G11 - UCSP - Understanding Culture Society and Politics

DIWA Senior High School Series:
Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics

(Second Edition)
e-Module
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Author
MARIA CARINNES P. ALEJANDRIA-GONZALEZ is an anthropologist who works
on issues of global health, urban poor, and aging. She is a PhD in Anthropology
candidate at the University of the Philippines (UP) – Diliman. Ms. Gonzalez is
currently an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology of the University of
Santo Tomas (UST). She is also the lead associate researcher for Social Health
Studies of the Research Center for Social Sciences and Education of UST. She
holds a master's degree in Education (major in Social Sciences) from the Palawan
State University in Puerto Princesa, Palawan and a bachelor's degree in Social
Sciences (major in Anthropology and Political Science) from the University of the
Philippines – Baguio.
Reviewer
HENRY M. CUSTODIO is a program specialist of the Research and Development
Department of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and
Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), where he is tasked to handle research
initiatives on food and nutrition security, agricultural marketing, agricultural value
chains, inclusive growth, and cross-cutting issues in agriculture and rural
development. Prior to joining SEARCA in 2012, he was a research analyst at the
Asian Development Bank, where he was involved in the evaluation of the food
price crisis in Southeast Asia, social safety net programs in South Asia, and
greenhouse gas emissions vis-à-vis economic development and development
assistance, among others.
Mr. Custodio was also involved in numerous foreign-assisted project evaluation
studies and basic research projects, as well as project planning and
implementation around the country. He is an ongoing PhD student at the University
of the Philippines – Los Baños (UPLB) under the Environmental Science program,
cognate in Agricultural Economics. He obtained his master's degree in
Development Management from the same university, where he was sent to
Nagoya University in Japan to specialize in International Development. His
baccalaureate degree is also from UPLB, where he majored in Sociology.
This book is produced by an academic publisher whose quality

management system is certified to ISO 9001.
Preface
The world is an increasing culturally plural environment.

Globalization has made territorial borders fluid and has
allowed for the interaction of people coming from various
walks of life. Although abounding in beneficial impacts such as
more liberal economies and cultural exchanges, such
interactions may also create tension among individuals who
subscribe to differing sets of morals and ideals. This textbook,
Diwa Senior High School Series: Understanding Culture,
Society, and Politics (Second Edition), will equip you with
conceptual tools from three social sciences disciplines to
make sense of today's changing world. First, anthropology will
provide you with its lens of cultural relativism that would
enable you to be sensitive with the diversity of cultural
practices and traditions of human beings. Second, sociology
will engage you in a scientific discourse of social dynamics
relating to human agency. Last, political science will equip you
with models and conceptual frameworks that you may use to
appraise political events and behaviors. The textbook will help
you respond to the challenges posed by the shifting
technologies, environments, and ideals in the world by
providing you with information and activities that emphasize
the K to 12 methods of collaboration, reflection, integration,
research, and constructivism.
As a book that is engineered to meet the demands of 21st

century learners, the Diwa Senior High School Series:
Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics (Second Edition),
textbook is organized into modules that also focus on the
theme of differentiated instruction. This will hopefully develop
skills relevant to the current environment. The activities
provided in the book will engage you to revisit data sources
and apply these in your potential career, which may be in the
fields of academic, technical-vocational, sports, and arts and
design. Following the pedagogy of research- and outcomes-
based approach, your knowledge and understanding of the
modules will be assessed using tools such as performance
tasks, written works, and quarterly tests. There are also
culminating activities in each unit that would enhance your
capacity to create new knowledge through your collaboration
with your classmates.
Understanding yourself within the framework of a greater

society will lead to a more productive and adaptive set of
behaviors that could empower you as you face the challenges
of a changing world. By understanding that humans are
products of their history, environment, and culture, you will be
more accepting of the variation in people's characteristics and
practices. This would lead you to become a more socially
inclusive and global-ready individual.
The Author
Table of Contents
Unit I Development of Humans as

Social Actors
Module 1 Human Variation
Module 2 Human Evolution and Culture
Module 3 Anthropology and the Study of Culture
Module 4 Sociology and the Study of Society
Module 5 Political Science and the Study of Politics
Module 6 Enculturation and Socialization
Module 7 Social Organization
Culminating Output
Quarter Challenge
Unit II Humans and Institutions

Module 8 Kinship
Module 9 Political and Leadership Structures
Module 10 Economic Organization
Module 11 Nonstate Institutions
Module 12 Social and Political Stratification
Module 13 Education
Module 14 Religion and Belief Systems
Module 15 Health
Module 16 Social Change
Culminating Output
Quarter Challenge
Bibliography
Unit Development of Humans as
I Social Actors
What makes us human? This is the question that this unit leads
you to answer. From the physical attributes of humans to the
sociocultural traits that they developed as members of a society or a
community, this unit guides you through six modules on how to
understand the concept of being human. By understanding our
nature as human beings, you will be able to understand our reactions
to varying environmental factors.
The first module aids you in understanding the variations of
human attributes. Although we all belong to just one species, you
may have noticed that we have different physical characteristics,
behavioral patterns, and languages. You will learn through this
module that human identities are constructed by their affiliation and
their negotiation with established structures and systems in society.
The second module continues to address the question on human
variation by focusing on the evolutionary processes that have
determined our physical traits.
The third to fifth modules provide you with conceptual tools to
understanding humans as individuals and as members of groups.
The third module introduces you to the concept of culture through the
discipline of anthropology. The fourth module leads you to an inquiry
on the concept of society through the lens of sociology. The fifth
module lets you interrogate the nature of humans as political actors
through the field of political science.
In the sixth module, you will learn the processes by which
humans acquire their sets of beliefs and practices. You will be
introduced to the concepts of enculturation and socialization as
processes of knowledge, values, and attitudes transfer.
■ Demonstrate understanding of the following:

• Human cultural variation, social differences, social
change, and political identities
• Importance of studying culture, society, and politics
• Rationale for studying anthropology, political science,
and sociology
• Culture and society as anthropological and sociological
concepts
• Perspectives in or approaches to the study of culture
and society (i.e., comparative, historical, structural-
functional, interpretive critical)
• Human origins and the capacity for culture
• Role of culture in human adaptation
• Processes of cultural and sociopolitical evolution
• Enculturation and its effect on human adaptation
• Perspectives on human behavior as part of a
sociopolitical community
■ Acknowledge human cultural variation, social differences,
social change, and political identities
■ Adopt an open and critical attitude toward different social,
political, and cultural phenomena through observation and
reflection
■ Appreciate the value of the disciplines of anthropology,
sociology, and political science as social sciences
■ Appreciate the nature of culture and society from the
perspectives of anthropology and sociology
■ Demonstrate a holistic understanding of culture and
society
■ Value cultural heritage and express pride of place without
being ethnocentric
■ Analyze key features of interrelationships among
biological, cultural, and sociopolitical processes in human
evolution that can still be used and developed further
■ Identify norms and values to be observed in interacting
with others in society, and the consequences of ignoring
these rules
■ Assess the rules of social interaction to maintain stability of
everyday life and the role of innovation in response to
problems and challenges
■ Recognize the value of human rights and promote the
common good
Module
Human Variation
1
At the end of this module, I can:

1. Articulate observations on human cultural variation, social
differences, social change, and political identities.
2. Demonstrate curiosity and an openness to explore the
origins and dynamics of culture, society, and political
identity.
3. Be aware of why and how cultural relativism mitigates
ethnocentrism.
4. Value cultural relativism and ethnocentrism.
5. Justify why race is a limited schema as a human
classification tool. (Enrichment)
Look at your seatmates. Notice the shape of their nose, the color
of their hair, and the color (or tone) of their skin. Are theirs similar to
yours? Do you speak the same language? Do you eat the same
food?
These are some of the questions that you could ask to see the
differences among humans. As you read along this module, keep in
mind this question: What makes us different?
Environment and history are two of the primary factors that shape
the behavior of human groups. This behavior, which serves as an
adaptive tool for the varied stimuli projected by the environment, is
influenced by beliefs, practices, and material possessions. Through
constant practice, these sets of behavior form human traditions,
which are passed on from one generation to the other.
As each human group experiences differing environmental
conditions, cultural variations are established. Comparing the
traditions crafted by the Inuits of the Arctic Regions of Canada and
the !Kung of Kalahari Desert in Namibia, you can see the stark
difference in their types of clothing which are highly functional for the
type of weather where they live. The Inuits who live in frigid areas of
Canada wear thick layers of garment made of animal fur while the
!Kung wear loose, single-layer clothes made of cotton to combat the
desert heat in Africa.
Fig. 1.1 (Left) Inuit children wearing clothes made of animal fur; (Right)
¡Kung bushmen wearing g-strings and shawls
Inuit photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-
bac/6348404990
¡Kung Photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fvfavo/1525198
6710
Reflect Upon
Korean dramas, or K-dramas, became popular forms of
entertainment in our country as early as 2007. With your seatmate,
compare a K-drama series to a Filipino drama series that you have
followed in terms of the following:
1. Roles of men and women in the show
2. Types of clothing that they wore
3. Kinds of environment that provided as the setting of the series
(tropical, temperate, frigid)
After your comparison, summarize in two paragraphs the
similarities and differences of the two TV series.
Nationality and Ethnicity

The concepts of nationality and ethnicity are not interchangeable.
Both, however, are capable of informing an individual's behavior and
habits due to a set of cultural norms that each category provides.
Nationality is the identity that is tied to being part of a nation or
country—a “group of people who share the same history, traditions,
and language” and who inhabits a particular territory delineated by a
political border and administered by a government. Nationality can be
acquired by being born in a country or through legal processes such
as naturalization on citizenship.
Within a nation are smaller cultural groups that share specific
social environments, traditions, and histories that may not be
necessarily subscribed to by mainstream society. These are called
ethnic groups. There are about 180 indigenous ethnic groups in the
Philippines and more than 100 tribal groups who are mostly
inhabiting legally awarded ancestral domains.
Beyond Walls 1.1 Go Online
How Pinoy are you? Visit

http://opinion.inquirer.net/column/pinoy-kasi, which features the
articles of columnist and anthropologist Prof. Michael Tan. Using
one article as reference, create a comic strip that highlights the
Filipino trait that was discussed in this section.
Apart from the varying cultural backgrounds and ethnicity, human

populations also experience social differences, which include
categories on gender, socioeconomic class (social class and
economic status), political identity, and religious beliefs.
Gender
According to the World Health Organization (2013), gender
“refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and
attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and
women.” Unlike sex which refers to the biological characteristic of
humans such as male or female, gender categories are more varied,
accommodating identities such as lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, queer, and intersex (collectively referred to as LGBTQI),
among others.
In some societies, gender becomes a basis of one's identity, as
social norms allow for their acceptance or neglect by the majority of
the population. In cases of neglect, individuals who subscribe to
alternative genders create groups and communities where they can
articulate their thoughts and aspirations more openly.
There are several types of gender based on a person's sexual
orientation. Depending on the community, these gender identities can
be further subdivided into more specific categories.
The most common is heterosexual. A person with this gender is
inclined to be sexually attracted to a person of the opposite sex.
When a person is sexually attracted to a person of the same sex, he
or she is a homosexual. A male who is romantically and sexually
attracted to another male is called gay in popular culture, and a
female who is romantically and sexually attracted to another female
is considered a lesbian. There are some individuals who are
attracted to both sexes, which make them bisexual, and there are
some who are totally incapable of being attracted to any sex, thus
making them asexual. Individuals who are attracted to multiple types
of gender identify with the polysexual orientation, which is different
from pansexual, who accommodate all types of gender.
Finally, there are people whose gender identities do not match
their biological identity as male or female. These people identify
themselves as transgender. Their sexual orientation is not related to
their genitalia, which allow them to identify with any other type of
gender such as heterosexual, homosexual, pansexual, bisexual, and
asexual. Under this category are people who identify themselves as
transsexual. These individuals believe that the discord between their
internal gender and the gender role that they have to perform can be
addressed through medical sexual reassignment.
Fig. 1.2 Participants of the 2012 Pride March in Manila

Source: http://gridcrosser.blogspot.com/2012/12/mix-and-march-metro-
manila-colored-by.html
Developments in the understanding of human diversity with

regard to gender have allowed for the acceptance of the term
“SOGIE” in the LGBTQI discussion. SOGIE (or sexual orientation,
gender identity, and gender expression) enables for a wider and
more fluid discussion of human identity. Sexual orientation refers to a
person's biological identity, which may be male, female, or intersex
(i.e., hermaphrodite). Gender identity is an individual's internal
concept of self that may be related to being masculine, feminine,
neither, or both, without strict relation to the physical characteristics
that the person has. So a person could be physically male but have a
female gender identity. Gender expression is how an individual
chooses to present himself or herself in society. This can be
observed in the choices on pronouns that they use to refer to
themselves, the clothes that they wear, and the general behavior
they display to signify their gender identity.
SOGIE can be quite confusing for individuals whose

orientation to gender is on a normative context (e.g., being born
male would immediately be equated to being masculine in
gender). This link will direct you to a video lecture of Rikki
Arundel on the importance of gender identity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFBU7h7fqLc
After watching the video, get a sheet of paper and draw an
item that represents a particular gender in your society (e.g., dolls
for women). Below your drawing, write a paragraph that
discusses your reason(s) for thinking that that particular item is
exclusively related to that gender.
Socioeconomic Class
The concept of socioeconomic class varies between societies as
the ideas associated with being poor or rich differ based on the
collective experiences of individuals. As such, Filipinos who are from
the Global South (developing countries) would perceive poverty
differently from Singaporeans who are from the Global North
(developed countries or industrialized nations). People falling into
different social classes are bound to experience life differently such
as in the form of transportation and the type and amount of food that
they can afford and consume daily. The typical determinants of one's
social status include income, value of assets and amount of savings,
cultural interests and hobbies, and economic status of his or her
peers and relatives.
In Great Britain, a new survey revealed the fragmentation of the
British traditional three-class system which includes the upper,
middle, and working classes, to the seven-class system: “elite,
established middle class, technical middle class, new affluent
workers, traditional working class, emergent service workers, and the
precariat” (Smith, 2013). This shift is primarily attributed to the
diversifying global economy. This phenomenon was also observed in
the United States as the predominantly middle class has been
recorded to shrink in percentage as the poor grow in number.
Big Idea
The world is polarized due to socioeconomic and political
inequalities.
In the Philippines, our indicators of social class are different,

given the economic and political context in which our country is in.
Although government surveys take into account the factors
enumerated earlier such as income and value of assets, Filipinos
often describe their social class in personalized contexts. Hence,
when you ask a Filipino what his or her social class is, the response
can be any of the following: mahirap, medyo mayaman, sakto lang,
mayaman, and the like.
What Have I Learned So Far?
1. How is social class constructed?

2. What contexts allowed for the change in Great Britain's social
class dynamics?
3. Referring to the cited social categories used among Filipinos,
classify your family's status. Explain.
In the United States, social inequality remains a pervading

issue that transcends various segments of American society. This
link will lead you to an article that discusses the factors and
contexts that inform the growing inequality in the US:
http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/22/news/economy/us-inequality-
worse/
After reading the article, create a poster that will inform the
reader on social inequality, points for activism, and vulnerable
groups.
Political Identity
Political identity as a social category refers to the set of attitudes
and practices that an individual adheres to in relation to the political
systems and actors within his or her society. Petryna (2001)
discussed the context of “biological citizenship” as an adaptive tool
utilized by individuals who were biologically affected by the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. She argued: “the damaged
biology of a population has become the grounds for social
membership and the basis for staking citizenship claims.”
Political parties in the Philippines such as Ang Ladlad, a party that
negotiates for the welfare of the LGBTQI community, and Kabataan,
a party that promotes youth empowerment, are examples of how
sectors in our society use their identities as political vehicles to
negotiate for, and lobby their needs. Religion can also offer political
identity to its followers. Members of the church Iglesia ni Cristo
promote the practice of block voting, a church-based exercise of
one's right to suffrage wherein the ministers and the members agree
to unanimously vote for a chosen candidate or political party lineup.
In a more rigid context, an individual can acquire political identity
by subscribing to a political belief such as communism, democracy,
or socialism.
Fig 1.3. (Left) Iglesia ni Cristo sample ballot given to its members for the
2016 National Elections; (Right) preelection meeting between then
presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte and INC executive minister
Eduardo Manalo
Source: Twitter and Eagle News
Religion
The belief in the supernatural has been one of the universal
preoccupations of humans as early as 60 000 years ago. The earliest
forms of religion revolved around making sense of natural
occurrences such as extreme weather conditions, natural and man-
made calamities, sickness, and even death.
Early human art exuded ancient forms of superstitions that
included beliefs in the afterlife and that of superhuman capabilities.
The Sorcerer of Les Gabillou is an example of a Paleolithic artwork.
This artwork depicts the supernatural ability of a religious practitioner
to become half-man and half-animal.
Fig.1.4. Early Paleolithic art of a half-human, half-animal found in France
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic#/media/File:Gabillou_Sorcier
.png
Today, religion has evolved to promote far complex forms of

understanding human nature, the afterlife, and natural events. Some
are monotheistic, believing in the existence of one god, whereas
others are polytheistic, believing in the existence of multiple gods.
Some religions have gods arranged in a hierarchy, and others have
gods that equally coexist. What must be noted is that religion is a
mirror of the society that affiliates with it, such that a society with a
strong caste system such as India is expected to have a set of gods
that are placed in a hierarchical system as well.
Here is a graphical distribution of the world's population by its

religious affiliations.
Fig. 1.5 A 2016 map of the world (colored based on religious orientation of
the population)
Source: https://carfleo.com/2016/01/25/world-religions-links-general/
Beyond Walls 1.4 Read and Answer
The interrelationship between religious orientation and

warfare has been well documented in human history. From the
French Wars of Religions in the 16th century between Catholics
and Protestants, to the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995
among Muslims, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians, religion has
played a vital role in informing decisions of populations to go to
war.
Visit this link to read an article on the war at the Gaza Strip
between Israelis and Palestinians:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/i
srael/11006125/Gaza-explained-Why-Israel-and-
Palestinians-are-in-constant-conflict-over-Gaza.html
After reading the article, answer the following questions, and
discuss your answers with your classmates:
1. How did religion influence the conflict in the region?
2. How was religious conflict turned to political aggression?
Exceptionality/Non-exceptionality
Some individuals do not conform to behavioral or cognitive
norms, not because they intend to deviate, but because they are
exceptional. The concept of exceptionality leans on the non-average
capacity of an individual. This could be understood in a spectrum of
capabilities, wherein you have the geniuses in one extreme and you
have the disabled and challenged in the other extreme. Such
characteristics would place an individual in compromising situations
as the environment demands conformity. Issues relating to both
statuses can range from having fewer employment opportunities due
to being physically disabled to not reaching one's full capacity due to
the lack of advanced mechanisms to support an exceptional talent.
Big Idea
Human variation is predicated by the plurality of cultural and
environmental conditions.
Cultural Variation
The variation in human conditions promotes diversity and plurality
in cultural traditions. This could lead to discrimination and ostracism.
Ethnocentrism is a perspective that promotes an individual's culture
as the most efficient and superior; hence, the individual who exhibits
ethnocentrism feels that his or her culture is the most appropriate as
compared with other cultures. This may also manifest in a belief that
one's set of morals is better than those of others, such that one's
religion is accepted as a truer form of belief system. This perspective
evaluates a particular culture based on the observer's understanding
of the other, which is often problematic, given the bias of the
observer due to his or her own culture's preconditioning.
Using this perspective as a lens in understanding society is
problematic on the basis that each culture is efficient and appropriate
for the environment where it finds its practice. For example, forcing
the Maasais to wear fur-based clothing that Eskimos typically wear
would be inappropriate due to the difference in the environments
where these two groups live.
When faced with a plurality of culture, you may adapt the
conceptual tool of cultural relativism, which promotes the perspective
that cultures must be understood in the context of their locality. Using
this perspective makes you tolerant of the differing attitudes and
practices of others—a characteristic that is essential to a highly
globalized world that we live in today.
Traditions, social norms, and political identities are not static
because they are often affected by the environment. Social change
occurs as human populations adapt to their dynamic surroundings.
Other factors that trigger social change include technology and
globalization. This will be further discussed in Module 15.
Ferraro and Andretta advocate a more culturally relative approach
to understanding other human groups. They said that one can build
emotional resilience by understanding that others do not necessarily
mean to offend, but that their actions are guided by their own cultural
norms. And with such a predisposition, one can balance the
contradictions within his or her team and appreciate other
perspectives that can enhance the potential for collaboration.
Another problematic form of classification for human groups is
rooted in race. From the 17th to the early 19th century, the term race
was used as a form of human classification that was based on
observable human traits and characteristics. Some of the earlier
categories include Caucasoid, Australoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid.
These categories merely reflect the differences in skin color, size of
skull, height, body frame, and other physical characteristics. The
clear delineation among these categories is blurred by the constant
intermarriages among peoples of various ethnic origins producing
offspring who possess mixed traits from the parents. In the
Philippines, an individual whose parents have different ethno-
biological backgrounds is often dubbed as a mestiza (female) or a
mestizo (male).
Due to the social contexts associated with racial groups,
discrimination was further exacerbated. In countries that practiced
slavery of African populations, racial discrimination against
individuals of African descent by the colonizers became a highly
observable phenomenon.
From racial slurs to unequal access, and to benefits and
opportunities, racism creates a deep social cleavage that further
marginalizes the subjects of racial oppression. In a 2016 study of the
Sentencing Project through Dr. Nellis, it was noted that, “African
Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 times
the imprisonment of whites. In five states (Iowa, Minnesota, New
Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin), the disparity is more than 10 to 1.”
This vulnerability to incarceration is attributed to the distinctly lower
household income of black families than their white counterparts.
Such economic conditioning creates ripples in other facets of their
lives, which include lesser access to good education, poor housing
conditions, and lesser to no access to health care.
Filipinos have also been subject to various forms of racism,
having been subjected to three major colonizing powers (Spanish,
American, and Japanese). These forms of racism include segregated
spaces, disqualification from potential work despite qualifications,
and inaccessibility to quality education.
Big Idea
The differences among human populations are socially and
systemically constructed.
The question that everyone must answer in relation to racial
variation is this: Are humans really different from one another, or are
our differences just skin-deep?
Some scholars would argue that there should be biological
egalitarianism among humans to prevent further racism. This
perspective promotes the equality of our biological makeup despite
our ancestry.
Beyond Walls 1.5 Apply It in Real Life

Track: Arts and Design
You are a fashion designer who will be exhibiting a collection
at this year's Fashion Week. The theme for this year is
“Overlapping Textiles: Intercultural Designs.” The show aims to
present how local designs and textiles have accommodated the
techniques of other countries.
As a designer from the Philippines, create a clothing line that
represents the fusion of Philippine materials with those of another
Asian country. You need to produce a visual representation of the
clothing line and discuss its influences to a set of judges who will
evaluate your presentation based on creativity, cultural relevance,
and clarity of and relevance to the theme.
Extend Your Knowledge

Societies are being polarized by the subscription of their
population to extremist leanings that are rooted on human
variation. In the US, the neo-Nazi group has continuously
assaulted, verbally and physically, individuals that do not conform
to the group's concept of racial purity. This group is very much
wary of immigrants and colored people. This reading introduces
you to a group called the Black Bloc, which fundamentally opposes
the Neo-Nazi movement:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-black-bloc-
20170212-story.html
Essential Learning
An understanding and acceptance of human variation as a
product of cultural and environmental plurality creates space for
greater collaboration among populations and limits the possibility
of developing hostile intentions toward dissimilar groups. In an
increasingly globalized world, extremism and exclusivity are two
traits that are proven non-beneficial, whereas a culturally relative
approach is sure to promote collaboration and communication
across populations.
Module
Human Evolution and Culture
2

1. Trace the biological and cultural evolution from early to
modern humans.
2. Explore the significance of human material remains as
pieces of artifactual evidence in interpreting cultural and
social, political, and economic processes.
3. Recognize national, local, and specialized museums, and
archaeological and historical sites as venues to appreciate
and reflect on the complexities of biocultural and social
evolution as part of being and becoming human.
4. Identify forms of tangible and intangible heritage, and the
threats to these.
Cultural Beginnings
Culture is defined as “that complex whole which encompasses
beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols,
knowledge, and everything that a person learns and shares as a
member of a society” (Tylor, 2010). It is a by-product of the attempt of
humans to survive their environment and to compensate for their
biological characteristics and limitations. To understand culture, you
need to know the following:
1. Biological capacity of humans for culture
2. Place of humans in the animal kingdom
3. How humans came to develop early forms of culture
Biological Capacity for Culture
The need to scrutinize human anatomy to understand culture is
indispensable. Physical and cultural anthropologists argue that we
could trace how culture became possible by understanding our
biological makeup.
1. Our thinking capacity
The primary biological component of humans that allowed for
culture is the developed brain. It has the necessary parts for
facilitating pertinent skills such as speaking, touching, feeling,
seeing, and smelling.
Fig. 2.1. The human brain and its parts
The frontal lobe and the motor cortex function for cognition and
motor abilities. The parietal lobe allows for touch and taste abilities.
The temporal lobe allows for hearing skills. The occipital lobe allows
for visual skills.
Compared with other primates, humans have a larger brain,
weighing 1.4 kg. Chimpanzees have a brain weighing only 420 g,
and those of gorillas weigh 500 g. Due to the size of their brain and
the complexity of its parts, humans were able to create survival skills
that helped them adapt to their environment and outlive their less
adaptive biological relatives.
Fig. 2.2. Brain size comparison among primates
2. Our speaking capacity

As the brain is the primary source of humans' capacity to
comprehend sound and provide meaning to it, the vocal tract acts as
the mechanism by which sounds are produced and reproduced to
transmit ideas and values. Notice in Figure 2.3 that the vocal tract of
a human is longer than that of a chimpanzee. A longer vocal tract
means that there is a longer vibration surface, allowing humans to
produce a wider array of sounds than chimpanzees. The tongue of
humans is also more flexible than that of a chimpanzee, allowing for
more control in making sounds.
Fig. 2.3. Vocal tract comparison between a chimpanzee (left) and a human
(right).
Traditional scientific belief pegs the development of language at

100 000 years ago, making it an exclusive trait of the modern human.
However, Dan Dediu from the Max Planck Institute for
Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands argued that the origin of
language may be rooted as far back as 500 000 years ago, based on
the discovered bone fragment from an ancestor known as Homo
heidelbergensis. This fossil is a hyoid bone which is “crucial for
speaking as it supports the root of the tongue” (Hogenboom, 2013).
Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals), our nearest relative, was
also found to have the same bone, which functions similarly as ours.
Hence, current arguments include that Neanderthals were a truly
human species.
3. Our gripping capacity

Look at your hands. Notice how your thumb relates with your
other fingers. This capacity to directly oppose your thumb with your
other fingers is an exclusive trait of humans. It allowed us to have a
finer grip. Thus, we have the capability to craft materials with
precision.
Fig.2.4. Hands of selected primates
Reflect Upon
Given the contemporary behavior of humans, project a potential
biological development that may occur to our species and its
possible functions.
The hand of a human has digits (fingers) that are straight, as

compared with the curved ones of the other primates. Notice that the
thumb of the human is proportionately longer than those of the other
primates. These characteristics of the human hand allow for two
types of grip: power and precision. Power grip enables humans to
wrap the thumb and fingers on an object; it became the cornerstone
of our capacity to hold tools firmly for hunting and other activities.
Precision grip enables humans to hold and pick objects steadily
using their fingers. This capacity is crucial for tool-making activities.
4. Our walking/standing capacity

Primates have two forms of locomotion: bipedalism and
quadropedalism. Bipedalism is the capacity to walk and stand on two
feet, whereas quadropedalism uses all four limbs. Although apes are
semi-bipedal, humans are the only fully bipedal primates. Being
bipedal, humans gained more capacity to move while carrying
objects with their free hands. This is an important trait, as it gave
humans more productivity with their hands. Apart from this, humans
gained a more efficient form of locomotion suitable for hunting and
foraging.
Big Idea
Cultural development is predicated by the physical
development of humans.
1. How was culture developed through the physical changes

that occurred in early humans?
2. Why is bidepalism an important development in the physical
capacity of humans?
3. Why is it important to study human evolution?
Human Origins and the Capacity for Culture
Fig. 2.5. Timeline of human evolution

Our evolution toward humanity as we know it has been a long
journey of survival against the elements of the environment and
against competing species. As our ancestors evolved biologically in
response to their environment, they have also developed cultural
technologies that aided them to efficiently obtain food and deter
predators. Archaeologists refer to these early traditions as stone tool
industries, instead of culture, as the material products of these
periods merely display the methods used by early humans in creating
tools and not the modern context by which we define it.
It is believed that the crudest methods of toolmaking may have
been practiced by the earlier Australopithecines (A. afarensis and A.
africanus). These methods may have involved the use of wood as
digging sticks or even crude spears. Although there is no
archaeological evidence to prove this claim, it is being assumed that
the earlier homos had at least this capacity, which is observed
among present-day chimpanzees. Some contest this perspective,
arguing that the evidence of stone tool usage found in the Dikika
area in Ethiopia puts the timeframe to 3.4 million years ago, the
period of the Australopithecines. These pieces of evidence include
grooved and fractured bone fossils. However, as the pieces of
evidence are not as conclusive as the other discoveries, current
archaeological and anthropological timelines suggest that toolmaking
started 2.6 million years ago.
The Oldowan Industry

The Oldowan industry, a stone tool industry, is characterized by
the use of “hard water-worn creek cobbles made out of volcanic rock”
(O'Neil, 2012). These raw materials were then made into tools
through percussion flaking, which is a process involving the
systematic collision of a hammer stone with a core stone. The impact
of the collision produces a core tool (used for general purposes) and
a flake tool (used as a knife).
Supporting the existence of this industry is the evidence found by
Mary and Louis Leakey at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, which was dated
at 2.6 million years ago. This industry is known to have been used by
Homo habilis.
Fig.2.6. Percussion flaking method
These forms of technology allowed for the species to “butcher

large animals, because human teeth and fingers are totally
inadequate for cutting through thick skins and slicing off pieces of
meat. Evidence of their use in this manner can be seen in cut marks
that still are visible on bones and it improved their food gathering
skills using the ‘hammering, digging, and chopping implements’”
(O'Neil, 2012).
From Africa, this industry spread to Europe and Asia during the
migration of Homo erectus, who acquired it from Homo habilis within
1.9–1.8 million years ago. By 1.8–1.6 million years ago, the Oldowan
industry has already reached Java, Indonesia, and Northern China.
The Acheulian Industry

Homo erectus developed a more complex industry from what they
inherited from Homo habilis. Using the same process of percussion
flaking, Homo erectus created hand axes that were bifacial, shaped
in both sides, and with straighter and sharper edges.
Some archaeologists contest the general label of “hand axes,” as
the stone implements may have been used in different context.
However, it is still generally accepted that these stone implements
were used in multiple activities such as light chopping of wood,
digging up roots and bulbs, butchering animals, and cracking nuts
and small bones. Tools that were made were kept and not disposed
of like the tools in the Oldowan industry, as the tools of the latter set
were more useful due to their generic application. Homo erectus
made other tools such as “choppers, cleavers, and hammers as well
as flakes used as knives and scrapers” (O'Neil, 2012).
Fig. 2.7. Bifacial stone tool from the Acheulian industry

Source: http://humanevolutionb36.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/6/2/12623644/32
6059742.jpg
This industry was named after Saint Acheul, a patron saint in

southwest France, as these artifacts were discovered in the area.
The artifacts date to 1.5 million years ago. Although this industry is
believed to have originated in East Africa, scholars argue that its
extensive use may have been out of Africa as Homo erectus
invented this industry and brought it to Europe 900 000–500 000
years ago and to China 800 000 years ago. As no evidence is found
in other parts of Asia signifying the usage of this industry, scholars
proposed that the region may have accommodated an industry that
used perishable materials such as bamboo and other trees.
The Mousterian Industry

This industry was developed by Homo neanderthalensis
(Neanderthals) in Europe and West Asia between 300 000 and 30
000 years ago. This industry was named after a site in France called
Le Moustier, where evidence was uncovered in 1860. The tools from
this industry combined Acheulian industry techniques with the
Levalloisian technique, which involved the use of a premade core
tool and the extraction of a flake tool that has sharpened edges. This
type of tool is very efficient as all the sides of the flake tool are
sharpened and, due to the reduction in size, more handy.
Fig. 2.8. A Mousterian tool

Source: http://www.internetlooks.com/mousteriantool.jpg
Evidence of this industry dating back 100 000 years was also
found in Northern Africa and West Asia, where modern humans,
such as that of Qafze, migrated. Most archaeologists hypothesize
that this industry could be an evidence of acculturation of modern
humans with their Neanderthal relatives.
Fig. 2.9. Stone tool development
Source: http://images.en.yibada.com/data/images/full/30307/hominin-stone-
tools-millions-of-years-old.jpg
You can see that the tools in Figure 2.9 are different in terms of
size, shape, and sharpened sides. These differences are primarily
due to the shifting needs of the users who were adapting to their
environment as they addressed their need for food and security. It
could also be said that these are pieces of evidence of the
development of tradition, as one efficient trait is borrowed or passed
on to the next generation or group of species.
By the end of the Paleolithic period, early humans have been
engaged in proto-culture type of industries wherein they did not just
create tools but also started creating art and other symbolic
materials. For the purposes of our discussion, two industries shall be
discussed: Aurignacian and Magdalenian.
The Aurignacian Industry

This industry was mainly present in Europe and southwest Asia
from 45 000 to 35 000 years ago. The term Aurignacian was derived
from Aurignac, an area in France where the evidence for this industry
was found. Users of this industry used raw materials such as flint,
animal bones, and antlers. The method they employed in creating
tools such as fine blades was similar to the one used in the
Mousterian industry.
Apart from a more advanced toolmaking industry, what made this
industry a cultural milestone for the modern humans in Europe is
their development of self-awareness. This development was
projected through cave paintings and the fabrication of accessories
such as figurines, bracelets, and beads.
The cave paintings found in the El Castillo Cave in Cantabaria,
Spain provide us with a glimpse of the environment that the early
humans lived in. Most of the paintings are that of the animals that
existed at that time.
Fig. 2.10. Cave painting of a bison in El Castillo Cave

Source: https://en.wikipedia.Org/wiki/Cave_painting#/media/File:AltamiraBis
on.jpg
Apart from the animal-themed figurines, archaeologists also

unearthed human-inspired figurines. Figure 2.11 shows the Venus of
Schelklingen, which is also called the Venus of Hohle Fels. This
figurine was sculpted from a woolly mammoth tusk. Emphasis was
also made by the artisan on several parts of the body such as the
breasts and the hips. Scholars theorize that this emphasis may be
due to the importance of these parts in childbearing or child-rearing.
Fig. 2.11. The Venus of Hohle Fels

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Hohle_Fels#/media/File:Venu
s-of-Schelklingen.jpg
The earliest evidence of music appreciation was also related to

this period through the discovery of a bone flute in Hohle Fels,
Germany.
Fig. 2.12. The Hohle Fels bone flute

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.Org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Flauta_paleol
%C3%ADtica.jpg
The Magdalenian Industry

This industry saw the end of the Paleolithic period as it
transformed to the Neolithic period. The industry was named after the
La Madeleine site in Dordogne, France. This industry, which is also a
proto-culture used by the early humans, was defined by several
revolutionary advancements in technology such as the creation of
microliths from flint, bone, antler, and ivory. Apart from functional
tools which were at times beautified by artistic engravings, the early
humans during this period were engrossed in creating figurines,
personal adornments, and other forms of mobiliary art. A defining
method used in toolmaking during this period was the application of
heat on the material prior to the flaking process. This was done by
casting the raw material on fire, which allowed for a more precise cut
upon flaking.
The creation of specialized weapons, such as barbed harpoons,
is evidence of the growing sophistication of the hunting skills and
technology of the early humans.
Fig. 2.13. Barbed harpoons dated to 13 000 years ago
Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Flickr_-
_Wikimedia_France_-_MDL.99.8.10.jpg/480px-Flickr_-
_Wikimedia_France_-_MDL.99.8.10.jpg
Another cultural milestone for the users of this industry was the
use of temporary man-made shelters such as tents made of animal
skin. Although the use of rock shelters and caves were still
predominant during this period, the creation of tents allowed the early
humans to be more mobile.
The technological development in this industry has allowed the
early humans to have more leisure time, as evidenced by their
preoccupation with decorative materials.
By 10 000 BCE, this industry has spread to parts of Europe
including contemporary territories such as Great Britain, Germany,
Spain, and Poland.
Track: Academic
You are a Paleolithic art exhibitor for a museum. With the goal
of promoting Paleolithic art to the general public, your task is to
create a brochure that will feature 10 of the most significant
Paleolithic art pieces. This brochure will contain a picture of the
art and information such as details of its discovery, associated
meanings, and current significance. Your teacher will function as
the museum curator who will rate your output based on quality of
the brochure printing, organization, accuracy, and creativity. This
task can be done in groups.
1. How is percussion flaking essential to the Oldowan industry?

