CULTURAL VARIATION

The variation in human conditions promotes

diversity and plurality in cultural traditions.
Ethnocentrism is a perspective that promotes an
individual’s culture as the most efficient and
superior; hence, the individual who exhibits
ethnocentrism feels that his or her culture is the
most appropriate as compared with other cultures.
 When faced with a plurality of
culture, you may adapt the
conceptual tool of cultural
relativism, which promotes the
perspective that culture must be
understood in the context of their
locality.
Using this perspective makes
you tolerant of the differing
attitudes and practices of the
others – a characteristic that is
essential to a highly globalized
world that we live in.
 Traditions , social norms,
and political identities are
not static because they are
often affected by the
environment.
Social change occurs as
human populations
adapt to their dynamic
surroundings.
Other factors that trigger
social change include
technology and
globalization.
 Apart from the varying
cultural backgrounds and
ethnicity, human populations
also experience social
differences, which categories
on gender, socioeconomic
class, political identity and
religion.
According to the World Health
Organization(2013), gender
“refers to the socially
constructed roles, behaviors,
activities, and attributes that a
given society considers
appropriate for men and
women.”
Unlike sex which refers to the
biological characteristic of humans
such as male or female, gender
categories are more varied,
accommodating identities such as
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
queer, and intersex(LGBTQI),
among others.
 The concept of socioeconomic
class varies between societies as
the ideas associated with being
poor or rich differ based on the
collective experiences of
individuals.
As such, Filipinos who are from the
Global South(developing
countries) would perceive poverty
differently from Singaporeans who
are from the Global
North( developed countries or
industrialized nations).
People falling into different
social classes are bound to
experience life differently such
as in the form of transportation
and the type and amount of
food that they can afford and
consume daily.
Filipinos often describe their social
class in personalized contexts.
Hence, when you ask a Filipino what
his or her social class is, the
response can be any of the
following: mahirap, medyo
mayaman, sakto lang,
mayaman,and the like.
Political Identity as a social
category refers to the set of
attitudes and practices that an
individual adheres to in relation
to the political systems and
actors within his or her society.
INTROD U C T IO N T O
O P O L O G Y, P O LIT I CA L
ANTHR
SCIE N C E, A N D S O C IO L O G Y
INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY
Anthropology seeks to answer this question :

What does it mean to be human? This allows for

an extensive and inclusive approach such that

anthropology studies humans both biological and

social creatures.
Biologically, it inquires on the
genetic composition of humans,
their relationship with other
primates, and their evolution.
Socially, it inquires on human
behaviors, attitudes, and belief
systems, which range from birth
practices to burial rites.
As such, 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.” (Ember,
Ember, and Peregrine,2010)
These points of inquiry are
addressed by the five
subdisciplines of
anthropology:
archaeological, cultural,
linguistic, physical, and
applied.
ARCHAEOLOGY
Examines the remains of ancient
and historical human populations to
promote an understanding of how
humans have adapted to their
environment and developed.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Promotes the study of a

society’s culture through their
belief systems, practices, and
possessions.
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

Examines the language of a

group of people and its
relation to their culture.
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Looks into the biological
development of humans
and their contemporary
variation.
APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY

Attempts to solve contemporary

problems through the application of
theories and approaches of the
discipline.
THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Another branch of the social sciences is
the discipline of sociology. Categorically,
sociology is the “scientific study of
society, including patterns of social
relationships, social interaction, and
culture.”( Calhoune, 2002)
The term sociology was coined by

Auguste Compte in 1830 to refer to

a scientific inquiry that covers

human social activities.

