Structural-Functionalism

Views society as a system with parts and these

1 Introduction to Social Sciences
parts have their respective functions to perform

Sociology Emile Durkheim and Anomie

Anthropology ❖ Societal condition of too little social
Political Science regulation
❖ Societal values are changing or poorly
Sociology defined.
Etymology or Origin: Latin word socius which ❖ Rewards are uncertain
means company & Greek word logia which means ❖ Unpredictability of life
the study of ❖ Personal condition or experience that is a
Literal Meaning: Socius + Logia – “the study of result of to little social regulation
groups” ❖ Feeling of aimlessness, disconnect and
Definition: The study of human behaviour in despair
society.
People who study the field: Sociologists Emile Durkheim on Suicide
Anomic Suicide
Ubiquity of social forces Occurs when the disintegrating forces in the society
make individuals feel lost or alone
Sociology and Sociological Imagination
Altruistic Suicide
Charles Wright Mills Occurs where there is excessive regulation of
The intersection between biography and history individuals by social forces
“…the vivid awareness of the relationship between
private experience and the wider society.” (Mills, Egoistic Suicide
1959) Occurs when people feel totally detached from the
society
Troubles vs. Issues
Troubles Conflict Theory and Symbolic-Interactionism
Privately felt problems that spring from events or Conflict Theory
feelings in a person’s life Within a society, wealth, prestige and power are
always scarce.
Issues
Affect large numbers of people and have their Symbolic Interactionism
origins in the instituted arrangements and history of Society is composed of symbols that people use to
a society establish meaning.

History of Sociology
The Age of Enlightenment
❖ Age of Reason Anthropology
❖ Weakening of the Monarchies Etymology or Origin: Greek words anthrope which
❖ Rise of Capital means man & logia which means the study of
❖ Industrial Revolution Literal Meaning: Anthrope + Logia – “the study of
man”
August Comte (1798-1857) Definition: The study of man’s culture and his
❖ Father of Sociology developments, achievements, customs, beliefs
❖ Positivist and language.
❖ Scientific observation and description as the People who study the field: Anthropologists
highest form of knowledge
Humanity in a cross-cultural and holistic
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) manner
❖ Instrumental in the formalization and later
recognition of Sociology as the new science Anthropology as a Holistic Perspective
of the study of society ❖ The various parts of human culture and
❖ Suicide (Le Suicide) in 1897 biology must be viewed in the broadest
❖ Anomie possible context in order to understand their
interconnections and interdependence.
Social Facts ❖ “People often see what they believe, rather
Power of ideas to create social realities for than what appears in their eyes”
members of society
Anthropology as a Cross-cultural Perspective
Uncover principles of behaviour that apply to all
human communities”
Cultural Universal
Patterns of similarity within an array of differences
Cultural Diversity
A range of different societies of people of different
origins, religions and traditions all living and
interacting together
Bases of diversity are culturally dictated
Determined by geographies, environments and
ecologies
The Branches of Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
Focuses on humans as biological organism
Traces evolutionary & biological variation
Cultural Anthropology
Focuses with the study of human societies and
culture, and their development
Linguistic Anthropology
Human languages and may deal with the
description of a language
Archaeology
The study of human cultures through the recovery
and analysis of material remains
History of Anthropology
The Age of Discovery
❖ Age of Exploration
❖ Travelled around the world in search for
new trade routes
❖ Colonization
❖ "a child of Colonization”
❖ Missionary Documentaries as tools to