2. What distinguished the Aurignacian industry from the earlier
industries?
3. Why is the Magdalenian industry referred to as a proto-
culture of early humans?
Processes of Cultural and Sociopolitical

Evolution
In reference to cultural formation, the Paleolithic stage has
provided the bases for the development of complex human groups
through the establishment of culture. At this period, we must situate
the early humans in terms of their physical environment. This way,
we understand the succeeding adaptations that they made which
revolutionized how the human species have existed in this planet.
By the end of the Paleolithic period, Earth was getting warmer as
the Ice Age was already at its last stages. This implies that Earth's
surface was changing. The sea level was rising again as the polar
caps were melting. Land surface decreased as some parts became
submerged in water. The warm climate allowed for the blossoming of
new plants and the extinction of others. The same phenomenon was
also seen among animals.
Early humans have always been dependent on the environment,
which made foraging (hunting and gathering) the primary mode of
subsistence. With the drastic changes in geography and food
sources, early humans were once again faced with the need to adapt
new strategies to survive. It was in this setting that the “Neolithic
Revolution” (Childe, 1936) spread throughout the planet.
The Neolithic Revolution

This period is characterized by a major shift in economic
subsistence of the early humans from foraging to agriculture. This
dramatic shift affected the other aspects of their lifestyle, as foraging
made them nomads and agriculture encouraged permanent
settlement. This shift in itself changed the entire array of behaviors,
attitudes, beliefs, and corresponding material inventions.
Table 2.1. Characteristics of Paleolithic and Neolithic Societies

Characteristic Paleolithic Neolithic
Tools Small and handy for Included a wider array of
mobile lifestyle small and bigger tools
due to sedentary lifestyle
Personal properties Limited to personal Included structures (e.g.,

accessories and small houses), decorative
tools that could easily ornaments, large
be carried around containers
Characteristic Paleolithic Neolithic
Art Small and limited to Included the creation of
personal ornaments, artworks that required a
bigger artworks were longer length of time and
done but not within a a greater number of
long time frame (e.g., people (e.g., Stonehenge)
cave paintings)
Subsistence Foraging Agriculture
Leadership Not rigid; based on Semirigid; based on

age and knowledge legitimacy (religious
beliefs, social status)
Social divisions None; communal Elite vs. working class

lifestyle
Population size Small (30–50 people) Large (in thousands)
There are generally two perspectives on the impact of the

Neolithic revolution on human populations. Traditionally, it is being
argued that with the development of agriculture and technology,
humans were able to develop sociopolitically, as the existence of
systematic food production has resulted in food surplus that enabled
members of the population to indulge in self-actualizing activities
such as the arts and politics. Opposing this perspective, progressive
scholars argue that the same phenomenon of surplus production has
had negative impacts on human populations such as social divisions,
high population density, and gender inequality.
Fig. 2.14. Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England
Source: http://cdn.playbuzz.com/cdn/f404a97c-5dd9-43b3-bc7f-
9f0b19b36ce9/7392bdac-72f3-4e2b-8746-dae6c02dce8e.jpg
1. How is Paleolithic art different from Neolithic art? Identify five

differences.
2. What are the characteristics of Neolithic tools?
3. How did agriculture influence the course of development of
human populations?
Early Civilization and the Rise of the State

The earliest civilizations rose by the end of the Neolithic period as
the complexities brought about by the shift in food production
demanded a more rigid social structure that would manage the
opposing perspectives of various sectors. As conflicts between
groups developed and intensified, the need to create a more
cohesive society became definite.
Early civilizations were characterized by the presence of city-
states, a system of writing, and a ceremonial center where public
debates and decision-making were conducted. However, it must be
noted that not all societies during this period could be considered as
civilizations as not all possessed a political system that could be
equated to a state. A state is a political entity that has four requisite
elements: territory, sovereignty, people, and government. These
elements will be further discussed in Module 5.
As to how states rose, there are four primary theories.
1. Divine right theory
Rulers ascended to power convinced that their right to rule is
based on their filial relationship with supernatural forces and
entities. The concept of the god-king that was upheld in the city of
Sumer is an example. People were made subjects to these
monarchs, as the latter were perceived by the former as direct
descendants or representatives of their gods.
2. Force theory
A group forces members of another group to subject
themselves to their rules. This was observed among the Mayans,
as conflict over access to rivers resulted in the subjugation of one
group by another.
3. Paternalistic theory
The father essentially is the leader of the first political unit,
which grew as the number of the members of his family grew.
This is true for highly patriarchal, maledominated societies.
4. Social contract
The creation of a state was a mutual agreement between the
ruler and the ruled to ensure order and security from outside
threats.
5. Natural theory
Humans have an innate need to be part of a community. The
Greek philosopher Aristotle described humans as “political
animals,” as it is in their nature to indulge in politics.
Democratization of Early Civilizations

The early states were governed by a limited few who ascended to
power through wealth, birth right, or religious dogma. This alienated
the masses from the daily administration of rules and regulations in
their society. As a result, the social cleavage in early civilizations
widened and resulted in social clashes.
The traditional view on the history of democracy highlights its
development among the city-states of ancient Greece, around 507
BCE. It is believed that an Athenian statesman named Cleisthenes
proposed demokratia as a political ideology that aimed at dispersing
power from the monopoly of the elites to the masses. This allowed
for the closing in of social gaps between diverging social groups.
Upon its introduction, democracy in Greece was primarily about the
inclusion of marginalized sectors of the society in the day-to-day
operations of the government. From deciding on laws and
implementing rules to deciding on court cases, the masses were
given direct access to decision-making activities in the state.
Although this narrowed the social gap between the rich and the
poor, it did not address other issues such as gender inequality and
racism. The new order allowed for the creation of a political identity
and citizenship, which was exclusively ascribed to men who were
born in Greece by both Greek parents. Hence, women and
individuals with multicultural background were not given a seat in
decision-making activities.
A counter theory to the Greek or Western origins of the concept of
democracy was forwarded by Keane (2009), claiming that democracy
was first practiced in the Fertile Crescent region, specifically in the
sacred city of Nippur. This ancient city lies in the present territories of
Iraq, Iran, and Syria. The practice of democracy in this region started
as early as the Old Babylonian empire days (1 894 BCE). He further
argued that the idea and implementation of democracy could be
traced to the Mycenaean settlements of the Peloponnese region
between 1 500 and 1 200 BCE. This time frame provides a basis for
his theory that democracy may have been initially practiced in West
Asia and spread to other societies.
The Neolithic age is a defining moment in human history

because of the innovations that shifted the course of human
societies. Here is a link to an online quiz on the Neolithic age.
After answering the quiz, take a screen capture of your result,
and show it to your teacher.
http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz3736802ac6f88.ht
ml
The Legacy of Early Humans to Contemporary

Population
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) is the primary transnational entity that
manages and negotiates matters relating to human heritage. It
defined cultural heritage as follows:
Cultural heritage is not limited to material manifestations, such as
monuments and objects that have been preserved over time. This notion
also encompasses living expressions and the traditions that countless
groups and communities worldwide have inherited from their ancestors and
transmit to their descendants, in most cases, orally (UNESCO, 2010).
This definition provides us with a two-part meaning of cultural
heritage. On one end, there is heritage being tangible in the form of
structures, monuments, historical sites, and other artifacts. On the
other end, there is heritage being intangible in the form of literature,
oral traditions, concepts, and values.
Tangible heritage could be divided into two categories: movable
and immovable. The primary difference in these two categories is the
size of the heritage. For example, the Stonehenge (Figure 2.14) is an
immovable tangible heritage, whereas the sarcophagus of the
pharaoh Tutankhamun is a movable tangible heritage.
Fig. 2.15. Sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun

Source: http://www.egyptreservation.com/assets/images/ehrc/tutankhamun.j
pg
Movable tangible heritage pieces are often removed from the

sites where they were found and transferred to museums for
safekeeping and maintenance. Immovable tangible heritage pieces
are often left to the elements of nature (i.e., rain, wind, sand, sun),
which makes them vulnerable to decay and corrosion. This does not
mean that conservation efforts are not being made. However, due to
the constant exposure of these objects to these elements,
conservation becomes more challenging.
The Role of Museums in Preserving Human
Heritage
Museums are the repository of archaeological finds that allow
people from the contemporary period to reconstruct the culture and
environment of their ancestors. Unlike immovable tangible heritage
objects that are left in the archaeological sites where they have been
found, movable tangible heritage objects are often relocated to
museums that have jurisdiction or at times legitimacy in housing
them.
Because history is encapsulated in a venue, which is the
museum, ordinary people get to have an access to their ancestors'
lives and environment without traveling to archaeological sites, which
are often highly inaccessible. In the 2010 Conference of the Museum
Association, new roles of the museums were identified, which include
(1) fostering community solidarity through shared history and (2)
regeneration and development of the local economy.
According to the National Geographic Society, the 10 most
famous museums with the biggest collection of artifacts and fossils
are the following:
1. Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, USA
2. Le Louvre in Paris, France
3. The Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece
4. State Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia
5. The British Museum in London, UK
6. The Prado in Madrid, Spain
7. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York,
USA
8. The Vatican Museums in Vatican City
9. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy
10. Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
However, these world renowned museums are not without
controversies. For example, the British Museum has been
questioned on the legitimacy of its claims of stewardship of artifacts
from Egypt such as the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone is one of
the most important archaeological finds in Egypt, as it allowed for the
translation of the then undecipherable Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Fig. 2.16. The Rosetta Stone

Source: http://www.freemaninstitute.com/NSAmuseum-RosettaStone.jpg
Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities,

have been asserting the right of Egypt to reclaim several of its
artifacts being the rightful steward of these. However, the British
Museum and other museums that are being criticized for this issue
have not yielded, asserting that these artifacts were discovered by
their citizens and are being excellently maintained and protected in
their establishments.
Big Idea
Big Idea
Material culture is as significant as the intangible parts of
culture in providing context to the kind of life that humans had.
In the Philippines, the key museum that houses most of the

country's highly valuable artifacts is the National Museum. There are
local museums in the country that were built by local governments to
address the need of preserving local history and traditions.
A key issue that cultural heritage faces is the loss of artifacts

and fossils due to activities such as treasure hunting, which is
predicated by individuals and organizations who have a high
interest in collecting historical items. This link will lead you to the
story of Apo Anno, a stolen mummy from Nabalicong Village in
Benguet:
http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/701834dff73
771a1b8b1b7fd1ea123c5
Essentiol Learning
Contemporary human populations stand in stark contrast from
our ancestors both in biological and cultural characteristics. From
strict dependence on the environment for food and survival, we
have now learned to manipulate it to produce things that we need.
By studying the past, we were able to understand the trajectory of
our species, as we combated through technology and social
dynamics the harsh elements posed by our environment. A keen
protection of the proofs of our past is needed to ensure that the
next generations of humans will have the same privilege of
knowing the process of our development as a species.
Module
Anthropology and the Study of Culture
3

1. Identify the subjects of inquiry and goals of anthropology.
2. Explain anthropological perspectives on culture.
3. Describe culture as a complex whole.
4. Identify aspects of culture and society.
5. Raise questions toward a holistic appreciation of cultures
and societies.
6. Recognize the value of anthropology for the 21st century.
Introduction to Anthropology
Humans studying humans. This is the field of anthropology.
Unlike other disciplines of the social sciences, anthropology
promotes a holistic study of humans. Derived from two Greek words
antropos (human) and logos (study), anthropology seeks to answer
this primary question: What does it mean to be human? This allows
for an extensive and inclusive approach such that anthropology
studies humans as both biological and social creatures. Biologically,
it inquires on the genetic composition of humans, their relationship
with other primates, and their evolution. Socially, it inquires on human
behaviors, attitudes, and belief systems, which range from birth
practices to burial rites.
Another key element that makes anthropology holistic is its
research time frame, which ranges from the evolution of humans as a
species to our current development. It also studies humans from
various ethnic groupings and geographic locations.
As such, anthropology can be defined as “the study of people—
their origins, their development, and contemporary variations,
wherever and whenever they have been found on the face of the
earth” (Ember, Ember, and Peregrine, 2010).
These points of inquiry are addressed by the five subdisciplines of
anthropology: archaeological, cultural, linguistic, physical, and
applied.
• Archaeology examines the remains of ancient and historical
human populations to promote an understanding of how
humans have adapted to their environment and developed.
• Cultural anthropology promotes the study of a society's culture
through their belief systems, practices, and possessions.
• Linguistic anthropology examines the language of a group of
people and its relation to their culture.
• Physical anthropology looks into the biological development of
humans and their contemporary variation.
• Applied anthropology attempts to solve contemporary
problems through the application of theories and approaches
of the discipline.
During the 19th century, anthropologists, who were often from
western societies, would investigate on the system of beliefs,
behavior, and material possessions of non-western, preliterate, and
technologically simple societies. One of the classic studies in
anthropology, Tristes Tropiques (a memoir), was made by Claude
Levi-Strauss, a French anthropologist. This work presented the lives
of a non-modern society in Brazil, India, and the Caribbean.
Fig. 3.1. Levi-Strauss while in the field
Source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dWq5ZrdU1_l/RoiD3oQEVkl/AAAAAAAA
ASI/MGJwyZPOjxl/s320/omslag.jpg
In the advent of the 21st century, human experiences diversified.

As globalization's effects were felt in almost all societies,
anthropology extended its study to cultural and subcultural groups in
industrialized societies. Issues that were once the turf of other
disciplines like deviance and social organization were studied by
anthropologists. Nancy Scheper-Hughes, a professor of anthropology
at University of California-Berkeley, studied the lives of survivors of
organ trafficking in Brazil.
In both studies, the methodology used in gathering information
was crucial. Anthropologists need to establish rapport with their host
societies before they can extract the life stories of people. This is
important as people would not usually discuss personal matters to a
stranger. After a significant amount of time, when the key informant is
already accustomed to the presence of the anthropologist, questions
could now be asked. Key informants are individuals in a society who
have significant knowledge on the topic being studied by the
anthropologist.
Apart from interviews, anthropologists also use the participant-
observation method. This method entails the participation of the
researcher on the daily practices and rituals of the group being
studied. In the cases of Levi-Strauss and Scheper-Hughes, both
anthropologists stayed in the field for more than two years and lived
in the communities that they were documenting.
Fig 3.2. Nancy Scheper-Hughes, with an organ seller in Brazil

Source: http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/04/28/celebrating-barefoot-
anthropology-nancy-scheper-hughes/
1. How is anthropology different from other disciplines of social

science?
2. What elements make anthropology a holistic discipline?
3. What are the methods involved in anthropological research?
Culture
You have always heard the word culture being used in
conversations. At times, it refers to something ethnic; some people
think of it as an all-encompassing term that separates humans from
the rest of the animal kingdom. But what is it exactly?
Culture is everything that a person learns as a member of a
society. The three italicized words are important in understanding the
concept of culture better.
Culture is everything. It is what a person has, does, and thinks
as part of society. This implies all of a person's belief system, set of
behaviors, and material possessions. As such, it can be said that
culture is a powerful agent in shaping the decisions and actions of
humans, given a situation. It consists of the material and the
nonmaterial.
Material culture includes all the tangible and visible parts of
culture, which include clothes, food, and even buildings. The types of
material culture present in societies differ, as each society is
configured by its environment and history. For example, the culinary
culture of the Philippines is different from even that of its neighbors in
Asia such as Japan; the difference lies in the availability of the
ingredients in these areas. Presently, the difference in material
culture is becoming less visible due to globalization. The gadgets that
are produced in the United States become part of the Philippines
through trade.
Big Idea
Culture is a material and cognitive survival tool for humans
as they address the limits of their environment.
Nonmaterial culture includes all the intangible parts of culture,
which consist of values, ideas, and knowledge. Just like material
culture, the belief and values systems of societies differ from one
another based on their environment and history. Values are concepts
that are culturally determined; it separates what is acceptable from
that which is taboo. On the other hand, beliefs are culturally
approved truths that deal with the specific parts of human life. For
example, the belief in the phrase bahala na, which was derived from
the older phrase bathala na, supports the religious values system
that is present in the society.
Culture is learned. Culture is a set of beliefs, attitudes, and
practices that an individual learns through his or her family, school,
church, and other social institutions. The process of learning your
own culture is called enculturation. As you interact with your
immediate family and peers, you learn the values and accepted
behaviors in your society. Due to constant interaction between
societies, culture can be modified to accommodate desirable traits
from other cultures. This process is called acculturation. Music may
be one of the most transferred forms of culture from one society to
another. For example, the inclination of some Filipinos toward some
elements of Korean culture has led to the acceptance of Korean pop
songs despite being performed in a foreign language.
When the culture of the older generation comes into conflict with
the needs and realities of the younger generation, deculturation
happens, where the reason for the culture has been lost and even
the cultural trait itself is in the process of being forgotten.
For example, the tradition in Japan that imposes immense
obligation of the firstborn child to be the model child for his or her
siblings has been found as an instigator of two phenomena: high
child suicide rate and high educational attainment rate among
adolescents. These phenomena came to place when the tradition of
having a model child clashed with the reality that most couples
produce only one child. This propelled the children to work as hard
as an eldest child but without the privileges of being one, as they
have no siblings (Miermont, 1995).
Reflect Upon
Today's young people have been branded as the “millennials”
and members of “Generation Z” (or simply “Gen Z”) by scholars
and other popular culture observers. You and your classmates
belong to Gen Z. Using a triple Venn diagram, show how your
generation's supposed characteristics are different from those of
millennials and members of Generation X (your parents). As the
diagram demands, you must also write the commonalities that your
generation shares with millennials and members of Gen X.
Culture is shared. The set of behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs

that a person possesses is part of a greater collection of values and
ideas that is communally owned and practiced by members of a
society. This implies that a particular behavior cannot be considered
as a culture if there is only one person practicing it. Culture is shared
intergenerationally. Hence, to share a culture, it must be taught to
members of contemporary society who will, in turn, teach the
younger generation.
Figure 3.3 presents the process by which the culture of an
individual is formed. As you can see, the individual combines the
culture that his or her parents teach him or her with the culture that
he or she experiences from other societies. As such, a Filipino living
in another country would have a set of knowledge and behaviors that
corresponds to the combined culture of his or her parents and that of
the adopted society.
Fig. 3.3. Diagram on culture formation
Culture affects biology. Humans are born into cultures that have
values on beauty and body. As such, they alter their bodies to fit into
the physiological norms that are dictated by culture. Among the Mursi
tribe of Ethiopia in Africa, wearing lip plates is a sign of beauty.
Women are the ones who are expected to wear them to appear
desirable to men.
Fig. 3.4. Lip plate as worn by a Mursi woman

Source: https://Lwarosu.org/data/ic/img/0022/67/1446238679318.jpg
One of the most popular traditions in China is that of foot binding

among women that ensures their potential for good marriage. These
women are subjected to decades of physical alteration that involves
the restructuring of their feet to achieve “lotus feet,” which has the
ideal length of about 7.5 centimeters (3 inches). The process begins
at childhood when young females' feet are bound and broken so as
to hamper further growth. In Figure 3.5 you can see that the foot of
the old woman is severely disfigured. This disfigurement renders
women who underwent the procedure crippled and unable to
participate in many social events of their communities.
Fig. 3.5. Lotus feet in China

Source: http://cdn.lolwot.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/20-fashion-
trends-that-killed-and-maimed-people-4.jpg
The interaction between human physiology and culture is not

unilateral. As culture affects the physical traits of a person, culture
can also be defined by the normative physical characteristics of
humans. This can easily be seen in the material culture of a society.
The designs of machines and other forms of material culture are
based on the physical traits of a given population. For example, the
trains that are used in our country's Metro Rail Transit (MRT) are not
completely appropriate for the average Filipino physique because the
hand rails are too high. The concept of space also varies per culture
given the size of the inhabitants of such space.

Track: Arts and Design
Students have consistently been complaining of the
inappropriateness of their uniforms to the weather conditions of
our country. Some have argued that their uniforms, though very
fashionable, are not comfortable especially during hot and humid
days.
Because you are a clothing designer, you have been tasked to
develop a set of uniforms for males and females that are
conducive to the weather conditions of our country. You know that
some schools have more than one set of uniforms because of the
various activities that the students engage in. So come up with at
least three designs that have different functions.
Draw your designs on sheets of bond paper and compile them
in a portfolio. You should also write a brief explanation of of the
features of each design. Your teacher will evaluate your designs
based on creativity, feasibility or practicality, and weather
adaptability. This activity can be done in groups.
Culture is adaptive. Culture is a tool for survival that humans

use in response to the pressures of their environment. Both the
material and the nonmaterial parts of culture are influenced by the
goal of humans to address their needs as dictated by their
environment and their biology. The Inuits of the Arctic region are well-
known for building igloos during fishing and hunting expeditions.
These dome-shaped homes provide temporary shelter for the mobile
group. During summer, they use tupiqs, which are tents made of
animal skin, as their temporary homes.
Fig. 3.6. Inuit man beside an igloo (left) and a tupiq (right)
Another adaptive mechanism that is practiced in most cultures is

the creation of food taboos. These are the socially constructed and
accepted prohibitions on the consumption of several food items.
Among the Muslims, the consumption of pork is not allowed, so cattle
is one of their primary sources of meat. In India, on the other hand,
cows are venerated, so consuming beef is considered taboo.
According to Marvin Harris, these taboos are responses to the
environmental pressures on food supply in these areas. For example,
the taboo on the consumption of cows in India is rooted on the heavy
drought that the country experienced which made eating the cow
impractical as this animal is low-maintenance (eats grass and not
human food), works the farm, and is a sustainable supply of milk.
Hence, to consume cows instead of other animals would be illogical.
Culture is maladaptive. Culture can also cause problems for the
people who subscribe to it. These problems arise when the
environment has changed and culture has remained the same. For
example, the “car culture” present in most societies is getting
maladaptive as the environment gets more polluted. In the
Philippines, the car industry remains active despite the economic
turmoil it faces as a developing country. This culture is highly
maladaptive given that roads for vehicles are not wide enough. As
such, traffic problems are constant in the country. However, Filipinos
appreciate the value of having cars in the performance of their
economic and personal functions, not to mention the feeling of
prestige and sense of accomplishment that a car brings to its owner.
Thus, although considered as somewhat maladaptive, car ownership
is still very much popular in the Philippines.
Fig. 3.7. Traffic congestion in EDSA

Source: http://maxtein.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/manila_traffic.gif
Culture changes. The final characteristic of culture is that it is

never static. This dynamism of culture is due to the changing needs
of humans as they interpret and survive in their environment. As
such, culture is continuously reinvented by people. From the clothes
that we wear to the food that we eat, culture can be seen as ever
changing.
1. Why is culture a tool for survival?

2. How can culture pose a threat to the survival of its
practitioners?
3. How can culture affect one's body?
Theories on Culture
Theories are established perspectives that are essential in
shaping an analysis about a particular issue. In the field of
anthropology, one of the key points of discussion is the concept of
culture. The following table presents seven theoretical orientations in
anthropology and the ideas on culture that they espouse.
Table 3.1. Comparison of Theories on Culture

Theory Perspective on Culture
Cultural evolutionism All cultures undergo the same development stages in
the same order. The main classifications include
savagery, barbarism, and civilization.
Diffusionism All societies change as a result of cultural borrowing

from one another.
Historicism Each culture is unique and must be studied in its own

context.
Psychological Personality is largely seen to be the result of learning

anthropology culture.
Functionalism Society is thought to be like a biological organism with

all of the parts interconnected. Existing institutional
structures of any society are thought to perform
indispensable functions, without which the society
could not continue.
Neo-evolutionism Culture is said to be shaped by environmental and

technological conditions. Cultures evolve when people
are able to increase the amount of energy under their
control.
Materialism Culture is the product of the “material conditions” in

which a given community of people finds itself.
Note: Definitions on the perspective on culture for each theory are directly
lifted from Ferraro and Andreatta (2010).
Anthropology in the 21st Century

The key strength of anthropology as a discipline of the social
science is its holistic approach to the study of humans. It is holistic in
the sense that it studies (1) humans, both as biological and social
creatures; (2) human behavior from the time the species existed to
the time that it will desist; (3) human behavior from all regions of the
world; and (4) all forms of human actions and beliefs. Such lens in
understanding the human species allows anthropology to provide a
comprehensive insight into the nature of humans and the trajectory of
their behaviors.
The discipline's arm in the applied sciences addresses the
contemporary issues of a globalizing world and informs public policy.
For example, ethnographic research on social issues provides
international organizations and governments with key indicators for
policy reforms and implementation.
With the discipline's engagement with the ordinary and the
mundane parts of human interaction, anthropology provides a degree
of keenness to its learner such that everyday things are
contextualized and understood within the frame of culture. This
develops acuity among students of anthropology.
There is a growing distribution of alternative facts and the rise

of extremist beliefs that divide society. Thus, anthropology plays a
crucial role in lending the public its “lens” of critical analysis. This
link will lead you to an article that discusses the role of
anthropology in today's world as a source of social critique:
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/653127
After reading this, write a 500-word essay on how you can use
the “lens” of anthropology to address a social issue that our
country is facing today.
Essential Learning
The field of anthropology has started as a field of inquiry on the
difference between western societies and those that are
technologically simple. However, through the continuous study of
the variance of human populations and their cultures, anthropology
transitioned into a tool for social critique in contemporary societies.
Culture, being the prime unit of analysis in anthropology, has been
observed as possessing universal traits— adaptive, communal,
and holistic, to name a few. An understanding of cultural variation
allows for a more inclusive and accepting approach in societies
and their members.
Module
Sociology and the Study of Society
4

1. Identify the subjects of inquiry and goals of sociology.
2. Describe society as a complex whole.
3. Identify aspects of culture and society.
4. Raise questions toward a holistic appreciation of societies.
5. Recognize the value of sociology for the 21st century.
6. Explain sociological perspectives on culture and society.
The Sociological Perspective

Another branch of the social sciences is the discipline of
sociology. Categorically, sociology is the “scientific study of society,
including patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and
culture” (Calhoune, 2002). The operative term scientific refers to the
methodological and theoretical rigor that sociology applies in its study
of society and human behavior. The term sociology was coined by
Auguste Compte in 1830 to refer to a scientific inquiry that covers
human social activities. The inclination toward the use of common
sense in understanding human populations and their activities was
challenged by the more accurate and tested conclusions provided by
the sociological perspective.
In 1959, C. Wright Mills coined the phrase “sociological
imagination” to refer to the ability of sociologist to understand society
systematically. This ability involves the process of detaching oneself
from the common understanding of society and creates an alternative
approach that would situate a behavior or an event within a great
social framework. Mills further argued that this imagination could be
the conceptual tool by which people could unpack the maladies of
their society and address them.
Big Idea
Sociology is a cognitive tool to understand society,
institutions, and their impact on human behavior.
The clamor for social understanding due to the rapid changes in

social and economic structures brought upon by the French and
Industrial Revolutions in Europe cemented the prominence of
sociological perspective in the field of social sciences.
The Industrial Revolution has been one of the primary

catalysts for the institution of sociology as a social science
discipline. Here's a link to a summary of the Industrial Revolution
written for the Encyclopedia Britannica:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution
After reading the article, answer the following questions:
1. What is the Industrial Revolution?
2. What are the main features of the Industrial Revolution?
3. What are the parallelisms of the first and the second
Industrial Revolutions?
Sociological Concepts
Just like anthropology, sociology also has discipline-based
concepts that aid in the understanding of human behavior and
groups. The basic concept that sociology interprets is that of society.
Society
Society can be defined as a product of human interactions as
humans subscribe to the rules of their culture. It is an organization
that caters to a human's need for belongingness in a group. The
following table presents the varying understanding of society as
prescribed by sociologists.
Table 4.1. Comparison of Theories on Society

Sociologist Perspective on Society
August Comte Society as a social organism possessing a harmony of
structure and function.
Emile Durkheim Society as a reality in its own right. Collective

consciousness is of key importance to society, which
society cannot survive without.
Talcott Parsons Society is a total complex of human relationships in so

far as they grow out of the action in terms of means-
end relationship.
George Herbert Mead Society is an exchange of gestures that involves the

use of symbols.
Morris Ginsberg Society as a collection of individuals united by certain

relations or mode of behavior that marks individuals off
from others who do not enter into these relations or
who differ from them in behavior.
George Douglas Cole Society as the complex of organized associations and

institutions with a community.
Robert Maclver and Society as a system of usages and procedures of

Charles Page authority and mutual aid of many groupings and
divisions, of controls of human behavior and liberties.
Source: Shandra (2007)

Notice that the common terms that surfaced in these definitions
are the following: social, structure, function, complex, collective,
relationships, symbols, exchange, behavior, institutions, and system.
1. What is a common theme in all the definitions of “society”?

2. What are the historical contexts that paved for the
development of sociology?
3. How does the “sociological imagination” frame our
understanding of society?
Reflect Upon
When people talk about Filipino society, the common themes
that are usually associated with it are (1) Filipino hospitality and (2)
Filipino cheerfulness. With the ever increasing globalization, we
can assume that Filipino society today would not be the same for
the next generation. Through a collage, present how you envision
21st century Filipino society.
Social Interaction
Within the framework of society is a process called social
interaction. This is a compilation of ways and means by which
humans interact with each other within the confines of a society.
Hence, the prevailing culture within a society dictates the forms of
interaction used by individuals with one another.
Interaction is not merely defined by an actual physical contact, as
it covers every human interchange that is within a mutually subjective
orientation. This implies that as long as the parties involved are
aware of each other, interaction is possible.
Fig.4.1. Filipino protesters facing the anti-riot police force in front of the US
Embassy
Source: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/10/19/1635234/pnp-looking-
violent-dispersal-outside-us-embassy
In a public protest such as shown in Figure 4.1, there are layers

of social interaction transpiring simultaneously. First, there is the
dialogue among protesters about their stand regarding the issue.
Second, there is the dialogue between the protesters and the
government representatives (police and politicians). Third, there is
the dialogue among the protesters, the police, the politicians, and the
media. Finally, there is the interaction between the protesters and the
US government. In all these layers, several points can be made
about social interaction:
1. Space is not an issue. The protesters who are making a
dialogue with the US government are separated from it by
about 3 000 kilometers.
2. There could be multiple and simultaneous interactions. An
interaction could be participated in by at least two parties or by
tens of thousands. Each party could be engaged in multiple
interactions with other parties.
3. A dialogue could have an active and inactive end. In the social
interaction between the protesters and the US government,
note that the US government did not respond to the demands
and statements made by the other party. Nevertheless,
despite the silence of the other party, such an encounter is still
considered as a social interaction.
4. Subject-positionality is present in any interaction. The
responses (or the nonresponses) that individuals make in
relation to an interaction is determined by his or her perception
of his or her position in relation to the other party. It is
therefore understandable that the US government did not
respond to the protesters. It did not negotiate with them
because they are not of the same position.
5. The meanings we ascribe to the actions of others are informed
by the values and norms that are upheld in our society. The
protesters were moved to action due to the US government's
critical stance against President Duterte, who is being
accused of sponsoring extrajudicial killings.
Social Organization
This concept refers to the interrelationship of parts of society. As
a society is an organization in itself, it is structurally divided into
layers of contexts and positions that help perpetuate its existence.
The positions created within a society constitute the category of
status. This may include being a student, a son, and a parent.
Each status prescribes a set of accepted behaviors that define
the individual's responses and inclinations. This set is called roles.
The role of a government official is to ensure that the people's needs
are addressed through government projects and policies. If the
government official fails to perform this role, then a conflict occurs as
the norm was not followed. In some instances in our country,
government officials were evicted from their positions (statuses) as
they failed to perform the roles expected of them.
A group is a basic unit of an organization. It involves at least two
individuals who are in constant interaction based on their statuses
and roles. Your school typically consists of two groups: teachers and
students. You interact with your teachers based on your role as a
student. Hence, your manner of speaking and the content of your
statements are different when you are interacting with your
classmates from when you interact with your teachers.
Institutions are established when roles, statuses, and groups are
perpetuated within the context of a society. Institutions are the
building blocks of a society, as it is through these that norms are
produced from the consistent exchanges of individuals and groups.
These institutions are also in constant recreation as human
interactions are affected by external forces such as environmental
shifts. Family, marriage, education, religion, and government are all
examples of institutions. To be more specific, the concept of a parent
and a child (family) is well-established as an institution in the
Philippines. As such, activities that do not conform to the prescribed
behavior of individuals toward the creation of a family are frowned
upon by society. These activities include abortion, separation of
spouses, and extramarital affairs.
Social Structure and Agency

This is the foundation of every society from which emanates the
possible roles, statuses, institutions, and organizations. It can be said
that social structure is the determining factor by which every other
part of a society gains its context. The common analogy used to
describe social structure and the elements of society is that of a
building. The building in itself can be considered as the society. The
pillars and foundation of the building is equated to the social
structure. Remember that these parts provide the general framework
of the building—these determine its height, width, and shape. What
provides the building with its design and body are the institutions,
statuses, groups, and roles. The concept of culture can be equated
to the concept of social structure as it functions in the same capacity.
This is to say that culture defines the norms, values, institutions,
groups, and individual behavior within a society.
Note that this perspective renders individuals to be incapable of
asserting themselves in a society, as they are bound by the rules of
its structure or, in this context, their culture. A divergent perspective
to this accommodates the concept of agency.
According to Inden (2000), agency is
the realized capacity of people to act upon their world and not only to know
about or give personal or intersubjective significance to it…. the power of
people to act purposively and reflectively, in more or less complex
relationships with one another, to reiterate and remake the world in which
they live, in circumstances where they may consider different courses of
action possible and desirable, though not necessarily from the same point
of view.
This definition provides the argument that though structures in

place define the conditions in which an individual interacts with
others and institutions, the individual is capable of “remaking the
world.” Individuals are capable of creating new systems and patterns
of interaction. In the exercise of agency, humans can be either the
catalyst of change or the instruments by which such change is
played. As such, agency should be treated as an active word—it
constitutes actions that are intended to instigate action from
institutions that would alter social structures. Moore (2007) argues
this, saying the following:
Agency is defined as individuals or groups reflecting, acting, modifying, and

giving significance to the teaching of science in purposeful ways, with the
aim of empowering and transforming themselves and/or the conditions of
their lives … Thus agency is action-oriented …
Reflect Upon
Reflect Upon
With a partner, discuss how you are able to negotiate with
people in authority the things or activities that you like which they
forbid. On a sheet of paper, write the following: the person(s), the
activities that they dislike, the types of negotiations that you would
take, and the expected results.
Subdisciplines of Sociology
Within the field of sociology are specific inquiries on human
behavior in groups. Studies that involve social structures such as
institutions, social groups, social stratification, social mobility, and
ethnic groups fall within the scope of social organization. The study
of the impact of group life to a person's nature and personality is the
focus of social psychology. Social change and disorganization is the
branch of sociology that inquires on the shift in social and cultural
interactions and the interruption of its process through delinquency,
deviance, and conflicts. Human ecology pursues studies that relate
human behavior to existing social institutions. This is different from
social psychology and social organization in that the social
institutions in which human subjects belong to are treated in the
context of an ecological/environmental element that defines human
behavior. Population or demography inquires on the interrelationship
between population characteristics and dynamics with that of a
political, economic, and social system. Applied sociology uses
sociological research and methods to solve contemporary problems.
It often uses an interdisciplinary approach to better address social
problems.
1. What are the components of a social organization?

