Learning outcomes

Introduction to Anthropology and

Sociology o At the end of the lecture you are expected to understand:

o The emergence of sociology as a separate discipline

o Key figures in sociology and their contributions

o Sociological perspectives

Dr. M. Saiful Islam o Sociological theories

Associate Professor
Department of Development Studies
University of Dhaka
Email: saiful.islam@du.ac.bd

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Why sociology?
What is Sociology all about?  Hunting and Gathering Society
 Based on simple family centered activities.
 Almost no division of labour and social
 Sociology = socius (companion, associate) and logia (study differentiation, very egalitarian.
of).  No dominant politics, economy, private property,
and wealth accumulation.
 Horticultural & Pastoral Societies (Apx. 12000
Anthropology= anthopopos (human being) and logia (study) Years ago)
 Cultivation with small hand tools and
domestication of wild animals.
 Sociology and Anthropology are the study of society, group  Differentiation of tasks.
of people and their culture (the way of life).  More surplus, creation of private property.
 Leads to class differences.
 Sociology and Anthropology are about the overall activity of  Agricultural Society (Apx. 6000 years ago)
human beings as member of the society.  Agriculture using animal drawn plow.
 Permanent settlements & populations.
 High level of social inequality & lots of surplus
wealth.
 Development of politics, economics and
religion.
3  Control over private property, warfare 4
  Feudal Society
 A specific political-economic arrangement. The emergence of sociology
 Comprised of Landlords and peasants.
 Peasants are bounded to produce for landlords. o Dates back to the 15th century onwards with scientific and
 Landlords are representatives of God. industrial revolution.
 High exploitation & subordination
o Rapid social change
 Industrial Society (15th Century onwards)
 Scientific revolution & use of machines for
producing goods.
o Widespread social problems
 Many social, economic, & political changes.
 Huge rural-urban migration, urbanization. o Changing political contexts
 Tyranny of clock, bureaucracy.
 Emergence of capitalism o How to study such social changes?

 Post-industrial Society o Why is the society not falling apart despite such changes?
 Age of information, communication and
technology. Computer chip. o What, then, binds society together? What is the glue?
 Power & wealth lie in education and training,
consumerism, availability of goods, and social
mobility Sociology emerged as a new
 Risk Society (Ulrich Beck)
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discipline…… 6

The Sociological Perspective Sociological theories

 C. Wright Mills (1959) “Sociological Imagination”
Theories are lens “how we see and explain things (social facts)”
 A certain quality of mind that helps to make sense the interplay (just like spectacles)
between:

 Man and society

Some major theoretical frameworks:
 Biography and history
 Functionalism
 Self and the social (private troubles vs. public issues)
 Conflict theory
 Sociologists should ask three questions:  Symbolic Interactionism
 The structure of the contemporary society  Feminism
 The place of society in human history
 Postmodernism
 The interaction of the members of the society
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 Key Figures in Sociology and Theories Functionalism
o Three questions:
o Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) and Functionalism
o Does it work? How does it work? and Why does it work?
o A French Sociologist
o Everything has some functions
o Functional School of Thought
o Like a body: every parts work for the whole
o The glue: solidarity/dependency on each other
o Early positivism and Sociology as Science
o Division of labour: Mechanical and Organic solidarity
o Merton’s: Manifest and latent functions
o (Traditional society with mechanical solidarity, collective
consciousness, and low division of labour; whereas, modern society o Durkheim: What binds society together: social solidarity,
with organic solidarity, shared dependency and high division of integration, shared values, beliefs, joint participation.
labour)
oCriticism: Justify and legitimize everything like poverty, criminals and
offences
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Karl Marx (1818-1883) & Conflict Theory Conflict Theory

o German Sociologist o Functionalists: order and stability
o Conflict School of Thought
o Social evolution = Feudalism through o Conflict theorists: conflict as an inevitable fact of social life and an
agent of social change.
Capitalism to Socialism
o Karl Marx is the main proponent of conflict theory.
How is
social o Feudalism- capitalism- communism
change
possible? o Feudalism (lords and servants/peasants)

o Capitalism (Bourgeoisie and Proletariats)

o Bourgeoisie try to maximize profit by exploiting and oppressing the
proletariats, which leads to discontent and revolution, leading to o Conflict over the means of production
social change.
o Revolution and socialism

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oReligion is the opium of the masses 12
Max Weber (1864-1920) & Symbolic Interaction Symbolic Interactionism
o German Sociologist “Mr. Rationality”
 Symbols and social interactions are important. We symbolize
o How society smoothly progressed, say From through social interaction.
Feudalism to Capitalism?  Man in Society and Society in Man (Society influences individuals
o “Bureaucracy and rationality” and individuals shape the society)

o Why capitalism emerged in Europe and not in Asia?  Goffman’s idea of dramatization: life is a big theatre or
production to play everyone’s role. There are back stages and
o The answer is “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” front stages.

 Berger and Luckman: Reality/fact is what we agree on it. A social

construction.

