Culture, politics, and society

culture

it is defined as the sum of an individual’s way of life

non material and material things

culture can be divided into 2

material things

it ranges from the food he or she eats, to the clothes they wear

non material things

norms and values as well as music, dance, poetry, and other forms of expression that showcase his or her creativity and artistry

politics

theory, art, and practice of government

political institution

it is a relatively stable cluster of statuses, general norms, and role behavior, whicha re involved in the acquisition and exercise of power and decision-making

society

an organized group of interdependent people who share a common territory, language, and culture and act together for collective survival and well-being.

culture, politics, society

what are the concepts that represent phenomenon/ are essentail in understanding human behavior and social groups

gender

refers to the socially-constructed charactersitcs of being male or female

socioeconomic class

refers to the category of persons who have more or less the same privilidges in a society

upper class

consists of elite families who are the most productive in terms of resource generation

middle class

composed of small business and industry operators, mostly owners and managers, professionals, office workers, and farm owners with income that is average enough to provide a comfortable and decent life

lower class

composed of farm employees, skilled and unskilled artisans, service workers, indigent families and informal sectors

ethnicity

refers to the expression of the set of cultural ideas held by a distinct ethnic or indigenous group.

religion

is an organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere of the supernatural, along with associated ceremonial or ritualistic practices

nationality

is the legal relationship that binds a person and a country

change

is generally pervasive and takes place in culture, society and politics; affects social mobility

cultural change

refers to all alteration affecting new traits or trait complexes and changes in a culture’s content and structure.

physical environment, population, war and conquest, international events, technology

cultural changes are caused by these factors

disasters

this continuous exposure allows people to develop a sense of resiliency, new perspectives, and coping mechanisms in confronting the changes.

population

this change is brought about by migration and transnational origins; culture fusion

war and conquest

change through territorial sovereignty and even recognition of one’s political determination or identity.

international events

acts of man such as the oil price hike in the world markets

technology

it has radically transformed worldwide interaction; public information can now spread fast like wildfire, contributing to the rapid diffusion of knowledge and ideas to all the corners of the globe; thus providing mass awareness with just a single facility

political change

includes all categories of change in the direction of open, participatory, and accountable politics.

social change

refers to variations or modifications in the patterns of social organization. may manifest to rise or fall of a group

invention, discovery, diffusion

causes of social change

invention

new combination or new use of existing knowledge

discovery

reoganize existing elements of the world they had not noticed before

diffusion

refers to the spread of cultural traits from one group to another; trade, migration, mass communication

enculturation

takes place when culture spreads to another through learning or education; uses formal learning and teaching

socialization

learning through constant exposure and experience with culture; through informal everyday exposure

association

establishing connection with culture

integration

total assimilation of culture as manifesting by a change in worldviews, attitudes and etc.

anthropology

provides the window to our past, a mirror for our present, and a lens through which we look to the future.

anthropologists

these people research, observe, analyze, and apply what they learn towards an understanding of the many variations of the human condition.

anthropos, man, logos, study of

the word anthropology comes the greek terms what

anthropology

the science or study of man; this refers to the human species in its entirety: human groups both cultural and biological and as they adapted and evolved in the past

anthropology

its goals is to explain and analyze human culture similarities and differences

anthropology

assess the cultural development of our species as revealed in the archeological record

anthropology

analyzes the biological evolution of the human species as evidenced in the fossil record

anthropology

explain human biological diversity today

biological, cultural, archaeology, linguistics

four major fields of anthropology

physical anthropology

biological anthropology is also known as what?

biological anthropology

studies homo sapiens as biological beings both in the present and in the past

biological anthropology

scientists working in this subfield seek to describe and explain the biological evolution of our species

cultural anthropology

is the description and comparison of the adaptations made by human groups to diverse ecosystems of the earth; ethnographic and ethnological research

social anthropology

another name for cultural anthropology

archaeology

is the systematic study of the remains of previous cultures as a means of reconstructing the lifeways of people who lived in the past. focuses on culture of people we cannot interview or observe anymore

archaeology

these people study how people adapted to their natural and sociocultural environments and how culture spread and change through time.

linguistics

is the study of language; how language is formed and how it works, the history and development of language, and its relationship to other aspects of culture.

