Understanding Culture, Society and Politics: Introduction

Anthropology

  • Antropologia: Study of Humanity
  • Anthrōpos: human beings
  • Study of human beings and their ancestors through time and space in relation to physical character, environmental, social relations, and culture

Franz Boas

  • father of modern anthropology
  • Studies historical particularism (each society has a unique and complex form of culture)
  • Anthropologist (studies anthropology) uses ethnography, a research method of long-term - participant observation

Social anthropology

  • Studies how social patterns, practices, and cultural variations develop across different societies

Biological or physical anthropology

  • Study of the human origin
  • Observes our ancestors, evolution, primates, history, adaptation

Cultural anthropology

  • Study of the living people
  • Food, language, traditions, practices, social system (cultural variations)
  • Understanding each culture

Linguistics or Anthropological

  • Study of language and its evolution, connection to other languages and other society

Archaeology

  • Study of material remains
GOALS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
  1. Observe the common things among people (traditions, language, practices, etc.)
  2. Discover what makes people different from others (diversity)
  3. Create new knowledge through research about humankind and behavior
  4. Understand the origin of human evolution and the diverse forms of its existence throughout time

Sociology

  • Study of society, patterns of social interactions, social life, social change, and social causes and consequences of human behavior
  • Provides new insights and perspectives on different elements and aspects of society as a culture, gender, race and ethnicity, social movements, class, crime, etc
  • Sociologie - companion, Ology - the study of

Auguste Comte

  • First developed the sociology
FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY

Social Organization

  • Group of people with the same goal

Social Psychology

  • Study of how people's thoughts, beliefs, opinions, behavior, feelings, and intentions are influenced by the social environment

Applied Sociology

  • Information about society to solve social issues

Human Ecology

  • Study of interactions of human beings with the environment
GOALS OF SOCIOLOGY
  1. Study of the nature of humanity (awareness)
  2. Appreciate society (improvement and the development of society)
  3. Understand how human action and consciousness both shape and are shaped by surrounding cultural and social structures
Political Science
  • Systematic study of government, politics, and political power
  • Ancient Greeks first studied politics
  • It tells about: Political Theory, Political Philosophy and Ideologies, Public Management, Human rights, International Relations, and Foreign Policies
  • Focuses on the fundamental values of equality, freedom, and justice and its processes are linked to the dynamics of conflict, resolution, and cooperation
FIELDS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Public administration

  • Examines how the government functions and how decisions and policies are made

Political Economy

  • Evaluates the interplay between economics, politics, and law and its implications for the various institution within society

Comparative Politics

  • Compares domestic politics and governance systems across different sovereign states
GOALS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
  1. Make people better citizens
  2. Keep social order and harmony among different groups of people
  3. Protect the rights of an individual
  4. Avoid conflict and promote cooperation
  5. Deepen knowledge, discover progress, and protect the quality of life

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