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Feminism Postmodernism
o Challenges the conventional view of the position of women in the
society o A reaction against modernity (truth, scientific objectivity and
universality)
o Focus on inequality, domestic violence, domestic division of
labour, second shift o The idea of “limitation of human knowledge” (We do not know
beyond what we know)
o Liberal feminist: nonsexist education and socialization, more
sharing of domestic work, equal opportunity in education,
employment, political rights and privileges to women that men o Calls into question the idea of truth and grand narratives.
enjoy.
o Specificity of history, time and context
o Socialist Feminist: Capitalism is the culprit. Economic and sexual
oppression. Equal property rights, elimination of private property. o A multitude of different perspectives on society and an
appreciation of different cultures.
o Radical feminist: Patriarchy must be eliminated; the idea of sexism
must be changed to bring an end to male domination.
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 Some important points to think about Lecture Two: Social Organization
(Culture and Socialization)

o Social Structure and Social Action

o The Human Condition—oppressed or liberated?

o Human behavior: socially determined? or “puppet on a string”?

o Is sociology science?

o Is value-free sociology possible?

Dr. M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Department of Development Studies
University of Dhaka
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Lecture objectives and learning outcomes What is all about culture?

 At the end of the lecture students are expected to understand:
 What is Culture?
 What are the diversities within a culture?
 What would be your immediate response when you see, say for
example, an American women and an Indian Women?
 A newborn baby with a “blank slate” (no language, no values,
morality, religion, war, money, love, dress, name, food)

 What are ethnocentrism and cultural relativism?  But as we grow-up, we acquire all of these.

 What is Socialization?  Culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by
 What are the different agents of socialization? man as a member of society.”[E.B. Taylor]

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 Elements of culture
 Two components of Culture:
 Values: evaluative criteria or standards by which people judge what is
Material culture: Physical aspect of the culture that you can see. good, right, appropriate and important say, about beauty, ugliness,
Building, art, jewelry, hairstyle, clothing etc. good, bad.

Non-material culture: noticeable beliefs, values, practices,
language, norms, customs
 Culture as taken for granted (fish in the water, or human being in the
atmosphere)
Norms: Accepted ways of doing things in a particular context
 Rules of expectations about behavior
 Norms can be written or unwritten

 Culture is shared: (a shared way of life of a group of people -- their

behaviors, beliefs, values, language, and symbols that they accept)

 Cultureis inherited and socially transmitted: (passed along by

communication and imitation from one generation to the next.
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 Many unwritten norms, include Cultural diversity

 Wash hands after using the toilet  Subculture: cultural patterns that set aside some segments of the
population. (tight skinny jeans, checked shoes, pants, shirt or even
 Remove shoes before entering the house yellow jeans with a yellow shirt), bodybuilders, teenage culture.

 Give your seat to someone who need it more than you do

 Say excuse me, or sorry in particular contexts

 Norms vary from society to society; from culture to culture

 Consequences of conforming or violating Norms:

 Positive: a reward for following a norm (praise; encouragement;

money; hugs; smiles; pat on the back)

 Negative: disapproval for ignoring norms (punishment, harsh

words; frown; raised eyebrow; to being fined at the court) 6 7
 Counterculture: A group whose values, beliefs, norms,  Ethnocentrism: Tendency to view one’s own culture as superior and
practices place its members in opposition to the mainstream judging other’s culture and behavior from one’s own cultural values.
culture. Sometimes challenges mainstream culture.
 Culturalrelativism: Opposing ethnocentrism – the argument that
behavior in one culture should not be judged by the standards of
another culture. All cultures deserve equal respect.

 Do not consider unfamiliar opinions, explanations, and customs as

strange, false, wrong or immoral.

 Two faces of culture:

 Culture as freedom: people actively produce and interpret

culture.

 Culture as constraint: Limits choices.

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Culture against race:

Natural selection or cultural inheritance?
 Race: differences in human groups are attributed to differences
in biological groups, skin color, hair texture, shape of the skull,  Darwin’s natural selection: nature will select the right
nose and facial characteristics person to survive. survival of the fittest

 Racism: using biological/racial characteristics to discriminate,  Anthropologists disagree: Human beings are unusually
stereotype others intelligent
 Anthropologists identify culture to counteract racism
 Culture help them adapt to almost any environment in the
 Franz Boas: differences in human beings are due to differences world.
in social learnings NOT racial biology
 Bamboo-eating panda, polar bear, or eucalyptus-leaf-
 Cultural universals/pan-human rationality eating koalas

