Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics

 As a discipline it studies the society and the

manner in which people behave and
influence the world around us.
 Its goal is to answer different questions
and find solutions to problems of society to
improve human condition despite cultural,
social and political differences.
SOCIETY
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT & SIGNIFICANT
A group of individuals involved in CONTRIBUTORS ON THE BIRTH & GROWTH
persistent social interaction, or a large social OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
group sharing the same geographical or social
territory, typically subject to the same political Ancient Greek Philosophers
authority & dominant cultural expectations. SOCRATES
Involves social (actions & interactions), cultural
(practices & traditions), and political realities  Focused on asking, probing, sometimes
(power relations). humiliating questions in order to learn.
PLATO
SOCIAL SCIENCE
 He believed in the immortality of the soul
 A branch of science that deals with the
Plato’s Ideas:
institutions and functioning of human
 Idealist, believes in order and
society and with the interpersonal
harmony, morality and self-denial
relationships of individuals as members of
 Immortality of the soul
society.
 Virtue as knowledge
 It is the discipline under which identity,
 Theory of Forms – the highest function
culture, society, and politics are studied.
of the human soul is to achieve the
 It is comprised of a wide array of
vision of the form of the good
disciplines that studies the overall function
of a society, as well as the interactions ARISTOTLE
among individual members of an
 A champion of reason and believed in
institution.
avoiding extremes.
DISCLIPNES UNDER SOCIAL SCIENCE
 Anthropology
 Sociology
 Political Science

SOCIAL SCIENCE
CULTURE
 Complex whole which encompasses beliefs, POLITICAL IDENTITIES
practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms,
GOVERNMENT
artifacts, symbols, knowledge, &
everything that a person learns & shares as  system by which a state or community is
a member of society (E.B. Tylor, 1920). controlled so as to put order.
 It is a strong part of people's lives.  Every country in the world is ruled by a
 It influences their views, values, humor, system of governance to rule its people or
hopes, loyalties, worries and fears. constituents; and in the process people
affiliates themselves and defined their
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
political identity as they relate to other
It is a source of differences that exist peoples of the world from other countries.
between people in society and between society
in the globe due to diversity in language, dress PHILIPPINES
and traditions, food preferences, etc. is a republic with a presidential form of
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION government wherein power is equally divided
among three branches:
Categorizes groups of people into a
hierarchy on the basis of wealth, status, or  EXECUTIVE - carries out & enforces laws.
power. (President, Vice President, cabinet,
executive departments, independent
STRUCTURE OF CLASS SYSTEM agencies, boards, commissions &
 Upper Class committees)
 Middle Class  LEGISLATIVE -authorized to make laws,
 Lower Class alter & repeal through the power vested in
the Philippine Congress (Senate - 24
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION senators & House of Representatives-250)
 JUDICIAL - holds the power to settle
Describes the relative social position of
controversies involving rights that are
persons in a given social group, category,
legally demandable & enforceable.
geographical region or other social unit.
TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDYING CULTURE,
SOCIETY & POLITICS
Are families who live apart but who
create and retain a "sense of collective welfare  Social Science is a very complex study. It is
& unity (familyhood) even across borders divided into different areas according to
(Bryceson & Vuorela 2002) focus or subject.
 In this subject, a special focus on the
interplay of Anthropology (culture),
Sociology (society), and Political Science
(political identities and government) will be
given focus with the use of trans-
disciplinary perspective to understand &
explain social issues in the human society.
 biography within society. In sociological
ANTHROPOLOGY imagination,
Is the holistic ”science of man”, a HISTORY means what is happening or the
science of the totality of human existence. events in time while

Field Subfield BIOGRAPHY means the personal

Physical Human Paleontology experience of individuals. (C. Wright Mills/The
Anthropology & Human Variation Promise)
Archaeology,
Cultural Anthropology linguistics, & TWO APPROACHES IN EXAMINING HUMAN
ethnology SOCIETY
 MACRO-LEVEL PERSPECTIVE - examines
2 BROAD FIELDS OF ANTHROPOLOGY the social structure, the social institutions,
 PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY (Biological social organizations and social groups. It
Anthropology) uses the structural functionalist perspective
a. human paleontology- concerns & the conflict perspective in examining the
about how human emerged & larger social structure.
evolved through times.  MICRO-LEVEL PERSPECTIVE - more
b. Human Variation - concerns how emphasis on the role of the individuals in
human beings differ biologically. society. It uses symbolic interactionist
 CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY - concerns the perspective to look into the interactions
difference of cultures from time to time. between or among individuals in the
society.
THREE BRANCHES OF CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY POLITICAL SCIENCE
 Archeology - studies past cultures through  Deals with systems of government and the
tangible or material remains. They help analysis of political activity & political
reconstruct the life and culture of the behavior.
humans in the prehistoric time.  It deals extensively with the theory &
 Anthropological Linguistics - study of practice of politics which is commonly
languages. They explain the differences of thought of as the determining of the
languages by culture and how it is distribution of power and resources.
constructed.
SUBFIELDS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
 Ethnology - study of recent or present
cultures. They try to explain the difference  Comparative Politics - it studies the politics
of cultures before & recent through vigor within other nations. It tries to compare
research. theories on a specific nation to other
SOCIOLOGY nation.
 International Relation - it studies politics
It is the study of relationships among among nations. Diplomatic affairs and
people. It is the study of the society and the international law is being studied.
behavior of people in the society.  Public Administration - it studies
SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION enables us bureaucracies on how it is functional and
to grasp the connection between history and how to improve it by certain theories.
 Constitutional Law - it studies how laws are
made and being applied on a certain nation
or state. Its major aim is to study legal
systems.
 Public Policy - it studies the interface of
politics and economic. It aims to create a
plan to develop programs that would be
sufficient and adequate to societies.
 Political Theory - It studies classical &
modern politics. It aims to discover what
theory suits the characteristics of good
politics.
TRANSDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE
refers to the viewpoint wherein multiple
disciplines are used to understand various
phenomena. It aims to understand the
modern world in a holistic manner.