SOCIAL SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY

Lesson 1: Anthropology and the Study of Culture

Defining Anthropology, its goals and perspectives
Introduction
You, as a twenty-first century learner who lives in the era where change happens
in just a blink should be equipped with an understanding of the changes that take place in
some aspects of culture, societal norms and laws. You need to know the factors that
caused these changes for you to be aware of how you fit in, and what relevant actions can
be done as a member of society. Change is certainly inevitable and it affects us in several
aspects. We should not deter these changes but instead, we should adapt to it, live with
it, and embrace it. As the cliché goes, nothing is permanent in this world except change.
And so indeed, the world is changing and so are we – our cultures and our societies.
In this lesson, we will begin introducing to you some concepts that will lead you in
understanding the underlying reasons of the changes in your environment. Let us start by
defining the nature, goals and perspectives of one of the three important disciplines in the
social sciences – Anthropology.

This lesson provides various activities and discussions for you to articulate the
nature of anthropology, its goals and perspectives.
Vocabulary List
Hi there! Here are some unfamiliar words that you will encounter in this lesson.
Take a minute or two to read these words until you become familiar with them. It would be
very helpful if you will get your pen and notebook to copy the definition of the important
terms below.
1. Anthropology – is the study of humanity that looks into the biological variation in
time and space (physical or biological anthropology), and the interplay of society
and culture (cultural anthropology).
2. Culture- a complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices, values, artifacts,
laws, symbols and everything that a person learns and shares in society.
3. Deculturation -the loss of cultural beliefs and practices tied with the changing times.
4. Cultural diffusion - a process of accommodating desirable traits from other culture
through acculturation, assimilation, amalgamation, enculturation, colonization and
revolutionary movement.
Are your done familiarizing yourself with the important terms that you will
encounter in this lesson? Great! Now, it’s time for you to have some warming up activity
before you proceed to the lesson proper.
Pre-Test
Before you start your learning adventure, try to answer the first task below. This
task will give you an overview of what you will learn as you go along the way in this module.
Are you ready?
Directions: Read each statement below. State whether you AGREE or DISAGREE to each
of the statements. Write the answers in your notebook.
1. Culture is innate.
2. Culture makes an individual unique.
3. Culture is never static.
4. Cultural problems arise when the environment changes but remained the same.
5. Culture can be lost or forgotten.
6. Culture is always classified as intangible/non-material.
If you scored 3 (three) and above, you can now proceed to the lesson proper.
However, if you scored 2 (two) and below, you might want to give another shot in
answering the pre-test.
You are now about to read the first lesson of this module. While reading, try to jot
down some important concepts that you might find useful in the succeeding lessons.
Remember to use a separate notebook for your notes.
Learning Activities
Defining the Nature of Anthropology
Every individual differs in various ways. So, putting your lens closer to these
differences reveal how individuals are alike in terms of their physical features, routines
and interaction with each other. The differences and similarities by which individuals live,
act and interact is a manifestation of the numerous aspects of human existence. One of
these aspects is man’s unique social behavior tied to their cultural backgrounds.
Culture is the invisible bond which ties people coming from the same society together.
It affects our judgment skills, perceptions, attitudes and even our emotions. It has a direct
impact on our behavior. Thus, the culture we have shapes our values and belief systems
which influences our personalities. Furthermore, our culture gives us our identity and
sense of belongingness to our community. It is for this reason that understanding culture
is important and this is the focus of one field in social sciences called cultural anthropology.
Anthropology is defined as the study of humanity. It is derived from the two Greek
words “anthropos” which means man and “logos” means study.
SUBDISCIPLINES OF ANTHROPOLOGY
• Physical or biological anthropology –the study of human biological variation in time
and space including genetics, growth, development and primatology.
• Cultural anthropology -the study of human society and culture which
describes, analyzes, interprets and explains social and cultural similarities and
differences. Its sub-categories are: (a) archeological anthropology which is the
study of human behavior and cultural patterns and processes through culture’s
