Understanding Culture and Politics

Lesson 1
A. Sharing of social and cultural backgrounds
 Gender - range of characteristics pertaining to masculinity and feminisity
 Socioeconomic status – an economic and sociological measure of a person’s
economic and social position
 Ethicity – refers to cultural traits that are shared by a category of people
 Religion – a unified system of beliefs and practices related t sacred things
 Identity – distructive characteristics that define an individual
B.
 Food taboos
 Istambays
 Political dynasties – refer to group whose members are involved in politics
 Elections – a formal decision, making procees by which a population chooses an
individual to hold public office
C.
 Social change – transformations that alter the roles and status ofpeople as well as
the structure and organization of society and its institutions
 Polotical change – occurs when there is an alteration in the way power and
authority are exercised in a particular state
D.
A. Anthropology – systematic study of biological, cultural and social aspects of man
- desired from two greek words, ANTHROPS – man and LOGOS – study
- it integrates elements from the biological science and humanities to fully comprehend the
complex human species
 Social anthropology – studies how social patterns and practices develop across
different societies
 Cultural anthropology – studies variation and examines the need to understandeach
culture in its own context
 Linguistic anthropology – studies language
 Physical anthropology – studies the origins of humans
B. Polotical science – “the activty through which people make, present, amend the general
rules under which they live.” – Andrew Heywood
C. Sociology – “the study of human social life, groups and society.” – Anthony Giddelis
Lesson 2
Society – is a group of individuals sharing a common culture, geographical
locations and governments characteristic of a society.
a. Social solidarity
b. Shared identity and culture
c. A common language
d. A large population
e. Definite geographical area
f. Political, economic and social organization

Culture – one of the important bases that define and influence a society
- Refers to the set of beliefs, values, practices and shared experiences shared
by members of society
- Components of culture:
 Technology
 Language
 Symbols
 Values
 Norms – folkways and mores

Ethnocentrism – deminishes or invalidates other ways of life and creates a

destorted view of one’s own

Cultural relativism – recognizes and accepts the cultural differences between

societies
Lesson 3
A. Stages of human evolution

1. Hominid (Manlike primates)

a. Ramaphitecus – could stand upright and used stone and sticks to frighten enemies
b. Lucy – was a whole skeleton of a teenage girl
c. Autralopithecus – had small brain but could walk straight and use simple tools

2. Homo habilis (Handy man) – apelike man who used stone tools as
weapons and protections
a. Zinjanthropus – 4 feet, could walk upright with small brain, lived 1.75 million years ago,
used crude stone as weapons for protection aginst predators
b. Lake turkan (1470 man) – 5 feet, could walk upright, had a brain double the size of a
chimpanzee’s brain, use more refines tools

3. Homo erectus (Upight man) – manlike creature that lived 500,000 years
ago, could walk straight, with brain almost the same as that of the
modern man
a. Pitecanthopus erectus (Java man) – 5 feet tall, could walk erect, heavy and chewless jaw,
hairy body
b. Sinanthropus pekinensis (Peking man) – 5’2 tall, walk upright, brain size alike modern
man, lived 500,000 years ago

4. Homo sapiens (Wise man) – where modern man descended from, lives
200,000 years ago, dependent on huntings, fishing and agriculture, buried
their dead, usend hand tools, had religion
a. Neanderthal man – lived in high temperate zones 70,000 years ago in asia and europe,
heavily built, powerful jaws, primitively intelligent, live in caves
b. Cro magno man – 5’11 feet, developed brain, stone implements

B. The evolution of primitive men

1. Paleolithic period – men in this period werw the java man and peking
man ; neanderthal and cro magno man
2. Neolithic period – started with modern man
3. Age of metal – used metal tools such as bronze, copper and iron, more
developed in social, cultural, political and economical, had already
contacts through tribes, kingdoms and empires
 C. Cultural and sociopolitical evolution

1. The neolithic revolution

- Agriculture of the origins and civilization
- Agrarian transformation
- Domestication of plants and animals
- Spread of neolithic revolution

2. Early civilization and the rise of the state

a. Before the rise of civilization
- Paleolithic age
- People were nomadic hunter gatherers
- Homo sapiens evolved
- Social structures and hierarchies
- Cave paintings, burials, tools are relics
b. Civilization makes its debut
- Neolithic means new stone
- Agriculture was the achievement of this period
- Merchants caused cultural diffusion
- Human religion became to evolve
c. Democratization
- The transition to a more democratic political regime
- Democracy means people powe
- Came from greek word DEMOS – people and KRATES – rule
Democracy – a system in which people decides matters as a group
*Causes of democratization*
1. Wealth 6. Foreign trade
2. Social equality 7. International cooperation
3. Culture 8. Dictatorship
4. Foreign interaction 9. Democracy protests
5. Education 10. Threat of conflict
Lesson 4
Enculturation – the process of being socialized into a specific culture
Socialization – the lifelong process of social interaction through which people
acquire their identities and necessary survival skills and society

A. Identity information
 Individual personality –the important result of the process of socialization
 Personality – an individual’s stable pattern of thought, feeling, action
 Social process – the process which in society all become uniform because of the
norms and values we learn

B. Norms and values

 Norms – informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a
society
 Values – social values from an important part of the culture of the society

C. Status and roles

 Status – defined by max weber as the eastern or social honor and refers to relative
position of an individual in a society
 Ascribed status – an individual has no control of socioeconomic status
 Achieved status – voluntarily takes based on his/her own meits o capability
 Roles – characteristicway of behaving of an individual acc. to his/her status
 Deviance – when one display a behavior that is against an individual role
 Role set – a number of roles attached to a single status
 Role conflict – when an individual is subjected to a role that cannot be done at the
same time