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Understanding Culture

This document discusses the topics of culture, society, and politics from an anthropological and sociological perspective. It provides background on key thinkers in the development of sociology such as Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. It also discusses important anthropologists like Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski, and Alfred Radcliffe-Brown who developed theories like structural functionalism. Finally, it briefly touches on the colonial origins of social sciences and the development of indigenous social sciences like Sikolohiyang Pilipino in the Philippines.

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Shen Eugenio
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240 views3 pages

Understanding Culture

This document discusses the topics of culture, society, and politics from an anthropological and sociological perspective. It provides background on key thinkers in the development of sociology such as Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. It also discusses important anthropologists like Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski, and Alfred Radcliffe-Brown who developed theories like structural functionalism. Finally, it briefly touches on the colonial origins of social sciences and the development of indigenous social sciences like Sikolohiyang Pilipino in the Philippines.

Uploaded by

Shen Eugenio
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Understanding Culture, Society and Politics

The Diversified Human Society


Human Society
 Composed of a very complex system of ramified human endeavors which are amplified by
diversity found in human culture

Homo Sapiens or Anatomically Modern Humans


 Its greatest masterpiece in the species
 Man has always been influenced by culture which evolved through changes in the society’s
structure

Society
 Composed of many individuals who belong to a particular culture that evolved in the
geographical location where the society is situated

Diversity of Culture
 Manifested in smaller schemes such as the one’s present inside a particular nation
 Such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender, socio-economic classes and many more

Three Social Science Disciplines


1) Anthropology
2) Sociology
3) Political Science

Anthropology
 The scientific study of humanity

Major Subfields of Anthropology


1) Biological/Physical Anthropology
 studies the biological or physical aspects of human beings
2) Archeology
 The study of the cultural heritage of the past and ruins of the past cultures
3) Anthropological Linguistics
 Deals with the influence of language and symbols to human culture

Sociology
 Defined as the scientific study of society which necessarily entails the study of all human
activities in the society
Political Science
 The art of politics and governance
Science
 Defined in a generic sense as the systematic way of learning and systematized body of
knowledge

The People behind the Development of Sociological Thinking


Modern Sociology
 Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
 Born on January 17, 1798 in Paris France
 A French philosopher and mathematician
 Founding “Father of Sociology”
 He coined the term “sociology” but he originally used “social physics” as a term for
sociology

Three Stages in the Development of Societies


1) The Theological Stage
2) The Metaphysical Stage
3) The Positive Stage

 Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)


 An English writer and reformist with physical disabilities
 She is considered as the “mother “ of sociology

 Isidore Auguste Marie Francois Xavier (1798-1857)


 Considered as the “father” of sociology

 Karl Max (1818-1883)


 Introduced the materialist analysis of history which discounts religious and
metaphysical (spiritual)explanation for historical development
 Considered as the “Father” of scientific socialism

 EmileDurkheim (1858-1917)
 Responsible for defending sociology as independent discipline from psychology
 He was the pioneer of functionalism in sociology

 Max Weber (1864-1920)


 Another founding father of sociology
 Weber stressed the role of rationalization in the development of society
 People refused to believe in myths and superstitious beliefs
 The greatest application of scientific way of life in bureaucracy

Four Great Anthropologists


 Franz Boas (1858-1942)
 Often considered as the father of modern American Anthropology
 He was the first anthropologist to have rejected the biological basis of racism or racial
discrimination
 He also rejected the popular Western idea of social evolution or the development of
societies from lower to higher forms
 He also rejected the kind of theory influenced by Darwin in favor of historical
particularism

 Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski (1884-1942)


 He was a Polish immigrant who did a comprehensive study of Trobriand Island
 He was an Anthropologist and Ethnographer
 He developed what social scientists now call as participant observation
 He is also considered as one of the most influential ethnographers in the 20th century

 Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955)


 He was an English social anthropologist who developed the theory of structural
functionalism
 He became the chair in Social Anthropology in Oxford

Scholar in Politics
 Walter Lippman (1889-1974)
 He was a newspaper commentator and respected world news columnists

The Colonial Origin of the Social Science


Social Science
 Study human behavior as it relates to the society and its institution
 Spread from the center to the peripheries of the world
Social Darwinism
 Which proclaimed the survival of the fittest was used to justify the domination of native
people as well as the exploitation of the underclass in industrial societies

Sikolohiyang Pilipino (SP)


 is borne out of this move to indigenize social sciences in the Philippines

Two leading exponents of SP


1) Narcisa Paredes-Canilao
2) Maria Babaran-Diaz

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