UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS

ANTHROPOLOGY as the study of MAN

Etymology: anthropos- man or human and logos-study

MAJOR FIELDS OF ANTHROPOLOGY:

1. PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY-uses data that are mainly physical (e.g. use of fossils, specifically,
human bones
2. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY-main concerns are human society and culture

CULTURE-total way of life shared by members of a community; includes beliefs, values, behaviors, etc
that constitute peoples way of life

TYPES OF CULTURE:
1. MATERIAL/TANGIBLE CULTURE-includes the PHYSICAL OBJECTS that man or society has made,
built or produced(e.g streets, sculptures)
2. NON-MATERIAL/INTANGIBLE-those that cannot be seen and touched but may be felt (e.g norms,
laws, language)

CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE:
1. CULTURE IS LEARNED. Culture is acquired and is NOT inherited. Culture can be learned in two
ways, direct (direct instruction) and indirect (observation and imitation).
2. CULTURE IS SHARED AND TRANSMITTED. There is no such thing as culture of one. Culture can be
transmitted to future generations through education and socialization.
3. CULTURE IS SYMBOLIC. It is the people who give meaning to culture. What is insignificant to one
culture may hold deep meaning for others.
4. CULTURE IS DYNAMIC/CHANGING. Culture continues to change over time. There is no such thing
as a fixed culture.
5. CULTURE IS RELATIVE. All cultures are equal. There is no superior or inferior culture.

VIEWS ON CULTURAL RELATIVISM:

1. ETHNOCENTRISM-tendency to see and evaluate ones own culture as the BEST and SUPERIOR
2. XENOCENTRISM-belief that what is foreign is the best, and ones own lifestyle, products or ideas
are INFERIOR

VARIATIONS OF CULTURE:
1. Culture SHOCK-situation experienced when someone is suddenly thrust into a new cultural
environment
2. Culture LAG-delay in cultural adjustments to changing social conditions

ELEMENTS OF CULTURE:
1. LANGUAGE-allows members to communicate with each other; carrier of culture
2. SYMBOL-may be objects, gesture, sound, color, etc that represents meaning other than its literal
meaning
3. BELIEF-shared ideas held collectively by people within a given culture
4. RITUAL-culturally pattern ways of dealing with events; includes rites of passage that marks the
transition of person from one stage of life to another
5. NORMS-rules, expectations and guidelines given by social institutions to specify people what
people OUGHT TO DO or NOT TO DO
a. Folkways- societys customs for routine, habits and conventions people obey
without being mandated by social institutions
b. Mores-fairly strong beliefs of right and wrong that carry moral connotation (e.g.
prohibitions against incest and cannibalism)
c. Laws-mores that are enforced and sanctioned by the government
Similarity of Mores and Laws: both employ systems of rewards and sanctions
1. Formal Sanctions-government-authorized ways to punish people (eg. Jail
terms, job dismissal)
 2. Informal Sanctions-expressed by negative everyday behaviors (eg. Frowns,
gossips)

6. VALUES-shared ideas about desirable goals or behaviors; culturally defined standards of

desirability

KEY FIGURES IN ANTHROPOLOGY

1. FRAY BERNARDINO DE SAHAGUN and FRANCIS LAFITAU
-first systematic anthropological work
-trained the Aztecs to write in their own native language

2. WILLIAM ROBERTSON
-proponent of the 3 stages of evolution of human society
a. Savagery
b. Barbarism
c. Civilization
3. EDWARD BURNETT TYLOR
-first to use and define culture
-founder of the anthropology of religion
4. LEWIS HENRY MORGAN
-founder of kinship studies
5. FRANZ BOAS
-Father of American Anthropology
-advocate of Cultural Relativism (refuted the notion of Western superiority)
6. A.R. RADCLIFFE-BROWN
-introduced Anthropology as a university subject
7. EMILE DURKHEIM
-pioneer of Empiricism (importance of building a scientific base for understanding of
society; all sciences are done rationally and systematically)
8. BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI
-Father of Social Anthropology
-advocates PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION (researcher should freely participate in the
culture that is being studied)
9. MARGARET MEAD
-first woman anthropologist
-her studies center on gender

ANTHROPOLOGY in the PHILIPPINES

1. Dr. Henry Otley Beyer
-Father of Philippine Anthropology
-proponent of the Migration Wave Theory (Filipinos descended from different groups of
people: Aetas (Negritos, Indones A and B and Malays)
2. Robert Bradford Fox
-discovered the earliest traces of Philippine prehistoric man (Tabon Man in Palawan)
3. Felipe LandaJocano
-proponent of the Evolution Theory (The first people were products of long process of
evolution)
-posits that man already existed before the first 3 groups of people arrived because of
his study using CARBON DATING
4. William Henry Scott
-best known for DEBUNKING the Kalantiaw Code, believed to be the oldest coded law of
the Philippines
5. Wilheim Solheim II
-Father of Southeast Anthropology
-hypothesized that man came from maritime people known as NUSANTAO
6. Michael Tan, Ph. D
-pioneer of anthropology in medicine