2. What are the elements of social interaction?
3. How is the concept of agency related to structures and
individual negotiations?
Methods in Sociology
There are two primary methodological perspectives in sociology:
positivist and the anti-positivist. The positivist orientation perceives
society as a quantifiable subject from which objective conclusions
can be made. As such, a positivist perspective uses methods
employed by the natural sciences to understand social phenomenon.
It was Auguste Compte who introduced this perspective taking into
consideration that society is like an organism that could be measured
through logic and mathematics. As this orientation is predisposed to
statistical analysis, quantitative methods such as surveys are
employed by sociologists to map a social phenomenon. The
relationships of the variables of the topics are tested through
formulas of correlation, regression, and the like. It is assumed that by
statistically understanding the phenomenon, its future trajectory can
be predicted and addressed efficiently. This type of orientation allows
for a macro-level analysis of society.
An example of a work that uses positivism is that of Durkheim
(1951) on suicide, wherein he identified four types of suicide that are
triggered by the type of society that one is living in.
Fig.4.2. Durkheim's schema on suicide
According to Durkheim (1951), individuals who fall into the

extremes of their society are bound to commit suicide. For example,
a person who lives in a society that promotes strong ties among its
members is prone to commit altruistic suicide as an act of preserving
it. The Japanese kamikaze pilots purposively crashed their planes
into American ships and land-based targets to inflict heavy casualty
on the Americans. Their actions were an ultimate sacrifice and
contribution to their country's campaign in World War II.
Fig.4.3. Japanese women showing gratitude and support for kamikaze pilots
Source: https://chuvadenanquim.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/kamikaze.jpg
On the opposite end, being part of societies that do not foster

strong ties among its members can trigger an individual to commit
egoistic suicide wherein the individual feels isolated, having no sense
of a community.
The third type of suicide is anomic, which results from living in a
society with no rules. This context propels an individual to commit
suicide as he or she experiences moral and existential crisis based
on the unavailability of guiding principles through which life can be
lived. The death of several popular culture icons have been attributed
to this form of suicide, as they have experienced the complexity of
the popularity that rendered them objects of consumers instead of
living persons.
Finally, there is fatalistic suicide, which is experienced in societies
that have many rules. Individuals who fail to comply with the rules of
their society experience shame and disappointment, which brings
them to this fatal decision. In 2007, the National Police Agency of
Japan declared that suicide rates among adolescents reached its
highest rate since 1978. The agency identified underperformance in
school as the primary cause of suicide among members of this sector
(Japan Times, 2007). The traditional culture of setting examples to
siblings through high performance among firstborn children has been
passed on to an only-child generation. This culture forced every
single child to be competitive in school to please his or her parents.
Failure to live up to this standard has triggered countless suicides
among Japanese youth.
Reflect Upon
Search online for the interrelationships among the four types of
suicides. How does one type influence the others?
Coming from a positivist orientation, Durkheim argues that suicide
can be prevented, as it is not a matter of personal choice but is
actually a product of social realities which can be altered to counter
its effect. This schema on suicide can be applied in understanding all
kinds of society, hence the macro level theorizing that positivism can
only provide.
Alternately, the anti-positivist orientation promotes a subjective
approach wherein social phenomena are understood through
individual experiences. With this, it counters the positivist assumption
that general laws can be made to understand human behavior. Such
orientation requires qualitative methods in gathering data such as
interviews, participant-observations, and other tools of ethnography.
The work on suicide by Pearson and Lui (2011) presents the
suicide of a village woman in China named Ling. China is reported to
have high incidences of suicide, especially among females in rural
areas (WHO, 2009). Using ethnographic process, Pearson and Lui
concluded that the typical Western orientation toward suicide, which
focuses on depression and other mental health-related factors, are
not in the same operation among rural Chinese women, as their
suicide act is triggered by social and economic structural conditions.
Through the life of Ling, the authors saw that women's status in
society, which generally renders them powerless and voiceless,
leads them to choose suicide as a form of either a statement or an
escape. They also noted that, unlike the suicide cases in the West
that is defined by depression and long-term mental illness, suicide in
rural China was more spontaneous, as individuals thought about the
act a few hours or, at times, minutes prior to committing it.
Unlike the work of Durkheim that has a potential for general
application in understanding suicide phenomena across geographic
regions, the work of Pearson and Lui remains to be applicable to the
case of Ling's society. This situates anti-positivist works within the
micro level of analysis.
Track: Academic
You are a youth sociologist who specializes in new forms of
dating among the younger generation (i.e., ages 15 to 24). A
senior high school has invited you to deliver a talk on the topic
and specifically requested that you provide an argument and
proposal in addressing the youth's vulnerability to sexually
transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy. Your talk is
expected to be 10 minutes long and supplemented with visual
aids. Your teacher will rate your talk based on the clarity of your
arguments, the strength of your data, the effectiveness of your
visual aids, and your ability to relate to your audience.
Value of Sociology for the 21st Century

Sociology was established at a time when society was changing
drastically due to technological and political developments.
Contemporary society is constantly facing reality-altering
developments not just in technology but also in its environment as
brought about by climate change. Sociology finds its value today in
providing us with a conceptual tool in understanding the plight of
humans as they adapt to their varying environments and social
conditions. Through the scientific analyses of social phenomena,
sociology provides policy makers with concrete bases for decisions
that affect human population and alter their social landscape.
Big Idea
Sociology has the capacity of informing a society's trajectory
through research-based policy-making.
One of the pressing sociological issues in the Philippines is the

case of unemployed youth who are in the process of waithood.
These youth are called tambay. Clarence Batan, a sociologist
studying the youth, conducted a sociological study of tambay in a
marginalized town of Talim in the province of Rizal. Using methods
such as ethnography and interviews, he found out that most of the
youth have employment aspirations; due to their marginalization,
however, they are disenfranchised from the labor system that
requires a set of employee attributes. Some remain to be a tambay
for as long as five years. He further argued that such experiences
perpetuate a web of crises that promote intergenerational poverty
and marginalization.
1. What are the two orientations on the study of society?

2. How did Durkheim explain suicide?
3. How does sociology contribute to the understanding of
contemporary issues?
With the advent of social media such as Facebook and Twitter,

the interrelationships among humans have been redefined. What
follows is a reading analyzing the phenomenon of selfies within the
platform of social media.

Go to http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/08/tinder-hook-up-
culture-end-of-dating to read an article titled “Tinder and the Dawn
of the Dating Apocalypse” by Nancy Jo Sales published by the
magazine Vanity Fair. After reading the article, write a reflection
paper that addresses the theme “Dating among Filipinos.” In
writing your essay, incorporate the concepts discussed in this
module.
Essential Learning
From the early conception of sociology in the 19th century to its
application today in the 21st century, the discipline has remained
as a cognitive tool to understand the interrelationship between the
individual and his or her society. With the methods that render the
field as a scientific process of inquiry, sociology provides
systematic analysis of various social phenomena.
Module Political Science and the Study of
5 Politics

1. Identify the subjects of inquiry and goals of political
science.
2. Discuss the concept of power as an aspired value in a
society. (Enrichment)
3. Recognize the value of political science in the 21st
century. (Enrichment)
Political Science as a Discipline

What is the difference between a political scientist and a common
individual in discussing the efficiency of government projects? The
layman interprets the actions of the government based on his or her
experience of it while the political scientist uses the rigor of scientific
inquiry to evaluate the performance of the government.
Political science comes from two Greek words: polis and scire.
Polis refers to the city-state in ancient Greece. The political activities
within a polis are later termed as politikus (Latin). Scire means “to
know.” Combining the two meanings, political science aims to know
the activities within the state. Such activities include the following:
human interaction and conflict, human and state relations, and power
distribution.
The American Political Science Association defined its discipline
as “the study of governments, public policies and political processes,
systems, and political behavior” (2013). These topics are covered by
the subdisciplines of political science such as political theory,
comparative politics, international relations, political behavior, public
policy, and public administration.
Political Theory
Political theory examines the contemporary application of political
concepts such as human rights, equality, peace, and justice. It seeks
to address the variance of its implementation in societies with the aim
of understanding the nature of these concepts and the elements that
affect it. This field is significant in furthering theory building in the
discipline as much as it provides a conceptual critique of commonly
held concepts. For example, the Global North concept of justice is
not universal. In some societies in the Global South, conflicts are not
resolved by meting justice in the context of punishment but in the
form of reconciliation of parties.
Comparative Politics
Comparative politics is a branch of political science that aims to
provide context to the differences in government and political
systems. It examines the parallelism and divergence of political
systems to provide analyses on the factors that make governments
efficient and the factors that make them fail. This field provides a
scientific comparison of governments and political institutions that
could help aid policy formulation that is locally relevant. For example,
the practice of democracy in the most members of the Global North
is oftentimes different from how it is practiced in democratized
countries of the Global South as it is embedded in local political
culture. Hence, campaigns for the democratization of all societies
may be perilous for some, whose local culture is at odds with the
framework of democracy.
International Relations
The study of state-to-state relations and the wider margin of the
impacts of globalization and climate change such as terrorism,
piracy, and democratization of non-Western territories fall into the
category of international relations. This field also covers the
interaction between states and non-state global actors such as
international organizations and human groups. The case of China
and Philippines on the Scarborough Shoal is an example of an
internal relations issue in the Philippines as much as the 9/11 attacks
on the World Trade Center that spawned transnational campaign of
the United States against terrorism.
Through this field, an understanding of the motivations of global
actors is made possible, and this understanding provides a basis for
political decisions of the parties involved. In the case of the campaign
against terrorism, a country that aims to win the favor of the United
States ought to rally behind this campaign and dissociate with
blacklisted countries or political actors.
Political Behavior
This field covers the attitudes, knowledge, and actions of an
individual in response to political variables such as policies created
by the government, behavior of politicians, and general political
environment. Works on the political action repertoire of individuals
are categorized under this field as it examines their psychology
toward the system. These types of studies are important for drafting
election campaigns and gauging the electorates' inclination to
support a policy.
The political orientation of Filipinos toward elections is a subject
of this inquiry. Political commentaries have highlighted the fanfare
that is the Philippine elections, from the savvy campaign materials to
unabashed promotion of every political activity and public service
made by the candidates. The presence of political dynasties is also
enabled by the political culture of the country. In the Philippines,
where political affiliations are mostly due to not political parties but on
personalities, the costs and benefits of a political action are always
administered from a personality to his or her supporters/detractors.
According to Alfred McCoy, an American political scientist, the
Philippines has strong families that have political influence in regions
of the country, allowing for the perpetuation of political dynasties.
Public Policy
This field inquires on the types of governmental policies and the
underlying motivations for their enactment and implementation. Due
to the nature of this field, it operates with other subdisciplines to
create a comprehensive analysis. The general perspective that
policies are created to better the living conditions within a territory is
at times inaccurate, as political actors behind policy-making are also
motivated by personal interests.
This discipline is significant for evaluating the efficiency of
enacted policies and the possible revisions that it can accommodate.
Controversial policies such as the RH Law and the HIV/AIDS Law
(Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998) provide a
window for analysis on the actors and factors at play in the Philippine
political environment. Both laws were received with strong opposition
from religious sectors and pro-family groups, while it rallied support
from family-planning advocates.
Public Administration
This branch examines the various administrative schemes
implemented by government officials. It analyzes the strategies
applied by administrative units in implementing the existing policies
and the feedback mechanism that they use to gain the opinion of the
public. This field is important in providing scientific evaluations of the
efficiency of administrative units in fulfilling their functions and the
factors that affect them in their pursuit of accomplishing their
deliverables.
Given the scope and nature of the discipline of political science, it
is oriented toward an applied and interdisciplinary approach. Applied
orientation pervades all of its subdisciplines as they all address
contemporary issues on politics, ethics, and governance. It is
interdisciplinary as it uses the frameworks of other social science
disciplines, such as history, sociology, anthropology, psychology,
philosophy, and even demography, to provide contexts to a political
phenomenon. As such, its methods in gathering data is highly
inclusive as it uses both the quantitative and the qualitative
approaches.
1. How is international relations different from comparative

politics?
2. How can political science contribute to the resolution of
contemporary issues?
3. How is public administration different from public policy?
A conceptual model that may be used in analyzing the political

dynamics within a society is that of David Easton's political system
model (1957). Easton presents five primary variables in this model:
environment, input, political system, output, and feedback.
The environment consists of the historical, social, and economic
conditions of the society that affects the types of policies accepted
and declined by the electorate. In this category, you should consider
questions such as the following:
• Does the country belong to the Global North or the Global
South?
• Is the country culturally pluralistic or homogenous?
• Does the country have a colonial past?
These are pertinent inquiries as these would yield a background

on the type of responses to the system a society will have.
The next variable is the input. This refers to the forms of political
events or products that are needed by society from its government.
This is divided into two categories: demands and support. Demands
refer to the perceived needs of the population that could better their
lives. This may include better wages, equality in the workplace, and
lowered taxes, to name a few. Again, this is affected by the
environment as the needs of the electorate vary per environmental
condition.
Support refers to mechanisms within the system that would allow
for such demands to be facilitated. For example, a demand for wage
hike for public school teachers may have support from related
sectors such as the working class political parties and the public
school teachers. A demand should also have support from existing
structures. Hence, even if there is general public support for the
clamor of the teachers for higher wages, if there is no facilitating
institution to accommodate the needed change, then it will have
lesser chances of being heard by the government.
The political system acts like a black box through which every
form of demand is sifted and decided upon. It could be either
democratic or socialist, parliamentary or presidential, and unitary or
federal. Based on the nature of the political system, the demands are
either acted upon or neglected.
The decision of the government toward an input is called an
output. This includes policies, rules, laws, regulations, and projects.
Using the example on wage hike for teachers, the government could
grant it by creating a law that would increase their wages or provide
an alternate solution such as deloading teachers of working
requirements to enable them to indulge in other occupations.
Whichever the government decides on, opinions and responses
would be made by the affected sectors. This is referred to as
feedback.
Feedback is important for the system to gauge the efficiency of its
response to a public need. It also provides the government a basis
for improving its response to public demands. Feedback on decisions
made by the system can also affect the types of demands and
support that will be made later by the public.
Fig. 5.1. David Easton's model of a political system
Reflect Upon
Many people say that President Rodrigo Duterte is an
unconventional leader. He is often labeled as a populist leader.
Using Easton's model, analyze the rise of President Duterte to
power by answering these questions:
1. What contexts allowed for the demand for President
Duterte's type of leadership?
2. What type of support allowed for his election?
3. What types of political decisions did he make?
4. How did different groups in the general populace respond to
it?
Political Science Concepts

Similar to anthropology and sociology, political science has
discipline-based concepts that aid in the analysis of society. This
section presents the eight most essential terms used in the field of
political science.
Politics
This is the central concept in the discipline, as much as society is
to sociology and culture is to anthropology. Table 5.1 presents three
definitions of politics by different theorists.
Table 5.1. Definitions of Politics

Theorist Definition of Politics
Alfred Boyer Politics is the interaction between the civil society and
the government in the activity of governance.
Max Weber Politics is the exercise of power within a state.
David Easton Politics is the authoritative allocation of scarce values.
Source: Curtis. The Great Political Theories, 1976.
Boyer highlighted the concept of governance or the execution of

laws within a territory as mediated by civil society (sectors of society)
and the government. The government acts as the arbiter of rules and
laws within a territory. However, its power is tempered by the opinion
of stakeholders in a society.
Easton's definition promotes the idea that there are scarce or
limited values in society. This includes power, prestige, and other
values that are held by a select few in society. As such, competition
for these values is fierce, requiring an authoritative distribution of
them. For example, the power to govern is limited and the desire to
acquire it is high. To avoid political disorder, this value is distributed
to a select few.
Weber introduced two essential concepts in political science:
power and state.
Power, as defined by Robert Dahl, is “the ability of person A to
make person B do what person B would not otherwise do” (American
Political Science Association, 2013). This implies the capacity to
direct and influence the decision of others. Hence, Weber's definition
corresponds to the interplay of power relations within a political
system.
A state is a political entity that consists of four elements: territory,
government, people, and sovereignty. These elements are
highlighted in De Leon's (2005) definition of a state as:
a community of persons more or less numerous, permanently occupying a
definite portion of territory, having a government of their own to which the
great body of inhabitants render obedience, and enjoying freedom from
external control.
A state is a political concept, which makes it intangible unlike its

elements. Two of the defining characteristics of a state are the
following: (1) it is independent from external control and (2) it may
consist of many nations.
Government
The set of personnel who manages the affairs of the state in its
act of allocating scarce values is called the government. Its existence
is dictated by the political system that it revolves on. For democratic
systems, the aim of the government is to advance the welfare of the
general public.
Aristotle provided a system of classification of governments
based on number of rulers and its efficiency in governance (Curtis,
1981).
Table 5.2. Aristotle's Classification of Government

Number of Ruler(s) Normal Form Perverted Form
One Monarchy Tyranny
Number of Ruler(s) Normal Form Perverted Form
Few Aristocracy Oligarchy
Many Polity Democracy
A government that is governed by one ruler who has efficient

administration of political and economic values is a monarchy. A
perverted form of it is tyranny or the rule of a dictator. Aristotle
argued that a tyrant ruler serves only his or her own interests. This
leader is prone to using force to stay in power as he or she merely
usurped it. Monarchs are better leaders as they are not prone to
employ force to subjugate members of their society as they do not
feel the pressure to maintain their position, which they inherited.
Aristotle argued that the rule of the few intellectuals known as
aristocracy is the best form of government. He said that aristocracy is
less prone to corruption given that it is run by a group of people who
have no vested self-interest due to their high moral values and
noneconomic preoccupation. Contrary to this, the rule of the few rich
individuals is seen by Aristotle as problematic, as the rulers are more
predisposed to further their economic interests.
The rule of aristocrats is the ideal but not a possibility, as this
group of people are not inclined toward the practice of governance
due to their preoccupation with the intellectual and the philosophical.
Hence, according to Aristotle, the best alternative for an effective
government is the rule of the middle class known as polity. This type
of government is the most efficient, as it is less prone to corruption.
This is due to the rulers who come from the middle class, are
satisfied economically, and are well-educated.
Although well-accepted by current world leaders, democracy was
considered by Aristotle as an ineffective type of government. He said
that democracy had a potential for chaos and corruption, given that it
is ruled by the masses that are generally economically challenged
and lacking proper education.
Big Idea
Big Idea
Power is a political value that is limited in distribution but
highly demanded by the populace.

Track: Academic
You are a political lobbyist for the youth sector. Your goal is to
support your bill that proposes free college education for all
qualified Filipinos. Your task is to create a brief that would inform
policy makers of the following:
1. Statistics of Filipinos who do not enter college
2. Statistics of unemployed young Filipinos
3. Statistics of job availability and the employment gap
4. Potential costs and benefits of this law
Your data must be correct and factual.
Sovereignty
This is the capacity of a political system to make independent
decisions within its territory. Sovereignty can be classified in terms of
its scope. Internal sovereignty refers to the capacity of a political
system to implement its rules and policies within its territory. External
sovereignty refers to the recognition of that system's existence and
authority by other actors and systems. The capacity of the
government to quell rebellion by separatist groups is a marker of its
internal sovereignty. When a government's internal sovereignty is
perceived by other global actors as weak or even nonexistent, its
external sovereignty may be challenged.
Territory
This is the geographic space in which the sovereignty of a state is
exercised. A territory includes “the terrestrial, fluvial, and aerial
domains, including its territorial seas, the seabed, the subsoil, the
insular shelves, and other submarine areas” (De Leon, 2005). Taking
in point the Philippine context, Article 1 of the 1987 Philippine
Constitution declares the following:
The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the
islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which
the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial,
fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the
subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around
between, the connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their
breadth and dimensions, from part of the internal waters of the Philippines.
This definition can be further understood using this map.

Fig. 5.2. Territorial map of the Philippines
Source: http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2011/aug2011/187167.jpg
People
This fourth element of a state is the most crucial of all, as it is
through the existence of the people that concepts on government,
state, territory, and sovereignty take shape. In the context of political
science, the term people is synonymous to a nation. A nation is a
concept that is related to ethnicity, as people within it are bound by
cultural and historical ties. A state can consist of many nations. For
example, pluralistic societies such as the United States, Singapore,
and the European Union have multicultural populations under one
administration. In the same way, a nation can be framed within
different forms of government. For example, the Arab nation, which is
distributed around the world, is subjected to varying forms of
government. Hence, the Arab nation in the Global South experiences
a different form of governance from those who are in the Global
North.
When a state is composed of people who share the same culture
and history, it gains the compounded identity of being a nation-state.
Not all states can be considered as such due to the lack of shared
identity among its people.
Disputes based on territorial claims have been consistently

observed in contemporary history by experts of international
relations. Recently, the Philippines has been engaged in a
territorial dispute with China over the area referred to as the West
Philippine Sea or South China Sea. Read this article on the
landmark win of the Philippines against China in the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) arbitration.
Then answer the questions that follow:
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/140358/philippines-
arbitration-decision-maritime-dispute-south-china-sea-
arbitral-tribunal-unclos-itlos
1. What are the bases of the decision?
2. What is the claim of China?
3. What is the claim of the Philippines?
4. Why does UNCLOS have authority on the case?
1. Why is sovereignty a key element of the state?

2. What concepts are associated with the term “nation”?
3. What contexts are included in the concept of “territory”?
4. What are the characteristics of a polity?
5. How can the three definitions of politics be rephrased to form
a comprehensive definition?

Presented here is an excerpt from the essay titled “The
Bloodstained Rise of Global Populism” by Alfred McCoy for the
Asia Times. In a two-page essay, write a critical assessment of the
current administration's approach toward governance as compared
to the Marcos era. Support your arguments with examples drawn
from actual political events.
To read the entire article, go to
http://www.atimes.com/bloodstained-rise-global-populism/.
Populism in the Philippines: The Marcos Era

Although now remembered mainly as a “kleptocrat” who plundered
his country and enriched himself with shameless abandon (epitomized
by the discovery that his wife possessed 3,000 pairs of shoes),
Ferdinand Marcos was, in fact, a brilliant populist, thoroughly skilled in
the symbolic uses of violence.
As his legal term as president came to an end in 1972, Marcos –
who, like many populists, saw himself as chosen by destiny to save his
people from perdition – used the military to declare martial law. He then
jailed 50,000 opponents, including the senators who had blocked his
favored legislation and the gossip columnists who had mocked his wife's
pretensions. The first months of his dictatorship actually lacked any
official violence. Then, just before dawn onJanuary15,1973,
constabulary officers read a presidential execution order and strapped
Lim Seng, an overseas Chinese heroin manufacturer, to a post at a
Manila military camp.
As a battery of press photographers stood by, an eight-man firing
squad raised their rifles. Replayed endlessly on television and in movie
theaters, the dramatic footage of bullets ripping open the victim's chest
was clearly meant to be a vivid display of the new dictator's power, as
well as an appeal to his country's ingrained anti-Chinese racism.
Lim Seng would be the only victim legally executed in the 14 years of
the Marcos dictatorship. However, extrajudicial killings were another
matter.
Marcos made clever use of the massive US military bases near
Manila to win continuing support for his authoritarian (and increasingly
bloody) rule from three successive American administrations, even
effectively neutralizing president Jimmy Carter's human rights policy.
After a decade of dictatorship, however, the economy began to
collapse from a too-heavy dose of “crony capitalism” and the political
opposition started to challenge Marcos' self-image as destiny's chosen
one.
To either sate or subdue an increasingly restive population, he soon
resorted to escalating raw violence. His security squads conducted what
were referred to as “salvagings,” more than 2,500 of them (or 77% of the
3,257 extrajudicial killings during his 14-year dictatorship).
Bodies scarred by torture were regularly abandoned in public plazas
or at busy intersections, so passers-by could read the transcript of terror
in their stigmata.
In the capital, Manila, with only 4,000 police for six million residents,
the Marcos regime also deputized hundreds of “secret marshals”
responsible for more than 30 shoot-on-sight fatalities during May 1985,
the program's first month, alone.
Yet the impact of Marcos' version of populist violence proved mutable
– effective at the start of martial law when people yearned for order and
counterproductive at its close when Filipinos again longed for freedom.
That shift in sentiment soon led to his downfall in the first of the
dramatic “people power” revolutions that would challenge autocratic
regimes from Beijing to Berlin.
Essential Learning
Political science is a discipline within the social sciences that
specializes in the understanding of the allocation of scarce values
within a territory. Power, a highly coveted political value, is the
capacity to enforce policies on a majority even if the enforcing unit
is a minority. Being an interdisciplinary discipline, political science
is able to explore various inquiries that relate to interstate relations,
local governance, political culture, and even public policy. It is in
this broadness that political science finds its significance in
contemporary society as it presents alternative ways of
understanding sociopolitical phenomena and promotes research-
based solutions to politically oriented problems.
Module
Enculturation and Socialization
6

1. Explain the development of myself and others as a product of
socialization and enculturation.
2. Identify the context, content, processes, and consequences of
enculturation and socialization.
3. Identify the social goals and the socially acceptable means of
achieving these goals.
How is culture ingrained in children? Is it through biological inheritance

(nature) or through cultural inheritance (nurture)? The issue on nature and
nurture has been a longstanding debate in the fields of social sciences such
as sociology and anthropology. Two primary opposing perspectives are held
by social learning theorists and sociobiologists.
Proponents of the social learning theory argue that the set of behaviors of
an individual is acquired through enculturation and socialization processes.
The variation in human behavior is attributed to the differences in cultural
templates of every society that the individual learns from. Proponents of
sociobiology counter this perspective by advocating that humans acquire
their behavior genetically. More specifically, beneficial biological traits are
naturally selected and passed on to the next generation. As such, behavioral
traits that are linked to biological traits necessary for survival in a specific
environment are naturally selected within a generation and get passed on to
the next.
Today, the social learning perspective is more accepted by sociologists
and anthropologists in explaining the development of behavior and attitude
among humans. Sociologists use the term socialization to refer to the
process by which an individual is oriented and taught by his or her society's
norms. These norms include beliefs, attitudes, practices, and behaviors.
Similarly, this process is studied in anthropology through the concept of
enculturation.
Fig.6.1. Victor of Aveyron
Source: http://images.flatworldknowledge.com/barkbrief_1.1/barkbrief_1.1-
fig03_002.jpg
In instances when a person does not get socialized or enculturated, it is

possible that his or her behavior would resemble that of other animals. This
was observed among feral children (wild children) of France. They were
labeled as such due to their display of animalistic behavior upon their
discovery. One of the most famous cases is that of Victor, who was popularly
known as the “boy of Aveyron.” Victor lived in the forest alone from his fourth
to twelfth year. He was found in 1797 by locals and was taken in by Jean
Marc Gaspard Itard, a physician who gave him his name. For years, Itard and
other scientists attempted to teach Victor spoken language to no avail.
Recent studies on the documents on Victor revealed that he may have been
left in the forest by his parents who physically abused him when he was six or
seven. A probable reason for the abandonment is Victor's mental condition,
because he displayed signs of autism. The case of feral children was also
recorded in other parts of the world (Bettelheim, 1959). However, no
conclusive scientific study has still been conducted and accomplished about
the topic.
Reflect Upon
Discuss with your barkada or your close friends the primary
characteristic that you share as a group by answering the following
questions:
1. How would you describe the relationships in your group (e.g., equal,
with hierarchy)?
What characteristic(s) do you share with each other in the group (e.g.,
2.
creative, passive)?
3. How do outsiders describe your group?
4. Who typically starts a trend in your group?
5. How has your membership in this group altered your behavior?
Identity Formation
You have learned that through enculturation and socialization, an
individual learns the norms of his or her society. The compilation of the
values, attitudes, and beliefs that individuals receive from their family, peers,
and community enables them to create a personal identity that
simultaneously separates them from the other members of the group and
incorporates them in its system. Such differentiation from the general social
template is called individuation. This can be related to the concept of
personal identity.
Social identity is a person's notion of who he or she is in society. This
includes the roles and statuses that he or she performs in accord to what the
society expects of him or her. There are two primary types of identity that an
individual takes on: primary and secondary. Primary identity consists of the
roles and statutes that an individual learns as a child. This includes the core
social identities that are often ascribed to an individual such as sex, age, and
ethnicity. As a child gets enculturated and socialized with his or her society's
norm, he or she participates in the construction of his or her secondary
identity. This includes roles and statuses that are achieved such as
occupation, educational background, economic status, and gender.
This duality of identity produces the “me” and “I” dichotomy that humans
have.
Fig.6.2. Model of consciousness: The I and me perspective (Wilber, 1997)
Big Idea
Identities are socially constructed.
This model presents a fourfold understanding of human identity, which are

categorized as follows: the existential “I,” the doing “me,” the cultural “I,” and
the performing “me.” These categories promote a holonic concept of the self
—the self is both a whole and a part. The self in the context of the personal
pertains to the wholeness of an individual's identity. This leads back to the
uniqueness of every individual. The self in the context of it being a part of a
whole reflects on the ascribed roles that it plays within the context of society.
Reflect Upon
A person's identity is constructed through the interactions he or she
makes within a social network. Using this template, categorize these types
of social media posts, whether they should be made public or private:
birthday celebrations, school achievements, relationship issues, party-
related activities, and ill feelings toward others, to name a few.
Understanding that life is not a clear-cut distinction between the private and
the public, write in the adjoined space the types of posts that you can put in
both public and private.
In the previous activity, notice how you categorized the elements. What
factors did you consider in categorizing the elements? Your cultural
background plays an important role in enabling you to identify which part of
your identity is for display to your peers and which is for display to your
parents. This is the reason that you play different roles for different groups of
people.
1. What are the factors that influence the creation of one's identity?
2. Why do sociologists favor social learning theories than sociobiology?
Theories on Identity
There are two primary theories related to the understanding of identity
formation and practice. The role learning theory promotes the argument that
individuals learn a repertoire of social roles from their society. They then
reproduce this repertoire in their behavior. Roles constitute the social facts
(e.g., gender role, occupational role, family role) that inhibit, empower, and
influence an individual's actions. Conformity to these social facts is rewarded
by acceptance from members of the society, whereas nonconformity results
in ostracism. The primary argument against this theory is that it is too
socialization-deterministic, as it side steps the potential of humans to recreate
roles and not just accept them.
This weakness is addressed by the theory on symbolic interactionism,
which promotes the idea that individuals construct their notion of the self
through social interactions performed within a society. This implies that roles
and their performances are part of a creative process wherein the individual
sees the behavior of others and responds to it by creating a role that it can
play. This presents humans as social actors performing within a cultural or
social field.
This link will lead you to a video comparing identity theory and social
identity theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUs_Y3z-I7c.
After watching the video, create your own 10-minute video answering
this question: Who am I? In making this video, ensure that you are
presenting your answers based on the two theories. This activity can be
done in groups.
Norms and Values

The concept of cultural values refers to all those ideas held in society that
are considered good, acceptable, and right. Cultural values inform the types
of aspirations that members of society aspire for, and these are labeled as
social goals. A society that is rooted in individualism would have one of its
social goals to have its dependent population emancipated from parental
support at an earlier age. While a society that is rooted in extensive kinship
system would have the pooling of family members within one territory as a
social goal. Such goals are achieved through socially approved norms that
constitute beliefs, behaviors, and material possessions.
Using conflict theory, it can be said that these values and goals are
sometimes the source of conflict within a society, as individuals have varying
access and experiences relating to it. For example, the values which center
on wealth acquisition and its accompanying prestige and power are not held
true by all individuals in a society, as these values are scarce and
unattainable for some individuals.
Another perspective on values and goals is from the functionalism theory,
which argues that values exist to create unity and harmony within the
structure and fulfill the needs of the individuals. This uses the organismic
view of society wherein its parts (organs) are interrelated and critical for its
existence (organism). Values are created and upheld because they maintain
the structure that promotes social order. For example, the values that
Filipinos attach to family promote tightly knit communities that serve as
support groups for individuals.
Because a society has a plethora of values and goals, conflicts in the
practice of these are possible. The value that Filipinos put on family
sometimes poses a great threat in the practice of democratic governance in
the country due to the kumpadrino system that leads to nepotism and political
dynasties (McCoy, 2009). In this case, the ideal culture of a democratic
society is countered by the real culture of family-run political institutions. An
ideal culture is what a society believes that it follows, whereas the real culture
is what the society actually follows.
Reinforcing the continuity of values and goals in society are the norms
that are established. These consist of the rules and regulations on behavior.
Although societies may have similar values and goals, the norms that are
created in reference to these values may vary. For example, the values
placed on family are displayed differently across cultures. The act of placing
an aging family member in a nursing home may be a norm in Western
societies, but it is almost unacceptable, or even unthinkable, in most Asian
societies.
There are four categories of norms: folkways, mores, taboos, and laws.
Folkways are the socially approved behaviors that have no moral
underpinning. This includes a variety of actions that constitute acceptable or
expected behavior drawn from customs and conventions. For example, some
societies (e.g., Americans) consider it rude for a visitor to make slurping
sounds when consuming soup, whereas others (e.g., Chinese) encourage it.
Mores are the norms related to moral conventions. These include behaviors
that are considered acceptable in relation to religious practices. The use of
artificial contraceptives, such as condoms and birth control pills, is frowned
upon in highly religious societies, whereas it is accepted, and even
encouraged, in others that do not strictly follow the conventional dictates of
religious doctrine. Some cultural prohibitions are strictly implemented than
the others, which make them taboo. Taboos are behaviors that are absolutely
forbidden in a specific culture. Performances of taboos are met with stricter
punishments. Examples of taboos are cannibalism and incest. It must be
noted that taboos are not universal. Some societies do allow behaviors that
are considered repugnant in others. Reinforcing the non-practice of tabooed
behaviors are the laws that are enacted by the state. Laws consist of the
rules and regulations that are implemented by the state, making them the
prime source of social control. Violations of laws are met with punishments,
fines, ostracism, and imprisonment.
1. What is the kumpadrino system?