subjugate the natives
Ethnography
A research design or a specific research method
where people are observed in their natural
environment
Political Science
Etymology or Origin: Greek word polis which
means city-states and Latin word scientia which
means to know
Literal Meaning: Polis + Scientia – “to know the
state”
Definition: The study of government; the
analysis of political activity and behaviour and
power.
People who study the field: Political Scientists
"Homo Politicus: Man by Nature is a Political
Animal". Aristotle
Politics as an Essentially Contested Concept
Politics { The art of government, public affairs,
compromise and consensus, and power.
Politics and Political Science
❖ Political science is the systematic study of
government and politics.
❖ Politics as the process of who gets what,
when, and how.
Power as the currency of politics
Ability to influence the behaviour of others in a
manner not of their choosing
Elites: the groups that wield power
Control resources (material and non-material)
Authority as legitimate power
Acknowledged duty to obey
Political scientists “see themselves engaged in
revealing the relationships underlying political
events and conditions, and from these revelations
they attempt to construct general principles about
the way the world of politics works”.
Political Science and the Social Construct
Political Science problematizes the nature of power
and studies how possession and exercise of power
can shape individual actions and collective
decisions.
Social Contract Theory
❖ Establishing a political community that
would protect the collective good
❖ How each party would fulfil the contract
❖ Bringing back the individual to the political
2 Aspects Of Culture
Concepts and Its Importance
❖ Created and have been used to have a firm
grip of phenomenon
❖ “The rational purport of a word or a
conception” (Pierce, 1998)
❖ One of the great tools of all scientific
knowledge (Weber, 1946)
❖ Heuristic tool that allows the discovery of
new aspects of a phenomenon
Culture, Society and Politics as Conceptual Tools
Society
A group of interacting persons living in a definite
territory and sharing common customs, beliefs,
traditions and values
Culture
“…that complex whole which includes knowledge,
beliefs, art, law, morals, customs and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by a person as a
member of society.” (Tylor, 1871)
 7. Culture is Gratifying and Idealistic
Politics Culture satisfies our needs and wants.
❖ The activity through which people make,
preserve and amend the general rules Functions of Culture
under which they live. ❖ Culture defines situations.
❖ Students as Social Beings ❖ Culture defines attitudes, values and
❖ Social constructs reflect shared ideas or goals.
perceptions that exist only because people ❖ Culture defines myths, legends and the
in a group or society accept that they do. supernatural.
❖ Identities are created by interactions with ❖ Culture provides behavioural patterns.
other people and our reaction to the
expectations of society.
3 Interpretative Dynamics of Society
Aspects of Culture
“A society is an organized group of individuals. A
culture is an organized group of learned responses. What is a Society?
The individual is a living organism capable of A group of interacting persons living in a definite
independent thought, feeling, and action, but his territory and sharing common customs, beliefs,
interdependence is limited and all his resources are traditions and values
profoundly modified by contact with the society and
culture in which he develops” -Ralph Linton Society as a concept
❖ Exploration of a Social Phenomena
The Link Between Culture and Society ❖ Represents the Ideal
A society cannot exist apart from society ❖ Subject to Change
Interdependence between culture and society
Society as a Facticity: Society as God
Forms of culture All-Knowing: Omniscience
Material All-Powerful: Omnipotence
Physical manifestation of culture Everywhere: Omnipresence