material remains; and (b) linguistic anthropology, which is the descriptive,
comparative and historical study of language and of linguistic similarities and
differences in time, space and society.
• Applied Anthropology – the use of anthropological knowledge in solving
contemporary problems through the application of theories and approaches of the
discipline.
Source: Retrieved August 20, 2020 from https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/pontifical-and-royal-university-of-santo-tomasthe-
catholic-university-of-the-philippines/the-contemporary-world/lecture-notes/final-ucsp-module-very-good/5432381/view
These sub-disciplines of anthropology show that it takes a broad approach to
holistically understand the various aspect of human experience. To understand and study
humanity, anthropologists compare one society to the other society.
It also noteworthy that it is important to study anthropology because of the following
reasons: 1. It broadens your knowledge and changes your perspective; 2. It is useful in
understanding how society has evolved through time and the cultural changes that have
taken place thereto; 3. It is relevant in tracing the transitions that societies went through
leading up to its current state; 4. It helps us to deal with complexity and lastly, 5. It is
interesting.
Furthermore, in studying humans, anthropologists also consider not just the
present time but also the past through archeology in order to see how humans lived
thousand years ago. They also examine what makes up our biological system as well as
our bones, genes and health. Their curiosity in exploring the uniqueness of man from other
species led them to compare humans to other animals such as chimpanzees and other
primates to see what we have in common with these animals and what makes us unique
from them.
Talking about commonality, every person in the same society is bonded by the
same culture. Hence, it is embedded in a community to have a set of beliefs which are
manifested in their traditions and other societal practices. As part of man’s culture,
anthropologists also try to look into the variation of language from simple to complex and
on how they pronounce and write each word. Through field immersion, they observe how
people dress, what people eat, what people do and how people communicate in different
societies to validate the authenticity of their culture. These are just some of the few things
that anthropologists do in their field.
In line with cultural anthropology, in 1871, British Anthropologist Sir Edward Tylor
gave the first definition of culture. According to him, culture as the core concept of cultural
anthropology is the complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals,
custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society
(Kroeber and Kluckhohn 1952:81). The phrase “complex whole” has been the most
durable feature of his definition.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
Since culture is a design or a roadmap that guides the behavior of members in a
society, it has the following characteristics:
• Culture is Everything
It is what a person has, does and think as part of society. This covers all of
a person’s belief systems, set of behaviors, and material possessions.
Culture therefore can be classified into two types:
o Material Culture – includes all tangible and visible parts of culture
like clothes, food, and even buildings.
- Objects are important in the study of human
history because they provide a concrete basis
for the prevailing ideas of the times and can be used
to validate the existing realities.
o Non-Material Culture – includes all intangible parts of culture, which
consists of values, norms, laws, sanctions and knowledge among others.
• Culture is Shared
This implies that a particular behavior cannot be considered as part of
culture if there is only one person practicing it. Culture is shared is intra and
inter-generational.
• Culture is Learned
Culture is a set of beliefs, attitudes and practices that an individual learns
through his or her family, school, church, and other social institutions.
Diffusion – is the spread of culture from one society to another.
• Culture affects Biology
Humans are born into cultures that have values on beauty and body. As
such, they alter their bodies to fit physiological norms that are dictated by
their culture.
• Culture is Adaptive
Culture is a tool for survival that humans use in response to the pressures
of their environment.
• Culture is Maladaptive
People when manifesting a set of cultural practices, fail to adapt to the
environmental changes leads to mal-adaptation.
• Culture Changes
Culture is never static. This dynamism of culture is due to the changing
needs of man as they interpret and survive in their environment.
Source: 1. Retrieved August 20, 2020 from https://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/samplechapter/0/2/0/5/0205260012.pdf
2. Retrieved August 20, 2020 from https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/pontifical-and-royal-university-of-santo-tomasthe-
catholic-university-of-the-philippines/the-contemporary-world/lecture-notes/final-ucsp-module-verygood/
5432381/view

