UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND POLITICS

Quarter 1: Module 1
(Week 1)

Lesson 1 - Nature, Goals and Perspectives in Anthropology, Sociology and Political Science

BEGIN !!

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help you master the nature of understanding Culture, Society,
and Politics. The scope of this module permits it to be used in many different learning situations. The language used recognizes the
diverse vocabulary level of you as a student.

YOUR TARGETS !!

At the end of the module, you should be able to:

1. identify the nature, goals, and perspectives in anthropology, sociology and political science;and
2. explain the importance of the goals of anthropology, sociology and political science.

TRY THIS !!

Direction: Write the letter that corresponds to your answer.

Identify the branch of science described in each item. Choose your answer from the given choices and write it on the space below.
a. Anthropology b. Sociology c. Political Science

1. This is the study of society, patterns of social interactions, culture of everyday life. ______
2. Its goal is to look for the similarities and differences among the cultures of societies around the world. In doing so, we could
be able to understand more about human nature, or be more tolerant on other people’s behaviour and actions. ______
3. If we want to know why certain social phenomena happened, such as the television program Eat Bulaga’s Kalyeserye gaining
millions of tweets worldwide, this field of social science answers this occurrences. ______
4. Its main concern is to learn how to use power over other to maintain social order and harmony among citizens. _____
5. It studies various societies in different and geographical settings. _______

DO THIS !!

Give a word/words that describe the nature, goals , and perspective in anthropology , sociology, and political
science precisely.

Political
Anthropology Sociology
Science

nature

EXPLORE !!

Perspective

#PIN-POINT
Goals

Using the given illustration above, identify the concepts that you can relate to culture, society and politics.

Culture Society Politics

After doing the activity, give your own definition of culture, society and politics.

Culture
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Society
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Politics
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We are now ready to engage in discussing our new lesson in this module

KEEP THIS IN MIND !!

In this part of your journey, we provide something for you to deepen your understanding about culture.
Please continue reading with comprehension as you discover further knowledge that will help you out in your quest on the
remaining phases of this lesson. Since our course is Understanding Society, Culture, and Politics, we can deepen our understanding of
ourselves as members of society by studying these three specialized fields, namely: anthropology for culture, sociology for society and
political science for politics.
A lot of us are likely confused with the difference between sociology and anthropology. Confusion might come from their
commonalities as the two are dealing with the society and culture. Both of them study human behavior and the different factors that
affects our social relations. Since these two fields are most likely similar to each other, let us first draw their differences.
To find out the differences between anthropology and sociology, let us study the similar and various concepts between each field
below.

Anthropology Sociology
Answers the questions.. What does it mean to be human? How do we study society?

Who are you? What are the things that you think influence
your life?
Where do you come from?
What is life to people lining in places with
different culture and behaviour?
Where did it started? Anthropology started as a science during the Sociology emerged as an academic field right
time of exploration when European at the height of Industrial Revolution in
countries started to colonize what they Europe which mobilized the entire population
considered as primitive societies where in a way that had never been before in human
people were believed to be savages and history. This era had brought great changes in
barbaric a way people live in society

Who started this field? Franz Boas- considered as the Father of Auguste Comte – French philosopher and
modern American anthropology. His study mathematician. He coined the term sociology.
led to the doctrine of “historical He saw the need for a systematic science of
particularism,” where he stated that each studying society and in dealing with the
society is considered as having a unique solution of its basic problems.
form of culture that cannot be understood
under an overall definition of general
culture.
 Concept Anthroplogy is the study of people and their Sociology is the study of society, patterns of
culture. social interactions, and culture of everyday
It uses a special research method known as life. Unlike anthropology, the knowledge
ethnography in which antropologists are created by sociology is used to understand
required to live with their subject of study one’s own society.
for a long period of time in order to make Sociologists use qualitative research method
their writings more reliable and credible. in doing their studies.

Subjects of Inquiry Biological anthropology refers to the study Anything in a society that influences people’s
of human origins (genetics, race, evolutions, lives can be subjects of inquiry, like different
fossils, primates). social phenomena, issues, and problems.
Cultural anthropology is the study of living
people (religion, social system, language, Sociologists can also look into things that
clothing, foods, beliefs, traditions, etc). influence life like family background, socio-
Linguistics is the study of language, its economic status, ethnicity, social classes,
evolution, its connection to other languages, religion, gender, beliefs, traditions, norms,
and others. among others.
Archeology refers to the study of dead Some fields are social organization, social
culture (religion, social system, language, psychology, applied sociology, and human
how they dress, foods, beliefs, traditions, ecology.
etc).