2. How does functionalism explain values and norms?
3. How does symbolic interactionism explain identity?
4. How does conflict theory explain values and norms?
5. What are the parallelisms between enculturation and socialization?
Status and Role

Our forms of social interaction are always within the context of our status
and that of the people we are interacting with. This is to say that we speak
and behave differently toward different sets of people. You have a set of
vocabularies and nonverbal cues that you use for your parents, which you
may not use with your peers. A status is an individual's position in his or her
society, which carries with it a set of defined rights and obligations. Your
status as a student comes with obligations and rights, which are defined as
your roles.
Roles are the sets of expectation from people who occupy a particular
status. From the vocabulary that they would use to their performance of their
statuses, these are all within the framework of roles. The behavior of an
individual within a social space in accordance to his or her status is called
role performance. Sometimes, a status has multiple roles attached to it. This
multiplicity of roles within a given status is called a role set. Hence, your
teacher's role is not just to educate you. He or she also has the role of being
your guardian while you are away from your parents.
As humans are capable of occupying various statuses simultaneously,
conflicts may arise in the variety of roles that they have to perform. A single
mother who is working full-time has two equally important roles. She has the
role of being a single parent who must provide for her child. However, given
her other status which requires her to perform the role of a wage-earner, a
conflict on which role she needs to prioritize sometimes arises. Role conflict
stems from the divergent expectations of the statuses that an individual
simultaneously occupies. Such conflicts may create role strain on the
individual. This implies that the individual is having difficulty in performing the
role required of him or her. In the case of the single mother with a full-time
job, role strain might cause her to choose which role she will have to continue
performing and which role she needs to discontinue. This process of
discontinuing with a role is labeled as role exit. Individuals would often have a
role exit to either address a role strain or to indulge in a new role set.
Track: Academic
You are a human resource consultant for a start-up talent company.
You have been tasked to create an organizational chart with job
descriptions. The organizational chart should start from the chief
executive officer down to the talent scouts. For each role, write the job
description in no more than five sentences. Make sure that the new
company will not encounter overlapping roles and tasks. Your teacher will
serve as the operations manager of the new company. He or she will
evaluate your output based on comprehensiveness of your structure,
clarity of role delineation, and relevance of created positions.
Conformity and Deviance

Do you act differently from what others expect of you? How do they
respond to your statements and actions? These are questions that must be
considered when discussing the concept of deviance and conformity.
Conformity is the act of following the roles and goals of one's society. This
behavior is often met with rewards and acceptance from other members of
the society.
Deviance is the act of violating the prescribed social norms. Acts of
deviance are often associated with a stigma. A stigma is a strong sense of
disapproval on nonconforming behavior from members of a society. When
deviance is within the context of legal structures, it may even be considered a
crime or a violation of a law.
Because deviance is always juxtaposed with a norm, which changes
based on environmental factors, it is also constantly changing. As it is socially
constructed, the actions that are considered deviant vary per society and per
social status.
There are several theories that explain the existence of deviants
(humans/groups) and deviance (acts). These are as follows:
• Social control theory – Deviance is primarily caused by a lack in
stronger social bonds within a society. As an individual feels less
attached to his or her society, there is a higher chance for him or her to
deviate from social norms.
• Rational choice theory – The individual's decision to follow or to go
against social norms is dependent on their perceived cost and benefit
of such action. This implies that humans weigh the impact of following
a norm. If following a norm would cost them more than what they could
spare, such a norm is set aside and they would choose to perform a
deviant act.
• Differential association theory – Conformity or deviance is learned by

an individual from those he or she associates with. Hence, if an
individual has stronger associations with a group of deviants, then it is
most likely that he or she would conform to deviant behavior than that
of what the general public considers as a norm. Interestingly, what is
deviant for the general public may be considered as a norm among a
group of deviants.
• Labeling theory – Actions are initially not considered deviant until they
are labeled as such by members of the community. Based on this
theory, there are two stages of deviance: primary and secondary.
Primary deviance is a type of act that does not end with the individual
being labeled as such. This is due to the age and intensity of the
deviance committed. Secondary deviance is the type of act that results
from being labeled by society as a deviant. This presents the theory's
key argument that humans who are labeled as deviants would often
commit deviant acts due to societal pressure brought about by stigma.
Hence, a person who is labeled a thief may resort to being one as a
response to economic ostracism caused by social stigma.
• Conflict theory – Society consists of opposing groups of people whose

access to power is unequal. The group that has access to power
determines which actions are deviant based on their perceived
advantage. Usually, the set of behaviors of the elite is created and
reproduced as the norm, and those of the powerless are considered
deviant.
• Structural-functionalist theory – This theory proposes two perspectives

in the formation of deviant behavior. On the macro level, deviance is a
product of the breakdown of social norms which produces anomie or
social disorganization. On the microlevel, deviance is a product of the
role strain that an individual experiences due to lack of resources to
cope with the demands of the social norms.
Based on this perspective, Merton (1957) created a model illustrating the
types of responses that individuals have toward social norms with regard to
two variables: cultural goals and institutional means. Cultural goals consist of
the values that are important for the society. Institutional means are the
processes that have been established through social structures such as the
government, school, church, and even family.
Fig. 6.3. Merton's deviance typology (Merton, 1957)
In Merton's typology, individuals who accept their society's cultural goals

and that of the process to accomplish it are labeled as conformists, whereas
those who accept the goal but not the process are called innovators. Such
individuals are bent toward achieving the same social goals using an
alternative approach. Individuals who reject the goal but accept the process
are prone to ritualism, as they perform the social norms without subscribing
to the social goals that such lead to. Those who reject both the goals and the
approach are in the process of retreatism, which would redefine the goals
and processes in a society in the form of rebellion.
Nevertheless, this theory argues that deviance is important in maintaining
the social structure of a society; it bonds members of the society in their
common rejection of a deviant behavior. It also provides members of society
with guidelines on appropriate behavior with the display of unacceptable and
stigmatized actions.
Big Idea
Deviance is a social construct that labels and marginalizes persons
who do not conform to social norms.
Read the article on this link which discusses the power of Instagram
and other social media platforms in influencing our perception of
ourselves:
http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/x-pro-ii-valencia-instagram-
choose-neither/614571/
1. How do social media influence our notion of ourself?
2. How do social media influence our notion of the world?
3. What kind of culture does Instagram create in the virtual world?
4. Using one of the theories regarding conformity and deviance,
discuss how you are performing in the social media world.
Social Control
To maintain social order and stability, social control is needed. The two
elements that promote social control are internalization and sanctions.
Internalization is an integral part of communicating and incorporating social
norms to an individual's personality. It is in this process that an individual is
made to automatically conform to the dictates of his or her society through a
cost-benefit orientation. One key element in ensuring that individuals are able
to internalize social norms is the establishment of sanctions.
What happens if you decide not to do your homework? Possible
outcomes include the following:
1. Getting a zero score or rating for the activity from your teacher
2. Getting a stern warning on how to be a better child from your parent
3. Being labeled as lazy by your classmates
Considering all these possible repercussions of not completing your

homework, would you opt to complete it or still sidestep it?
Sanctions are powerful in leading an individual to conform to social
norms. Despite an individual's disinclination to conform, when the sanction is
strong, there is a high possibility that he or she will decide to follow the norm.
Sanctions can be categorized into four types.
• Formal sanctions – These are the rewards or forms of punishment that
are formally awarded by an institution such as a government, a
council, or an establishment.
• Informal sanctions – These are the rewards and forms of punishment

that are spontaneously given by an individual or a group of people as
a response to a behavior that was either accepted or disapproved.
• Positive sanctions – These are actions or statements that reward a

particular behavior, which reinforce its repetition.
These are actions or statements that punish or threaten to punish an

unacceptable behavior, which enforce conformity to the deviant.
These general categories can be combined to form specific typologies of
sanctions. See Table 6.1.
Table 6.1. Definition and examples of the types of sanctions

Formal Positive Formal Negative Informal Positive Informal
Negative
Formal Positive Formal Negative Informal Positive Informal
Negative
Definition A reward given A punishment A reward given by an A punishment
by an institution given by an individual/group that given by an
to encourage institution to encourages individual/group
conformity enforce conformity to coerce
conformity conformity
Examples 1. Recognition 1. Imprisonment 1. Standing ovation 1. Gossip

of honors in for a crime from the about a bad
a learning committed viewers/attendees behavior
facility
2. Payment of 2. An affirmative nod 2. Ridicule
2. Medal of fines for from a superior from peers
honor for offenses
outstanding committed 3. Cheers from 3. Being
conduct in teammates for grounded
government 3. Being fired scoring a shot by a parent
service from the
workplace for
3. Promotion in unsatisfactory
the service
workplace
for excellent
performance
One of the spaces where individuals air their ideas on social issues is
the internet. Go to http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/874252/bill-lowering-
minimum-age-of-criminal-liability-too-much-minority-solons to read news
on the issues associated with the proposal to lower the age limitation for
criminal liability. After the article is the comment section where readers
vent their ideas and arguments on the topic. Based on your knowledge of
the current crime rate in the country, do you agree with this bill, or do you
oppose it? Choose a comment given by one of the readers and print it.
On the lower part of the print, write your statement on this issue as
though you were replying to that comment.
1. Why is social control important in society?

2. What are the four types of sanctions?
3. According to Merton, what contexts allow for rebellion to occur?
Strain theory provides explanations for various social phenomena. This

link leads to an article applying the theory to understand a string of riots
that occurred in Baltimore, USA:
http://sociologyinfocus.com/2015/05/structural-strain-theory-and-
the-baltimore-riots/
Essential Learning
Through this module you have learned that a person's identity is
socially constructed through the processes of enculturation and
socialization. It is through these processes that an individual is oriented of
the norms in his or her society which, if followed, will allow him or her to
access the limited values and resources in it. It is also through these
processes that an individual becomes familiar with the sanctions that are
imposed on deviance to the established norms. In today's world,
socialization and enculturation do not only transpire in traditional media
such as family interactions or group memberships. The rise of social media
as a venue for the articulation of the individual's concept of self allowed for
a new source of identity reference.
Module
Social Organization
7

1. Describe the organized nature of social life and rules
governing behavior.
2. Compare different forms of social organization, according
to their manifest and latent functions.
3. Analyze social and political structures.
Barkada is a term that most Filipinos in their youth use to refer to

a group who share the same social inclinations. The fondest
memories of one's youth would often be of the experiences they
shared with their barkada. Every age group in every society creates
and subscribes to a social group.
Reflect Upon
Some native American societies create totem poles to remind
their members of the characteristics of their ancestors. These
poles have varied animals carved into the trunk of a tree. The
animals symbolize the trait of the ancestor, such that a monkey
symbolizes wisdom and a bear symbolizes strength. With your
barkada in class, draw a totem pole that represents the traits that
you and the members of your barkada share. Draw this on a sheet
of paper, and add a 250-word discussion explaining your barkada's
totem pole.
A social group consists of individuals who are united by their

similar characteristics, and these characteristics serve as the bases
of their constant interaction. However, not all individuals who share
similar characteristics interact with one another. This phenomenon is
observed in social categories. For example, your barkada may be
classified as a social group; students attending your high school are
within the context of a social category, as you do not normally
interact with them. Your relationship with your fellow high school
students will turn to a social group once you recognize your ties with
one another as belonging to one group and you interact with one
another. Social activities organized by your school can promote the
transformation of your relations from being distant members of a
social category to interactive members of a social group.
Another classification of human grouping is that of social
aggregate. In this, individuals gather in the same place but are
neither interacting nor sharing similar characteristics. People
gathered in a shopping mall may be categorized in this.
Social Networks
A social network consists of individuals who have dyadic
relationships that are interacting with other relationships within a
structure. Simply stated, a social network is a social structure
consisting of people who have varying degrees of relations and
interrelationships. A sociogram is a visual representation of the social
networks present in one group or more. This was developed by
Jacob Moreno, a psychotherapist, in 1951 to understand the
dynamics of the intersections of social groups (e.g., individuals,
peers) within the structure (e.g., a school, a church, a village).
Figure 7.1. is a sample of a sociogram. It depicts the
interrelationships, or the lack thereof, among the members of this
social structure. One can notice multiple arrangements existing here
such as (1) a clique (an exclusive group that is separate from the
entire unit), (2) a one-way choice (an individual who relates to
another individual who does not reciprocate the affiliation), and (3) an
isolate (an individual who has chosen no one and is not chosen by
anyone in the structure).
Fig. 7.1. A sociogram
How many of these relationships can you see in the diagram?
In-Groups, Out-Groups, and Reference Groups

When individuals congregate in groups, they create rules,
boundaries, and loyalties that delineate them from others. This
delineation is a crucial contributor to the formation of unity and
cohesion among the members. There are three types of human
social groupings: in-group, out-group, and reference group.
In-Group
An in-group is the social group in which an individual directly
affiliates and expresses loyalty to. Its three primary characteristics
reinforce the boundary that it creates between its members and
those coming from other groups. We shall take a look at each of the
three primary characteristics of an in-group.
1. Members use titles, external symbols, and dress to distinguish
themselves from the out-group (Shandra, 2007).
One of the most recent subcultural categories formed in our
country is that of the jejemons. This group is popular for their
distinguishable dress code and language. Males would usually
wear rainbow-colored caps, loose shirts, and pants. In terms of
language, their alteration of the spelling of words has given them
a form of exclusivity from those who are not part of the culture.
Figure 7.2 shows how some phrases such as “kumusta” and
“hello po” have been transformed to “mztaHhhh” and “eowsszz
powhh.”
Fig. 7.2. Jejemon caricature
Military groups can also be seen as having a very strong in-group

culture. The bonds that military personnel create with one another
are enhanced by their shared ideals, practices, and experiences.
From a prescribed haircut that everyone shares, to the symbols that
everyone upholds, this group is able to detach themselves from the
greater majority who are not part of their group. The rigorous training
that they had to pass and, for some, the combat experiences
together also create a strong bond between them that they do not
share with those outside the military.
Fig. 7.3. Members of the military join together in prayer during their lunch
2. Members apply positive stereotypes to their in-group and

negative stereotypes to the out-group (Shandra, 2007).
Generally, the in-group consists of the majority who defines
what is normal and acceptable. Those who do not conform to the
prescribed norms are considered part of the out-group. Just as
deviance is often punished by ostracism and discrimination,
individuals who fail to meet the standards set by the in-group are
bound to experience being socially marginalized.
The phenomenon of individuals preferring members and
behaviors practiced within an in-group as opposed to those from
the out-group is called in-group favoritism. This is crucial in
reinforcing self-esteem within the group by creating biases that
make the in-group the “superior” over the out-group.
3. Members tend to clash or compete with members of the out-
group. This competition with the other group can also strengthen
the unity within each group (Shandra, 2007).
Rivalries among schools, which are highlighted during
competitions in sports, quiz bees, and rankings, are a prime
example of how members from an in-group tend to compete with
the out-group. School spirit is often intensified through the
common desire of individuals in a group to succeed against the
opposing group.
In some cases, intergroup aggression takes place as
members of the in-group harm individuals from the out-group due
to their undesirable traits that clash with the in-group's prescribed
norms. Bullying is an example of intergroup aggression, as
members of a dominant group inflict harm on an individual who is
perceived to be an outsider. Stereotypes and prejudice are often
created by members of the in-group against those from the out-
group. This is due to the ethnocentric orientation of the members
in an in-group.
Big Idea
Group membership allows humans to acquire characteristics
that contribute to identity formation.
Bullying is a global problem that transpires in all venues. As

humans are not born bullies, we must understand how bullies are
made. This link will direct you to an article that discusses the
sociological analysis of bullying. After reading the article, write the
names that bullies use against other people on an illustration
board. (You can also use a folder for this.) Hold your board and
take a selfie.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sociological-analysis-
bullying-literature-review-adam-cubbage
Out-Group
This is the group that an individual is not part of. Negative
attributes are usually associated with individuals who are part of this
group. Individuals from an out-group are usually considered
malevolent even if they are not. Because members of the in-group
perceive themselves as diverse and complex, members of the out-
group are described as a group without any differentiation. Hence,
these individuals are prone to being stereotyped and, worse,
dehumanized, as members of the in-group refer to them solely on the
bases of their projected characteristics. For example, an individual
who is part of an in-group of heterosexuals would consider those with
different genders as part of the out-group without distinguishing what
types of gender they have. In cases of war, opposing groups tend to
dehumanize each other, often leading to countless deaths.
The concept of othering has been practiced in human

populations since we have become aware of the existence of
variation among our species. Othering has taken on various
forms in practice that extends from colonization, to racism, to
ethnic cleansing, and to genocide. This link will lead you to a
briefer on genocide: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-11108059.
1. How do you define genocide?
2. What is the history behind genocide?
3. What is the legal precedent of genocide?
Reference Group
The behavior of an individual can be shaped by the set of
behavior and beliefs of a group that such an individual considers as
ideal. This ideal group is called the reference group, which is used by
an individual as a standard to measure his or her actions. The
existence of reference groups can have two effects on an individual's
self-evaluation. When an individual receives a positive self-
evaluation, he or she experiences the normative effect that being a
member of the reference group has. On the contrary, a negative self-
evaluation often results from the comparison effect that a reference
group has on individuals who try to appraise their behavior based on
its prescribed norms. In this case, an individual may attempt to alter
his or her behavior to conform to the standards of the reference
group.
Systems for ranking the efficiency of universities have allowed for
the creation of reference groups in the academic field. The
universities that are listed as the best among their counterparts are
held as a reference point by which others attempt to restructure their
programs and objectives.
Primary and Secondary Groups

Group membership has been a key element in fostering the
development of the social nature and ideals of an individual. Each
individual is part of a primary group and a secondary group from
which he or she learns the culture of his or her society.
Primary groups are the direct sources of an individual's social
skills and knowledge. The bonds that an individual forms with
members of these groups extend over long periods of time. An
individual's primary groups usually consist of family, friends, peers,
classmates, and church. Due to the connection between the
individual and the members of this group, primary relationships are
formed from these social sets. As familiarity is present in these
relations, forms of interaction and communication are often informal
and holistic. This implies that your relationship with your parents is
not rigid and cuts across all areas of your life. Hence, a breakfast
conversation about your grades in school may turn to a discussion of
your expected roles in your home.
Small and traditional societies often promote primary
relationships, as everyone in the village tends to be interrelated by
kinship, economic engagement, and religious orientation.
Secondary groups are more formal in context as the relationships
and interactions in them are limited to a particular role that an
individual plays within the group. This may consist of relationships
that are temporary and practical such as that of a client and an
agent, a researcher and an informant, and a tenant and a landlord. In
these types of relationships, face-to-face interaction is limited and
communication is often formal. As such, discussions relating to the
personal are often discouraged in this setting. Such detached forms
of relationships are usually observed in highly industrialized societies
where individualism is given primacy over community engagements.
1. What are the characteristics of a reference group?

2. How does the concept of the out group contribute to
stereotyping?
3. What are the characteristics of a secondary group?
Small Groups
The type and extent of human interaction depends on the size of
the group that they belong to. A large group tends to promote
detachment through indirect interaction. Isolated members often
cope by creating small groups that foster direct interaction among its
members. This type of interaction often forms exclusivity, as
experiences and ideas are strictly shared within the context of the
small group. Primary relationships are created in a small group,
whereas secondary relationships are experienced in a large group.
A family is an example of a small group, and a village (barangay)
is an example of a large group. The most cohesive and directly
interacting small group is called the dyad, which consists of two
individuals. Such a relationship has potential for the formation of
strong bonds due to the constant interaction that the individuals
have. However, it is also prone to ruin, as conflict between the two
individuals can result in the dissolution of the relationship.
A small group of three individuals is called a triad. This type of
small group has lesser cohesion than a dyad because of the lesser
personal connection that each individual has with the other members
in the group.
The cohesion of a group is directly related to the number of
individuals subscribing to it. As such, members of a small group have
more attachment with one another than other people in a larger
group who may feel disconnected with the group to the extent of non
involvement even in critical situations. For example, problems are
communally addressed in a family due to the close-knit relationship
that everyone has with one another. On the contrary, problems
experienced in a village may be dealt with by selected members of
the society, as others may perceive the problem as irrelevant to
them. Social loafing, a phenomenon of free riding, can also be
experienced in larger groups, as some individuals tend to depend on
others' initiative to perform tasks that are originally expected of them.
Leadership and Conformity

Do you follow the behavior of your group, or do you opt to go
against it? How do you respond to the demand for conformity from
members of your group?
Group behavior is another topic studied in the context of social
groups. Individuals in groups are affected by the prescribed norms of
the group that they subscribe to. Conformity is the behavior of an
individual that relates to following the prescribed norms of his or her
group due to pressure or influence that members of the group have
on him or her. Stricter compliance to norms can be observed in
smaller groups due to the stronger pressure to conform, which is felt
by the individual. Due to the general secondary relationships that are
formed within them, larger groups are prone to have less strict
compliance to social norms, resulting in a variance of behavioral sets
practiced by its members. This nonconformity in larger groups is
further enhanced by the anonymity of the members, which allows
them to view one another as strangers who are easy to disregard.
Smaller groups tend to practice group-think, which is a united
acceptance and practice of idea that is believed as a form of group
loyalty. This form of mentality is sometimes based on the majority's
perspective and decision that may not always be logical and correct.
Individuals who do not subscribe to group-think are considered
deviant and are pressured to conform, lest they be punished or
ostracized. As such, when group-think is strictly observed, the voice
of the minority is silenced. Sometimes, this form of solidarity
becomes dangerous due to the lack of perspective that it promotes.
Every group tends to have leaders who exercise authority over its
members. There are two types of leaders in a small group:
expressive and instrumental. The difference between the two lies in
the motivation for leadership. An expressive leader is motivated by
the relationships that he or she has with the members of the group.
This leader employs a cooperative style of management, wherein the
opinions of the members are accounted for as the main goal of group
is to maintain its cohesion.
Instrumental leaders implement a directive style of management,
wherein members of the group are directed to perform tasks that lead
to the achievement of the group goal. This type of leader is
achievement motivated, which makes the purpose of the group and
the individuals defined by the goals they have set. Unlike under the
leadership of an expressive leader, unity is often a threatened
concept under the leadership of an instrumental leader. This threat is
due to the conflicts that are usually formed in the pursuit of achieving
a goal. An instrumental leader may experience resentment from
members of his or her group, which may not be experienced by an
expressive leader.
1. How does social loafing occur in large groups?

2. Why does conflict arise more under an instrumental leader?
3. Differentiate the practice of conformity in smaller groups as
compared to larger groups.
Social Organizations
Organizations are created by individuals to foster a more direct
relationship in secondary group setting. When a secondary group is
directed by its goals, it is referred to as a formal organization. This
would include groups such as political parties and academic and
professional organizations. These types of organizations are driven
by their goals that define their programs and activities. Within these
formal organizations are informal organizations that are
characterized by the informal relations between members. Hence, a
professional organization such as a medical practitioners association
can be considered a formal organization because the ties that the
members have in general are defined by the objectives of the
organization, whereas a subgroup created through camaraderie
among colleagues can be called an informal organization. In most
cases, informal organizations cater to the personal needs of
individuals as opposed to the structure-oriented formal organizations.
Every organization is defined by its objectives that may be for the
betterment of the society in general or to address certain group
issues. It can then be said that the existence of organizations is
attributable to the goals that are set before them. To achieve these,
organizations use rational planning. This process implies
identification of tasks, roles, implementation programs, and general
policies. This provides organizations a businesslike nature.
Organizational Models
Studying organizations require conceptual models that provide
definitions and characterizations of human groups. In sociology, two
of the most prominent models are the bureaucratic organization and
the collectivist organization.
Bureaucratic Organization Model

This model is lifted from Max Weber's concept of modern Western
society. He claimed that due to the plurality of cultures and the
development of technology, modern Western societies are required
to create formal organizations that are bureaucratic in nature. These
types of organizations operate within the frame of written rules and
regulations that allow for a more efficient implementation of
organizational objectives. Due to the rigid predisposition in achieving
its goals, authority figures are set in hierarchy. These individuals are
known as bureaucrats. Power is strictly relegated to bureaucrats and
not on individuals. Hence, although an individual holds power in a
bureaucratic office, that power is vested on him or her with regard to
the office that he or she holds. Upon the dissolution of that
bureaucratic office, power shall be removed from the individual.
Tasks specialization is also implemented in this type of
organization, allowing individuals to operate within their capacity.
These characteristics create an impersonal relationship among the
members of the organization. Nevertheless, informal relationships
are often formed within the bureaucracy as an adaptive response of
alienated individuals.
The problem with this organizational model is that it is too
deterministic in its understanding of organizations. It failed to account
for human agency, environmental shifts, and other factors that a
rigidly structured organization may not be able to address.
Collectivist Organization Model

This organizational model responded to the issues that
confronted the bureaucratic model. Based on Karl Marx's theory on
the evolution of society, this model predicts the demise of
bureaucratic organizations within a shift from a class-based to a
classless society. In this new order, the hierarchy created in a
bureaucratic society is erased to the extent that the supervisors and
workers are collectively and harmoniously functioning toward the
achievement of the organization's goals. Equality is a common theme
in this model.
The critique to this perspective is in its utopic orientation about
the hierarchy of individuals. Humans are bound to create social,
economic, and political hierarchies when in a group as one individual
succeeds over the other, given the variation in their skills and the
requirements of the environment.
1. How is power distributed in a bureaucratic organization model

as compared to a collectivist?
2. How does rational planning help organizations?
3. What are the differences between formal and informal
organizations?

Children who have unstable homes often end up joining
informal groups such as street gangs. It is here that they form
alliances and get acquainted with the survival strategies of living
without adult supervision. It is also here that their vulnerability to
drugs and diseases take place. This link will introduce you to Mary,
a young girl who was introduced to the world of solvent use (known
as rugby in the streets of Manila). Read how a formal organization
such as the UNICEF reorients her away from the life values that
she acquired as a member of her informal group.
https://www.unicef.org/philippines/reallives_11786.html
Essential Learning
As social creatures, humans have the innate predisposition to
join organizations where they collaborate with their peers and learn
values and skills that allow them to survive societal demands.
These organizations may be formal or informal, may be small
group or large, and espouse primary or secondary relationships. It
is also through memberships in these groups that individuals learn
to distance themselves from those that they are informed to be
“others.” Othering is more intensive in some groups than in others.
Intensive othering leads to violent orientations such as racism,
ethnocentrism, and even genocide.
Culminating Output
You are a project manager for an event that aims to provide
awareness on the lives of the Filipino youths. Your project for this
unit is to create a poster exhibit on the issues of the Filipino youth
using the lenses of sociology, anthropology, and political science.
To do this task, you would need nine members whose tasks
should be divided into the following: research, poster layout, and
content writing. In the end, you should be able to present three
posters that tackle three issues that are experienced by the
Filipino youth. You should ensure to use the key concepts present
in all three disciplines, such as the following: power and politics
(political science), culture and human variation (anthropology),
and society and social groups (sociology). You may use additional
concepts or terms used in the three disciplines.
You will print your outputs in poster size paper and display
them in your class for viewing of your classmates and teacher.
Your teacher will rate your output based on this rubric.
Rubric
Criterion Developing Proficient Exemplary Score
(10) (15) (20)
Research Issues have Issues are Sufficient

poor relevant but data are
connection. backed by evident.
less data. Topic is very
relevant.
Criterion Developing Proficient Exemplary Score
(10) (15) (20)
Poster Print is of Layout has Print quality

layout poor quality. some is excellent.
The visual irrelevant Layout is
elements variables. clear.
appear
disconnected.
Content Fewer than All three More than

writing three concepts three
concepts are are included concepts
included in in the are included
the output. output. in the output
Quarter Challenge
A. Pair the concepts in the box, and provide a three-sentence
discussion of the interrelation of these concepts.
Human variation
Human evolution
Social groups
Government
Ethnocentrism
Cultural development
Human agency
State
B. In at least seven sentences, provide an argument for or against

each statement.
1. Humans acquire their identities through biological means.
2. Human populations are not equal.
3. Conformity to social norms is essential for social order.
C. Visual method is a rising technique in social research such that

a researcher analyzes a social phenomenon through
photographs and videos. Using this method, analyze a social
issue using five photographs with an accompanying 250-word
discussion for each photo. Your discussion for each photo
should cover the representations that you noticed in the photo
that provides an insight on the social issue.
Unit
Humans and Institutions
II
What are the elements of human behavior and culture in groups?

This unit presents to you eight modules that address the various
institutions in which humans create and recreate their identities.
From the smallest human institution—the family—to the largest
and most complex economic organizations, this unit will lead you to
understand how humans interact with one another within social
organizations.
Module 8 centers on the discussion of the family and its structure.
Here, you will be able to discuss the family's crucial role in the social
development of humans, being the primary institution that a person
gets in contact with. Modules 9 and 10 present the wider and more
structured interactions among humans and how their actions are
governed and categorized according to the existing norms of the
group that they belong to. These two modules will teach you how to
distinguish different forms of political and economic organizations
within and across societies. Module 11 discusses non-state
institutions and their forms of interaction with government institutions.
This presents a more transnational context to human interaction.
Module 12 presents the concept of stratification that is commonly
experienced in highly structured societies. Modules 13 and 14 relate
the impact of educational systems and religion to the human social
experience. Module 15 focuses on the concepts of health and
illnesses across cultures. All these modules will be discussed in the
context of social change, which is the final module of the unit.
The flow of discussion in this unit aims to lead you to an
understanding of the human condition as predicated by social
institutions. As you learn of the various sources of your enculturation,
you will have to continuously remember this question: To what extent
have I been influenced by these institutions?
■ Demonstrate understanding of the following:

• Cultural, social, and political institutions as sets of
norms and patterns of behavior that relate to major
social interests
• Social stratification as the ranking of individuals
according to wealth, power, and prestige
• Social and political inequalities as features of societies
and the global community
• Agents/institutions, processes, and outcomes of
cultural, political, and social change
■ Analyze aspects of a social organization
■ Identify one's role in social groups and institutions
■ Recognize other forms of economic transaction such as
sharing, gift exchange, and redistribution in his or her own
society
■ Evaluate factors causing social, political, and cultural
change
■ Advocate how human societies should adapt to such
changes
Module
Kinship
8

1. Trace kinship ties and social networks.
2. Compare different types of kinship based on lineage.
(Enrichment)
3. Discuss the functions of family and marriage. (Enrichment)
4. Identify the different types of families based on the number
of spouses and residential patterns. (Enrichment)
Kinship refers to the “web of social relationships” that humans

form as part of a family, which is the smallest unit of society. Ferraro
and Andreatta (2010) defined family as “a social and economic unit
that consists of one or more parents and their children.” There are
several points that you can learn from this definition.
1. A family is a socioeconomic unit. What makes a group of
individuals a family is their dependency on one another with
regard to their social and economic activities. This implies that the
family acts as the primary support group for its members as they
participate in the social processes within a society. For this
reason, an individual is often disposed to consult with family
members during social and economic crises.
2. A family can have one or more parents. In the society that you
grow up in, a family usually consists of two parents—a father and
a mother. However, this is not the norm for other societies who
would have one parent, a mother or a father, or multiple parents
due to multiple marriages.
3. A family can have parents who are not married. Although the
marriage of parents is important in religious countries such as the
Philippines, it is not a prerequisite in other societies. Hence, as
long as individuals are socially and economically interdependent,
they can be considered a family. This puts into perspective the
concept of common law marriage, which is an informal union of at
least two individuals who present themselves as a couple. In
popular context, this is also referred to as cohabitating couples or
domestic partners.
4. A family can have parents with same gender. Although same sex
marriage is illegal in most countries, including the Philippines,
some societies allow for the marriage of individuals with the same
sex. The United States now allows same sex marriages, which
create families with either both female or both male parents.
5. A family should have at least one child. One of the most crucial
elements of a family is the existence of children. Without a child, a
couple remains to be a couple and not a family.
Fig. 8.1. Symbols in kinship diagrams
Big Idea
The family is the primary socioeconomic unit wherein an
individual learns his or her social roles.
As you continue with this module, familiarize yourself with the
following symbols and their meanings. These symbols are used in
plotting kinship diagrams.
The two primary purposes of a family are (1) to orient the
individual of the norms of the society and (2) to provide physical
support as the individual matures. This is seen in the two types of
nuclear families.
Fig. 8.2. Families of procreation and orientation
In Figure 8.2, the individual labeled as Ego is involved in two

types of families. Ego's family of orientation consists of her father,
mother, and brother. It is in this family that Ego first learned her
society's norms and her roles in it. This family is also her primary
support group while growing up. The nurturing processes for Ego
occurred in the family of orientation.
Ego's family of procreation consists of her husband, son, and
daughter. It is in this family that Ego creates her own concept of a
family upon negotiation with her husband. It is in this family that Ego
perpetuates the values and beliefs that she has acquired in her
family of orientation.
You must remember that an individual can be a part of more than
one family group. As you can see in Figure 8.2, Ego is part of two
types of families.
1. What is a family?
2. What is the function of the family of procreation?
3. What is the function of the family of orientation?
Kinship by Blood
One factor that allows an individual to identify another individual
as a family member is through consanguinity, popularly called as
blood relatives. This type of kinship links individuals based on their
genetic relations (i.e., their bloodline). This is referred to as descent
or the socially accepted connection between an ancestor and its
succeeding generation.
Kinship connections are perceived to be of great importance in
some societies. Due to this, descent rules are created and followed.
In anthropology, there are four main descent rules that are
recognized.
Unilineal Descent
This allows an individual to be affiliated to the descent of one sex
group only—either the male or the female. There are two types of
unilineal descents: matrilineal and patrilineal. Matrilineal descent
leads an individual to trace kinship relations through the female's
line. This implies that the surname and inheritances of a family are
passed on from one female to the other.
Fig. 8.3. Matrilineal descent group
As you can notice in Figure 8.3, all of the offspring of the females
were able to acquire the darker color, which represents the descent.
All the offspring of the males received a lighter color, which
symbolizes their separation from the descent. In Asia, the
Minangkabau ethnic group of West Sumatra, Indonesia, practices
matrilineage. In this society, land and property ownership is passed
on from mother to daughter, leaving the men to deal with political and
religious affairs. Matrilineal descent is also referred to as uterine
descent.
Fig. 8.4. Young Minangkabau women attending a high-status wedding
Source: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/∼blackwoo/photos.htm (accessed 29
October 2015)
In patrilineal descent, an individual traces his or her kinship

through the male's line only. This promotes a passing down of name
and inheritance to the male offspring only, while allowing the female
offspring to be part of another family through marriage. This is also
referred to as agnatic descent. A lot of societies in Asia are
patrilineal. The most popular are the Chinese who are highly
patrilineal, enforcing a strict kinship relations traced through the
male's line.
Fig. 8.5. Traditional Chinese family

Source: http://weber.ucsd.edu/∼dkjordan/chin/chpict/Dingle132-small.jpg
Fig. 8.6. Patrilineal descent
Figure 8.6 shows that the darker color is passed down to all
offspring by the males. Hence, although a female gets to receive the
darker color, she is not able to pass it onto her children. In traditional
Chinese kinship books, the only females recorded are the mothers.
Female children are excluded from the list, as they are believed to be
married off and made part of another family.
The patriarchal orientation of families in China and parts of

India has produced a population ratio crisis that led to the lack of
potential wives for men. This link leads you to a video clip
produced by The Economist titled “Why China and India face
marriage crisis?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=SWwhEaFmSno
After watching the clip, write a 500-word reaction paper
relating this phenomenon to the issue of Filipina mail-ordered
brides. To have a better understanding of this other phenomenon,
go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivfobsWPomY.
An expansion of unilineal descent groups creates a kinship group

called the clan. This type of kinship is observed among groups of
people who believe that they have unilineal relations based on a
common ancestor. The primary difference between a clan and the
earlier unilineal descent groups is that individuals from the former
cannot specify their actual relations. This commonly renders the
ancestor as a mythical figure. Among Native Americans, ancestors
are often ascribed animal characteristics. These clan originators are
labeled in anthropology as totems. Hence, clan members use animal
symbols to represent their group. In North America, totem poles are
erected by Native American clans as a form of remembrance of their
family's past.
Fig. 8.7. Totem Pole in Canada
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/the-o/2078239333/
Further expansion of clans into larger descent groups creates

phratries. Similar to clans, the identity of the kinship originator is
usually unknown, rendering him or her as a mythical being. This type
of descent was observed in the highlands of New Guinea, where
kinship is traced through the male line. Hence, the clans consider
each other as brothers or fathers and sons. According to Carman
(2013), the Lenape Native Americans, who are also known as the
Delaware Indians, have three phratries that each consist of 12 clans.
The names of the clans and the phratries are also based on animals
and plants. For example, the phratry of Turkey (pul-la'-ook) has the
following clans: Big Bird, Mor-har-ä-lä; Bird's Cry, Le-le-wa'-you; Eye
Pain, Moo-kwung-wa-ho'ki; Scratch the Path, Moo-har-mo-wi-kar'-nu;
Opossum Ground, O-ping-ho'-ki; Old Shin, Muh-ho-we-kä'-ken; Drift
Log, Tong-o-nä-o-to; Living in Water, Nool-a-mar-lar'-mo; Root
Digger, Muh-krent-har'-ne; Red Face, Mur-karm-huk-se; Pine
Region, Koo-wä-ho'ke; Ground Scratcher, Oo-ckuk'-ham. The totems
of the clans are evident in the seal of the Lenape phratries.
Fig. 8.8. Seal of the Lenape

Source: http://images.sodahead.com/profiles/0/0/1/6/2/4/1/4/9/indians-
127152821051.png
The final type of unilineal descent group is called moiety.