Non-material
Intangible manifestation of culture

Characteristics of culture
1. Culture is Social because it is a product
of behaviour
Culture is a product of society that is developed
through social interaction.
Product of experience

2. Culture varies from society to society.

Distinguishes one society to another.
Culture is a product of society.

3. Culture is Shared Omniscience

Patterns of learned behaviour and its results are Labels
possessed not by one or few persons but usually, a
large group. Omnipotence
Education is the process of acquisition of
4. Culture is Learned knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.
Culture is not inborn.
Men learn from others. Omnipresence
Agents of Socialization are present everywhere
5. Culture is transmitted among members
of society
Handed-down by people from one generation to
generation What Makes Society Possible: Three Theoretical
Perspectives
6. Culture is Continuous and Cumulative
Culture becomes broader over time because of the What is a Theory?
incorporation of new ideas and practices. General principle or body of principles that offers to
explain phenomena
Structural-Functionalism and Social Order
Structural-Functionalism
❖ Functionalism
❖ Society is made possible by cooperation
and interdependence.
❖ Views society as a system with parts and
these parts have their respective functions
to perform
Conflict Theory and Conflict
Conflict Theory
❖ Karl Marx
❖ Society can be best studied through conflict
and power struggle.
❖ Within a society, wealth, prestige and power
are always scarce.
❖ Social Change and Dynamism
Symbolic Interactionism and Meaning Making
Symbolic Interactionism
❖ Society is composed of symbols that people
use to establish meaning.
❖ Actions depend on meaning
❖ Different people assign different meaning.
❖ Meanings of something can change.
Rules: Invisible Hand of Society
❖ Rules are guides in the performance of
roles and in everyday actions and
interactions.
❖ Essesntial in the everyday conduct of man
❖ Written and Unwritten
4 Biological and Sociological Evolution
What is Evolution?
Organisms, Species, and Molecular Level
Cultural and Biological Evolution
Biological Evolution
The changes, modifications and variation in the
genetics and inherited traits of the biological
population from one generation to another.
Mechanisms of Biological Evolution
Mutation
Changes in form or nature
Migration
Movement from one place to another
Genetic Drift
Random changes in gene pool
Natural Selection
Environment or nature selects
The Theory of Natural Selection
❖ The process by which certain inherited traits
make it easier for some individuals to thrive
and multiply, changing the genetic make-up
of populations over time.
❖ Changes caused by the environment or
nature
Charles Darwin
❖ HMS Beagle
❖ Surveying expedition around the world to
introduce his theory in 1830s
❖ Barnacles, Earthworms, Birds, Rocks,
Tortoise, Fossils, Fish, and Family (Weaker
and Sickly Descendants)
Adaptation
The way in which organisms seemed to be nearly
ideally shaped to enhance their survival and
reproduction in specific environments.
Fitness
Relative ability to survive and create offspring.
The Theory of Natural Selection's four (4)
principles:
❖ Variation
❖ Heritability
❖ High rate of population growth
❖ Differential Reproductive Success
Every species is made up of a variety of individuals
where some are better adapted to their
environments compared to others.
Variation
Different members of a population have all kinds of
individual variations.
❖ Phenotype
Organisms produce progeny with different sets of
traits that can be inherited.
Heritability
Different members of a population have all kinds of
individual variations.
Most populations have more offspring each year
than local resources can support leading to a
struggle for resources.
❖ Thomas Malthus
❖ Struggle for resources
Organisms that have traits most suitable to their
environment will survive and transfer these
variations to their offspring in subsequent
generations.
❖ Differential Reproductive Success
❖ Survivor of the fittest
Human Evolution
The lengthy process of change by which people
originated from apelike ancestors (Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History, 2016).
Scientists study the changes in the physical body of
humans and their behaviour.
❖ Phenotype

What is studied in Human Evolution

Shape and size of the brain, Dentition (Teeth),
Fingers, Posture, Movement, and Bipedalism
(Walking on the two feet in an upright position) The Australopithecus: General Characteristics
❖ Brain Size: 1/3 of the Modern Human Brain
Fossils and Artifacts ❖ Upright & Biped
Fossils ❖ Unable to Talk
❖ The human, plant and animal remains that ❖ Lived in Small Social Groups
have been preserved through time. ❖ Tool Users
❖ Human/Animal Teeth ❖ Stones and Sticks for digging
❖ Bone fragments ❖ Food Scavengers
❖ Insects, eggs, plants, fruits and sometimes
Artifacts meat
❖ Objects that were made and used by men
❖ Tools The Australopithecus: Lucy
❖ Earthenware ❖ Lucy in the Sky by the Beatles
❖ Ceramics ❖ Dr. Donald Johanson
❖ Hadar, Ethiopia
From Hominids to Homo Sapiens: The Biological ❖ Considered as the most famous hominid
and Cultural Evolution of Modern Humans fossil
Scientists believed that the evolution of modern ❖ Earliest Ancestor of Modern Humans
humans follows an evolutionary ladder.
The Homo
Hominids ❖ Disappearance of Australopithecus in the
The general terms used by scientists to categorize evolutionary map
the group of early humans and other humanlike ❖ “Missing link”
creatures that can walk erect during the prehistoric ❖ Replaced by a more intelligent type of
times. Hominids called Homo
❖ Bigger Brains
❖ Sahelanthropus ❖ Tool Making abilities
❖ Ardipithecus ❖ Fossil evidences suggest that the Homo
❖ Australopithecus first lived in Africa
❖ Homo
❖ Homo habilis (Handy Man)
The Australopithecus ❖ Homo Erectus (Upright Man)
❖ 5,000,000 – 1,000,000 Years Ago ❖ Homo Sapiens (Wise Man)
❖ First Stage of Human Evolution
❖ “Southern Ape” The Homo Habilis
❖ Had two species: ❖ Handy Man
➢ Gracile austrolopithecine ❖ Ability to produce tools
➢ Robust austrolopithecus ❖ Oldowon (Olduvai George, Tanzania)
❖ Hunting and Gathering
❖ Height: 3 to 4 feet
❖ Brain Size: Half of the Modern Human