 Bronislaw Malinowski: All humans face similar problems of Humans can survive anywhere
survival, experience same human needs and use culture to meet
these needs
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 Agents of socialization
Socialization From where do we come to know all these rules, norms, values
everything?
 Socialization is the process by which one comes to learn about one’s
The Family – (the primary socialization)
culture: language, values, norms, beliefs, practices. Family – the first world a child encounters. Family reflects social
class, religion, ethnicity, nationality. So, family background and
experiences determine children's socialization. Gender role
 Of becoming human introduced through appropriate toys, household chores. What
happens when family declines due to women’s increasing job
participation and high divorce rate?
 Of acquiring a sense of self
School – (secondary socialization)
School – socialization outside family at age 5. conformity to rules
 “Nature” vs. “Nurture” and regulations. Talcott Parson’s call “hidden curriculum”:
punctuality, respect for authority, behaviors of good citizens,
meritocracy.
Peer Group: Peer group –friends of same age and same status

Mass Media: 800 million people use internet in 2005. Average 7 hours
TV watching a day. Influence of movie stars, rock idols, sports heroes.
Radio stations, TV channels, magazines, books, CDs, websites.
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Robotic socialization?
Class, Stratification and Social Inequality
 Not really. Socialization is a continuous process.

 Resocialization – migration

 Desocialization – total institutions

 Refashioning self – body sculpting, sex change, plastic surgery, organ

transplant

Dr. M. Saiful Islam

Associate Professor
Department of Development Studies
University of Dhaka
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Lecture Outlines and Learning Outcomes
Social Stratification
• Why are some people poor and others rich in the society?
• A systematic process of ranking people on a scale of social value.
• How does social class create inequality in society?

• Social differentiation & inequality; class & stratification; social • Life chances: A probability that an individual’s life will follow a
mobility certain path in a certain way.

• How class structure impacts on life-chances and lifestyles.

• Social inequality: A situation in which the valued resources are
• Sociological explanations of global poverty and inequality unequally distributed/access to them

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“Prestige Scores” Indicators of Social Class

• Occupation
Judge 93 Road sweepers 42
• Income/ wealth
University lecturer 93 Beggar 26
• Education
Medical doctor 93 Prostitute 24
• Home ownership and type
Dentist 85 Smuggler 24
• Car ownership and type
TV newsreader 75 • Club membership and type
Protestant pastor 64 • Holidays (where?)
Hindu priest 56 • Rolex watch? And other branded goods. (Apple
vs. Walton?)
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Class Structure: The Upper Class
Corporate Class
 Wealth, power, education

 Descended from successful families • Stock control moving away from upper class families
to institutional investors.
 0.5 to 1 percent of population

 Kinship ties and social networks

• Power based on control of large corporations and
influencing the upper class elites.
 Marriage: homogamy, strategic

 Exclusive clubs

 Private schools

 Cultural capital

 Titles

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Middle class Underclass/ Poor

 High income but lacks prestige o Migrant unskilled workers

 Achievement of tertiary education o Minorities

 Job holders o Disabled; old; female single-parent; children: living on

supports
 Holding professional qualifications, including academics,
lawyers, engineers, politicians and doctors o Visible or Invisible?, e.g. homeless in NY; beggars in
Calcutta and Dhaka.
 Lifestyle (branded goods).

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 Ascribed vs. Achieved Status
Caste vs. Class System
• How are social status, power, prestige and wealth acquired?
• Ascribed Social Status: A position acquired by birth and have no • Caste System: People are categorized and ranked by ascribed
control categories (a closed system)
• Family, age, skin colour
• Religion • People in the lower caste are labeled as inferior in terms of
• Sex intelligence, morality, ambition and untouchable
• Citizenship
• Class system: People rise and fall on the strength of their abilities
• Achieved Social Status: Social position attained through personal (an open system)
choice, effort and ability
• Education • Social mobility is possible based on talent, ability,
• Marriage qualification and past performance.
• Job
• Any other qualifications (athletes, musicians, charismatic
leadership etc.)
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Functionalist View of Social Inequality

Social inequality is the device by which societies ensure that most
functionally important positions/occupations are filled by the best
qualified persons.
How to determine which positions are functionally important?
Few other people can perform the job. Require special training
and qualification
Criticisms of Functionalist theory
o Some top positions may not always be filled by the talented
individuals (corruption)
o High paid salaries may not necessarily ensure that they
contribute to the society equally (Athletes, MPs, Musicians)

Functions of Poverty: o Why a worker should receive lower salary based on

Fill unskilled and dangerous occupations nationality, age, sex (discrimination)
Provide low-cost labor
Serve the affluent
Volunteer for drug trial
Help sustain organizations and employees serving the poor
Market for low quality and used products

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Weber and Symbolic Interactionist View of Social Inequality
o Negatively Privileged Class: Those who do not have access to
these recourses and qualifications.
 Social class depends of one’s access to information, consumption,
consumer goods and services. o Unskilled, lacks wealth, seasonally employed, low educated,
remote from the city center
Social Class depends on the access to the 3 P’s: Power, Privilege,
Prestige

 Power
o Positively Privileged Class: Those who have access to these
resources
 Influence over decision-making.
o Educated, social and cultural capital, network, information,
 Benefiting from decisions. marketable qualities

 Privilege - life-chances, quality of life, material advantages. o Depends on one’s marketability. Are you marketable?
 Prestige - social standings, titles.

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