cross cultural studies, holism , cultural relativism

the anthropological perspectives

cross cultural studies

a perspective wherein it involve comparing similarities and differences across diverse human societies

holism

perspective of exploring the human condition by viewing biological, social, cultural, historical, and environmental aspects as deeply interconnected systems

cultural relativism

the methodological practice of understanding a group's beliefs, values, and practices from within their own cultural context rather than judging them by the standards of another

political science

study of state and government; focuses on “power” that plays a crucial part in the struggle in which an individual and their groups may be found involved according to their capability and degree of interest at all levels.

power

is the possession of control, authority, and influence over others

influence

is the capacity to have an effect on a person or event

authority

is the right to exercise the power and influence of a given position

legitimacy

is having the approval of others

linkage

refers to which decisions in one nation may force desire decisions in another

anarchy

it means having no government

anarchism

the only authority that has moral and legitimate force is the authority that each individual gives to himself. Nobody can be constrained to perform any action unless the act comes from his or her own independent will.

communism

private property inevitably leads to inequality- social, economic, and political inequality; the essential prerequisite of individual is economic equality

socialism

is an economic and political system based on collective, common, or public ownership of the means of production (machinery, tools, and factories)

socialism

all production and distribution decisions are made by the collective, directed by a central planner or government body.

fascism

it is a complex and mutable political ideology which came to prominence in the 1920 and 1930 Europe.

Jason Stanley

fascism is based on an ethnic division between us and them, and extreme ethnonationalism. it’s based on nostalgia for a mythic past, which a members of chosen ethnic group has an empire- and it represents the present as the loss of that great empire.

capitalism

its essential feature is the motive to make profit

adam smith

father of modern economics; both parties to a voluntary exchange transaction have their own interest in the outcome, but neither can obtain what he or she wants without addressing what the other wants. rational self-interest that can lead to economic prosperity

sociology

science of society and social behavior, which is viewed as an aggregate of individuals.

sociology

it deals with social development in general and describes and analyzes social life in all its phases and complexities.

sociology

it deals with perspectives, which is fundamental in the study of various activities of human beings

sociology

science of origin, development, structure, and functions of social groups

sociology

seeks to discover the general principles underlying all social phenomena and social relationships and to establish laws of change and growth in social changes

structural functionalism

functionalism is also known as what?

functionalism

is based on the assumption that society is a stable, orderly system. it is characterized by social consensus, whereby the majority of members share a common set of values, beliefs, and behavioral expectations.

talcott parsons

most influential contemporary advocate of the functionalist perspective; stressed that all societies must meet social needs in order to survive (division of labor)

conflict theory

groups in society are engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources.

marx, simmel, weber

these people contributed significantly to conflict theory by focusing on the inevitability of clashes between social groups.

max weber

he recognized the importance of economic conditions in producing inequality and conflict in society, but he added power and prestige as other sources of inequality.

power

ability of a person within a social relationship to carry out his or her own will despite resistance from others (max weber)

prestige

a positive or negative social estimation of honor (max weber)

symbolic interactionist perspective

society is a sum of the interactions of individuals and groups. they focus on the process of interaction- symbols play in communication.

symbol

anything that meaningfully represents something else.

symbolic interaction

occurs when people communicate through the use of symbols

society

a group of people sharing a common culture. it may be defined as an organized group of people who generally share a common territory, language, and culture and act together for collective survival and well-being

status

an individuals position in society

ascribed status

this status pertains to sex and race, as well as age; some we are born with

achieved status

these are obtained through our own action, all other statuses result from what we do

roles

are the expectations of what individuals should do in accordance with their particular status

culture

complex whole that encompasses belief, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything that a person learns and shares as a member of society.

language

is the organization fo written or spoken symbols into a standardized system

belief

is the means by which people make sense of their experiences, or ideas that people hold to be true, factual, and real

values

are shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undersirable

norms

are shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations

folkways

are norms that members of society have come to accept as the proper way of dealing with their everyday living and social interactions (violation: rude)

mores

are norms that have great moral significance attached to them (violation: immoral)

laws

are formalized more that are legislated, approved, and implemented in society (violation: jail)