Although similar with phratries in having multiple clans within it, a
moiety differs from a phratry in its function of creating a sustainable
systemic balance within a society. A society can be divided into two
distinct moieties that perform reciprocal responsibilities with one
another. This characteristic ensures equality of access to economic
and political values. The Kariera of the Australian aborigines
practices a kinship system that allows for the intermarriage between
moieties, ensuring a stronger bond between the two groups.
Bilateral Descent
Unlike the unilineal descent that tends to focus on one line of a
kinship, bilateral descent allows an individual to trace kinship ties on
both sides of the family. This means that an individual can recognize
both his or her parents' relatives as his or her own relatives. In this
type of kinship, everyone knows how he or she is connected to
everyone. This provides a limit on the extent by which kinship ties
can be recognized. Hence, unlike in a unilineal descent that can
trace relations to several generations from the point person (Ego),
bilateral descent can only trace Ego's immediate family.
In some cases, ties with the nuclear family can be extended to
family members of the spouses. This kinship grouping is called
kindred. As this type of group is often united by a common relative, it
risks of dissolution when connections to the common relative is lost.
For example, if a spouse dies, the connection between the living
spouse and the deceased family may be severed, which results in
the dissolution of the kindred group. Most families in the Philippines
practice bilateral descent grouping. Figure 8.9 presents the kinship
ties of Ego to her family and that of her husband's.
Big Idea
There is a plurality of family arrangements across human
societies.
Fig. 8.9. Kinship diagram of a bilateral descent group

Track: Academic
Your role in this activity is that of a genealogist who has been
commissioned by the city government to trace the lineage of an
influential member of the city as part of its founding celebration.
This influential person could be a politician, a businessman, a
school administrator, a religious leader, or any individual who is
believed to be a pillar of the city.
As a genealogist, your task is to identify the kin of this
individual to as many generations before the present as possible.
Present your findings using the symbolisms in making a kinship
diagram. Append a one-page discussion of your diagram
highlighting the type of lineage this individual's family has and
why. You will present your output to the city government official
who will evaluate your work based on its comprehensiveness,
accuracy, and clarity.
1. What is the difference between bilateral descent and unilineal

descent?
2. How are moieties formed?
3. What kind of society is associated with patriarchal descent?
Kinship by Marriage
Marriage is defined as the “socially or ritually recognized union or
legal contract between spouses that establishes rights and
obligations between them, between them and their children, and
between them and their in-laws” (Haviland et al., 2011). It is believed
that all societies have a form of marriage that makes it a cultural
universal.
Cultural variation produces differing perspectives and practices of
relating to marriage. For example, marriage in the Philippines implies
being officiated into the union by either a religious leader or a
representative of the government such as a city or municipal mayor
or a court judge. The Tsimane of Bolivia practices an alternative
perspective wherein “a couple is considered married if they sleep
together under the same roof in a socially recognized way for more
than just a brief period of time” (Winking, 2005).
Using a functionalist perspective, marriage serves several
functions. First, it regulates mating and reproduction. Second, it
creates a system that allows for sexual division of labor. Third, it
provides for a family dynamics that ensures the provision of needs of
children. Last, it perpetuates economic institutions that are based on
family systems.
Fig. 8.10. A Tsimane husband with his two wives and children
Source: https://www.unm.edu/∼tsimane/photos1/TsimaneFamily_small.jpg
There are four types of families based on marriage systems:

patrifocal and matrifocal, monogamous, polygamous, and extended.
Patrifocal and Matrifocal

This type of family is focused on one parent: a father (patrifocal)
or a mother (matrifocal). This type of family is often associated with
the terms patriarchal, the rule of the father, and matriarchal, the rule
of the mother. It does not solely imply that there is only one parent. In
some situations, one parent is deemed more important than the other
due to the economic or political positions he or she holds in the
family and in society.
Monogamous
This type of family consists of a single couple and their child or
children. This is also referred to as the nuclear family. Most societies
in the world have this type of family. Serial monogamy occurs in
societies where remarriage is allowed after a divorce or death of the
other spouse.
Polygamous
This type of family consists of several parents and their children.
There are two types of polygamy: polyandry and polygyny. Polyandry
is a marriage pattern wherein a woman is allowed to marry several
men. In Tibet, women are allowed to marry several husbands who
are at times brothers. This practice is called fraternal polyandry. The
primary reason for allowing this practice is the need to preserve land
ownership through generations. If brothers are to marry different
women, they will need to divide the land, which would have
detrimental effects on the entire family that is based on agriculture.
Polyandry is practiced in some parts of India. This link leads

to a documentary made by CNN on the practice of polyandry in
Himachal Pradesh, India: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=u7HKmu3eMEk
After watching the clip, answer the following questions:
1. Why do husbands consent to this atypical setup?
2. How are spousal obligations managed in these types of
households?
3. What role does education play in the practice of
polyandry?
Polygyny is a marriage practice that allows a man to marry

several women. Most Islamic societies allow this practice. In some
cases, these women are sisters, making it a sororal polygyny. This is
sometimes preferred to facilitate a less competitive environment in
the home, as sisters would normally be more supportive as co-wives
than women coming from different families.
Fig. 8.11. A Moslem man with his wives

Source: www.puterea.ro/media/article/img620f/47/47616-3.jpg
Extended Family
This type of family has several married couples and their children
living in one household. This can consist of the married parents and
their married children living in one house. Filipinos and other Asian
societies are known to practice extended family arrangements as a
form of securing care for the elderly members of the family.
In some cases, rituals allow for the inclusion of individuals into a
family. The compadrazgo system that is popular in Spanish-
influenced regions of the world is an example of this. In this situation,
individuals not originally part of the family are made extended family
members by being godparents of a child of one of the actual family
members. In the Philippines, this is practiced in our concept of having
ninong and ninang for occasions such as baptism, confirmation, and
marriage.
Reconstituted Family
Though not part of the traditional categories of families,
reconstituted families are a growing percentage of household
classification in countries allowing divorce and legal separations.
Such families consist of spouses and children whom the spouses
may have had prior to their marriage or union.
In this type of family, the current spouses were previously married
and had children. Upon the dissolution of their previous marriages,
these individuals remarried and created a new family by bringing in
their children from their past marriages and often birthing their own.
Concepts such as stepmothers, half brothers, and stepsisters are all
part of the existence of reconstituted families.
1. What are the types of kinship formation?

2. What are the different types of polygamy?
3. Why is marriage important in many societies?
Postmarital Residency Rules
One of the biggest questions that newlyweds have to answer is
where to live and build a family after marriage. Every society has its
own rules and traditions on postmarital residency. Anthropology has
identified seven major residency patterns: patrilocal, matrilocal,
avunculocal, neolocal, natalocal, matrifocal, and andambilocal.
Patrilocal Residence
Upon marriage, the woman is expected to transfer to the
residence of her husband's father. Her children will be raised by her
husband's family and be integrated to their lineage, allowing for the
creation of a patrilineal descent. Virilocal residence is a subset of this
practice that focuses only on the transfer of the woman from her
parents' residence to that of her husband's without consideration for
the creation of a patrilineage.
Matrilocal Residence
Upon marriage, the man is expected to take residence with his
wife's mother's area, where they are expected to raise their children
and integrate them to the maternal line, creating a matrilineal
descent. Uxorilocal residence is a less complex rule that merely
requires the husband to move in to his wife's mother's household
without consideration for the creation of a matrilineage.
Neolocal Residence
This is an arrangement that requires both spouses to leave their
households and create their own at times even in a different locality.
This supports the creation of nuclear households and is commonly
experienced in developed and industrialized societies. A nuclear
family essentially consists of a parent and a child.
Avunculocal Residence
This is a complex residency pattern as it requires two residence
transfers. Upon marriage, the couple practices a form of virilocality
and raises their children in the household of the husband's father.
However, upon reaching adulthood, these children will have to be
relocated with their mother's brother and live with him and his
household which may consist of his wife and young children and the
other adult male offspring of his sisters. This practice allows for the
creation of a patrilineage.
Natalocal Residence
This arrangement allows both spouses to remain with their own
households after marriage. The couple will have to arrange for
meetings as the two are not living under one household. Their
children are allowed to choose which household they would join.
Should they choose to join their father's household, they will be
integrated in a patrilineal descent. However, if they decide to join
their mother's household, they will be made part of a matrilineal
descent.
Matrifocal Residence
This type of residency rule arises when the father is economically
and physically unable to provide support for the family, thereby
ascribing the role of sole provider and caregiver to the woman. In this
situation, all of the children reside with their mother who is part of her
mother's household. This is different from the concept of uxorilocality
or even matrilocality, as both patterns allow for the cohabitation of the
husband and the wife.
Ambilocal Residence
This type of residence pattern allows the couple to choose to live
either with the wife's mother's area or the husband's father's area.
This often creates an extended family, as several married children
and married couples may cohabit in one household.
Transnational Families
Due to globalization and transnational movements of people,
families tend to practice alternative forms of residency patterns that
are not based on lineage perpetuation, but more so on economic
reasons such as job offers, educational advancement, and job
placements. This creates transnational families or families whose
members reside separately across territories. The overseas Filipino
worker (OFW) phenomenon experienced by a considerable number
of Filipinos contribute to the growing number of transnational families
as Filipino parents reside outside the country to work while their
children remain in the home country to study.
1. What are the factors that allow for the formation of

transnational families?
2. What are the different types of postmarital residency rules?
3. What are the characteristics of a nuclear family residence?
Politics of Kinship
Kinship does not only create social ties among individuals. In
some cases, politics and kinship are interrelated, allowing for the
creation of political alliances and dynasties. A political dynasty refers
to the continuous political rule of one family. This can be in the form
of the succession of rule or in the occupancy of several political
positions by one family.
Due to the compadrazgo system, political alliances are also
created, which is based not on agreed political ideologies or
platforms but more on a pseudo-kinship basis. Due to the
vulnerability of this type of governance to forms of corruption, laws
are enacted to prevent its occurrence. For example, the 1987
Philippine Constitution states in Article II Section 26 that “the State
shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and
prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.” Nevertheless,
due to the varying interpretation of the law, political dynasties still
pervade in the Philippine political setting.
Big Idea
The social structures of a society define the type of kinship
practiced by its members.

The issue of political dynasties has pervaded the Philippine
political arena. Those who are for political dynasties claim that
banning qualified individuals from public office based on having
elected family members would only stop the general public from
experiencing quality governance. Those who are opposed to the
practice claim that whether qualified or not, these individuals
should not be allowed to run for public office due to the undue
influence of family members who have mastery of the political
mechanism. The following link leads to an article written by Lila
Ramos-Shahani, which attempted to provide a perspective in
answering the question: Why regulate political dynasties? Go to
http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2015/08/10/1486177/why-regulate-
political-dynasties.
Essential Learning
The family is the smallest unit of human organization through
which an individual gets initiated to the roles and rules that he or
she will have to perform in his or her society. The concept of family
accommodates both blood and social relations. As such, it is a fluid
term especially when applied to the ever globalizing world where
the relationship of individuals are framed within multilayered
contexts relating to environment, economy, geography, and
technology.
Module
Political and Leadership Structures
9

1. Analyze social and political structures. (Enrichment)
2. Differentiate the types of political organizations.
(Enrichment)
3. Differentiate the different forms of legitimacy of authority.
(Enrichment)
Can you imagine life without leaders or governments? You may

wonder if that scenario is even possible. In this module, you will learn
how other societies organize their political lives that may be distinct
from what you are aware of. This module is divided into two main
parts. The first part discusses the types of political organizations
created by humans. The second part discusses the types of authority
and legitimacy present in human societies that allow for the rise of
leaders.
Political Organization
A political organization is any entity that is participating in a
political process. In Module 5, you have been introduced to the
concept of politics that involves the distribution and allocation of
scarce values such as power and prestige. Elman Service (1962), a
political anthropologist, identified four types of sociopolitical
organizations. He argued that these political organizations function in
consideration of their economic orientation.
Bands
A band is the least complex form of political organization, as it
has neither a rigid form of governance nor a structured form of
leadership. A band typically consists of 20–50 individuals who are
usually related to one another by virtue of kinship. Due to the close
ties between members of this group, coercion as a form of receiving
compliance is not an option. Individuals are made to follow group
decision through social mechanisms such as gossiping, ostracizing,
and being ridiculed.
This society is chiefly based on foraging, which is also known as
hunting and gathering. This type of economic subsistence allows for
greater mobility of the group as they follow animals and other food
sources. Decision-making is often made by the entire group, with the
eldest member acting as the facilitator. This form of leadership is
informal, as the extent of the leader's power lies only upon his or her
capacity to influence the course of dialog in the group. He or she can,
by no means, coerce anyone in the group to do a task that the other
does not want to perform.
Bands are egalitarian in social composition. This implies that
individuals in the group have equal access to resources and values.
Reciprocity is a primary form of exchange among the members.
Individuals who have lesser capacity to hunt or gather have equal
access to the food that other members are able to produce. This
arrangement produces a form of an economic safety net, wherein
every member of the group is assured of basic needs such as food
and water. This is observed even if the member is not able to
produce on a particular day, as food and almost everything else are
communally owned. The drawback of this setting is the creation of
free riders or those who would partake of their share of the
community's resources without any attempt to contribute. In such
cases, bands would usually employ noncoercive tactics such as
ridiculing and gossiping.

Visit this link to watch a documentary produced by GMA
Network about the Bataks of Palawan. This video presents the
community life of the Bataks, a band (a group of people), within
the context of population decline and environmental changes.
After watching the clip, write a 500-word reaction paper that
discusses the potential impacts of climate change on the lifeways
of a band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV9HWDLhcvk
Tribes
A tribe is a political organization that consists of segmentary
lineages. This type of kinship relation is marked by loyalty per family
cluster or segment. An individual's loyalty primarily lies on his or her
immediate family, followed by his or her cousins, and then his or her
distant cousins. This type of kinship grouping allows for the creation
of interdependent generations. This also creates a political
organization that is less distinct from kinship organizations. This
means that the position of the father in the family as the prime
decision maker and his position in society will most likely be similar.
The Maasai tribe of Kenya have strong segmentary lineages that
allow for generational solidarity of warriors coming from the same
age group.
Tribes are less mobile than bands, as their form of economic
subsistence requires a degree of settlement. Most tribes are either
horticultural (shifting agriculture) or pastoral (tending animals). These
types of economic systems require individuals to settle in one area
for a specific period either to let their animals graze (pastoralism) or
to harvest their crops (horticultural). This supports the need to create
an informal form of leadership that is based on need.
The leaders that are chosen in this type of organization are
individuals who are believed to possess special skills or aptitudes
that relate to the economic activity. Hence, should a younger and an
older hunter be in a debate about a decision, the decision-making
power shall be accorded by the members of the society to the person
with greater skills in hunting without considering age. Similar to the
leaders of bands, the leaders in a tribe have no concrete political
power over their members, except in areas when group concerns are
in place.
Fig. 9.1. A group of Maasai tribesmen of Kenya

Source: http://www.lionsstaffanstorp.se/wp-
content/uploads/2013/09/Kulturnatten2013-6-1.jpg
The segmented nature of a tribe's social dynamics allows for an

economic system that uses redistribution of commodities among
social segments through the process of tribute. A tribute is a form of
gift that may consist of wealth, food, or other materials given to a
central figure who in turn redistributes the accumulated goods to the
other members of society. Through this process, the products of one
group is shared and consumed by the other groups.
Chiefdoms
The ancient Mayans were known for their complex and elaborate
political system that incorporated religion, kinship, and politics. The
Mayan political organization is an example of a chiefdom, as it
embodied its characteristics that include a political leader with an
advisory council, a leader who exercises power that is based on
legitimacy, and the existence of social stratification.
Fig. 9.2. The ancient Mayans, depicted in wall paintings

Source: https://unpredictableblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ancient-
mayans.jpg
A chiefdom is more complex than a tribe, as this political

organization consists of a few local communities who subscribe to
the power and rule of a leader who has absolute power on them. This
absolute power is derived from the perceived relation of the leader to
supernatural forces and powers, which is a form of legitimizing factor.
As long as the members of the communities believe that their leader
is a direct descendant of their gods, this leader maintains his or her
sovereignty in the land. Once the belief of people shifts, this leader
almost instantaneously loses power.
Similar to the tribe, this political organization is tied with
horticulture and pastoralism. The same economic process of
redistribution through tribute collection is practiced in chiefdom, just
like in a tribe. What distinguishes a chiefdom from a tribe is the
existence of social stratification that segregates society into the elite
and the commoner. The elites are often the relatives of the ruler and
are also believed to have divinity or connections to the supernatural.
Big Idea
Political systems vary per society depending on their
environment and economic systems.
1. How does religion relate to the type of political system that a

society chooses?
2. What role does economic subsistence play in the formation of
a political organization?
3. How is power exercised in the different types of political
organizations?
States and Nations

You have learned in an earlier module that a state is different from
a nation, as state refers to a group of people sharing similar culture
and political history, whereas nation refers to a political organization
united by a common set of laws.
A state uses absolute power in directing the path of a society. To
attain societal goals and objectives, a state uses complete political
coerciveness, which may come in the form of armed personnel, strict
laws, and rigid governmental policies. This provides a marginal
intersection between politics and kinship, as both are required not to
interact in the guise of professionalism and incorruptibility.
The primary form of economic subsistence in this political
organization is market exchange. Standardized currencies are used
as a medium of exchange for commodities, unlike in a band where a
commodity or service is exchanged with another commodity or
service, which are often deemed by both parties to be of equal value.
The differentiated access to production and capital creates the
formation and perpetuation of class and caste systems.
Fig. 9.3. Pyramid of power in ancient states
As states consist of actors with varying interests and assertions,

social rules are implemented in the form of laws. These laws are
created to manage the interaction among individuals and between
the individuals and the state. As a citizen of a country, an individual is
subjected to the legal norms in the territory. These norms may
include paying taxes, rendering military service, and contributing to
the political life in the society. For example, in the event of war,
citizens may be required to render military service for their country.
In South Korea, all males are required to render military service
and undergo training for 21 months despite social status. In the
Philippines, some of the obligations of its citizens include (1)
payment of at most 32% of one's income as income tax to the
government, (2) payment of 12% value added tax (VAT) for all
commodities and services purchased, (3) completion of the National
Service Training Program (NSTP) or the Reserve Officers' Training
Corps (ROTC) while in college, and (4) recognition of the authority of
government officials (e.g., police officers, lawmakers).
Being a citizen of a country also entails the enjoyment of certain
privileges that are labeled as rights. There are two types of rights that
are enjoyed by individuals as members of state: natural and legal.
Natural rights are those that are expected to be enjoyed by all
individuals, regardless of citizenship. These rights are derived from
the basic elements of individuals being humans. Some of these rights
include the right to life, the right to liberty or freedom, and the right to
property. Legal rights are those that are awarded to an individual by
the state as part of its culture, traditions, and norms. Hence a
Muslim-dominated state may provide its citizens a different set of
legal rights as compared to a Christian-dominated state. Some
examples of legal rights are (1) the right to vote, (2) the right to
privacy, and (3) the right to join formal organizations.
Here is a copy of the Bill of Rights of the Philippines, which

states the rights to be enjoyed by its citizens.
THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
ARTICLE III
BILL OF RIGHTS
Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or

property without due process of law, nor shall any person be
denied the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and
seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be
inviolable, and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue
except upon probable cause to be determined personally by the
judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the
complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and particularly
describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to
be seized.
Section 3.
(1) The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be
inviolable except upon lawful order of the court, or when public
safety or order requires otherwise, as prescribed by law.
(2) Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the preceding
section shall be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding.
Section 4. No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of
speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of
grievances.
Section 5. No law shall be made respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise
and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without
discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious
test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights.
Section 6. The liberty of abode and of changing the same within
the limits prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon
lawful order of the court. Neither shall the right to travel be
impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or
public health, as may be provided by law.
Section 7. The right of the people to information on matters of
public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and
to documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or
decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis
for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to
such limitations as may be provided by law.
Section 8. The right of the people, including those employed in
the public and private sectors, to form unions, associations, or
societies for purposes not contrary to law shall not be abridged.
Section 9. Private property shall not be taken for public use
without just compensation.
Section 10. No law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be
passed.
Section 11. Free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies
and adequate legal assistance shall not be denied to any person
by reason of poverty.
Section 12.
(1) Any person under investigation for the commission of an
offense shall have the right to be informed of his right to remain
silent and to have competent and independent counsel preferably
of his own choice. If the person cannot afford the services of
counsel, he must be provided with one. These rights cannot be
waived except in writing and in the presence of counsel.
(2) No torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other
means which vitiate the free will shall be used against him. Secret
detention places, solitary, incommunicado, or other similar forms of
detention are prohibited.
(3) Any confession or admission obtained in violation of this or
Section 17 hereof shall be inadmissible in evidence against him.
(4) The law shall provide for penal and civil sanctions for
violations of this section as well as compensation to and
rehabilitation of victims of torture or similar practices, and their
families.
Section 13. All persons, except those charged with offenses
punishable by reclusion perpetua when evidence of guilt is strong,
shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, or be
released on recognizance as may be provided by law. The right to
bail shall not be impaired even when the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus is suspended. Excessive bail shall not be required.
Section 14.
(1) No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense
without due process of law.
(2) In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed
innocent until the contrary is proved, and shall enjoy the right to be
heard by himself and counsel, to be informed of the nature and
cause of the accusation against him, to have a speedy, impartial,
and public trial, to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have
compulsory process to secure the attendance of witnesses and the
production of evidence in his behalf. However, after arraignment,
trial may proceed notwithstanding the absence of the accused
provided that he has been duly notified and his failure to appear is
unjustifiable.
Section 15. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not
be suspended except in cases of invasion or rebellion when the
public safety requires it.
Section 16. All persons shall have the right to a speedy
disposition of their cases before all judicial, quasi-judicial, or
administrative bodies.
Section 17. No person shall be compelled to be a witness
against himself.
Section 18.
(1) No person shall be detained solely by reason of his political
beliefs and aspirations.
(2) No involuntary servitude in any form shall exist except as a
punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted.
Section 19.
(1) Excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel, degrading
or inhuman punishment inflicted. Neither shall the death penalty be
imposed, unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes,
the Congress hereafter provides for it. Any death penalty already
imposed shall be reduced to reclusion perpetua.
(2) The employment of physical, psychological, or degrading
punishment against any prisoner or detainee or the use of
substandard or inadequate penal facilities under subhuman
conditions shall be dealt with by law.
Section 20. No person shall be imprisoned for debt or non-
payment of a poll tax.
Section 21. No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of
punishment for the same offense. If an act is punished by a law
and an ordinance, conviction or acquittal under either shall
constitute a bar to another prosecution for the same act.
Section 22. No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be
enacted.

Track: Academic
Your are a political adviser to the president of the Philippines.
You provide the president with key action points for pressing
issues. Think of a relevant issue that our country is facing today.
Your task is to draft a two-page briefer for the president, which
includes the background of the issue, the description of the
stakeholders, and the potential action points. Your teacher will act
as the president who will evaluate your output based on accuracy
of data and feasibility of proposed action. This activity can be
done in groups.
1. What are the elements of the state?

2. Why are social rules implemented by the state?
3. What does citizenship entail?
The shift from one type of political organization to another

involves several factors that include economic adaptation,
environmental conditions, and social structure. Changes in
environmental conditions produce alternative economic systems that
require modifications of the social structure. When these conditions
occur, the political system also adapts and shifts to a more suitable
form. One landmark example of this is the phase of the Agricultural
Revolution of the Neolithic period. According to Gordon Childe, the
shift in the world's climate altered its landscape that resulted in
limited sources of food. Bands that were highly dependent on hunting
and gathering had fewer food sources. This environmental shift
created pressures on their economic systems, enabling them to
adopt new forms of technology and economic subsistence. The
development of farming allowed for the creation of permanent
settlement that necessitated the establishment of rules to govern
individual behaviors that were meant to maintain social order. This
produced state-like entities that paved the way for modern states.
Traditional perspectives on the development of political
organizations tend to be linear and limited, stating that the earliest
stage of political organization development commences with the
band and culminates with the state. Just like any theory on transition,
this is prone to problems, as it promotes a highly deterministic view
of society—it is in a constant process of development toward an end.
But as to what end it is and who determines what kind of end can be
considered as the “best” and most ideal form, this perspective
remains mum.
A more inclusive perspective accommodates the plausibility of
having multiple forms of political organizations that are functioning
parallel to one another within the varying context of each
environment. This perspective highlights the reality of cultural
variation and exercises the lens of cultural relativism in
understanding societies.
Authority and Legitimacy

The extent of a leader's power relies on how much his or her
followers accord him or her with it. This leads to a discussion on the
reasons that leaders rise and how they maintain power over
individuals. According to Max Weber, a 20th century sociologist,
every leader has some form of justification as to why he or she
should be accorded with such power. He organized these reasons
into three categories of legitimacy of authority: legal, traditional, and
charismatic.
Legal authority is achieved by a leader through the process of
following established codes and procedures governing the allocation
and distribution of power and resources within a society. Leaders
who are ruling under the clout of this authority have been either
elected or appointed to office following the existing laws of the land.
The extent as to which this type of leaders can wield power is limited
to what the codified laws of the society accords him or her.
Traditional authority is a form of leadership legitimacy that
highlights the right of a leader to rule based on inheritance of the title.
People under the leadership of a ruler with traditional authority
accept the latter's exercise of power as it has been the status quo in
the society since their forefathers. The rule of monarchs and their
allies in both patrimonial and feudal regimes are examples of this.
Charismatic authority creates a type of leadership that is based
on the personal attachment of the subordinates to the ruler whose
characteristics, experiences, or even skills are believed to be
extraordinary, or maybe even supernatural. Due to this, most of the
ruler's followers are devoted to him or her without regard as to
whether the authority of the ruler is accepted within the legal
framework of the society or that he or she has not been part of a
royal lineage.
These types of authority and legitimacy are not mutually
exclusive, as some can be combined to produce other forms of
leadership justification. For example, institutional charisma is a
combination of charismatic and legal authority. This kind of authority
is usually observed among religious institutions wherein the leader's
authority is accepted based on his or her charisma, but his or her
exercise of power is limited by the legal structures of the church.
Another combination is called familial charisma, which is a
combination of traditional and charismatic authority. This is often
observed in kingship rules as individuals recognize the right of the
king to rule based on his inheritance of the position and his innate
extraordinary capacities.
1. What is the basis of the leadership of a charismatic leader?
2. What are the differences between legal authority and

traditional authority?
3. How does institutional charisma differ from familial charisma?
Essential Learning
Political systems are key elements of a society's culture with
the chief function of promoting social order with regard to its
economic systems and environmental demands. Just like any part
of culture, political systems are structural tools used by human
populations to be able to survive in their environments. It is due to
this characteristic that there is a plurality of political systems across
human populations.
Module
Economic Organization
10

1. Analyze economic organization and its impacts on the
lives of people in the society.
2. Differentiate the types of economic subsistence.
(Enrichment)
The societal world has been through several changes,

advancements, and innovation since the dawn of the Neolithic stage.
Consequently, these changes have greatly affected the social,
cultural, political, and most especially economic aspect of societies.
Due to various and numerous technological improvements, the whole
economic processes have also been developed. Form (2014) argued
that the shift in the technological capacity of societies has allowed for
“the formation and extension of markets, modifications of property
relations (such as the change from feudal lord-peasant relations to
contractual proprietor-tenant relations), and changes in the
organization of labor (such as the change from independent
craftsmen to factories).”
Fig. 10.1. Evolution of economy
Adapted from:https://johnandsydney.wikispaces.com/file/view/evol
ution_of_the_economy.jpg/220938566/800x682/evol
ution_of_the_economy.jpg
Figure 10.1 is an illustration of how economy started from the

ancient times up to the modern times, as it highlights the money-
driven economy represented by casinos more than the simplistic
hunting tradition. This module presents the elements and processes
of an economic organization.
Economic Processes
Reciprocity
In most situations, when you give something away, you expect
something in return. This kind of situation reflects the concept of
reciprocity. This economic process entails the exchange of
commodities between parties, often on an individual basis. It is also a
binding method which holds people, peers, and families together
(Anthropology, 2008). In reciprocity, there are no goods and services
lost because it is a circular process wherein you just receive and
return the favor. Barter is the most common form of reciprocity, as
this process includes the exchange of commodities between
individuals.
According to Marshall Sahlins (1965), there are three major types
of reciprocity. See Table 10.1.
Table 10.1. Sahlins's Types of Reciprocity

Type Characterization Example
Generalized reciprocity Gift giving without any Giving birthday presents
expectation of immediate to a friend
return.
Balanced reciprocity Expecting immediate Selling goods and

return from any given services in the market
favor. The value of the
commodities is expected
to be equal.
Negative reciprocity The exchange tends to A merchant selling fake

favor one party over the commodities at prices of
other, as the value of the the original and genuine
goods for exchange is items
unequal.
This link leads to a video on how indigenous people

understand and use water. Through this video, you will see the
concept of generalized reciprocity as practiced by indigenous
groups.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keRf2_Dc0No
After watching the video, create a poster that promotes the
theme, “Water is life.” You should be able to incorporate in your
work the concept of generalized reciprocity.
Transfers
When resources from one individual or organization are given to
another with no expectation of return, an economic transfer is in
place. This type of economic process allows for the redistribution of
resources within an economic system.
Some examples of this process include the transfer of financial
aids, government subsidies, and social security. Due to the nature of
these transfers, individuals and organizations tend to be reliant on
these to mitigate their economic problems. To say that these
economic transactions have no immediate bearing on the
participating individuals and organizations is inaccurate. In fact, some
critics claim that such transfers have underlying agenda, such as
when foreign governments transfer resources to financially struggling
organizations in the form of loans, grants, and subsidies to promote
their organizational policies.
Redistribution
Economic redistribution occurs when the resources of one,
several individuals, or groups are collected and distributed
proportionally or equally to participating members. Two of the best
examples of redistribution are progressive income tax systems and
charity donations. For instance, progressive income tax systems
allow for a process of ensuring that the poorer members of society
are given ample resources to cover their basic needs through the
imposition of higher taxes among the wealthy; this is a form of
redistribution. On the other hand, when wealthy people make charity
donations, they get similar effects that are highly beneficial for them.
These donations can affect their social conscience or social image,
allowing them to gain public recognition and admiration. In less
complex societies, this can be seen in the form of a tribute, a process
where members of society give gifts to their chief, expecting that the
latter would ensure their group's economic and political security.
The marriage tradition of patrilineal societies known as bride
price, or the transferring of wealth from the man's family to the
woman's family as a form of gift prior to the wedding is an example of
how redistribution occurs on a micro level. Figure 10.2 shows the
type of gifts a bride in Vanuatu usually receives as a gift from her
groom's family.
Fig. 10.2. Bride price in Vanuatu

Source: http://www.ecotripsos.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/afrika2.jpg
On a community level, an example of redistribution is the native

American practice of potlatch, which is composed of feasting,
speeches, and gift giving to improve the public figure of the giver. In
these events, the giver provides a feast wherein his social status is
affirmed by the amount of gifts that participants would give him.
1. What is economic transfer?

2. How is a bride price an example of redistribution?
3. What are the different types of reciprocity?
Market Transactions
Market is referred to as the exchange of goods and services that
involves buying and selling processes. However, it is a not a simple
process of exchanging materials, goods, and services. It involves
several elements and transactions. Market is about making money,
capital, income, and growth (Women and Economy, 2011).
Humans have several needs and wants that are deemed as
bases of market sellers for producing goods and services. After the
production of goods and services, everything is brought to the market
for the purpose of selling. Buyers are then expected to purchase the
available market supplies (goods and services) for the purpose of
consumption and satisfying their needs. These market transactions
will continue to happen as long as there are buyers, sellers, supplies,
and demands in society.
The key element that separates market transaction from
reciprocity and redistribution is the use of standardized currency. This
means that you cannot buy a can of soda from the grocery by giving
a chicken that you raised in your backyard.
Moreover, market transactions may affect not only part of the
economic aspect of human society; it affects the other societal and
economic aspects as a whole. One key argument against market
economy is its delimiting effect on the lives of participating
individuals.
Economics, or a system of sharing limited resources, is really just one
aspect of human existence, but in a market economy, economics becomes
more important than everything else. Health, the environment, community
—all of the physical, social, religious, and emotional aspects of our lives
are subsumed or taken over by the economic aspects of our lives (Women
and Economy, 2011).
Market and State

What do you think is the relationship between market and state?
Basically, market involves all the human actions associated with
economic aspects. On the other hand, the state serves as the
institution that protects and maintains economic balance through its
economic laws and policies. Ferarro et al. (2010) argues that
“societies with self-developed market economies have to decide as
to what extent they would allow free markets or the government to
control the economy.” This relates to the often dichotomous
perspective on the relation of the state and the market: the free hand
of the market or the heavy hand of the state. The first option, the free
hand of the market, promotes an unbridled economic exchange
between people and organizations in their pursuit of profit and
surplus. The second option, heavy hand of the state, promotes a
highly structured and codified economic engagement of individuals
and organizations as mandated by state-led procedures. In the most
ideal setting, the state, through its government, should work hand in
hand with the economic sectors of its society to ensure economic
and even political stability.
1. What is the role of the state in market transactions?

2. What is the essence of a market?
3. How are market transactions distinct from reciprocity and
redistribution?
Types of Economic Subsistence

Due to varying environmental conditions and other social factors
such as family organization and gender dynamics, human societies
have created numerous ways to address their economic needs. In
the 19th and early 20th centuries, anthropologists such as Edward B.
Tylor and Lewis Henry Morgan created categorizations that were
used to classify human groups that are believed to be following a
unilinear evolutionary pattern that progresses from savagery to
civilization. This theory of society has long been debunked due to its
inaccurate and racist provocations. Nevertheless, it has paved the
way for a differentiated analysis of human subsistence patterns.
Modern anthropologists subscribe to four categories of economic
subsistence that accepts the diversity of human population without
giving privilege to one category over the other. These four categories
are foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, and agriculture.
Big Idea
Technology and environment define the type of economic
systems that a society uses.
Foraging
One of the most ancient types of subsistence pattern is known as
foraging. During ancient times, people lived in the simplest way by
being highly dependent on their environment. Hunting for animals
and gathering wild plants were their most common activities. O'Neil
(2011) further described the group's activities: “They do not plant
crops and the only domesticated animals that they usually have are
dogs. These useful animals often have multiple functions for foraging
peoples. They serve as pets, hunting aids, watch-animals, camp
refuse scavengers, and even surplus food when needed.”
Due to the type of activities that they had, their form of technology
was also simple— ranging from digging sticks, to hunting spears, and
to other crude forms of hunting materials. Human power and muscle
had been their source in performing economic roles. Most tasks and
work labor were divided according to gender. There were specific
tasks, and roles that were associated with men and with women.
Hunting wild animals were for men, and gathering plants are for
women.
In terms of settlement, the foragers were considered to be the
early nomads. Nomads are individuals or group of people who stay in
a place for a short period of time. These people usually built
temporary dwellings in a certain area for the purpose of survival. The
length of their stay in a specific area is highly dependent on the
availability of resources, such as food and water, in that area.
Climate variability affected the length of stay of nomads in the area
as they adapted to the resource limitation per season in a region.
This implies a more consistent movement dependent on type of
season.
Fig. 10.3. Foragers in the North American Subarctic (20th century)
According to anthropologists, there are three major types of

foraging subsistence patterns. See Table 10.2.
Table 10.2. Types of Foraging Patterns
Type of Foraging Characteristics and Examples
Description
Pedestrian Hunting and gathering on Well-known pedestrian
foot was the simplest way of foragers were the
living and survival. Foragers Australian aborigines, the
mostly occupied riversides, Sanspeakers of Southwest
valleys, and grasslands. A Africa, the pygmies of West
simple digging stick served Central Africa, most Native
as the tool of early foragers. Americans in California,
and the Paiutes of the
Great Basin in Western
North America.
Equestrian Foragers hunted large North American equestrian

mammals while on foragers are those in the
horseback, which served as Great Plains in the late 19th
their mode of transportation. century.
Equestrians were larger and
more mobile. This society
was dominated by men.
Aquatic Foragers hunted aquatic Well-known aquatic

animals such as fish, foragers lived on the
mollusks, and other marine Northwest Coast of North
animals. America from the Klamath
River of California to the
Aleutian Islands of Alaska.
Today, there are still several groups of people that practice

foraging as a form of subsistence. The Batak group in Palawan is an
example of this.
Fig. 10.4. Batak children of Palawan
Source: http://cfile233.uf.daum.net/image/2279DC50558956850B543E
Pastoral
Pastoralism is a subsistence pattern that is primarily focused on
“tending herds of large animals” (O'Neil, 2011). Various kinds of
animals available in their environment became the biggest source of
the survival of the pastoralists. These animals eat only plants and
grass, so they are domesticated herbivores. The most common
animals tended by pastoralist societies are sheep, deer, goat, cattle,
and horses.
Men appear to be more aggressive toward outsiders, but they are
very much cooperative within the group they belong to. These men
are often involved in making fast economic decisions, as the survival
of the group is often reliant on external forces such as drought,
weather variability, and threat of other predators.
Fig. 10.5. Traditional pastoralist regions during the 19th and 20th centuries
Figure 10.5 shows how pastoralism flourished all over several

regions during the 19th and 20th centuries.
There are two classifications of pastoralism: pastoral nomads and
transhumance pastoralists. Pastoral nomads have similarities with
the way of life of foragers because of temporary settlements.
However, the only difference is that early foragers do not focus on
tending animals. Therefore, their search for food and water is for their
own personal consumption. On the other hand, pastoral nomads
transfer from one place to another in search of food and resources
that are not just limited for their consumption alone but also for the
consumption of their animals. Most destinations of pastoral nomads
are highly dependent on the needs of their animals.
O'Neil (2011) described transhumance pastoralists as “following a
cyclical pattern of migrations that usually take them to cool highland
valleys in the summer and warmer lowland valleys in the winter. This
is seasonal migration between the same two locations in which they
have regular encampments or stable villages often with permanent
houses.” Transhumance pastoralists are not dependent on their
animals for food. They are into planting and vegetation, which serves
as their food. These pastoralists are also into trading their animals in
exchange for grain or food from the market.
Presently, pastoralism is still being practiced by some modern
societies and countries. Even though they may be from different
regions of the world, they still share similar qualities that make them
a real breed of early pastoralist societies.
Fig. 10.6. Mongolian horse pastoral nomads and their camp

Source: http://anthro.palomar.edu/subsistence/images/Central_Asian_pastor
alists.jpg
Horticulture
Horticulture is a combination of small-scale farming and
domesticating animals for the purpose of food and prestige. Unlike
foraging, this subsistence pattern allows for the accumulation of food
products because horticultural societies participate in small surplus
or selling in exchange of the goods they cannot produce.
One of the primary characteristics of horticultural societies is their
shifting planting process that entails movement from one cultivated
land to another. Swidden farming is one key example of this pattern,
as swiddeners prepare and plant in one land area for a period of time
and move to another area after the produce is harvested from the
first area. In the Philippines, this takes the form of kaingin, a form of
slash-and-burn planting method.
Fig. 10.7. Horticultural regions in the 20th century
Horticultural societies follow a certain pattern that can shift

rapidly, depending on their situations and conditions. It also has
several economic advantages because of its flexibility and ability to
adjust and resolve circumstances. For instance, when farming lands
are depleted of soil, horticulturists move to another available field
using their strategies and techniques.
Agriculture
Most large-scale societies are dependent on agriculture as their
primary mode of economic subsistence. As early as 10 000 years
ago, farming methods and domestication of animals were developed
intensively to meet the needs of the growing population. Improved
water management systems paved the way for the spread of
agriculture among different societies. The number of large animals
for plowing rapidly increased for better soil and agricultural
production. This has been the reason that farming is one of the major
sources of living and income in early societies. Most families are
farmers who work together.
Fig. 10.8. Agricultural societies turn sloped regions into farming areas by
creating terraces like this one in Peru
Source: http://solpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Valle-Sagrada-
Peru.jpg
During ancient times, agriculture was highly practiced in the

ancient civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and
eastern Syria), India, Pakistan, North China, Mesoamerica, and
Western South America (Ferraro and Andreatta, 2010). As farming
continued to flourish to the different regions of the world, agricultural
system changed constantly, especially when agricultural technologies
and inventions were discovered and introduced to different societies.
Fig. 10.9. Ancient intensive agriculture-based civilizations
Societies viewed farming and agriculture as a permanent and

sustainable subsistence pattern for survival. As a result, permanent
settlements in various areas increased and more buildings and
structures were constructed. Market selling and trading also started,
which brought about an increase in population over time. Agriculture
resulted in the division of social classes, wherein the farmers who
were the working class decreased their power over their goods due
to the coming of the leaders or the upper classes who controlled
agricultural services and production.