SUBDISCIPLINES OF SOCIOLOGY

Studies that involve social

structures such as institutions,
social groups, social stratification,
social mobility, and ethnic groups
fall within the scope of social
organization.
The study of the impact of group
life to a person’s nature and
personality is the focus of social
psychology.
SOCIAL CHANGE AND DISORGANIZATION

Is the branch of sociology that

inquires on the shift in social and
cultural interactions and the
interruption of its process through
delinquency, deviance, and conflicts.
HUMAN ECOLOGY
Pursues studies that relate human behavior to
existing social institutions. This is different
from social psychology and social organization
in that the social institutions in which human
subjects belongs to are treated in the context
of an ecological/environmental element that
defines human behavior.
POPULATION OR DEMOGRAPHY

Inquires on the interrelationship

between population
characteristics and dynamic with
that of a political, economic, and
social system.
APPLIED SOCIOLOGY
Uses sociological research and
methods to solve contemporary
problems. It often uses an
interdisciplinary approach to better
address social problems.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AS A DISCIPLINE
Political science comes from two Greek words: polis
and scire. Polis refers to the city-state in ancient
greece. The political activities within a polis are later
termed as politikus(latin). Scire means “to know”.
Combining the two meanings, political science aims
to know the activities within the state. Such
activities include the following: human interaction
and conflict, human and state relations, and power
distribution.
The American Political Science Association
defined its discipline as “the study of
government, public policies and political
processes, systems, and political
behavior” (2013). These topics are covered
by the subdisciplines of political science
such as political theory, comparative
politics, international relations, political
behavior, public policy, and public
administration.
POLITICAL THEORY
Examines the contemporary application of
political concepts such as human rights,
equality, peace, and justice. It seeks to
address the variance of its implementation in
societies with the aim of understanding the
nature of these concepts and the elements
that affect it.
COMPARATIVE POLITICS

Is a branch of political science that aims

to provide context to the differences in
government and political systems. It
examines the parallelism and divergence
of political systems to provide analyses on
the factors that make governments
efficient and the factors that make them
fail.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The study of state-to-state relations

and the wider margin of the impacts
of globalization and climate change
such as terrorism, piracy, and
democratization of non-western
territories.
This field covers the attitudes, knowledge, and
actions of an individual in response to political
variables such as policies created by the
government, behavior of politicians, and general
political environment. These types of studies are
important for drafting election campaigns and
gauging the electorates’ inclination to support a
policy.
PUBLIC POLICY

This field inquires on the types of

governmental policies and the underlying
motivations for their enactment and
implementation. Due to the nature of this
field, it operates with other subdisciplines
to create a comprehensive analysis.
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
This branch examines the various
administrative schemes implemented by
government officials. It analyses the
strategies applied by administrative units in
implementing the existing policies and the
feedback mechanism that they use to gain
the opinion of the public.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND
SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVES ON
CULTURE AND SOCIETY
THEORIES ON CULTURE
Theories are perspectives that are
essential in shaping an analysis about
a particular issue. In the field of
anthropology, one of the key points of
discussion is the culture. The following
table presents seven theoretical
orientations in anthropology and the
ideas on culture that they espouse.
 COMPARISON OF
THEORIES ON CULTURE
THEORY PERSPECTIVE ON CULTURE
CULTURAL All culture undergo the same development stages in the same
EVOLUTIONISM 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 Personality is largely seen to be the result of learning culture
ANTHROPOLOGY
FUNCTIONALISM Society is thought to be like a biological organism with all of the
parts interconnected. Existing institutional structures of any
society are thought to perform indispensable functions, without
which the society cound 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.
Society can b defined as product of
human interactions as humans subscribe
to the rules of their culture. It is an
organization that caters to a human’s
need for belongingness in a group. The
following table presents the varying
understanding of society as prescribed by
sociologists.
 COMPARISON OF
THEORIES ON SOCIETY
SOCIOLOGISTS PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIETY
AUGUST COMPTE Society as a social organism possessing a harmony of structure
and function.

EMILE DURKHEIM Society as a reality in its own right. Collective is of key

importance to society, which society cannot survive without.
TALCOTT PARSONS Society is a total complex of human relationships in so far as they
grow out of the action in terms of means-end relationship.
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD Society is an exchange of gestures that involves the use of
symbols.
MORRIS GINSBERG Society as a collection of individuals untied by certain relations or
mode of behavior that marks individuals off from others who do
not enter into these relations or who differ from them in behavior.
GEORGE DOUGLAS Society as the complex of organized associations and institutions
COLE with a community.
ROBERT MACVLER AND Society as a system of usages and procedures of authority and
CHARLES PAGE mutual aid of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human
behavior and liberties.