The Homo Ergaster and the Homo Erectus

The Homo Ergaster
❖ Working Man
❖ 1.8 MYA
❖ Interchanges with the Homo erectus in
terms of features
❖ Height: 5 ft
❖ Brain Size: 2/3 of the Modern Human
 ❖ Walks Upright
The Homo Erectus
❖ The Upright Man
❖ More intelligent and more adaptable
compared to the Homo habilis
❖ Invention and development of new
technologies to respond to their needs
❖ Cutting, digging and scraping (Hand axe)
❖ Skillful Hunters, Usage of Fire, Living in
Caves, and Cooking.
❖ Protection from wild animals
❖ Spoken Language, Control of the
environment, and Cooperative Hunting
❖ Names of plants and animals
❖ Development of spirituality
❖ The First Homo to leave Africa
❖ Asia, Southern Europe
❖ The First Homo to live and survive in Asia
❖ Java Man (Discovered in Java, Indonesia
by Eugene Dubois)
❖ Peking Man (Zhoukoudian, China in 1920s)
The Homo Sapiens
❖ The Thinking Man
❖ Physical anatomy is very similar to modern
human beings.
❖ Brain size: Similar to Modern Humans
(Large Brain)
❖ Lived in Shelters, Used fire, Food gatherers,
Hunted Animals, and Ate plants and fruits.
❖ Shellfish (164, 000 MYA)
❖ Physical anatomy is very similar to modern
human beings.
❖ Sophisticated and smoothened tools
❖ Stone tools, Fish Hooks, Harpoons, Bow
and Arrow, Spear Throwers, and Sewing
Needles
Homo Sapiens
❖ Homo heidelbergensis
❖ Homo neandethalensis
❖ Homo sapiens sapiens
The Homo Sapiens: Cro-Magnon
❖ First skeleton fossil to be considered as
species of Modern Human
❖ Oldest population of Homo sapiens in
Europe
❖ Believed to have migrated in Europe and
Asia from Africa
❖ Excavated in a Rock Shelter in France
Socio-cultural and Political Evolution: The
Development of Societies
What is Cultural Evolution?
❖ The changes in culture from a simple form
to a more complex form.
❖ AKA Socio-Cultural Evolution
❖ Adaptation to the environment
❖ Reflected in different tools and other
human-made objects
Socio-Cultural Evolution
1. Pre-Industrial Societies
a. Hunting & Gathering, Pastoral,
Horticulture, and Agricultural
2. Industrial Societies
3. Post-Industrial Societies
Societies
Hunting and Gathering Societies
❖ People relied heavily on nature for food.
❖ Main form of Food Production:
❖ Hunting Animals
❖ Gathering Plants and Vegetation
❖ Men and women were equals.
❖ People were nomadic.
❖ Population varied.
❖ The family was the main social unit.
❖ Development of spiritual beliefs that were
based on nature.
❖ Shaman
❖ Spiritual & Political Leader
Horticultural and Pastoral Societies
❖ Developed 10,000 years ago
❖ Societies were considered semi-sedentary.
❖ Food surplus
❖ Held a number of population
❖ Started social inequalities
Pastoral Societies
❖ Dry regions of the world
❖ Main form of food production:
❖ Domesticated Animals
❖ Supported a population
❖ Small-scale trading
Horticultural Societies
❖ Main form of food production:
❖ Fruits and vegetables
❖ Land Availability
❖ Simple forms of hand tools
❖ Hoes & digging sticks to bore holes to plant
seeds.
Agricultural Societies and Neolithic Revolution
The transition from hunting and gathering to
agriculture.
Agricultural Societies
❖ Main form of food production:
❖ Animals
❖ Crops
❖ Fruits
❖ Vegetables
❖ Development of Irrigation and New Farming
Techniques.
❖ Wheat, Barley, Peas, Rice & Millet were
cultivated (8000 BCE-3500 BCE)
❖ Development of Cities
 ❖ Advancements in technology
❖ Money became a form of exchange.

Industrial Societies
❖ Started during the Industrial Revolution
(1780-1850)
❖ Economy shifted from food production to
production of manufactured goods.
❖ Industrialization
❖ Produced changes in the society:
❖ Urbanization
❖ Central Workplace
❖ Complex social systems
❖ Formal Education
❖ Diseases
❖ Child labour
❖ Competition for Social Position

Post-Industrial Societies
❖ Economic activity is centred on providing
information & services.
❖ Computers and Information Technology
❖ Standard of living and quality of life
improved.