Goals The goals of anthropology are the following: The goals of Sociology are the following:
- See the commonalities among people -Obtain possible theories and principles
(tradition, language, kinship, etc). about society as well as various aspects of
- Look at what makes us the same to social life.
understand more about human nature. - Study the nature of humanity to further
- Discover what makes people different examine our roles within a society.
from each other in order to understand - Appreciate that all things in society are
and preserve diversity. interdependent.
- Produce new knowledge and new Expose our minds to different perspectives in
theories about mankind and behavior. attaining truth.

After finding out the difference between anthropology and sociology, let us now proceed with another discipline in social
science that plays another important role in our life.

Politics impacts our lives directly or indirectly, whether we are aware of its effects or not. If there is a crime that took place,
we call a police, and this scheme is part of government. If there was a fire that occured, we call the fire department, and that’s also a
part of government. Military is government as well, let alone our civil liberty and our rights which have influences on us daily. In
school, you were asked to read by heart the Constitution. When you are apprehended by an authority, you asked your violation and
insisted on your legal rights. Even inside your house, there are still set of rules that are being enforced and followed. All these things
are related to a field called Political Science.

Description/Explanation
Origin - The study of political science was started by the ancient Greeks.
- Aristotle on his book “Politics” stated that Man is a political animal. It means that it is our nature
to live in a society and to have power over another.

Concepts - Political Science is the systematic study of government, politics, and political power.
- It is often defined as who gets what, when, where and how.
Subjects of - political theory, philosopy and different political ideologies
Inquiry - public management
- human rights
- International relations and foreign policies
Goals - Make people a better citizens.
- Keep social order and harmony among different group of people.
- Protect the rights of an individual.
- Avoid conflict and promote cooperation.

APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED!!

#Walang Forever -
Change is inevitable because it is the law of nature. Similarly society does not remain static. It changes, as the world
continues to change, most especially with the advent of new discoveries in science and technology. It is not new to us how our ways of
life before is no longer the ways of life of today’s generation. People should be open for changes. It is very important that we
understand and accept the challenges these changes are imposing on us and recognize all the factors that brought these changes.
Since changes is already happening at present, let us realize how social change occurs because of the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic. Tell the changes on some aspects of your life by completing the table below.
 Before COVID-19 During COVID-19
Way of life

View of the world

Priorities in life

Relationships with others

REFLECT !!
“T-M-L Phrase”
Complete the following phrases.
The Topic was about ______________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It Matters because _______________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I’ve Learned today that ___________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

ASSESS WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED !!

Direction: Read the following items carefully. Write the letter that corresponds to your answer.
Part I - # i-classify-it
Sociology and anthropology are social science disciplines that focus on studying the behavior of humans within their
societies. The main difference between the two concepts is that sociology concentrates on society (social institutions/structures)
while anthropology focuses on culture. With this, identify the following statements below if it is a scenario related to sociology or
anthropology. The words in bold letters serve as your clue.

1. A Family is usually consisted of a mother, father and their children.

2. Dela Cruz family was guided by the religious belief that “A family that prays together, stays together.”
3. The parents, together with their children, loved to go out and dine in together, eating their favorite foods like adobo,
kare-kare, sinigang, and sinampalukan.
4. Ana, a member of the family, meanwhile learned how to cook these foods through a culinary school.
5. During summer vacations, the family goes to the province to visit their grandparents and other relatives.
6. They learned from their grandparents that fiestas are celebrated to give thanks to bountiful blessings and to give
honor to the patron saint of the town.
7. The leaders of their local church prepared activities during the celebration.
8. Government officials contributed some help to make the event successful.
9. Dela Cruz family really enjoyed the activities especially the part when native Filipino games were played.
10. Peace and order were maintained through the enforcement of certain written rules and regulations.

Part II :
“Essay”
What do you think is the importance of the combined role of anthropology and sociology in understanding the culture of
other people?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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References:
Google Drive. Self-Learning Modules SY 2020-2021 Quarter 1 (ready to print). Access on August 19, 2020.
https://bit.ly/ALLINMODULES_TWO