For a more comprehensive discussion of the rise of agriculture,
read this article from the Genographic Project of National
Geographic:
https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-
agriculture/

1. What is the significance of nomadism to foraging societies?
2. How are pastoral nomads similar to foragers?
3. What are the advantages of a horticultural subsistence?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/31/climat
e-change-food-supply-un
The Guardian recently reported the UN findings on the impact
of climate change to food supply. This link leads to an article titled
“Climate change ‘already affecting food supply’ – UN.” After
reading the article, answer the following questions:
1. How does climate change affect food supplies and
distribution across the world?
2. What are the pieces of evidence that support this claim?
3. What other social issues were projected to occur in
relation to climate change and food security?
Essential Learning
The variation in economic systems in different human societies
is primarily due to the type of environment that frames their
experiences and determines the types of resources available for
them. Technology also plays a vital role in determining the type of
economic systems that will be used by a society. The formation of
varying economic systems serves as proof to the adaptive function
of this cultural element.
Module
Non-state Institutions
11

1. Identify the functions of non-state institutions in society.
2. Evaluate the impact of interventions of non-state
institutions in the process of governance of the state.
(Enrichment)
Society consists of social structures and social institutions that

are governed by norms and values. Each individual in a society has
specific roles and functions that are meant to achieve societal
equilibrium. The practice of human rights is considered a privilege of
every individual in human society, and is ideally and believed to be
distributed equally. In 2008, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights marked its 60th anniversary, celebrating the fundamental
rights and independence of human society.
By the end of World War II, various humanitarian issues and
crises took place. Hence, several initiatives were undertaken by
different organizations to address transnational and local issues that
states were faced with. This saw the establishment of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is
mandated to be of assistance to crisis victims (Evans, 2008). These
cases of human predicament show how human rights are being
violated and deposed by institutional actors such as governments.
The creation of state and non-state institutions became more
relevant in the advent of globalization and urbanization, as these two
institutions presented the capacity to create diverse impact ranging
from the social, cultural, economic, and up to the political (University
of Arizona, 2014).
How can you differentiate between state and non-state
institutions? What are their functions in human society? Weber
defines state as “a human community that claims the monopoly of
the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory” (Shandra,
2007). This definition reflects the inevitable existence of the
government, civil service, and police in every society. On the other
hand, non-state institutions are institutions not related to the
components of the state. These institutions function with minimal
intervention from state institutions. Although states possess the
official political power in a given territory, the capacity of non-state
institutions to affect the political and economic trajectory of a society
cannot be discounted.
These non-state institutions include the following: banks and
corporations, cooperatives and trade unions, transnational advocacy
groups, and development agencies and international organizations.
These non-state institutions are equally capable of influencing policy
formation and implementation.
The succeeding sections of this module discuss the elements of
non-state institutions in relation to their background, features, and
functions.
Banks and Corporations

There are several financial institutions that aid people in terms of
money and investments. In these institutions, everything is
associated, related, and linked to money and financial transactions.
They cater to different types of people and organizations. Financial
institutions may be categorized into major forms such as commercial
banks, investment banks, insurance companies, brokerages, and
corporations. See Table 11.1.
Table 11.1. Kinds of Financial Institutions and Their Descriptions

Financial Institution Description
Financial Institution Description
1. Commercial banks • Financial deposit with security and convenience

which could be in the form of credit card, debit card,
and check
• Provide business, individual, and personal loans,
enabling commercial banks to earn interest
• Serve as payment agents within and outside the
country through wire transfer
• Subjected to more regulations
2. Investment banks • Financial intermediaries that perform a variety of

services for businesses and some governments
• Issue securities to the investing public
• Make markets, facilitate mergers, and other
corporate reorganizations
• Act as a broker for institutional clients
• Under the supervision of regulatory bodies such as
the Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA,
and the US Treasury
• Subjected to fewer regulations
3. Insurance • Aid individuals and companies in terms of risk

companies management and wealth preservation
• Capable of earning profit and paying claims,
through their large number of insurances
4. Brokerages • Intermediaries in the transaction between buyers

and sellers for the purpose of security
• Commission-based earnings
5. Investment • Help individuals invest funds or money with other

companies or investors to manage portfolios of security
corporations • Purchase securities indirectly through a package
product such as a mutual fund
http://www.investopedia.com/walkthrough/corporate-finance/1/financial-
Source:
institutions.aspx (accessed 29 October 2015)
Table 11.1 provides the summary points for each type of financial
institution together with its descriptions and major functions. In
general, financial institutions cater to people and firms, possibly
generating a significant impact to society. The two most well-known
financial institutions that are actively shaping the socioeconomic
development of the Philippines are the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank. They have been providing financial aid to the
Philippine government and various nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) to facilitate their developmental objectives.
1. What are the differences between insurance companies and

investment companies?
2. What are the different kinds of financial institutions?
3. How did the UNHCR become a global institution?
Cooperatives and Trade Unions

Trade unions and cooperatives have the primary role of
promoting labor welfare and good industrial relations. Trade unions
and cooperatives are organizations comprising workers and laborers
with common goals, purposes, and interests. They mostly concern
employment relations, decency, and welfare. Table 11.2 presents the
major societal roles of trade unions and cooperatives.
Table 11.2. Roles of Trade Unions and Cooperatives

Role Description
Role Description
1. Political • Can be powerful and influential in creating political

impact
Can be in conflict with other parties due to large
number of members with common interests that are
•
different from other union's interest
2. Market • Reactive because of preoccupied economic aims

that concern employment salaries, wages, and
inflation rates and rights (macroeconomic and
microeconomic policies)
3. Regulatory • Influential in determining and improving job qualities

and standards to regulate employment functions
4. Democratizing • Promote rights to economic democracy and

participation to industrial democracy
5. Service • Promote the welfare of members through various

initiatives and partnerships with different
organizations that provide service to them
6. Enhancement • Concerned for potential development and member's

improvement
7. Welfare • Multifunctional institutions, conforming more to the

idea of the trade union as being part of a movement
Source: http://www.ilocarib.org.tt/Promalco_tool/productivity-
tools/manual09/m9_4.htm

This link leads to an essay titled “Trade Union Growth and
Decline in Asia” published by the Cornell University ILR School.
After reading the essay, identify the factors that have affected the
status of trade unions in the Philippines.
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1216&context=articles
Transnational Advocacy Groups

Societal issues and problems are not concentrated in a certain
society or within a specific area only. It may also be extended across
borders and countries. Most of these issues have something to do
with international policies that are not responsive to contemporary
issues. Keck and Sikkink (1998) argue that international lawmaking
undergoes changes and have been more concerned of public issues.
These changes were brought about by the rapid growth of
transnational advocacy networks that constantly influence the policy-
making in a country by sponsoring advocacy campaigns publicizing
social issues.
The pressure that transnational advocacy groups (TAGs) create
in state institutions, and at times to the general public, creates a
negative image. Evans (2008) argue that “transnational networks and
corporations are considered the bad guys, whereas the
nongovernment organizations are the good guys.” This is despite the
fact that NGOs are highly interrelated with TAGs. Transnational
actors could be categorized into local social movements,
foundations, media, religious organizations, scholars, international
agencies, and regional intergovernmental organizations (Keck and
Sikkinik, 1998).
What do you think are the issues being catered by TAGs? Human
rights, consumers' rights, women's rights, international peace, and
environmental issues are mostly the concerns of these groups.
Transnational networks can be very influential because of their broad
scope and wide connections. These networks have specific roles to
partake that can be achieved through effective measures, case-
specific methods, and activities. The very essence of transnational
groups is the formation and development of their advocacies and
campaigns that represent certain principled causes, ideas, values,
and beliefs.
TAGs serve as international catalysts for change, aiming to
achieve international changes toward policies and practices. An
example of a TAG is Green Peace, which is popular for its members'
active and alternative engagement of the public and concerned
agencies in relation to environmental issues.
Development Agencies
Development agencies are organizations with specific aims and
goals. The common denominator among these organizations is the
term development. These agencies concentrate on the growth,
progression, and advancement of specific societal concerns, which
can be infrastructure or social institutions. Several sectors of the
international community have issues with development, as they
believe that it is laden with various social constructs that revolve
around postcolonial and hegemonic arguments. Some of the critical
questions that are posed include the following:
• Who defines development?
• What are the characteristics of being developed?
• Who controls the values that are associated with
development?
For the purposes of this discussion, we will use the context of
political and economic development.
There are two major types of organizations that are considered as
development agencies: international organizations and NGOs. What
is the difference between the two? Do these two have similarities?
International Organizations
Coppee (2011) stated that “one of the important roles of
international organizations is to translate agreed-upon values into
rights and obligations.” The central role of international organizations
is essentially to provide support and assistance through organized
framework to international cooperation. This cooperation aims to be
developed across several institutions over time. The United Nations
(UN) is a premier example for this as it aims to
achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an
economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in improving and
encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedom for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion (UN Charter)
International organizations concentrate mostly on the distribution

of equitable health and social development. Also, these
organizations have diverse networks that enable them to provide and
exchange support across different borders and localize their
implementations of international policies.
The following are examples of international organizations as listed
by Coppee (2011): UN and its specialized agencies; Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); Organization of
African Unity (OAU); Organization of American States (OAS);
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), wherein the
Philippines is a founding member; European Union (EU, formerly the
European Communities); MERCOSUR (Southern Market or Mercado
Comun del Sur); Caribbean Community (CARICOM); European Free
Trade Association (EFTA); and North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) among Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Big Idea
Non-state institutions complement the services provided by
the state.
Nongovernment Organizations
Mostly working in limited territories, NGOs are often characterized
by their intensive collaboration with local stakeholders to improve
their beneficiaries' conditions. Este (1992) defined NGOs as “those
nonprofit, often voluntary, organizations that carry a broad range of
social development functions with and on behalf of people. The vast
majority of these organizations exists outside of government and,
thus, their programs emanate more from the expressed needs of
people rather than from governments.”
Most NGOs aim to promote the practice of democracy among
societies. These organizations are independent, and they encourage
participation from the public. NGOs also aim to promote social
change through their initiatives and organizational methods.
Sometimes, NGOs seek sponsorship from some other institutions
and organizations to fund their projects and programs. Many NGOs
have targeted their efforts toward population groups that tend to be
underserved by governmental programs, including women, the aged,
physically and mentally disabled persons, the poor, and various
social groups that have been marginalized by virtue of race, religion,
ethnicity, caste, and social class.
The World Bank (1989) provides a classic categorization of
NGOs. See Table 11.3.
Table 11.3. Categories of NGOs and Their Descriptions

Category Description
1. Community • Represent voices of people from different

associations communities, and act as bridge between members
of the communities and government
2. Policy advocacy • Have local, national, and international levels of

groups participation; serve as catalysts for collective action
among poor persons in societies unaccustomed to
such behavior
Category Description
3. Service provider • Have national and international levels of

intermediaries participation; serve remote areas and communities
especially those who fail to receive government
programs; seek fund through income generating
activities which are mostly nonprofit
4. Contractors • Involved in sponsored projects as consultants to

government agencies or to international financial
institutions that gain no profit at all
5. Cooperatives • Protect and provide economic benefits to the

needy; are formed when a task cannot be done on
the individual level, such as obtaining credit
(Cernea,1988:13–4 in Estes, 1992).

Track: Academic
You are development manager of a rural health NGO. This
NGO is struggling to involve the community to take part in its
program for maternal health. Your goal is to make the community
members aware of your organization's program for pregnant
women, which includes free checkup, distribution of prenatal
vitamins, and postnatal care. Your task is to create an information
and education campaign material for the female community
members on the programs of your organization. Your output will
be evaluated based on its cultural appropriateness, relevance,
and comprehensiveness.
Interrelationship of Government and Non-state

Institutions
Government plays a vital role in human society because it is
expected that its effort and initiatives must be aligned with public
welfare and service. Personal interest must be the least concern of
the bureaucracy to ensure good will and avoid societal dysfunction.
Failure to perform bureaucratic functions will lead to different forms of
conflict among societies.
How does the government relate to non-state institutions?
Governments are faced with varying demands from its constituents.
When governments are unable to address such demands and their
related issues, non-state institutions create responses to facilitate
government intervention through policy campaigns or even actual
delivery of demanded services and products. Presently, non-state
institutions have been empowered, allowing them to have greater
and wider participation in different societies. This paved the way to a
broader relationship with government institutions (Stratton, 2008).
The ideal relationship of government and non-state institutions is
one that is on equal footing in addressing social issues. Given the
roles that these institutions take, will these two institutions be really
equal? Government rules society according to existing norms and
values in the form of laws, rights, and policies. This reflects how
powerful a government institution can be. Accordingly, if non-state
institutions interfere with the governing body, two possible things can
happen. First, integration among these two institutions may take
place to achieve precise solution towards development. Second,
conflict and tension may also arise because one could exceed the
other in terms of societal control and influences (Penninx, 2013).
Big Idea
A multi-stakeholder approach to development allows for an
equitable approach to progress.
Economic Alliance
In a continuously globalizing world, interdependence among
states in procuring commodities and services is inevitable. The lack
of supply in one country can be addressed by another country that
has a surplus of which. As raw materials become scarcer and more
difficult to procure, economic alliance presents itself as one of the
solutions. This aims to promote economic improvement and, at the
same time, resolve issues concerning closed economies.
The main objective of economic alliance is to produce economic
policies that lead to economic diversity and growth. The ASEAN
Economic Community (AEC) is one of the more recent examples of
economic alliances formed by countries to promote economic
stability and sustainability in their region. In the AEC, citizens of
participating countries are expected to have easier employment
access within the region. The transfer of commodities will also be
made cheaper through lowered tariff rates to promote intensive
economic linkages and free flow of goods.
1. Why is economic alliance important in a globalizing world?
2. How do non-state institutions work with the government?
3. What is the ideal relationship between governments and non-

state institutions?
National Security
National security is “a state or condition where our most
cherished values and beliefs, our democratic way of life, our
institutions of governance and our unity, welfare and well-being as a
nation and people are permanently protected and continuously
enhanced” (DLSU, 2011). This definition is one of the many
definitions attributed to national security.
What are the elements of national security? See Table 11.4.
Table 11.4. Elements of National Security and Their Description

Element Description
1. Sociopolitical • Regardless of social differences, societal harmony

stability must be achieved and maintained through the effort
of the government, public, and other institutions.
2. Territorial integrity • This refers to the permanent inviolability of our

national territory and its effective control by the
government and the state.
• Protection from illegal incursions and resource
exploitation must be maintained.
3. Economic • Economic equality must prevail considering public

solidarity and interest, dignity, and labor's welfare.
strength
4. Ecological balance • This refers to the conservation of the environment

through initiatives and sustainable development.
5. Cultural • This refers to the common set of norms and values

cohesiveness rooted from cultural ethics.
Element Description
6. Moral-spiritual • There should be national cooperation guided by

consensus common deeds, goals, and objectives.
7. External peace • Society must be free from threat, violence, war, and
hostility.
Source: http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/offices/sps/rotc/pdf/ms1/threat-
natlsecurity.pdf
With the growing political clout of several countries, the concept

of an all-sovereign state becomes threatened. This also poses risks
on the maintenance of national security. The maritime dispute
between China and the Philippines over the Panatag Shoal
(Scarborough Shoal) and the Spratlys has been the cause of threat
to the national security of both countries.
Disaster Mitigation and Risk Reduction

One of the areas where non-state institutions are actively involved
in is disaster response. There has been an observed increase in
weather variability that has caused climate-induced disasters in
human population. This is often associated to climate change. The
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) argues
that “there is no such thing as a ‘natural’ disaster, only natural
hazards.”
Fig. 11.1. Processes of a disaster
Source: http://www.fig.net/pub/figpub/pub38/figpub38.htm
According to Figure 11.1, the main cause of disaster is the

combination of hazard and vulnerability. Hazards may be caused by
natural phenomena or by humans. Society and its environment are
vulnerable to these kinds of incidents. The preparations and planning
must be led by the governing body, and they must be followed by the
society under it, making other institutions react also to the given
situation.
Disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) is a step-by-
step process that considers several elements. Figure 11.2 shows the
elements, processes, and flow of disaster risk management.
Fig. 11.2. DRRM protocol
Source: Adapted from
http://www.fig.net/resources/publications/figpub/pub38/figure_3.jpg
Key Elements of Disaster Risk Management

The first step in disaster risk management is the identification or
assessment of risks. It involves monitoring, identifying risk, and
analyzing vulnerability. Followed by the prevention and mitigation
process, management will set up plans and actions toward these
risks and disasters. Then, warning and notice are provided to the
public, which includes evacuation and emergency planning. Last, the
adaptation, or recovery, stage takes place, wherein rehabilitation,
reconstruction, and rescue services happen.
Ideally, the first responders to a disaster are the institutions
related to the government. However, in situations where logistical
support is lacking, non-state institutions often become the first
responders in areas devastated by disasters. In the aftermath of
Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), Leyte and other neighboring provinces
received support from both state and non-state institutions.
Reflect Upon
Sometimes, governments and non-state institutions are caught
in a conflict due to disagreements on policies relating to social
issues. In a 500-word essay, evaluate the interaction between the
Philippine government and international organizations with regard
to the issue of the drug eradication program.
Social Development
Social development is one of the goals of every society. Any
society that undergoes social development is expected to move
upward or attain progress. Social development entails productivity,
better efficiency, accomplishment, and innovations (Cleveland and
Jacobs, 1999).
The pursuit of public health equity, or equal access to health
systems, is one of the primary foci of international organizations such
as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World
Health Organization. Human rights and social justice is the focus of
organizations such as Amnesty International, Save the Children, and
International Justice Mission. All of these examples highlight the
clamor for social development.
On one hand, the government continues to search for different
ways to achieve social development. On the other hand, non-state
institutions also participate in promoting social development through
their various initiatives and advocacies relating to social welfare.
Social development is a very long process that requires proper
strategic planning (long term) and operational planning (short term).
This is not possible without the union of public, government, and
other institutions including non-state institutions that perform a great
role not only in social development but also in terms of social
empowerment.
1. What does social development entail?
2. How do non-state institutions promote social development?
3. What are the elements of disaster risk management?
Essential Learning
The development of humans and the conditions of their society
are goals that are achievable through collaborative engagement
among the community, the government, and non-state institutions.
The success of development programs is highly reliant on the
efficiency of the collaboration of the stakeholders.
Module
Social and Political Stratification
12

1. Examine stratification from the functionalist and conflict
perspectives.
2. Identify characteristics of the systems of stratification.
3. Suggest ways to address global inequalities.
4. Report on the status of persons with disability on their
integration to society. (Enrichment)
5. Advocate for inclusive citizenship.
6. Promote protection of human dignity, rights, and the
common good.
Would you consider yourself or your family rich, poor, or average?

Often times, when you ask a Filipino if he or she is rich, you will
receive responses such as “medyo mayaman,” “may kaya,” and
“ayos lang.” These descriptions do not directly translate to Western
concepts of being poor, middle class, or rich. These categories are
already culturally laden, such that a person who is may kaya is
supposedly richer than the person who is medyo mayaman. The
differences in the statuses ascribed to individuals are dependent on
socially accepted criteria. These criteria enable the creation of
systemic hierarchies that position individuals in either powerful or
marginalized capacities. This unequal access to values and
resources promotes social and political stratifications that perpetuate
the problem of inequality.
Reflect Upon
Create a table presenting terms that you use to describe the
socioeconomic status of people. This may be similar to the terms
described above such as medyo mayaman and may kaya. The
table should be divided into three parts: (1) term, (2) meaning, and
(3) characteristics of people in this category
Social stratification implies the division or classification of

members of society into different strata (singular: stratum), promoting
the development of hierarchy among social groups. Each group is
characterized by a shared common identity and lifestyle that are
brought about by the status ascribed to its members. Hence, the may
kaya (middle class) Filipinos practice a different set of values and
beliefs from those who belong to the walang-wala (subsistence poor).
The disparity in practices and beliefs between social groups from
different ranks of society intensifies in-group and out-group
dynamics.
The creation of hierarchies in human groups is associated with
the development of complex economic systems that required the
specialization of labor. Technologically simple societies that are
based on foraging minimally practice social stratification, if not at all.
At the advent of agricultural revolution, human groups started
creating social categories that can support the new economic
system. The production of surplus resources created economic elites
who were later accorded political ascendancy as they controlled the
forces of production.
Social Desirables
In a society where social stratification is present, social desirables
are inevitable. Social desirables refer to factors that are somewhat
accepted or desired in a certain society. Social desirables may be
associated with social status, popularity, acceptance, or approval.
These factors can be considered as qualities that make individuals
appear as socially desirable in the community. There are three most
desired qualities in every society: wealth, power, and prestige.
Wealth
Wealth pertains to the accumulated economic capital of an
individual or group. The extent of the amassed wealth of an individual
or group usually determines its capacity for influence in decision-
making in society. Marxist perspective argues that the differentiation
in wealth creates social, economic, and political inequality, which
ultimately promotes social suffering among the disadvantaged.
Power
Dahl (Curtis, 2001) defined power as the capacity of an individual
to influence another person to perform an act that he or she would
not otherwise do. This is associated with wealth, as economic capital
permits selected members of society to determine the norms that are
often more beneficial for the elite than for the majority who are bound
to follow them. Power involves benefits and privileges. The power to
determine the course of policies and economy can provide an
individual with distinct advantage as compared with those who
cannot wield influence on others.
Prestige
The last social desirable that serves as the result of the two
previous elements is prestige. Wealth combined with power leads to
prestige. Sociologists define the term prestige as a level of honor in
human society attached to different groups with reference to the
group's occupation. The measurement of occupational prestige
depends on social standing and desirability. The level of prestige
depends on the job professionalism of individuals in relation to
training rather than their job income (Pearson: Sociology, 2005). For
instance, a wealthy and powerful individual is expected to have a
stable and high form of occupation to maintain societal rank and
position. Hence, occupational prestige, together with wealth and
power, has always been seen as the basis of social status and rank
in human society.
1. Why are social desirables inevitable in stratified societies?

2. How does social stratification result in social inequality?
3. Why do human societies create social stratification?
Social Mobility System

Social mobility is the shift in social status or rank of an individual
within the frame of a social structure. Individuals who gain position in
a certain social class may progress to a higher status. The forms,
nature, and directions of social mobility are highly dependent on the
social stratification of every society, which may change from time to
time. For instance, a country or community where agriculture is
predominant indicates a lower social mobility as compared with other
countries (Landes, 2013).
Social mobility may be vertical and horizontal. Vertical mobility
involves the upward and downward mobility, which means a
progression of social status related to class, power, and prestige. It
can be from higher to lower and vice versa.
Fig. 12.1. Vertical mobility

On the other hand, horizontal mobility refers to the movement
from one status to another within the same social category. It may be
a transfer of position to another area but with no other changes in the
position. For instance, a government employee at a certain level may
transfer to another government organization in the same level of
position.
Aside from the above mentioned types that affect status, class,
and position, social mobility may also affect generations resulting in
two types: intergenerational and intragenerational. The former occurs
when changes take place from one generation to another, whereas
the latter illustrates changes within the same generation.
Social stratification occurs in a variety of social structures. There
are four types of stratification systems: class, caste, estate, and
slavery.
Class
Class system denotes the classification of an individual or group
of persons having explicit societal status based on acquired
characteristics. In 17th century Europe, the main qualification to be a
member of a certain hierarchical class depends mostly on three
things: wealth, economic occupation, and power. Nonetheless, this
qualification changes over time, reliant on the existing societies
especially those societies that consider legal differentiation as the
basis of social classes (Social Stratification, 2014).
Class may also be characterized in different ways, but the term
status is always associated with it. Status in a class system is not
ascribed, but it is rather achieved in many different ways. Class and
status differ according to their accustomed modes of behavior, which
include lifestyle, recreation, and culture. The standard of living,
preference, taste, and mode of dress is reflected on lifestyle and
behavior.
Vertical social mobility is seen as a movement in the class system
because it represents an open system, wherein an economic area is
the main concern rather than economic groups or divisions. It
involves subjective criteria such as social class consciousness,
solidarity, and identification, whereas wealth, property, income,
occupation, and education serve as the objective criteria (Landes,
2013). Class system is merely class conscious and characterized by
relations of each individual member toward other members within
their classes and other classes (Sociology Guide, 2014).
The traditional perspective presents class as a three-fold
classification consisting of the following: upper class, middle class,
and lower class. The upper class is composed of the elite group
(e.g., institutional leaders, capitalists). The middle class consists of
the scientific and technical individuals of the society (e.g., engineers,
accountants, lawyers). The lower class comprises the working class
(e.g., laborers) and the poor.
Pitrim Sorokin, a 20th century sociologist, identified three major
types of social class stratification: economic, political, and
occupational (Sorokin, 1947). In more industrialized societies, these
categories are expanded to include subcategories. For example,
middle class can be divided into upper and lower categories.
Caste
The caste system is related to the concept of Hindu practice,
tradition, and culture, which is rooted in divine sanction and custom.
The term caste is derived from the Spaniards meaning “breed.” Thus,
caste also means “race” in society. The Sanskrit word for caste is
varna meaning “color.” Also, Hindu society is composed of four types
of varna or caste known as brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, and shudra.
The Hindu caste system is a closed system, as it does not allow for
social mobility. An individual who is born a Shudra (worker) came
from parents who are of the same caste.
Fig. 12.2. Hindu caste system
As seen in Figure 12.2, each caste system has specific duties

and responsibilities. The brahmins are placed in the highest position
next to the gods, and they include the priests and academics.
Moreover, brahmins enjoy special privileges such as conducting
temple worships and prayers, making them superior and sacred.
Kshatriyas are composed of warriors and kings for the purpose of
defense and protection management. Vaishyas include landowners
and merchants who perform agricultural production. The lowest
position in the caste system is occupied by the shudras, who are
servants and workers for the other caste system. The untouchables
have no caste system, which signifies that these groups are outcasts.
The caste system was created to ensure the continuity and
preservation of Indian culture from the earliest generation up to the
present one (Social Stratification, 2014). However, it has been one of
the main reasons why alienation, division, and discrimination are
present. It is because of the different positions in the caste system,
which are linked to specific standards and criteria, that some
individuals enjoy superiority and privileges more than others.
In the precolonial period, the Philippines had an open caste
system that divided the society according to four categories:
maharlika, timawa, aliping namamahay, and aliping saguiguilid. This
was an open caste system, as it allowed for social mobility within the
lifetime of an individual.
The Indian caste system has proven to be a cause of hate

crimes that target members of the lower strata or castes. This link
leads to an article about the experience of violence among the
Dalits. As you read the article, look into the types of violence
committed against Dalits and the kind of rationalization given by
the perpetrators. Go to http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/11-
major-incidents-of-violence-against-dalits-which-show-how-badly-
we-treat-them-258944.html.
Estate System
The estate system is identical to the practice of feudalism. It has
its roots in pre-Revolution France, where individuals were ranked
according to three categories: clergy, nobility, and commoners. The
final authority in this system was the king. The estate system was
based on existing legal structures that defined members' status,
rights, and duties. The broad division of labor was also present in this
system including specific functions. Like feudalism, the estate system
related to political group participation, and possessed political powers
(Sociology Guide, 2014).
Slavery
This system is the most extreme form of inequality in society. For
instance, slaves are often maltreated by their owners. In most cases,
slaves have no rights at all and, deprived of everything because it is
believed that they are created to work only for others. Ancient Greeks
and Romans allowed various forms of slavery of non-Greek or non-
Roman individuals. This system persisted in Western countries such
as the United States, which only formally abolished the practice in
1865, through an amendment in the US Constitution but with much
resistance from slave owners and their supporters. The condition of
the slaves in the United States can be seen in this quotation from
Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic work Uncle Tom's Cabin, which
sparked antislavery sentiments in the United States that resulted in
the American Civil War.
“But now what? Why, now comes my master, takes me right away from my
work, and my friends, and all I like, and grinds me down into the very dirt!
And why? Because, he says, I forgot who I was; he says, to teach me that I
am only a nigger! After all, and last of all, he comes between me and my
wife, and says I shall give her up, and live with another woman. And all this
your laws give him power to do, in spite of God or man. Mr. Wilson, look at
it! There isn't one of all these things, that have broken the hearts of my
mother and my sister, and my wife and myself, but your laws allow, and
give every man power to do, in Kentucky, and none can say to him nay! Do
you call these the laws of my country? Sir, I haven't any country, anymore
than I have any father. But I'm going to have one. I don't want anything of
your country, except to be let alone,—to go peaceably out of it; and when I
get to Canada, where the laws will own me and protect me, that shall be
my country, and its laws I will obey. But if any man tries to stop me, let him
take care, for I am desperate. I'll fight for my liberty to the last breath I
breathe. You say your fathers did it; if it was right for them, it is right for
me!”
—George Harris to Mr. Wilson
Big Idea
Social inequality is the product of the varying access of
individuals to social desirables.
1. How is vertical mobility different from horizontal mobility?

2. What social contexts result in social stratification?
3. What type of social stratification system did the pre-Hispanic
Filipinos have?
Social Inequality
Social inequality is one of the dimensions of stratification that
concerns the gap between the rich and the poor (Neckerman and
Torche, 2007). In the United States, social inequality is more rampant
than in other countries because of their higher economic capacities
and capabilities. Social inequality is visible in many other social
institutions affecting other social aspects such as gender, capital
(social, political, and symbolic), ethnic minorities and other minorities
(e.g., persons with disabilities), and global inequality.
Access to Social, Political, and Symbolic Capital

According to Pierre Bordieu, capital “is a force inscribed in the
objectivity of things so that everything is not equally possible and
impossible.” The existing social world is innate and depends on the
structures of capital. There are three fundamental types of capital:
economic, symbolic, and cultural capital. How do you differentiate
one from the other? See Table 12.1.
Table 12.1. Forms of Capital

Form Resources Mechanism Characterization
Economic (Marx) Assets Class • Convertible to
money
• Institutionalized
in the form of
property rights
Symbolic/Social Commands, Power, hierarchy • Convertible to
(organizational access, favors economic
control, social capital
networks) (Weber)
• Institutionalized
in the form of
educational
qualifications
Cultural/Knowledge Distinction, Status, • Social
(Bourdieu) authority recognition obligations and
connections
• Convertible to
certain
conditions
Institutionalized
in the form of
• title and nobility
These forms of capital are present in every human society,

affecting social stratification and inequality. The access to these
forms of capital is limited on one's social status. People and groups
in higher positions enjoy more and unlimited resources because of
their wealth and power. Most of these people are popular and noble,
allowing them to gain power in society in the form of having positions
in politics or government.
In general, these forms of capital serve as the privileges of every
individual in human society, which is highly dependent on their rank
and position. Thus, this is an evident form of social inequality
because not everyone has access to this capital.
Ethnic Minorities and Persons with Disabilities

Are you familiar with the concept of social exclusion? This term
defines the inequality between and among ethnic minorities and
other minorities. Social exclusion is the concept of alienating or
dividing individuals or a group in a certain society. Race and ethnicity
have also been the basis of social division in the whole world. Racial
and ethnic differences entail widespread conflict which can be
economic, political, social, and cultural. Racial identity is the main
concern of ethnic inequalities (Nazroo, 2013). For instance, African
Americans often suffer from racial discrimination, making them feel
alienated from other societies. Again, this is a visible example of
social inequality.
Other minorities also experience inequalities and social
discrimination due to specific differences they possess as compared
with other individuals and groups. Minorities such as persons with
disabilities (PWDs) suffer from social exclusion and discrimination
because of their disabilities. From social policies to infrastructure, the
exclusion of PWDs can be observed. For example, the lack of
sufficient PWD-friendly establishments promotes hardship and
further marginalization of PWDs. Consequently, opportunities in life
are limited for them because of the prejudices of people.
Read these news articles regarding the developments of

Republic Act 10754 or “An Act Expanding the Benefits and
Privileges of Persons with Disability (PWDs).”
http://www.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2016/0330_rect
o2.asp
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/849957/implementing-rules-
of-pwd-law-signed
After reading the articles, create a short blog entry presenting
the benefits given to PWDs and their caregivers. Make sure to
use accurate sources and to cite them in your blog entry.
Gender Inequality
Gender
Another widespread form of inequality is gender inequality. This
has been a major issue and problem around the world. Gender has
always been a sensitive topic in every argumentation. Violence
against women and children rapidly increase every day. Gender
discrimination among LGBTQI continues even if several
organizations have already developed advocacies and means to
eliminate discrimination in every society and community.
• Dowry deaths are responsible for the murders of thousands of
women every year, especially in South Asia.
• Honor killings continue to take place in Pakistan, Turkey,
Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Morocco, and
other Mediterranean and Gulf countries.
• Physical and sexual abuse of girls is a serious concern across
all regions.
• Child marriage continues to put young girls at great risk for
too-early pregnancy and other sexual and reproductive health
issues.
• Female genital cutting or mutilation (FGC/M) causes serious
injury to millions of young women every year.
The rate of femicide (murder of women and girls) has
• significantly escalated over the last few years.
Source: http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/publications-a-z/1556-
the-facts-gender-inequality-and-violence-against-women-and-girls-
around-the-world
The cases above show how rampant gender inequality is. Gender
inequalities will only be avoided if gender issues would be settled.
But then again, settling gender issues may be daunting because of
the existing norms and values of the society. Furthermore, several
sociologists made various studies to satisfy inquiries about gender,
issues, discrimination, and inequalities, which also lead to further
approach and studies up to the present time.
Go to http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-
2016/gender-gaps-and-income/ to read a report on the global
gender gap with specific focus on income from the World
Economic Forum. After reading the report, answer the following
questions:
1. What factors contribute to the discussed results?
2. How is gender parity related to gross national income?
3. What is the status of the Philippines in this report?
Inequality
One of the most debated issues in the world is that of global
inequality. This type of inequality refers to the unequal distribution of
scarce resources and values across territories. The divide between
resource-rich territories and those that face the challenge of ensuring
basic human needs and care have been conceptualized in
dichotomized terms such as developing versus developed countries,
first world versus third world, and, more recently, Global South
versus Global North. In all these dichotomies, the prevalent theme is
the unequal access to world resources among countries.
Although the Philippines and Singapore are part of Southeast
Asia, they are categorized under opposing economic development
context. Singapore belongs to the Global North, which comprises
powerful countries such as the United States, United Kingdom,
Japan, and China. The Philippines belong in the Global South which
comprises of economically and politically struggling countries. The
lived experiences of people living in the Global North are significantly
different from those of the Global South, even if they belong in the
same social class. This is to say that the poverty that is lived by a
person in the Global South is significantly more challenging than that
of his or her Global North counterpart (Neckerman and Torche,
2007).
These global inequalities can also be observed in its micro
perspective. In fact, economic inequality is commonly observed in
both economic poles. The divide between social classes is especially
observed in industrialized and urbanized societies. Geographic
mapping often shows the clustering of the rich in one area that
exclude the poor.
Various complex economic structures are created that perpetuate
this system of inequality. In the United States, the rise of food and
recreational deserts is being observed by social scientists. These
deserts refer to the lack of food sources such as grocery stores and
the lack of recreational centers such as parks or theaters in poor
communities. This isolation promotes a string of social problems
such as the increase in obesity among people living in food deserts.
This increase in obesity is due to the consumption of unhealthy food
items, which are chiefly available in convenience stores.
Communities experiencing recreational deserts have been observed
to have a rise of drug dependency and practice of unsafe sexual
behaviors. These food-and-recreation-deprived communities are
situated in societies where other communities are experiencing the
convenience of multiple markets and grocery stores, which are
secure places where various forms of recreational facilities are
available (Barkan, 2013).
Theories on Inequality
For the past years, inequality has been analyzed by sociologists
because it is present in every human society. This section provides
various perspectives of sociologists regarding social stratification and
inequality.
Conflict Theory
Karl Marx's idea of conflict theory is highly based on the modern
society which is divided into two classes: the proletariat and the
bourgeoisie. Proletariats are the workers or the working class. On the
other hand, the bourgeoisie are the landlords and owners of
production (Curtis, 1976).
For Marx, the proletariat or workers are being exploited by the
bourgeoisie. The proletariats were given food, shelter, and clothing
by the owners. However, exploitation occurs without the workers
noticing it due to their false consciousness and mistaken beliefs that
the bourgeoisie are the ones working for them. Marx predicted that a
revolution would happen between the proletariat and bourgeoisie as
the rich became richer. This revolution would involve true class
consciousness together with shared identity that is deeply rooted
from exploitation. Marx believed that a communist society is better
than a capitalist society, wherein people would be treated equally,
and no one controlled wealth. However, Marx's hypothesis failed and
never came into the limelight. As modern societies developed, the
working class became more educated, allowing them to acquire
skilled and better jobs. Instead of exploitation, labor laws and the
protection of working class were developed, letting the members of
the working class earn salaries for their financial well-being.
Max Weber looks into how Marx viewed social stratification. For
Weber, there are other factors and elements to consider in
determining one's social class including power, wealth, and prestige.
As people acquire more wealth, prestige, or popularity, they also
acquire more power.
Functionalism
Summary of Davis and Moore's Principles of

