines the language of
a group of people and its
relation to their culture.
4. Physical Anthropology
-looks into the biological
development of humans
and their contemporary
variation.
5. Applied Anthropology
-attempts to solve
contemporary through the
application of theories and
approaches of the discipline.
•During the 19 thcentury, anthropologist,
who were often from western societies,
would investigate on the system of
beliefs, behaviors, and material
possessions of non-western, preliterate,
and technological simple societies.
One of the classic studies in
anthropology, Tristes Tropiques,
was made by Claude Levi-
Strauss, a French anthropologist.
This work presented the lives of
a non-modern society in Brazil.
CULTURE
Culture is everything that a
person learns as a member
of a society.
CULTURE IS EVERYTHING. It is
what a person has, does, and
thinks as part of society. This
implies all of a person’s belief
system, sets of behaviors and
material possessions.
TWO TYPES OF
CULTURE
Material Culture- includes all the
tangible and visible parts of culture,
which include clothes, food and
even buildings. The types of
material culture present in societies
differ, as each society is configured
by its environment and history.
Non-material Culture- includes all the
intangible parts of culture, which consist
of values, ideas, and knowledge. Just
like material culture, the belief and
values system of societies differ from one
another based on their environment
and history.
Values are concepts that are
culturally determined; it separates
what is acceptable from that which
is taboo.
Beliefs are culturally approved
truths that deal with the specific
parts of human life.
CULTURE IS LEARNED. Culture
is a set of beliefs, attitudes,
and practices that an
individual learns through his
or her family, school, church,
and other social institutions.
Enculturation
-the process of learning your
own culture.
Acculturation
- culture can be modified to
accommodate desirable
traits from other cultures.
Deculturation
- a certain culture has been
lost and even the cultural
trait itself is in the process of
being forgotten.
Culture is shared. The set of behaviors,
attitudes, and beliefs that a person
possesses is part of a greater collection
of values and ideas that is communally
owned and practiced by members of a
society. Culture is shared inter-
generationally.
Culture affects biology.
Humans are born into
cultures that have values
on beauty and body.
Culture is adaptive. Culture is a tool for
survival that humans use in response to
the pressures of their environment. Both
material and non-material parts of
culture are influenced by the goal of
humans to address their needs as
dictated by their environment and their
biology.
Culture is maladaptive. Culture
can also cause problems for the
people who subscribe to it.
These problems arise when the
environment has changed and
culture has remained the same.
Culture Changes. The final characteristic of
culture is that it is never static. This dynamism
of culture is due to the changing needs of
humans as they interpret and survive in their
environment. As such, culture is continuously
reinvented by people. From that we wear to
the food that we eat, culture can be seen
as ever changing.
THEORIES ON CULTURE
COMPARISON OF THEORIES ON
CULTURE
 THEORY PERSPECTIVE ON CULTURE

Cultural evolutionism All cultures undergo the same development stages in the same order. The
main classifications include savagery, barbarism, and civilization.

Diffusionism All societies change as a result of cultural borrowing from one another.

Historicism Each culture is unique and must be studied in its own context.

Psychological anthropology Personality is largely seen to be the result of learning culture.

Functionalism Society is thought to be like a biological organism with all the parts
interconnected. Existing institutional structures of any society are thought
to perform indispensable functions, without which the society could not
continue.

Neo-evolutionism Culture is said to be shaped by environmental and technological

conditions. Cultures evolve when people are able to increase the
amount of energy under their control.

Materialism Culture is the product of the “material conditions” in which a given

community of people finds itself.
ANTHROPOLOGY IN
THE 21 CENTURY
ST
The key strength of anthropology as a discipline
of the social science is its holistic approach to
the study of humans. It is holistic in the sense that
it studies:
(1)humans, both as biological and social
creatures
(2)Human behavior from the time the species
existed to the time that will desist,
(3)Human behavior from all regions of the world
(4)All forms of human actions and beliefs.