Identifying the Goals in Studying Anthropology

Here are some of the goals in studying Anthropology:
1. Explore and study the various cultures of man.
2. Realize that anthropology as a discipline has a strong commitment to issues of
social justice.
3. Understand the process of anthropological interpretation and representation.
Source: 1. Ariola, Mariano M. (2016). Understanding Culture, Society and Politics, ISBN:978-971-9654-34-6, Unlimited Books
Library Services and Publishing Inc. p.40
Anthropological Perspectives in Anthropology
Anthropology has different distinctive ways of thinking about the world, human
cultures, societies and people. Anthropological perspectives focuses on the study of the
full scope of human diversity and the application of that knowledge to help people of
different backgrounds. Some aspects of the anthropological perspectives are culture,
cultural relativism, fieldwork, human diversity, holism and biocultural focus. The four main
perspectives of Anthropology are the cross-cultural or comparative emphasis,
evolutionary/historical emphasis, ecological emphasis and holistic emphasis. From
an anthropological perspective, these concepts are related to each other and they are also
seen as integrated with one another.
In order to understand the origin and history of human beings and to acknowledge
global cultured and communities, people should be able to consider anthropological
perspectives in their both social and academic lives. Anthropological perspective is very
important because it looks at shared aspects of humanity like language, cultural
connections, economics and curiosity to find the common thread. What makes the
Anthropological perspective unique is that unlike other social scientists, anthropologists
look beyond the confines of our own society and compare it to the beliefs and practices of
other societies, past and present.
The holistic cross-cultural and comparative approach can help us think more
deeply about other people and cultures, and live more consciously in our global world. It
also changes your way of thinking about the world with a wider appreciation of the human
experience. It allows us to understand how the evolutionary package inherited from our
ancestors work in today’s environment.
Source: 1. Dungeon, Roy C. “The Anthropological Perspective: What Makes it Unique”
2. “Why is Athropology Important.” https://classroom.synonym.com/why-is-anthropology-important-12080725.html
Are you done reading the lesson? Now, try answering the activities below to check
if you really understood the lesson. Make sure to get a passing score in order to move to
the next activity. Let’s go!
Practice Task 1
Directions: Read and analyze the words in each item. Write TANGIBLE if it is a material
culture and INTANGIBLE if it is a non-material culture. Do this in your notebook.
1. heirloom
2. antiques
3. Mayon Volcano
4. folk songs
5. superstitious beliefs
6. values and traditions
7. Jose Rizal’s monument
8. Uyayi
9. Myth of Bakunawa
10. earthen jars
11. kundiman
12. rituals
13. ancestral house
14. hanging garden of Babylon
15. Pearl of the Orient
Good job! Let’s move on to the next activity.
The next activity will test if you have understood the difference of enculturation,
acculturation and deculturation (the context of enculturation and acculturation fall
part of cultural diffusion) by means of analyzing the situations in each item.
Practice Task 2
Directions: Analyze the situations in every item. Tell whether the following situations show
Enculturation, Acculturation, and Deculturation. Do this in your notebook.
1. Jillian learned to become religious and obedient from her parents and friends. She
learned it by observing the people that surrounds her.
2. Pedro is learning on how to use chopsticks before he flew to China for his
internship.
3. Children nowadays prefer playing with their iPads, Xbox and mobile games rather
than playing traditional games like “patintero”, “piko” and “tumbang preso.”
4. After Juana’s scholarship program in Michigan University, she prefers wearing
crop-tops and other western-inspired clothing.
5. Before travelling to Korea, Kardo enrolled in a Basic Korean language tutorial.
6. The University of the Philippines will be offering an elective course that will analyze
popular Korean drama series.
7. Leon’s native tongue is West Miraya but he speaks English in the University.
8. Tatay Isko asked his 10-year old grandson to teach him how to send a text
message using an android phone.
9. Nowadays, only few teenagers are practicing “pag-mamano” which is known as
the traditional honoring-gesture of Filipinos.
10. Pedro uses messenger and direct messages in expressing his feelings to Feliza.
You’re doing a great job! If you scored eight (8) and above, you are
amazingly awesome. But, don’t feel bad if you got seven (7) and below. You can still review the definition of
enculturation, acculturation and deculturation and
retake the task to have an awesome score.
Practice Task 3
Directions: Read the statements below and identify the sub-discipline of anthropology
described in each item. Write the answers in your notebook.
1. Ana Marie studies the language of the indigenous people in the farthest mountains
of Cordillera.
2. Juan Tamad Jr. seeks to examine the tombs of the Mummy Pharaohs in Egypt.
3. According to studies, the early Homo sapiens has larger skull than that of the
present human.
4. Len-len idolizes the Korean’s pop culture and drama.
5. Clifford Geertz’ study on culture revealed that the webs of significance suggests
that all humans create and modify their cultures, and in turn cultures define the
context where the humans are.
Well done buddy! You are a step closer in the final exercise. Keep going.
Post Test
Directions: Arrange the words inside the box, group them accordingly and create a graphic
organizer using these words. Then, answer the questions below. Do this in your notebook.

Questions:

1. What is meant by the statement that culture is fluid rather than static? What
characteristics of culture is this?
2. What makes culture a complex whole?
3. After knowing that culture can be lost or forgotten, what can you do to avoid its
extinction?
Congratulations for passing all the activities. I hope you have learned something new
today. Don’t stop here because this is just the starting point of your learning journey. Keep
going until you reach the end of this course.
Assignment
Directions: Choose one characteristic of culture and illustrate it in a long-bond paper.
Do not forget to label them with the appropriate characteristic of culture. Make your
output creative and neat. This will be compiled in your portfolio.