Stratification
The main function of stratification is “placing and motivating
individuals in the social structure.”
1. Each society must (a) place individuals in social positions and (b)
motivate them to work.
2. Some positions are more functionally important than others
and/or require more training or talent than others.
3. Societies place appropriate (i.e., skilled and trained) people in
these positions and motivate them to work by connecting these
positions to better rewards.
4. Thus, the resulting stratification system is functional for society.
Source: http://www.public.iastate.edu/∼soc.401/summary2(jan27).pdf
According to Davis and Moore, each member of society has

specific roles and responsibilities to take and accomplish. Each role
has levels of difficulty, and a task with higher level of difficulty entails
more wealth, power, and money. Davis and Moore also believe that
the unequal distribution of work among people enables them to exert
more effort toward the accomplishment of societal rewards. On the
contrary, Tatum argues that gender and family income is more likely
a determinant of social stratification. Men have a higher place in
social stratification because paternalistic culture has been implanted
to the human mind. A wealthier family has higher capacity of
accomplishing their roles because of its higher income.
Human Dignity, Rights, and the Common Good
Although social groupings and stratification function in promoting
social order and organization, the impact that they often have in
human groups is unsettling due to the issues that they create
pertaining to the achievement of human dignity and rights. The right
of individuals to quality education is often tampered by political
arguments contesting that it should be reserved to those who can
afford it. The pervading issue in the Philippine educational system
that promotes unequal learning opportunities between private and
public schools is one of the negative impacts of inequality.
The structural and institutional sources of inequality promote
social dynamics that perpetuates the oppression of the marginalized
groups. A child who grew malnourished due to his or her parents'
inability to secure nutritious food for him or her will have fewer
chances of performing well in school. This child may drop out of
school even before he or she finishes elementary education. This
would disqualify him or her from securing high-paying jobs. In the
event that he or she decides to form a family, there is a high
probability that his or her children will experience the same process.
The unequal access to resources has the capacity of making
several sectors of society vulnerable to disease and criminality, as
people use their bodies and other mechanisms to secure basic
needs such as food, clean water, education, and shelter. This brings
us to the topic of human dignity, which is continuously threatened by
the lack of basic sources of comfort and need. As an individual fails
to access his or her basic needs from his or her community through
noncoercive or nondestructive processes, he or she becomes
entangled in activities that may be illegal and/or illegitimate to ensure
his or her survival.
The pursuit of the common good is a primary challenge among
societies with diverse population. As each sector clamors for its
perceived rights, the scarcity of available resources poses a
continuous threat to the attainment of common good. In developing
societies, the need for inclusive growth has been brought in
stakeholder consultations. Inclusive growth implies the inclusion of all
members of the society in policies for development. This promotes
the equal chance of every member of society to participate in the
economic development in his or her area.
Big Idea
Equitable access to scarce values and resources promote
inclusive growth in a pluralistic society.
1. Why does inequality exist in human societies?
2. What is the role of social inequality in the attainment of the

common good?
3. How does conflict theory explain the concept of social

inequality?
Track: Academic
You are a TV commercial producer who has been
commissioned to produce a video advertisement of a feminine
product. The theme of the TV advertisement should focus on
female empowerment and gender equality. Your advertisement
should be two minutes long. To accomplish this task, you will
need to work with an advertising team that consists of a
scriptwriter, artists, director, and camera personnel. With your
treammates, come up with a 30-second advertisement. Your
advertisement will be evaluated based on audience appeal,
relevance to the theme, and technical efficiency.
Essential Learning
Humans have the tendency of being exclusive as they attempt
to strengthen the bonds of their own social groups. Such
exclusivity often leads to competition among groups. This kind of
competition later on results in social inequality, as one group gains
more access to the scarce resources in the area. Inequality
produces intergenerational suffering, which can only be remedied if
the succeeding generation gains access to these limited
resources.
Module
Education
13

1. Evaluate how functions of education affect the lives of
people in society.
2. Promote primary education as a human right.
An individual learns his or her society's values and beliefs through

various institutions. One of the most pervading is that of the
educational system. In sociology, education is viewed as a social
institution. It gives society the potential to reach development and
success. Generally, education means the development of the
intellect. It is an act of thinking critically. It can be classified into
formal and nonformal.
Formal education is the term used when a student learns inside
the classroom. A student follows a curriculum and is being graded on
his or her performance. Your experiences in your current school are
fostered by this type of education.
Fig. 13.1. A preparatory school in Southern India
Source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-
wf5d7iQYR7o/VdrqC6i_6qI/AAAAAAAAAA4/s_IFbBkeTLw/s320/For
mal%2BEducaiton.jpg
As a concept, nonformal education emerged in response to the

world crisis in education identified by Philip H. Coombs in 1967, who
argued that the formal education systems have failed to address the
changing dynamics of the environment and the societies. The skills
that are needed to foster economic development are lacking due to
untrained labor force that is not able to access formal education.
Nonformal education enables a student to learn skills and knowledge
through structured learning experiences. A student learns his or her
values, principles, and beliefs and undergoes lifelong learning.
Capacity-building initiatives are conducted through this type of
education.
Fig. 13.2. Capacity-building training for women in Sri Lanka by UN Habitat

Source: http://www.fukuoka.unhabitat.org/gallery/photo_sri_lanka/gallery02/p
ht09.jpg
Notions on education change through history. Together with other
public issues in the contemporary world, education mainly concerns
much of the social, economic, political, and cultural systems. A
sociological appreciation is required to fully understand this matter.
1. What are the characteristics of formal education?

2. What is the significance of nonformal education in a society?
The Functions of Education That Affect Society

As British sociologist Herbert Spencer explains, functions are
important to be performed as they make the society whole. If each
function is working well, society attains progress.
The functions of education are the following: (1) to produce
productive citizens, and (2) to develop self-actualization.
Productive Citizenry
Educational systems enable citizens to be productive members of
society, as they are equipped with knowledge and skills that could
contribute to the development of their society's systems and
institutions. This highlights the importance of formal and nonformal
education in the development of oneself and the society.
Consequentially, it is crucial for educational systems to adapt to the
changing demands of the environment to efficiently capacitate
individuals.
For instance, the Philippines recently adapted the K to 12
curriculum, which provides sufficient time for students to learn and
develop knowledge and skills that are demanded by the global
community. The K to 12 program covers kindergarten and 12 years
of basic education, which includes primary education, junior high
school, and senior high school. It is the aim of the curriculum to
produce high school graduates who are employable to the skill-based
sectors. Recently, some universities in the country also underwent
changes, in which they shifted their academic year to pattern it to its
Southeast Asian neighbors. This move facilitates economic
integration programs that will allow labor exchanges among
participating countries.
Being a productive citizen requires critical thinking. One must
have the ability to understand his or her duties and be able to
respond to them by making decisions. Through education, individuals
are introduced to concepts concerning democracy, power, inequality,
and the like. This promotes greater awareness in his or her society. It
encourages vigilance and participation. Educational attainment does
not only contribute to the individual's success but also to the
betterment of his or her environment.
Go to http://www.rappler.com/nation/40398-als-graduates-
college-education to read an article that looks into the realities of
the Alternative Learning System (ALS) in the Philippines and the
employability of its graduates. After reading this article, answer
the following questions:
1. What is ALS?
2. How do ALS graduates make their experience
meaningful?
3. What factors affect the employability of ALS graduates?
Self-actualization
Education develops one's sense of self. As a huge part of the
discovery process of oneself, education encourages having the
vision to become self-actualized. Moreover, it enables one to see
your strengths and maintain them. It enables one to determine
weaknesses and adjust to them. This helps one reach full potential
and establish oneself as a whole.
According to Abraham Maslow, self-actualization is the highest
form of human need. It was defined as “to become more and more
what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming.”
Fig. 13.3. Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Through education, humans are empowered to experience and

learn their true capacities that lead to self-actualization. Humans also
tend to find boundless enthusiasm in learning outside the classroom,
which is basically through experience. With this, it becomes easier
for them to socialize, to identify a career path, to create self-identity,
and the like. They will tend to have the ability to analyze, evaluate,
and decide on their own.
1. How does education contribute to the formation and shaping

of a person's identity?
2. What are the characteristics of a productive citizen?
Primary Education as a Human Right

Primary education is essential to the early stages of human life.
Humans need education to enable them to adapt to the dictates of
their society. UNESCO declares that
Education is a fundamental human right and essential for the exercise of all
other human rights. It promotes individual freedom and empowerment and
yields important development benefits. Yet millions of children and adults
remain deprived of educational opportunities, many as a result of poverty.
Normative instruments of the United Nations and UNESCO lay down
international legal obligations for the right to education. These instruments
promote and develop the right of every person to enjoy access to education
of good quality, without discrimination or exclusion. These instruments bear
witness to the great importance that Member States and the international
community attach to normative action for realizing the right to education. It
is for governments to fulfill their obligations both legal and political in regard
to providing education for all of good quality and to implement and monitor
more effectively education strategies.
Education is a powerful tool by which economically and socially
marginalized adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and
participate fully as citizens.
Although the UN is such a powerful global actor that can mandate
its members to follow its structure, education deprivation still persists
in most societies. This exclusion is socially constructed in unequal
settings.
Formal education suggests studying in a school or university
where everything is systematic. A teacher or professor explains,
while a student listens and understands. For that, the student pays
the teacher. The last relates primarily to the struggles between social
classes.
The qualities of education experienced by students are noticeably
differentiated. The rift in the quality of education received by students
from private schools and those from public schools have been
observed in both developed and developing countries. Formal
education, in particular, tries to keep pace with the changes in the
economy, as can be observed in the constant tuition fee increases in
institutions of higher learning.
In the Philippines, public schools lack manpower, particularly
teachers. This depreciates the capacity of the students to learn.
Fig. 13.4. Situation in a public school in the Philippines
This issue on education taps the economic aspect of the society,

as classism stands as a barrier to the social development of humans.
This also digs on the impact of social inequality, as a systematic
oppression lies especially on the lower class. They experience
discrepancies in educational opportunities due to financial problems.
Big Idea
Education is a powerful element to enable culture change.
1. Why does education remain inaccessible to some

individuals?
2. How is poverty alleviation affected by a target beneficiary's
level of literacy?

Track: Academic
You are an ALS teacher in a remote barrio in your province.
Because mathematics is one of the subjects that your students
will take up when they reach college, your goal is to teach your
students how to solve mathematical problems involving fractions.
You have to come up with a lesson plan that would let you
successfully teach concepts on fractions (e.g., converting
fractions to decimals, converting fractions to percent, changing
mixed numbers to improper fractions, operations on fractions).
You need to remember that your students have not been
exposed to this type of mathematical processes and that they
have limited math knowledge and skills. Your lesson plan should
have culturally relevant activities and processes to let the
students relate to your lesson. Your supervisor will evaluate your
lesson plan based on accuracy of content, cultural relevance of
processes, and diversity of activities. You can work with a partner
for this activity.
Go to http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2015/04/17/k-12-
unresolved-issues.html to read an article discussing the
unresolved issues related to the implementation of the K-12
program of the government. As you read the article, identify the
key issues and the factors that affected the implementation of the
new education program of the country.
Essential Learning
Education is a social equalizer due to its capacity to empower
marginalized individuals who had limited access to the social
values and resources in the community due to their lack of socially
desired qualifications. As the needs of a society change,
educational systems are bound to change too. In instances when
an educational system remains static amidst environmental
changes, it loses its value as a social equalizer; instead, it
becomes a limiting context to the population.
Module
Religion and Belief Systems
14

1. Conduct participant observation (e.g., attend, describe,
and reflect on a religious practice and ritual of a different
group; observe election practices).
2. Differentiate between the types of religious practitioners.
3. Discuss the functions of religion in a society and for an
individual. (Enrichment)
4. Identify the various forms of religious activities.
Who really determines your religion? When does an individual

obtain a certain religion? Do you really have a choice when it comes
to choosing your religion? These are a few questions that you may
ask whenever the word religion comes into the picture.
Anthropologists define religion as “a set of attitudes, beliefs, and
practices, pertaining to supernatural beings and forces. Such beliefs
may vary within a culture as well as among societies, and they may
change over time” (Ember, Ember, and Peregrine, 2010).
Nevertheless, there remain several issues in defining religion that are
rooted in a dichotomous perspective on it held by most societies.
First, there is the issue on how to delineate between the religious
and nonreligious phenomena. The question to be answered here is
this: Which do you believe as a religious act, and which do you
consider as nonreligious? The Kikuyu of Kenya believe that vomiting
is a religious practice as it eliminates all the evil in a person's body. In
most societies, vomiting is not considered religious, as it is
understood as a typical biological event.
Another issue in defining religion is rooted in the belief in the
existence of a divide between the spiritual and natural world. Some
societies such as that of the Nyoro in Uganda believe that the two
worlds are not separate and that they coexist in one space.
Christians, on the other hand, believe that there is a spiritual world
(i.e., heaven/hell) that is separate from the natural world (i.e., Earth).
These issues present that religions are different in terms of
perspectives and practices. However, religion can be found in all
human societies. This makes religion a cultural universal.
Fig. 14.1. A Kikuyu shaman who facilitates the circumcision process

Source: http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xt/148641933.jpg?
v=1&g=fs1%7C0%7CLP1%7C41%7C933&s=1
Early societies such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Sumerians

used religious symbols and practiced ritualistic ceremonies, which
made religion one of the central parts of the development of human
societies (Crossman, 2014). The earliest record on the existence of
religion dates to 60 000 years ago as evidenced by cave wall
carvings in France (Ferraro and Andreatta, 2010).
Fig. 14.2. The Sorcerer of Les Gabillou in Dordogne, France

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic#/media/File:Gabillou_Sorcier
.png
One of the best examples of the wide practice of religion during

ancient periods is the religion and mythology of ancient Greece.
Because religion has been associated with rituals, artifacts, beliefs,
and ceremonies, the ancient Greeks were considered to have had a
religion or varieties of religions due to their countless religious
beliefs.
Religion affects you and your way of thinking in the existing world.
It serves as a pattern for the actions you take in a day-to-day
existence. Religion is seen not only as a social belief but also as a
social institution that continues to develop over time.
Thus, several social scientists, specifically sociologists, have
been studying religion. Sociologists study religion while considering
diverse societal factors such as gender, age, race, and education,
which also tap other social institutions and the concept of social
change.
Functions of Religion
There are several functions of religion that can be best explained
through various theoretical orientations. Sociological perspectives
aim to look into the roles, issues, problems, and purposes that
religion may serve to people and society (Emerson, Monahan, and
Mirola, 2011 in Barkan, 2012). In this part, you are able to gain a
deeper sense of understanding with the different functions of religion
by focusing on its three major functions guided by three major
sociological theories: functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic
interactionism.
Table 14.1. Major Sociological Theories and Their Major

Assumptions Concerning Religion
Theoretical Major Assumptions
Perspective
Functionalism Religion serves several functions for society. These
include (a) giving meaning and purpose to life, (b)
reinforcing social unity and stability, (c) serving as an
agent of social control of behavior, (d) promoting
physical and psychological well-being, and (e)
motivating people to work for positive social change.
Conflict theory Religion reinforces and promotes social inequality and

social conflict. It helps convince the poor to accept their
lot in life, and it leads to hostility and violence
motivated by religious differences.
Theoretical Major Assumptions
Perspective
Symbolic This perspective focuses on the ways in which
interactionism individuals interpret their religious experiences. It
emphasizes that beliefs and practices are not sacred
unless people regard them as such. Once they are
regarded as sacred, they take on special significance
and give meaning to people's lives.
Source: Barkan, Steven. “Sociological Perspectives on Religion.” In Sociology:

Understanding and Chaning the Social World, comprehensive edition.
Functions of Religion
Functionalism
Emile Durkheim argues that religion serves many functions for
societies. First, religions give meaning and purpose to life. The age-
old questions of humans on their existence and the reasons for
circumstances that befall them were first addressed by religion.
Second, religion reinforces social unity and stability. Religions
establish own practices, beliefs, and ways of worship that enable
people to be united in one place. This does not only bring people
physically together but also facilitates social interactions among them
sharing same norms and values in a certain religious group. Third,
religions serve as an agent of social behavior control through the
teachings they provide. These teachings motivate people to do good
and be functional members of society. Fourth, religions promote
physical and psychological well-being by being the source of other's
comfort and happiness in times of obstacles and distress. Studies
show that religiosity promotes better health and long life (Moberg,
2008). Last, religions serve as a motivation toward social change.
Religious individuals such as Martin Luther and Mahatma Gandhi
instigated social changes in their societies (Morris, 1984).
Conflict Theory
Conflict theory understands religion in relation to inequality and
conflict as inspired by the works of Karl Marx who stated that “religion
is the opiate of the masses” (Marx, 1964). In this statement, Marx
implied the use of religion by the governing elite to pacify the
discontent of the masses. He further argued that instead of seeing
poverty as the direct result of unequal access to resources, the
masses perceive it as a manifestation of the will of the divine, which
promote the belief that enduring suffering would be rewarding in the
end. These views lead Marx to see religion as cause of continuous
social inequality among different societies. Gender inequality concern
also arise from religion by representing stereotypical views about
women being subordinate to men (Klassen, 2009).
Symbolic Interactionism
Looking into the micro perspective of religion, Max Weber's
symbolic interactionism approach argues that religion is integrated
with symbols and interpretations. The world is believed to be socially
constructed. For the interactionist, the sacredness of activities and
symbols depend on the perception of the believer. Hence, the
practice of wearing a veil among Muslims can be either a religious or
a nonreligious ritual as the wearer could associate varying meanings
to it depending on her belief.
Fig. 14.3. Comparative photographs of veiled women
This approach also attempts to determine roles and

interpretations of religion in everyday life. The symbolic
interactionism approach understands religious practices, ceremonies,
and festivals of every religious group or organization as either a
transformative experience or just another form of social gathering.
Animism
Religion involves several social patterns that are incorporated
with different social structures, norms, and values. According to Kurtz
(2007), all religions contain cosmogenies—stories and beliefs on how
the world was created and how it actually started. In ancient times,
smaller societies have this belief of spirits, which are apparitions
believed to be dwelling on Earth with the human race. This is one of
the earliest forms of religious pattern, which is known as animism.
Animism may have started in the precolonial and modern
societies. However, there are several resurrections of animistic
traditions that were observed in contemporary periods. In 1990, the
resurgence of new age movements that believed in the existence of
supernatural beings and entities was observed in Western cultures.
This belief can be traced back to the animistic beliefs of indigenous
settlers. These beliefs based on the spiritual concept of the universe
and that everything that can be found inside it is said to have soul
and spirit, including plants, trees, animals, and rocks. Natural
phenomena and environmental destructions are also understood as
repercussions of the interaction between humans and spirits.
The concept of animism first appeared in the writing of Sir Edward
Burnett Tylor entitled Primitive Culture (1871). Tylor supposed
animism means “spirit” and referred to a given form of religion
wherein humans are aware of every spirit that can be found in the
environment. Central to Tylor's argument are the concepts of “the
doctrine of human and other souls” or “the doctrine of spiritual
beings,” which are based on the foundational doctrine of “psychic
unity” or the predisposition of humans to conceive thoughts and
concepts that are similar.
For the past 50 years, Tylor's argument affirms that all humans for
all time have the capability to understand phenomena through the
observed, known, and imagined universe. This is through the use of
people's own cultural symbols and languages. Tylor also considers
spiritualism as a modern cult that is deficient of human motivations of
animism. Ideally, animism in all aspects of the cultural system make it
possible for the human race to experience phenomena such as
dreams, visions, insights, and experiences.
In animism, spirits can be in either good or bad form. Moreover,
these spirits make interactions and influences on humans in various
ways and forms. For instance, bad spirits may cause negative
energies, possessions, demonic disturbances, and cases of insanity.
Benevolent spirits, on the contrary, may have attributes that aid
humans in acquiring their needs and addressing their issues. Native
Americans try to gain favors through festivals, ceremonies, and
prayers. One of the earliest forms of American animist ceremonies is
the Lakota Sioux War Dance, which was performed by the tribe
Lakota Sioux.
Fig. 14.4. An artist's rendition of a Lakota Sioux War Dance

Source: http://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/images/lakota-sioux-war-
dance.jpg
Polytheism
Another religious pattern that was established during ancient
periods is polytheism. Polytheism is rooted in these two words: poly,
which means “many,” and theism, which means “god.” Hence,
polytheism is characterized by the worship of many deities, which
illustrate ways of life including beliefs, practices, and traditions
(Kowalcyzk, 2012). Polytheistic deities consist of variants of the sky
god, death deity, mother goddess, love goddess, creator deity,
trickster deity, life-death-rebirth deity, and culture hero (Mastin,
2008).
David Hume in The Natural History of Religion (1755) argued that
polytheism was the earliest form of religion among several societies.
The ideas of religion are said to be rooted in the “events of life
including hopes and fears which actuate the human mind” (Launay,
2005). Consequently, these hopes and fears concerning, for
instance, a birth, a sickness, or a bad harvest and several other
aspects are different requiring for a variety of deities who would
address them. Some of the most popular polytheistic societies
include the Greeks, Romans, Indians, and Aztecs (Kendall, 2012).
Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world and one of the
classic examples of polytheism.
Fig. 14.5. Image of Ganesh, one of the Hindu gods

Source: http://www.site.co.uk/system_include_images/uploaded/indian_gods
_1399926724_thumb.jpg
Monotheism
If you are Christian or Muslim, you can consider yourself a
monotheist. Monotheism strongly believes in one god, which is
accountable for all the things happening in the world including the
world's creation and existence. It is believed that polytheism paved
the way for the development of the belief in the supreme power of
one being. Scholars argue that as human societies affiliate with a few
of the gods in a pantheon of gods, they have come to practice
exclusive worship of several deities. This practice later promoted the
ascension of a singular chosen deity to supremacy. Hume (1755)
believed that the differences between polytheism and monotheism
led to the changes of the human mind, wherein rationality is more
associated with monotheism while tolerance is to polytheism.
The development of religious patterns across societies reflect the
sociopolitical dynamics experienced by its followers. It can be said
that religion acts as a mirror of one's society. Animistic societies tend
to have egalitarian practices that allow for equality of access to
power and resources. This is parallel to the status and relationship of
spirits that are worshipped in animism—all are of equal stature.
Polytheistic societies often have a set of leaders who are governed
by hierarchy. Similarly, the gods in a polytheistic religion are believed
to follow a hierarchy such that there is one chief god and many lesser
counterparts. Monotheistic societies tend to have one supreme
political leader, such as a president or a king, which is consistent with
the belief that there is also one supreme deity.
1. How does religion intersect with political systems?
2. What conditions allow for the practice of polytheism?

3. Why is animism associated with the environment?
Institutionalized Religion
When beliefs and rituals are codified and when worship of deities
is structured, religion ceases to be just a belief in the divine, as it
takes on the characteristic of an institution. Institutionalized religion is
also referred to by sociologists as organized religion. Some of the
notable characteristics of institutionalized religion are the following:
1. Wide-scale religious clout – The number of individuals affiliated
with this religious institution is immense that it crosses political
and international borders and cuts across social status.
2. Hierarchical leadership and membership – Followers of this type
of faith system are relegated to sociopolitical posts within the
system, which provides ranking and status. This implies that
access to the divine may not be given to every member but is a
privilege of a select few. The decisions for the welfare of the
religious group are also made by those who hold power while the
members are expected to follow them.
3. Codified rituals – The processes of interacting with the divine and
with fellow members are guided by written rules and regulations
that have the power of the law, such that a member's inability to
comply results in the imposition of sanctions.
The rise of institutionalized religions can be traced back to the

growth of neolithic societies. As these societies grew more complex,
the systems of worshipping the divine became more structured. The
declaration of a country's official religion is a premier example of how
a religion is institutionalized.
Separation of Church and State

In ancient societies, the church and the state are synonymous as
the leaders of the church are also the political elite. Political scientists
refer to this as theocracy or the rule of the divine. In such societies,
political leaders also assume religious leadership by virtue of the
common belief that they are directly related to the divine. The prewar
Japanese society believed that their emperor was the direct
descendant of a god. Ancient Egyptians and Sumerians regarded
their pharaohs and kings as god-kings, as they believed that they
were earthly incarnations of the divine.
As states developed into more complex political units, the
interrelationship between the state and the church has been
redefined to the extent that the church is regarded as a separate
entity from the state. Most countries have mandated the separation
of church and state affairs through the inclusion of prohibiting
provision in their constitutions. The 1987 Philippine Constitution is an
example of this. Article III Section 6 states that “The separation of
Church and State shall be inviolable.” More specifically, it states in
Article III Section 5:
No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious
profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever
be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or
political rights.
However, despite such provisions, the religious culture of the

Filipinos have oftentimes empowered the religious sectors to
influence the political affairs of the country.
Big Idea
Religion is a cultural universal that is perpetuated by an
individual's desire to make sense of his or her world.
Go to http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21721907-state-
winning-church-v-state-philippines-war-drugs to read an article
that discusses the state of conflict between the Philippine state
and the Roman Catholic Church in the country. This conflict is
rooted in the former's “war on drugs” campaign that is accused of
promoting extrajudicial killings in the country. After reading the
article, answer the following questions:
1. What is the position of the church in the war on drugs
campaign?
2. What is the context of the Philippine state's campaign
against drugs?
3. How are other religious organizations responding to the
state's campaign?
Types of Religious Practitioners

Religious practices are performed by individuals in varying
capacities. The four main types of religious practitioners are shaman,
sorcerer and witch, medium, and priest.
A shaman is also known as a community healer. It is a position
that is usually occupied by a male who has fairly high status in his
community. A shaman is also involved in other nonreligious activities
in his community, making his religious function an occasional
preoccupation.
A sorcerer and a witch are poorly regarded in their societies due
to the perceived malevolence that they inflict on individuals. They
have very low social and economic status, and they are often
ostracized by members of their communities. Accordingly, a sorcerer
uses “materials, objects, and medicines to invoke supernatural
malevolence,” whereas a witch can accomplish “malevolence by
means of thoughts and emotions alone” (Ferraro and Andreatta,
2010).
A medium is well favored by members of his or her community as
he or she is involved in healing rituals while in a possessed trance. A
medium is also capable of performing divination to predict future
courses of action. Most mediums tend to be females who perform
other roles when not in religious practice.
A priest tends to be a male whose sole preoccupation is to
officiate religious ceremonies and rituals. Due to his status in
religious hierarchy, he is highly regarded by community members.
Types of Religious Activities

Humans interact with the divine in various forms. There are five
major forms of religious activities.
Magic
This form of religious activity constitutes the “manipulation of
supernatural forces for the purpose of intervening in a wide range of
human activities and natural events” (Ferraro and Andreatta, 2010).
Although popularly related to forms of trickery, the anthropological
definition of magic is more complex than a fast hand maneuver of
playing cards. Magic deals with solving a current problem by seeking
the intervention of the divine through the performance and offering of
gifts. The Native American practice of rain dance to invoke deities to
release rain is an example of magic.
Divination
This religious activity intends to gain from the divine practical
answers for any concern that may range from war plans to marriage
choices. One of the most popular forms of divination is the I-Ching,
an ancient Chinese numerical system that is believed to predict
future occurrences. This was highly popular during the Warring
States Period of China, as military leaders utilized the I-Ching to
strategize campaigns.
Sorcery and Witchcraft

Popularized by modern literature such as the Harry Potter novels,
sorcery and witchcraft have been depicted by media as a socially
accepted activity. However, in most societies where witchcraft and
sorcery are believed to exist, practitioners of these types of religious
acts are usually marginalized and ostracized as they are perceived to
be bringers of malevolence and misfortune.
A sorcerer inflicts harm on individuals with the use of witchcraft
tools such as dolls, wands, and medicines. The practice of voodoo is
an example of this, as practitioners use objects related to the victim
such as hair or pieces of their clothing to cause sickness or pain on
them.
The practice of witchcraft promotes the same effect with a mere
difference in method. Unlike with sorcery that uses materials to inflict
harm, witchcraft only uses emotions and words of the practitioner to
impact its victim. The Filipino belief in kulam sa hangin, which inflicts
harm on the victim through curses uttered by a practitioner, is an
example of this religious activity.
Prayers, Feasts, and Sacrifices

These activities promote a direct interaction with the divine, as
individuals or groups communicate their thoughts and desires to the
supernatural through uttered requests (prayers), celebrations
(feasts), and gifts (sacrifices).
Track: Academic
You are a visual sociologist who is tasked to document the
practices of a religious group in your town. As a visual sociologist,
your method of studying society is through the photographs that
portray the social realities of the people involved. To complete
this task, you should take 10 photos of the activities and
performances of the religious organization that highlight its
orientation and biases. For every photo, write a 100-word
abstract that would point out your findings and key arguments.
Submit the electronic copies to your teacher who will evaluate
your work based on accuracy of context, comprehensiveness of
abstract content, and aesthetic appeal.
1. What are the varying definitions of sorcery?

2. How do humans interact with the supernatural?
3. Why is there a demand to separate the church from the
state?
4. How are religious institutions formed?
Religious Organizations
Human groups create various religious organizations depending
on the political and economic norms of their society. Anthropologists
associate religious organizations to the concept of cult. A cult is
popularly defined as a small group of individuals who have extreme
religious beliefs and practices. On the contrary, Anthony Wallace, an
anthropologist, argued that a cult is “not as group of people, rather
[is] an organized system associated with cultural beliefs and
practices which also make it a social structure” (Ember, Ember, and
Peregrine, 2010).
There are four types of cults: individualistic cults, shamanistic
cults, communal cults, and ecclesiastical cults. The degree of
complexity of these organizations is related to the extent by which
labor specialization is enforced in the society. Figure 14.6 presents
individualistic cults as the least complex religious structure, whereas
ecclesiastical cults are held as the most complex.
Fig. 14.6. Graph on complexity of religious structures
Adapted from:http://nchsholmberg.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/0/1/100
18046/religious_organizations2012.pdf (accessed
30 October 2015)
Individualistic cults tend to be practiced in food-collecting

societies where equality is central to the group's culture. Due to this
group dynamics, individuals are able to access the divine without
restrictions or need for an intercessor. The practice of no role
specialization in these groups further foster the capacity of every
individual to communicate with the supernatural. The Crow Indian
practice of vision quest is an example of this. In this activity, a Crow
Indian male goes on a solitary journey to gain a divine revelation on
his nature and identity. Participants of this activity often return to their
group with a vision of whom they should be and what their goal in life
is. This is not an exclusive organization as it can be merged with
other forms of cults.
Shamanistic cults are similar to the structure of individualist cults
except that this type believes in the shaman or medicine man. This
cult is also present in most egalitarian societies that are based on
economies focused on foraging, horticulture, and pastoralism. The
functions of the shaman includes healing, intercession, and
punishment. The authority of the shaman is rooted in the belief of the
participants on his religious experiences. The capacity of the shaman
to heal is gained through training from older shamans. The legitimacy
of the shaman's power is temporary depending on his perceived
efficiency.
Similar to shamanistic cults, communal cults allow a group direct
access to the divine except for situations wherein the expertise of a
shaman or a witch is needed. This cult is often present in societies
with labor specialization. In such societies, a specific group of
individuals has direct access to scarce values and resources based
on their economic contribution. For example, pastoral societies tend
to favor men as they are the ones primarily involved in animal
herding. In such societies, men are also given more access to
religious activities and rituals.
The most common feature of ecclesiastical cults is having full-
time religious practitioners referred to as priests. This type of cult is
often present in highly stratified societies where individuals have
unequal access to values and resources. Reflecting this
characteristic, ecclesiastical cults encourage unequal access to the
supernatural creating the need for regular intercessors.
Big Idea
Religious tolerance and acceptance stem from an
understanding of the plurality of religious orientation and their
practices.
1. How are religious institutions different from one another?

2. What are the varying definitions of a “cult”?

The US has currently seen the rise of religious bigotry that
targets specific religious groups that are unduly associated to
extremist movements.
Go to http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-true-
history-of-religious-tolerance-61312684/ to read an article
presenting the history of religious tolerance in the US. It will
provide you a background on the current religion-based
discrimination occurring in the US.
Essential Learning
Humans have created religions and beliefs in the supernatural
to help them cope with their daily struggles with their environment.
The type of religion present in a society mirrors the social
structures present in that society, such that monotheism is typically
found in societies that have a unitary form of leadership.
Exclusivist and stratified concepts associated to religion are the
factors that lead to discrimination due to intolerance of varying
orientation.
Module
Health
15

1. Recognize the practice of medical pluralism in light of
cultural diversity and relativism.
2. Differentiate perspectives in understanding the concept of
health.
Theories on Social Health

Social health is one of the most contested territories in public
policy as questions on equality, quality, and availability of health care
remain submerged in international and local political dialogues. Paul
Farmer (1997), an anthropologist, presented the concept of structural
violence to refer to the systemic process of putting several sectors of
society in greater vulnerability to dreaded diseases. Farmer argued
that in the case of HIV-AIDS in Haiti, individuals who contracted the
disease were made vulnerable to it by the lack of institutional
provisions that allow for equitable access to health information and
resources.
The concept of being well, or being healthy, varies among groups
of people, as each group subscribes to its own versions of
explanations that aim to answer for health-related circumstances.
Arthur Kleinman et al. (2010) argued that health issues are best
understood within the frame of the individual's local moral world,
which embodies the rationalizations of individuals about their
illnesses. These rationalizations are often rooted on their set of
values and morality. Hence, a person's interpretation of cancer may
range from a very scientific perspective to a morally dictated one,
wherein such health condition can be perceived as punishment from
god for transgressions committed in the past.
Big Idea
Health and well-being should be understood based on the
specific attributes of a cultural group.
Reflect Upon
With a partner, discuss a disease or illness that is believed to
exist by Filipinos but lacks scientific proof. Examples of these are
usog, bati, and pasma. Discuss with your partner the extent of your
belief on these illnesses and the types of remedies that are often
used for them. Present your topic in class.
1. How does structural violence make meaning to health

issues?
2. What is the local moral world?
Culture-specific Syndromes and Illnesses

“Puwera usog”—this is a catchphrase often heard from elderly
Filipinos when they compliment an infant for its weight and size. This
is at times accompanied by the marking of a cross on the foot of the
child using a saliva-coated fingertip. Is there a scientific truth to this?
Science provides a universal understanding of diseases.
However, despite the breadth of scientific discoveries on diseases
and their cures, some scientific truths on diseases remain obscured
by local interpretations of them.
Is mental illness universal? A person who suffers from
schizophrenia experiences disconnection from reality, which causes
hallucinations, confusion, paranoia, and acceptance of false beliefs.
Banerjee (2012), citing the work of Bauer et al. (2011) on the cultural
variation on the treatment and understanding of schizophrenia,
revealed that even the symptoms of the illness vary per culture:
They found that not only were there across-the-board differences in the
rates of incidence of each of these types of hallucinations (with auditory
hallucinations being the most common and gustatory hallucinations being
the least common), but there were also pronounced differences in
hallucination patterns among the countries (Bauer et al., 2011). West
African countries Ghana and Nigeria had the highest rates of auditory
hallucinations at 90.8% and 85.4%, respectively, while Austria had the
lowest, at 66.9% (Bauer et al., 2011). While most countries had relatively
high rates of visual hallucinations (e.g. Austria: 39.1%, Ghana: 53.9%), only
3.9% of Pakistani patients and 9.5% of Georgian patients experienced
them….
Among the Algonquian peoples in Canada and the United States,

a legendary creature known as the wendigo is believed to exist. This
half demon and half beast creature is known for consuming human
flesh. It is also believed that humans can be possessed by the
wendigo and turn to cannibalism. Western medicine in the 1900s
labeled this behavior as Wendigo psychosis, a culturally specific
mental disorder observed among native North Americans. This is a
contentious label as there are no proven cases of wendigo. Members
of the Algonquian culture argue that their legends have been
misinterpreted by Western medicine.
Another type of culturally specific disease is that of Latah which is
observed in parts of Southeast Asia. This mental disorder embodies
a set of abnormal behavior such as uncontrollable laughter, cursing,
screaming or even repetitive movements and statements. This has
been labeled as a startle disorder due to the fact that the abnormal
behavior is usually triggered by shock that an individual feels.
Although such abnormal behaviors have been observed in
Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand, a similar
phenomenon has been observed among the jumping Frenchmen of
Maine. According to George Miller Beard, a 19th century neurologist,
the French-descended lumberjacks of Maine and Quebec, Canada
exhibited excessive startle reflex that made them highly suggestible,
such that anyone can make them say or do things that they would
not normally do. The connection between Latah and the Jumping
Frenchmen syndrome has not been made yet, as the debate on the
causes of these behaviors continues.
Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrYmQDiunSc to
watch a lecture of Dr. Jessica Dere on the interrelationship
between culture and mental health approaches. After watching
the lecture, create a concept map that will depict mental illness in
the Philippines. A concept map is a visual representation of
concepts and their connections to one another. Your concept map
should highlight the cultural specific notions and practices that we
associate with mental illness. This activity can be done in groups.
The phrase “run amuck” refers to a sudden attack made by an

individual against a group of people causing injuries or even death.
This is rooted in the Malay word mengamok that means “to make a
furious and desperate charge” (Hempel et al., 2000). Although posing
a great threat to security and peace, amok is understood in Malaysia
within the frame of religion, as it is believed to be a by-product of a
spiritual possession of an individual by an evil tiger spirit. This belief
complex allows for reconciliatory processes after an individual runs
amuck. Recent studies have confirmed that this previously exclusive
abnormal behavior is present in several societies across the world,
making it less culturally specific.
1. How can diseases be culturally specific?

