UCSP – MODULE 1: Nature, Goals and stability to radical change in whole societies.

The
Perspectives in/of Anthropology, Sociology, and purpose of sociology is to understand how human
Political Science action
and consciousness both shape and are shaped by
These are the things that exemplify the nature surrounding cultural and social structures.
and goals of Anthropology, Sociology and Political Sociology is a social science; it belongs to the
Science: family of social sciences. As a social science, focuses
its aspects on man, his social manners, social activities
Anthropology is digging at ancient or and social life. The goal of sociology is to help you
prehistoric sites seeking for clues about understand how human action and consciousness both
Humanity as a whole. shape and are shaped by the surrounding cultural and
Political science is a focus on the narrow band social structures.
of human activity that is Government, Political
Parties and Elections. 3. Political Science is a social science that deals with
Sociology is exploring the statistics about humans and their interactions. It is a branch of
countless millions of people in every walk of sociology; it essentially deals with the large-scale
life, in every aspect of life, in every field, in actions of humans, and group mentality it is a
every nation, in every institution, including discipline that deals with several aspects such as the
Fine Arts, Economics, Performing Arts, study of state and government. It deals with the nature
Ethics, Politics, Science, Psychology, Art and formation of the state and attempts to understand
Criticism and beyond. its forms and functions. The goal of Political Science is
to constantly deepen the knowledge, discover progress
Nature of Anthropology, Sociology and Political and protect the quality of life within a group,
Science community, country, and the world. Thus, it is the
study of power relationships and competing interests
The nature of culture refers to a theoretical among states around the world.
foundation of contemporary anthropology. It has been
observed that the terms "nature" and "culture" that can The Different Perspective of Anthropology,
not necessarily be translated into non-western Sociology and Political Science
languages.
1. Anthropology relates to sociology, it always Culture and society are not the same thing.
describes human, human behavior and human societies While cultures are connections of behavior patterns
around the world. It is a comparative science that and perceptions, societies are formed through
examines all societies. The term anthropology means interacting organisms within a group. Societies are not
scientific study of man or human beings. just limited to humans but can be recognized to all
Cultural anthropology studies, human societies organisms possessing skills in interacting like schools
and elements of cultural life. An example of cultural of fish, flocks of birds, and hives of bees. In human
anthropology is the Linguistic anthropology which societies, social interaction plays a very important role.
focuses on language in a certain society. The goal of It is a skill needed for the survival of culture that must
studying anthropology is to understand the origin be transferred to another.
human evolution and the diverse forms of its existence
throughout time 1. Cultural Perspective
The study of Man and its various aspects is Culture is generic term yet very difficult to
known as Anthropology. It may be a subject of science define. Aside from the famous definition of Tylor on
and arts. It is a branch of sociology. It describes culture, scholars and social scientists vary different
human, human behavior and human societies and it perspective on how to properly define it. Also, because
examines all societies around the world. It also of its wider scope and it encompasses everything of
describes the ancestors through time and space in man, experts from several field find it complicated to
relation to its environmental, social relations, and boxed culture into one universal terminology. Spencer-
culture Oatey (2012, p.2) compiled perspectives from scholars
about culture.
2. Sociology is the study of human social relationships Matthew Arnold in his Culture and Anarchy
and institutions. Sociology’s subject matter is diverse, (1867) mentioned that culture or high culture as
ranging from crime to religion, from the family to the opposed to popular culture (or folkways in an earlier
state, from the divisions of race and social class to the usage) is a product of a special intellectual or artistic
shared beliefs of a common culture, and from social endeavor humans had invented.
 Kroeber & Kluckhohn (1952) defined that Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) described the
culture is composed of behavior (explicit and implicit) emerging societies as societies of survival and
acquired and transmitted through symbols. It is a primarily based on the concept of natural law.
human group that includes their distinctive Members of each society must learn to adapt to their
achievements and embodiment in artifacts, traditional surroundings to outlast the prevailing conditions
and historical ideas, and formation of values. They present in their environment.
added that culture systems can be considered as a Karl Marx (1818-1883) had a different take on
product of action from conditional elements of a society. He postulated that societies develop through
society. class conflicts. There is always s struggle between the
Lastly, Schwartz (1992) stated that culture workers and the capitalist due to the exploitation of the
consists of experiences that are organized, learned or latter to the former which is essential in provoking
created by the individuals of a population, including social change. The only way to end this conflict is
those images and images adding up their unique through social revolution.
interpretations transmitted from the past generations up Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) said that society
to the future. is composed of harmonious elements such as
individuals, organizations, and social institutions.
2. Anthropological perspectives are culture, cultural These elements must perform their role in the society
relativism, fieldwork, human diversity, holism, bio- for function effectively. Dysfunction may occur if
cultural focus. The four main perspectives of these elements are not in the state of equilibrium.
Anthropology are the cross-cultural or comparative George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) and other
emphasis, its evolutionary/historical emphasis, its scholars who conceptualized the concept of symbolic
ecological emphasis, and its holistic emphasis. An interactionism take a different point of view on
example for this is the analysis and solutions of the society. According to this, society can be seen in a
different aspects of the society such as the environment micro-level that focuses on the relationships of
issues of pollution, the issues on health and medicine individuals within a society primarily centers in their
and other issues related to the human activities. communication both language and symbols.
Herbert Blumer (1969) who coined the term
3. Sociological perspective introduces the discipline symbolic interactionism studied how humans interact
of sociology, including something about its history, to the meanings ascribed into a specific object under
questions, theory, and scientific methods, and what circumstances. Erving Goffman (1958) on the other
distinguishes it from other social science disciplines. hand used dramaturgical analysis. In this approach, he
Central features include social interaction and used theater as an analogy for social interaction and
relationships, social contexts, social structure, social recognized that people like actors and actresses, play
change, the significance of diversity and human their role and function according to it.
variation, and the critical, questioning character of Charles Horton-Cooley (1902) said that
sociology. It also explores what sociologists do. society and individuals are not separated but are
Sociology includes three major theoretical simply collective and distributive aspects of the same
perspectives: thing. He theorized the concept of the looking glass
1. the functionalist perspective; self. According to this, self-relation, or how one views
2. the conflict perspective; and oneself is not an isolated event but rather includes
3. the symbolic interaction perspective. others. It emphasized how we changed our identity or
personality based on how others see us.
4. Theoretical perspective Charles Horton-Cooley (1902) said that
The term society also makes an impact to society and individuals are not separated but are
several experts in the field of social science. It made simply collective and distributive aspects of the same
them the understanding that society is a system of thing. He theorized the concept of the looking glass
usages and procedures, of authority and mutual aid, of self. According to this, self-relation, or how one views
many groupings and divisions, of controls of human oneself is not an isolated event but rather includes
behavior and of liberties. Their perspectives paved way others. It emphasized how we changed our identity or
modern scholars to have a better understanding on personality based on how others see us.
society. As the Father of Sociology Auguste Comte
coined the term sociology and said that society is a 5. Political science perspective studies the tendencies
social organism possessing a harmony of structure and and actions of people which cannot be easily
function, his followers were motivated to give their quantified or examined. Political science is more
own focused than most social sciences. It sticks to the
perspective on this. political arena and to the realm of politics, either
dealing with situations with two competing sides or the
lateral decisions that affect the group as a whole. An
example is the study of democracy as a form of
government and why is democracy considered as the
best form of government.

The Goals of Anthropology, Sociology, and Political

In studying anthropology, sociology, and