Introduction to Socio-Anthro

Rlintag2016 1st term

 Intended Learning
Outcomes
Compare and contrast
Sociology and
Anthropology and linking
this to how this is
significant in the chosen
field
 Contents
Definition of terminologies
Sociology
Anthropology
Disciplines related to Sociology and
Anthropology
Origins and development of Socio-
Anthro
Careers
 What is Sociology?
Etymology
From two Greek words:
socius = groups, partners
logos = study

A study of society
 Sociology is the scientific study of
human society and social interactions.

Joseph Fichter:
Sociology is the scientific study of
patterned, shared human behavior
- The peoples social relations as they
react, interact with each other as
foretold by poets, historians and
storytellers, philosophers, etc.
A study of patterns of human
interaction that deals with the study
 Rodney Stark
Sociology deals with the study of the
patterns and processes of face-to-
face interactions between humans.
Microsociology = Group life in
Close up
Sociology deals also with the
fundamental patterns and processes
of large groups, even on societies,
which is a larger view of the society
Macrosociology = large-
scale social relations
 Sociology is the science of society
and the social interactions taking
place therein.

- May vary on all different kinds of social

interactions : social arts, social
relationships, social organizations,
social structures and social processes.
- The social facts it gathers include
recurrent and repetitive forms of
behavior, such as attitudes, beliefs,
values, norms and social institutions.
Lundberg (1939)

Science of society which consists of a

body of related generalizations about
human social behavior, guided by
concepts and theories arrived at by
scientific investigations

Interaction process taking place in

group life
 Areas of Sociology
Social organization = social institutions,
social groups (family, religion, politics, etc. are
topics here)
Social psychology = study of human nature
as an outcome of group life, social attitudes,
collective behavior and personality formation
Social change and social disorganization
= study of the change in culture and social
relations and the disruption that may occur
in society; it includes issues on juvenile
delinquency, drug addiction, divorce,
migration patterns, etc
 Human ecology = the nature of behavior
of a given population and its relationship to
the groups present social institutions. Ex.
Drug addiction in urban centers,
prostitution prevalence, etc.
Population or demography = study of
population number, composition, change
and quality as they influence the economic,
political and social system
Sociological theory and method =
applicability of theories and principles to
group life
Applied Sociology = utilized the findings of
 What is Anthropology?
Etymology
From two Greek words:
anthropos = man
logos = study

Anthropology is the systematic study

of humankind.
 STUDY OF PEOPLE
Branch of knowledge that deals with the
scientific study of man, his/her works,
body, behavior and value in time and
space.
Scientific study of physical, social and
cultural development and behavior of
human beings ever since their appearance
on earth.

MAN is the main concern

 Two major goals:
Understand uniqueness and
diversity
Discover fundamental
similarities
Branches of Anthropology
1. Physical anthropology =
Biological anthropology
a. Racial history nature of races
b. Paleontology origin of man
Biology + culture
c. Human genetics ways of
inheritance that take place in man
2. Cultural Anthropology = Social
anthropology
Ethnologists & Ethnographers who
describe, analyze and attempt to account
for the wide variety of customs, and forms
of social life of human beings
Material culture, technology
Community organizations, religion, arts,
magic, etc
STUDY OF CULTURE
 Subdivisions of Cultural
Anthropology
Ethnography pure description of
the culture of people or an ethnic
group; fieldwork is essential
Ethnology analysis, comparison
and contrast of cultures of peoples;
seek to understand why and how
people of today and in the recent
past differ in their customary ways of
thinking and acting; patterns of
kinship and organization; dynamics
of culture
Social Anthropology higher level of
abstraction based on the findings
3. Archaeology study of mans culture and
society in the past through the use of fossils and
other artifacts as main evidences.
fossils remnants of the past which have
organic life in the past
artifacts man-made and man-conceived
remains of prehistoric times (pottery, tools
for hunting, etc.)
4. Linguistics - systematic study of recorded and
unrecorded languages all over the world;
language and culture
 CULTURE
Is that a person as a of the society

Material culture - physical, all tangible

and visible parts of culture : food,
jewelry, building
Non-material culture all intangible
parts of culture which consists of values,
ideas and knowledge
 CULTURE
Is learned.
Enculturation process of learning your
own culture

Acculturation when culture is modified

to accommodate desirable traits from
other cultures

Deculturation - when reason for the

culture has been lost and even the
cultural trait itself is in the process of
 CULTURE
Is shared.

Affects biology

Is adaptive - tool for survival for

humans in response to the pressures
of their environment

Is maladaptive - can also cause

problems.
Changes
 Sociology and the Social
Sciences

Cultural Anthropology Psychology

Economics

History
Political Science Social Work
 Related Fields in Social
Science
Psychology
History
Political Science
Economics
Sociology
Relationship between Sociology
and Anthropology

How are they related?

 Methods of Inquiry
Empirical investigation
Objectivity
Ethnical neutrality
Sociological imagination
 C. Wright Mills coined the term
sociological imagination to refer to

...the vivid
awareness of
the relationship
between private
experience and
the wider
society.
The Development of
Sociology
Sociology emerged as a separate
discipline in the nineteenth century
This was a time of great social
upheaval due largely to the French and
Industrial Revolutions
Several early sociologists shaped the
direction of the discipline
SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
 Society
Product of human
interactions as humans
subscribe to rules of their
culture
An organization that caters to
a humans needs for
belongingness
 Social Interaction
A compilation of ways and means by which
humans interact with each other within the
confines of a society.

Where :

Space is not an issue

Can be multiple and simultaneous
Dialog can have an active and inactive end
Subject-positionality is present in any interaction
Meanings we ascribe to the actions of other are
informed by the values and norms that are upheld
in the society
 Social Organization
Interrelationship of parts of society
Layers of contexts and positions that help
perpetuate its existence

Positions created within a society constitute the

category of status

Each status prescribes a set of accepted

behaviors that define the individuals responses
and inclinations = roles

Group basic unit of organization

Institutions building blocks of society

Social structure and Agency
Radcliff-Brown

is a part of the social structure of all

social relations of person to person;

the concrete reality with which we

are concerned is the set of actually
existing relations at a given
moment of time which link together
certain human beings.
 Raymond Firth

the enduring orderly and patterned relationships

between the elements of a society.

it makes no distinction between the ephemeral

and the most enduring elements in social
activity and it makes it almost impossible to
distinguish the idea of the structure of society
from that of the totality of the society itself.

http://www.sociologyguide.com/social-structu