2. Why is mental illness not a universal experience?

In the Philippines, the Mental Health Act was enacted in May
2017. This is considered a landmark law, as it is projected that
through this law, the pervading issues on mental health will finally
be addressed. Addressing these pervading issues is important
because mental health issues often lead to discrimination and
stigmatization.
Go to http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2017/04/03/mental-
health-act-expand-education-services.html to read the details of
the Act and identify the key policies that could be created using the
allowance provided by the law.
Systems of Diagnosis, Prevention, and Healing

The process of understanding the nature of the disease and the
actions that must be made to arrest its development vary per society.
In fact, even in one society, individuals are often observed to have
differing opinions as to how their health conditions can be efficiently
managed. There are three healing systems that people subscribe to:
traditional, Western, and alternative.
Traditional Medicine
At the heart of traditional medicine is the local moral world of an
individual's society. This includes not only morality but also the
spiritual perspectives that are held true by its members. Crucial in the
practice of traditional medicine is the belief that health conditions are
interrelated to human and divine interactions. This implies that a cold
is not just a cold, as it can be a form of a reminder from the divine to
pursue morally upright actions and decisions. Healing a sickness can
be both community-wide or individually sought through the mediation
of a healer.
According to WHO (2007), there are six types of traditional
healers based on the scope of their healing functions:
Shamans. The shaman cures the sick using special powers that
he has received during state of trance. Healing is often done in the
house of the sick who is believed to have lost his or her soul. It is the
task of the shaman to return the lost soul to its body to cure the
illness.
Fig. 15.1. A female shaman in Mongolia

Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/12/shamans/drake-
photography (accessed 30 October 2015)
Magic-based healers. This type of healer uses magic to counter

the illness experienced by an individual who is believed to have such
condition due to black magic and curses. The rituals that the healer
can use vary per society. Among the Nyoro of Uganda, such healers
often facilitate the process of vomiting by the sick to cleanse the
latter from all sins and transgressions.
Fortune tellers. Some individuals believe that their disease has
some underlying spiritual explanation that, if learned, can be
addressed and promote healing. Often, individuals who seek the help
of fortune tellers are the ones suffering from psychological and
emotional pains.
Traditional birth attendants. These healers do not only assist
expecting mothers in their process of giving birth. They also perform
traditional massages on individuals who are complaining of physical
pain that may also be rooted in psychological issues.
Trance-based healers. These healers provide relief for sickness
and pain through meditation and trance-based activities. They
believe that the nature and appropriate cure for the sickness can only
be uncovered through meditation. As such, each consultation,
despite its similarity to another ailment, will often produce different
rationalization and cure.
Traditional medicine experts (TMEs). These healers closely
resemble the Western concept of healers, such that the TMEs ask
the sick individual of the symptoms that he or she is experiencing.
Drawing from that the responses, the TMEs prescribe a concoction of
plants and other natural ingredients that are believed to be efficient in
arresting the disease.
Western Medicine
The primary characteristic of Western medicine is its reliance on
science as the sole source of knowledge and information for health-
related issues. The science-based approaches of this system allow
for strict and calculated approaches to diseases. Laboratory tests are
made to confirm the symptoms narrated by the sick. In most cases, it
is highly depersonalized due to the expected practice of
professionalism among practitioners. This type of healing system is
most commonly practiced in urban societies.
Recent issues on global health care that are situated in the Global
South have cast critiques on the immutability of Western medicine.
As some societies reject treatments that they perceive as violating
their norms and traditions, Western medicine took a trajectory of
medical practice inclusiveness. This implies the cooperation between
the Western medical practitioner and the traditional healer in
addressing health issues such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and
other dreaded diseases.
Alternative Healing System

This is also known as complimentary alternative medicine (CAM).
Unlike traditional medicine that competes with Western medicine,
CAM recognizes the latter's importance and efficiency by accepting
its prescriptions and techniques while creating alternative forms of
healing. One of the most accepted forms of CAM is acupuncture,
which is believed to release negative energies through the cleansing
of pressure points. Similar to traditional healing, CAM is often without
concrete scientific basis, but it has been practiced through time by its
followers.
Fig. 15.2. Acupuncture
Source: https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictur
es/2013/5/30/1369940437382/Acupuncture-needles-in-a-011.jpg?
w=1200&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=2527318d891dc92374a3
2494576c0bde
Go to
https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1746-
4269-3-14 to read an article that discusses the intersections
among biodiversity, traditional medicine, and public health in the
pursuit of inclusive and pluralistic health systems. After reading
the article, answer the following questions:
1. How are biodiversity and traditional medicine interrelated?
2. How are public health and traditional medicine
interrelated?
3. How do human activities pose risks to the sustainability of
traditional medicine?
Health as a Human Right
WHO (2013) has defined the “right to health” as the fundamental
right of every human to be able to live healthy through equal “access
to timely, acceptable, and affordable health care of appropriate
quality.” Shown on Figure 15.3, an individual's right to health is not
only focused on access to health care but is also embedded with
underlying determinants (UDs) such as water, sanitation, and food.
Such inclusiveness of the definition presents the argument that
without proper and acceptable access to the UD, an individual's
health will be vulnerable to diseases.
Fig. 15.3. WHO framework on the right to health
In low-income countries, the challenge to provide equitable health

care access becomes a daunting task as other UDs are either
lacking or inefficient. WHO (2013) identified that roughly 150 million
people face economic challenges due to health care issues. This
number poses a critical question on policy-making in countries.
Several questions that rise from this include the following: (1) How
much should the state subsidize health care costs? (2) Should the
state fully subsidize the health care cost for every citizen? (3) What
policies should it be allowed to make regarding the process of
ensuring that its citizens are safe?
Big Idea
Successful medical interventions are defined by their cultural
relevance. Without the acceptance of the recipient society,
interventions just remain inapplicable and inefficient.
Essential Learning
Health and well-being are understood differently across
cultures. The means and processes needed to attain these also
vary per culture. The primacy of western medicine is not
universally accepted by other societies, who believe in the
efficiency of their health systems that are labeled as alternative
medicine. A more collaborative engagement among health
systems can provide a more inclusive and comprehensive
approach to health and well-being.
Module
Social Change
16

1. Analyze social, political, and cultural change.
2. Recognize the common concerns or intersections of
anthropology, sociology, and political science with respect
to the phenomenon of change.
3. Identify new challenges faced by human populations in
contemporary society.
4. Describe how human societies adapt to new challenges in
the physical, social, and cultural environment.
5. Develop a plan of action for community-based response to
change.
What comes to your mind when you hear the word change?
Change is a state of becoming different from the status quo. Just like
humans that experience biological changes through time, societies
are subject to change through the instigation of various factors such
as the environment technology. Social change is a concept used to
portray any changes in human social systems (Stets and Burke,
2003). Social change may happen in any social relationships, social
structures, organizations, and institutions. In general, all changes that
take place in human society that has a domino effect to all social
systems are considered a form of social change.
Early sociologists such as Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim,
Herbert Spencer, Talcott Parsons, and Karl Marx have various
perspectives regarding social change. These thinkers provided
theories to explain the state of social changes in human society.
Comte, Durkheim, and Spencer argue that social change constantly
happens in an identical way. This denotes that all societies undergo
specific processes and stages before reaching the complete level of
evolution or change. This perspective is guided by Charles Darwin's
concept of evolution.
Following these perspectives, Parsons believes that social
change is associated with homeostasis or the state of balance
(equilibrium). This theory supposed that any change in a specific
social aspect necessitates adjustment in other aspects to avoid
imbalance and maintain social order. On the contrary, Marx argues
that social change is a proactive state wherein people will only attain
social change or development when freedom and equality is already
attained. More recent perspectives such that of Tim Dyson's argue
that social change is interrelated with the concept of demographic
transition, wherein the changes in the composition of the population
results in changes in social structures. Series of efforts has been
done to further explain the concept of social change. However, the
argument never stops, as change in any human society remains to
be constant.
Sources of Cultural, Social, and Political Change

All the changes that happen in human society are deeply rooted
on these three aspects: cultural, social, and political. These three are
not mutually exclusive as they are interrelated structures and
processes.
Innovation
Innovation may be in the form of new scientific knowledge, new
beliefs, and additional inventions. When applied on technology, new
ideas and concepts can revolutionize how a population behaves in
response to their environment. As what you have learned in an
earlier module, the innovation in farming methods and technology
brought about the establishment of permanent settlement among
early humans who were primarily nomadic prior to the shift.
Traditional perspectives on innovation claim that innovation is
mostly dictated by dominant groups. However, this has been proven
a limited perspective as simple societies have been seen to have
exhibited the capacity to innovate and alter their established forms of
subsistence and systems. The extent to which a society is compelled
to embark in the pursuit of developing new forms of living and
technology is dependent on the pressures that factors such as
population composition, environment, and economics put on the
status quo. Presently, innovation has taken a great role in creating
new trends in human society. This mechanism explains the
continuous growth and succession of the different trends in every
society.
Diffusion
One of the earliest and most important forms of cultural change is
known as diffusion. Diffusion involves the process of transferring
cultural traits and concepts from one human group to the other. Such
a process involves two cultures in contact with one another. A
specific cultural trait can be introduced to another culture through
facilitating factors such as migration and media. For instance, host
societies of tourism destinations have been observed to have
experienced a form of culture change as locals adapt new forms of
behavior and perspectives from the tourist (Urry, 2005).
The ages of colonization and imperialism have also intensified the
process of cultural diffusion as dominating societies enforced their
culture on the subjugated ones. The Spanish-American heritage of
Filipinos is still observable today in our various cultural traits and
systems such as language, education, public health, and religion.
Even as early as the rise of civilizations, cultural diffusion has been
actively in process, as invading societies bring with them their
traditions and beliefs that were imposed on the survivors of defeated
societies.
Diffusion becomes a factor in social change as it allows for the
incorporation of new perspectives and practices in the existing
cultural fabric of a society.
Acculturation and Assimilation

Cultural change can also be triggered by cultural adaptation
processes called acculturation and assimilation. Acculturation is the
process of learning a culture other than one's own. This implies that it
is geared toward second-culture learning. This process is primarily a
result of the interaction between two cultures. In most cases, the
dominant society's cultural complex is adapted by the less dominant
group. The term is believed to have been coined by J.W. Powell
(1887) to describe the “psychological changes induced by cross-
cultural imitation.”
Assimilation is a gradual process of culture change that allows for
the indistinguishable cultural similarity between two different cultural
groups. This process is often observed in immigrant societies
wherein the migrants often assimilate the culture of the locals to
adapt to the new society's rules and regulations. This characteristic
separates assimilation from acculturation as the individuals who
experienced the latter would still be distinguishable from the other
society. For example, a Filipino who lives in the Philippines may
display certain cultural traits (in his or her language, food preference,
or clothing) that resemble North American culture. However, the
totality of the Filipino's culture is not similar to the North American
culture, as it has peculiarities that are not present in the other (e.g.,
belief in the healing powers of the Nazareno, belief in the existence
of aswangs, tradition of pagmamano). Compare this scenario with a
Filipino who was raised in the United States. Given that this person's
social and physical environment is all soaked in that culture, the
similarity of his or her set of cultural traits would be parallel to those
of the locals. This means that the Filipino who grew up in the United
States would be practicing a culture that is almost the same as the
Americans, as compared with the Filipino who grew up in a US-
influenced country such as the Philippines.
Big Idea
Big Idea
Social change is a constant process experienced within a
society.
1. What factors lead to assimilation?

2. What is acculturation?
3. How can innovation and diffusion promote culture change?
Social Contradictions and Tensions

Social contradictions and tensions are two inevitable
circumstances among societies that can be seen in different forms
such as issues, problems, struggles, and conflicts. Conflicts arise in
every society because of certain societal differences or inequalities.
In many instances, cultural, social, and political differences often lead
to disagreement and conflict. Moreover, people who seem to be
oppressed or violated often form collective action.
Collective action refers to any action being taken by a certain
group who shares common aims and goals to achieve specific
changes or objective that would benefit the members of the group
(Ostrom, 2004).
For instance, ethnic groups with specific cultures and practices
often generate conflict with other groups because of their differences.
Sometimes, conflict happens within ethnic groups especially when
there is a dispute between the ethnic ruler and its people. In terms of
class struggle, those individuals from the lower class are deprived of
rights and privileges, unlike those in the higher social class. Marx's
idea of social change states that the oppressed or the working class
would initiate change through a revolutionary movement. In modern
times, this situation is evident because of the inequalities among
societies. These revolutionary movements may be in the form of
class protests and mass demonstration. The “Occupy Wall Street”
movement that launched street-held rallies and critiques on corporate
interests in 2011 was a result of the public's distaste on the influence
of the financial sector on governments, which exacerbated
preexisting issues on inequality and corruption. One of the key issues
raised by the movement is the unequal access to resources within
the population, wherein only 1% of the population experience wealth
and 99% of it are economically restricted.
Fig. 16.1. Collective action in Wall Street, New York

Source: http://www.brasil247.com/images/2/da/2dab1bb05a2bc0bbc62d8e4
92afa9bcb232cfe41.jpg
Local public services are part of the provisions expected by an

individual from his or her own government. This includes services
relating to education, electricity, health care, fire protection, social
services, housing, and broadcasting, among others. The government
is expected by its constituents to provide these services to them
either through direct administration by its bureaus or through private
institutions that it is funding. The legitimacy of a government is often
measured by the public based on its efficiency in providing and
securing these services for them. Failure to deliver these services
can trigger public clamor for socio-political changes.
Another most common source of social change is the subject
involving gender issues. Gender differences, inequalities, and
discrimination are not yet eliminated in the social world.
Consequently, more gender organizations are being formed, and
several initiatives or measures are being taken to fight gender issues
especially gender discrimination. These organizations share one
common goal—to bring change in the way people see or perceive
the concept of gender and its components.
Go to https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/04/6-ways-
social-media-is-changing-the-world/ to read an article that
discusses the impact of social media on the process of culture
change. After reading the article, create a three-minute vlog
discussing your extent of usage or dependence on social media.
On your vlog, share your insights on the future of social media
and its possible impact on human societies.
Ethnic Conflict, Armed Conflict, and Terrorism

These three forms of social tensions are grouped together due to
their violent nature in resolving social issues. Ethnic conflict is also
referred to as ethnic war and is usually characterized by
homogenous cultural groups having an armed struggle with each
other or with other social institutions. The war that ravaged post-Cold
War USSR saw genocide occurring in most of its former territories.
One of which was Bosnia-Herzegovina, which had the Bosnian
Muslims, Serbs, and Croats attacking one another to secure territory
for their group. This war resulted in the displacement of roughly 2
700 000 Bosnians to parts of Europe and Asia.
Armed conflicts are mostly political in nature as non-state actors
clamor for their rights that are perceived to be withheld from them by
the state. The Philippines has witnessed several armed conflicts with
non-state actors such as the New People's Army (NPA) and the
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
Fig. 16.2. The 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center

Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-
pHwYTJSkSKc/TmzMH3ffGfI/AAAAAAAAADw/EdYkC483NfI/
s1600/Twin-Towers-Burning%255B1%255D.jpg
Acts of terrorism are highly political activities that are meant to

give a statement to organizations or states that are believed to have
hegemonic power over subjugated territories or sectors of society.
The attack on the Twin Towers (World Trade Center) in New York in
2001 changed the political landscape of the United States, as it
launched its intensive campaign against international terrorist groups
such as the Al-Qaeda.
1. Why is collective action crucial to the process of social

change?
2. What are the different types of social tension?
New Challenges to Human Adaptation and Social

Change
In modern times, new challenges have been faced by society that
require members to strive for social change for the purpose of
adaptation and development. Any changes that would take place in
the human environment greatly affect human adaptation and survival.
There are two major challenges being faced by various countries and
societies: climate change and transnational migration.
Global Warming and Climate Change

Global warming and climate change have been identified as key
indicators for policy-making in most countries, as all present-day
governments have admitted to the magnitude of implications that
these two factors can have on their citizens’ lives.
What is global warming? The United States Environmental
Protection Agency (2012) defined the process as follows:
The Earth's climate is fueled by the Sun. Most of the Sun's energy, called
solar radiation, is absorbed by the Earth, but some is reflected back into
space. A natural layer of atmospheric gases absorbs a portion of this
reflected solar radiation, eventually releasing some of it into space, but
forcing much of it back to Earth. There it warms the Earth's surface creating
what is known as the natural “greenhouse effect.”
Fig. 16.3. The greenhouse effect

Source: http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/aqtrnd95/globwarm.html (accessed 30
October 2015)
Linked to this issue is the phenomenon of climate change. The

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2012)
defines this as “a change of climate which is attributed directly or
indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global
atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability
observed over comparable time periods.”
Some of the expected and observed impacts of global warming
and climate change include rise in sea level, increase in wildfire
events, severe droughts, increase in the frequency of severe storms
in many areas, flooding, and increase in weather variability. The rise
in temperature in most areas can also trigger health risks through the
spread of vector-borne diseases (e.g., malaria and dengue), and
increase in frequency of heatstroke and skin diseases.
Although most of these enumerated risks and effects are physical
and environmental in nature, the social sphere of human life is also
affected. The changes in the environment can dramatically alter the
behavior of the society that lives in it. The loss of farmlands to
drought has been observed as a catalyst for rapid urbanization of
some communities, as farmers and their families migrate to the city
to adapt a new form of subsistence (Gonzalez, 2013).
The increase in mortality rate in populations affected by vector-
borne diseases can alter population control policies, which can
require the increase in either birth rate or migration rate.
One of the growing concerns in relation to climate change is the

food and water security of vulnerable populations.
Go to
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S22126090140002
0X to read an article that discusses the challenges on the supply of
food and water among vulnerable populations. In these
populations, climate change-related occurrences damage their key
sources of sustenance. As you read the article, identify the
challenges that relate to the Philippine experience.
Transnational Migration and OFWs

Transnational migration is the process by which individuals from
one country migrate to another country for economic, political, and
social reasons. The growth of transnational migration has been
observed in the past decades as the world becomes more globalized
and technology becomes more complex, allowing for easier transfer
(Duany, 2011). In 1910, Rudolph Borne's idea associated the concept
of transnational migration to describe new immigrants in a certain
country (Ozkul, 2014). The constant migration of people, whether in-
migration or out-migration, creates social changes in societies as
their population composition is altered by the decrease or the
increase in people living in it. Social dynamics is also altered, as
migrants establish networks that are not limited to their own country,
as they also navigate the social sphere of other countries where they
find affinity with similar ethnic or religious groups. Pries (2005)
argues that “transnational networks were taking shape within fluid
social spaces and were reproducing and creating ‘the being’ in two
places simultaneously.”
One of the best examples of transnational migration is the
condition of OFWs across different geographical locations. What do
you think is the major factor that drives Filipinos to go abroad? San
Juan (2014) identified that “on average, 3 400 Filipinos leave daily for
work abroad, over a million per year, to join the nearly ten million
Filipinos (out of 90 million) already out of the Philippines, scattered
around the world.” The root causes of this large number of migration
cases among Filipinos are their families and issues on development.
A huge number of Filipinos are experiencing unemployment and
poverty. This condition gives them the drive to pursue for better
careers and lives by working abroad. Transnational migration is a big
leap and challenge for Filipinos because there is no assurance of
success and development.
The economic diaspora of Filipinos have impacted our society in
broad ways that include both positive and negative outcomes. The
topmost identified positive effect of the OFW phenomenon is the
economic development of the country through their remittances. It is
for this reason that OFWs gained the popular title of being Bagong
Bayani, as their constant remittances to their families in the country
have allowed for a consistent cash flow in the country. However, the
high rate of migration out of the country has also caused the
phenomenon of brain drain, the decreasing number of well-trained
and equipped members of the labor force, as they take job offers in
other countries that assure them significantly higher compensation.
Reflect Upon
One in every three Filipinos personally knows of an OFW. This
is an indicator of the growing number of OFWs. One of the impacts
of the OFW phenomenon is the reframing of the Filipino family.
Because of this social phenomenon, the statistics of one-parent
households to no-parent households are observed to be on the
rise.
In a 250-word essay, discuss your position about OFWs. Why
do you think many Filipinos decide to be OFWs? Would you prefer
to be an OFW? What are the reasons that could make you take
employment outside the country?
Responding to Social, Political, and Cultural

Change
Every societal change entails certain reactions, responses, and
adaptations. Individuals have several kinds of responses (positive
and negative) to these growing numbers of societal changes. Some
easily adapt with the new changes being imposed, but others reject
systemic changes, causing them to establish social movements to
defeat or transform what has been already changed. The following
section of this module gives you the idea regarding the different
major responses to social, political, and cultural changes.
Inclusive Citizenship and Participatory

Governance
The opportunity to take part in the political system is such a fundamental
tenet of the democratic system of government that its very existence is
rarely questioned. People must be able to have their say—to vote, to
engage in political debate and to let those in power know their views on
issues which concern them. This is what democracy is about.
(Richardson 1983:1 in Aulich, 2009)
In a democratic society, citizen participation in politics is
encouraged. However, this participation is sometimes contested. One
of the leading organizations espousing the goal of having more
governments allowing intensive citizen interaction in policy-making is
the UN. In the 2007 report of the UN Economic and Social Council,
the organization highlighted the importance of participatory
governance stating:
Governance entails processes and institutions that contribute to public

decision-making. When those processes and institutions concern the public
sector, the term public governance is used. It can be argued that there are
three categories of public governance: civic, political and development.
Civic and political governance deal with issues that are related to human
rights. Development governance mainly pertains to planning, budgeting,
monitoring and accountability of socioeconomic development policies and
programmes. Participatory governance is one of many institutional
strategies of development governance. Citizen engagement is the desired
outcome or logical end of participatory governance. Participation is a
fundamental goal and object of value in and of itself. That is evident from
the fact that the right to participate in a society's decision-making processes
has been accepted by the world community as a fundamental human right.
Participation also has instrumental value because it can help achieve other
primary goals. In particular, participation can help to deepen democracy,
strengthen social capital, facilitate efficiency and sustained growth, and
promote pro-poor initiatives, equity and social justice.
The need for check and balance in a government that aims to

reduce the systemic risk for corruption is also addressed by the
existence of active citizen participation in governance. A politically
engaged citizenry is more committed to elect public officials who are
qualified and competent. This political climate can only be achieved if
the citizenry has sufficient political trust on the government to
accomplish its societal goals and ideals. The extent by which citizens
can be implored to participate in governance also depends on their
political will and perceived efficacy.
Political efficacy relates to an individual's perception of his or her
capacity to influence the political system toward a political end.
Political will is the extent of engagement that an individual has with
the political system in the attempt to achieve a goal. Given these two
preconditions, it can be said that an individual who has negative
political efficacy and low political will may not be inclined to
participate in the conduct of governance as he or she believes that
he or she is not capable of influencing the system.
Youth volunteerism has been one of the key observable social
changes in the recent decades. Most non-state institutions have
targeted the youth to participate in the implementation of their
advocacies to socially integrate them, as they have often been
related to socially disruptive behaviors linked to forms of deviance
associated with substance abuse. In Africa, engaging the youth to
participate in the achievement of the continent's developmental goals
has been considered a key indicator of its success in realizing a
more inclusive citizenship.
New Forms of Media and Social Networking
Fig. 16.4. Evolution of media

Source: Mike Keefe (http://livinoutloudkat.blogspot.com/, accessed 30
October 2015)
Media has already undergone a series of technological innovation

and development. During ancient times, written historical records
were found around the world, and they served as the medium of
communication. As society continued to undergo changes and
development, movable type printers were used to spread information
to people. Consequently, mass publication was made to ensure that
messages and information reach more people, allowing them to have
enough information and public awareness. As society experienced
modernization, several forms of media—particularly social media—
arose, resulting in modernized development of communication. Table
16.1 shows the most commonly used social media in the present
generation.
Table 16.1. Types of Social Media and Their Characteristics

Type Characteristics
Social networking Services that allow you to connect with other people of
similar interests and background. Usually they consist
of a profile, various ways to interact with other users,
and ability to setup groups, to name a few.
Bookmarking sites Services that allow you to save, organize, and manage
links to various Web sites and resources on the
Internet. Most allow you to “tag” your links to make
them easy to search and share.
Social news Services that allow people to post various news items
or links to outside articles and then allows its users to
“vote” on the items. The voting is the core social aspect
as the items that get the most votes are displayed the
most prominently. The community decides which news
items get seen by more people.
Type Characteristics
Media sharing Services that allow you to upload and share various
media such as pictures and videos.
Microblogging Services that focus on short updates that are pushed

out to anyone subscribed to receive the updates.
Blog comments and Online forums allow members to hold conversations by

forum posting messages.
Source: Grahl, 2014
The different forms of social media have specific characteristics

that can overlap. Presently, these forms serve as one of the fastest
and biggest media of communication. Social media has also been
used as a medium for change. For instance, individuals and
organizations use social media to promote their initiatives and
advocacies, which in turn encourages more support from the
viewers. Social media can also provide information to people across
the world. Hence, communicating thoughts, trends, or campaigns
have become global in scope and on real-time. Talents and
capacities are also shared globally and instantaneously with just a
press of a button. This allowed for the rise of Internet sensations and
global trends.
Communication has also been revolutionized by the development
of texting. From a very exclusive privilege of instant communication
due to the expensive charges of mobile calls, texting equalized this
field by allowing more individuals to communicate with one another at
a cheaper rate. The Philippines has been one of the countries that
highly benefit from this development, as evidenced by the 43%
margin of texters in the Philippines, as compared to their American
counterparts.
Texting has also allowed for the creation of subcultures in the
country such as the jejemons, who are infamous for sending text
messages that reformulate English and Filipino words into near
incomprehensibility, such that a typical greeting of “hello po,” for
example, is transformed to “eowz phowz.”
Social Movements
Fig. 16.5. Social movement model

Source: Champions for youth 2013
As shown in Figure 16.5, social movement is a process that

involves three elements: the individual, the group, and the society.
Individuals are aware of their personal qualities, characteristics, and
values, enabling them to act according to what they practice or
believe in. When they experience any form of change in the society
where they belong to, reactions and responses follow. Then, this
individual finds another individual or group that has views and
sentiments similar to his or hers. As a result, there is a series of
social interactions between the individual and the group, allowing
them to collaborate with same goals and objectives. These goals
focus on bringing change for their welfare and for the common good.
This process paves the way to the formation of social movements
among different societies.
The classic categorization of social movements came from the
anthropologist David Aberle (1966), who stated that movements can
be categorized according to the number of their participants and the
extent of the movement's impact on structure.
Fig. 16.6. Aberle's categories of social movements
Alternative social movements have limited goals that are often

related to specific parts of the structure that specific individuals would
like to alter. This may include social movements advocating for
individual's benefit such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which
primarily functions as a support group for recovering alcoholics.
When the scope of the change intended is limited but the
membership to the movement is on a wider scale, then this creates a
reformative type of social movement. An example is the group of
individuals who joined under the banner of pro-reproductive health
bill during the deliberation process of the law. The change that this
group wanted is the availability of reproductive health options for
everyone in society regardless of socioeconomic background.
Redemptive social movements tend to gather participants from
specific sectors of the society with a goal of radically changing the
status of individual members. Religious groups and cults have such
impacts.
Last, when the change that is expected is radical and the
beneficiary includes everyone, a revolutionary social movement is
created. The communist revolutionary movement in China led by
Mao Tsetung is an example of this, as it changed the entire social
structure of China.
Big Idea
Social change is constant due to the pressure exerted by the
environment, technology, and social movements based on lived
social issues.

Track: Academic
In the Philippines, suicide among teenagers was documented
to be increasing in the past years. Although the number of cases
remains lower than in other countries, there are still a significant
number of recorded suicides in the country.
You are a guidance counselor at a senior high school. Your
goal is to increase awareness among your students on the topic
of mental health and the available services for them should they
have issues that could lead them to consider suicide. Your task is
to create a three-page brochure containing the following
information: mental health programs available in your school,
impact of suicide to families and society, significance of
counselling, and means to cope with personal issues. Your
teacher will evaluate your brochure based on accuracy of
content, aesthetic quality, and relatability to readers. You can do
this activity with a partner.
You may read this article for reference on the current state of
suicide among Filipino teenagers:
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/healthandwellness/52
4070/special-report-suicide-and-the-pinoy-youth/story/.
The Dynamics of Social Movements
Fig. 16.7. Dynamics of social movement
Adapted from:Blumer (1969), and Tilly (1978)
Using a unilinear evolutionary perspective, social movements are

believed to follow a transitory process that commences with its
emergence as solitary units that soon coalesce to create stronger
support systems. This coalition necessitates the bureaucratization of
the movement. As the movement fights for its causes, its members
experience five processes: success, failure, co-optation, repression,
and going mainstream. Whatever trajectory social movements take,
they all cease to exist after sometime.
1. How are social movements formed?
2. Why is participative governance important in social

dynamics?
3. What is the role of social movements in the process of social

change?
4. What are the different types of social movements according

to Aberle's framework?
Essential Learning
Social change is an inevitable stage in social processes, as
social structures adapt to the pressures exerted by factors such as
the environment, new forms of technology, and population shift.
The shifts in social structures are necessary to ensure the survival
of human populations. When the pressures of the environment
remain strong and the social structures do not accommodate the
strains, social issues occur. These social issues then bring forth
social movements that clamor for changes in institutions.
Culminating Output
The fields of sociology, anthropology, and political science

provide us with a critical lens in viewing social realities. Through
these disciplines, we can understand social processes with
scientific rigor and create intervention programs to social issues
with keen relevance. For your culminating output, your class will
organize a one-day development forum for vulnerable sectors of
your society. Your development forum should feature dialogues
and trainings with representatives of different sectors such as
livelihood training, reproductive health dialogue, human rights
dialogue, and social services information dissemination.
Due to the needed preparations for this event, the whole class
needs to function as one unit. You may divide the class into
several program-based committees who will be in charge of the
activities related to the program. For example, the livelihood
program committee shall be tasked to assess the potential
participants of the training, the types of livelihood training that will
be given, and the logistics that will be needed to execute the
program.
After the implementation of each program, participants will be
expected to provide an evaluation of their experiences based on
the feasibility of your training to real-life applications, level of
organization, and relevance of your proposed intervention to their
experienced issues.
Your teacher will evaluate you as a group based on your level
of preparation, efficiency of your execution of the program
components, and relevance of your intervention to the
participating sector.
Rubric
Criterion Poor (15 Acceptable (20 Exemplary (30 Score
points) points) points)
Planning There is little There is a There is
information workable comprehensive
gathered about information information
the partner gathered about gathered about
community. the partner the partner
community. community.
Project The project is There are All parts of the

feasibility almost parts of the project can be
impossible to project that implemented.
implement. cannot be
implemented.
Participation There is There is There is full

minimum participation in participation in
participation in some group all activities.
group work. works.
Implementation The project The project The project is

implementation implementation fully organized
is has order only and
disorganized. in some parts. implemented
as planned.
Total
Quarter Challenge
I. Match each item in column A, with an option each in columns B
and C.
Column A (Concept) Column B (Definition) Column C (Example)
1. Foraging a. Standardized i. Barter

currency
2. Reciprocity b. Residence in new ii. Batak of Palawan

locality
3. Redistribution c. Animal iii. Nuclear family

domestication
4. Market exchange d. Exchange of goods iv. Intensive farming
5. Horticulture e. Hunter and gatherer v. Moslem man with

several wives
6. Agriculture f. Tracing kin through vi. Tribute

male relatives
7. Pastoralism g. Multiple spouses vii. Kaingin
8. Patrilineal h. Transfer of viii. Mongolian hordes

resources
9. Neolocal i. Swidden farming ix. Money
10. Polygamy j. Domestication of x. Chinese lineage

plants and animals
II. Answer each question in 300 words. Provide examples to

strengthen your arguments.
1. How can social change occur in a pluralistic society?
2. How do non-state institutions promote social justice?
3. Why is religion significant in promoting social order?
4. How does David Easton's model discuss the political
process?
5. Why are social organizations crucial to the process of social
development?
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DIWA Senior High School Series:

Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics

Philippine Copyright 2019 by DIWA LEARNING SYSTEMS INC

Editorial, design, and layout by .

Published and exclusively distributed by

This book is produced by an academic publisher whose quality

The world is an increasing culturally plural environment.

As a book that is engineered to meet the demands of 21st

Understanding yourself within the framework of a greater

Unit I Development of Humans as

Unit II Humans and Institutions

■ Demonstrate understanding of the following:

At the end of this module, I can:

Nationality and Ethnicity

Beyond Walls 1.1 Go Online

How Pinoy are you? Visit

Apart from the varying cultural backgrounds and ethnicity, human

Fig. 1.2 Participants of the 2012 Pride March in Manila

Developments in the understanding of human diversity with

Beyond Walls 1.2 Go Online

SOGIE can be quite confusing for individuals whose

In the Philippines, our indicators of social class are different,

What Have I Learned So Far?

1. How is social class constructed?

In the United States, social inequality remains a pervading

Today, religion has evolved to promote far complex forms of

Here is a graphical distribution of the world's population by its

Beyond Walls 1.4 Read and Answer

The interrelationship between religious orientation and

Beyond Walls 1.5 Apply It in Real Life

Extend Your Knowledge

At the end of this module, I can:

Fig. 2.1. The human brain and its parts

Fig. 2.2. Brain size comparison among primates

2. Our speaking capacity

Traditional scientific belief pegs the development of language at

3. Our gripping capacity

The hand of a human has digits (fingers) that are straight, as

4. Our walking/standing capacity

What Have I Learned So Far?

1. How was culture developed through the physical changes

Human Origins and the Capacity for Culture

Fig. 2.5. Timeline of human evolution

The Oldowan Industry

Fig.2.6. Percussion flaking method

These forms of technology allowed for the species to “butcher

The Acheulian Industry

Fig. 2.7. Bifacial stone tool from the Acheulian industry

This industry was named after Saint Acheul, a patron saint in

The Mousterian Industry

Fig. 2.8. A Mousterian tool

The Aurignacian Industry

Fig. 2.10. Cave painting of a bison in El Castillo Cave

Apart from the animal-themed figurines, archaeologists also

Fig. 2.11. The Venus of Hohle Fels

The earliest evidence of music appreciation was also related to

Fig. 2.12. The Hohle Fels bone flute

The Magdalenian Industry

What Have I Learned So Far?

1. How is percussion flaking essential to the Oldowan industry?

Processes of Cultural and Sociopolitical

The Neolithic Revolution

Table 2.1. Characteristics of Paleolithic and Neolithic Societies