Lesson 1 Introduction to

Sociology and Anthropology

Anthropology
 The term is derived from the
Greek words anthropos
meaning “human” and logos
meaning “word” or “study of.”
 Simply, it is the study of
mankind.
Anthropologists attempt
to find answers on so
many questions involving
humans.
Example: Interest in
knowing the origins of
human-kind.
 They also concerned on
various physical changes
humans have undergone in the
past.
 Branches of
Anthropology
1. Physical Anthropology
 Also called as biological
anthropology.
 It is the study of human biology
within the environment of
evolution.
 Primarily on the origins of
species.
 The study human fossil remains.
Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859)
Subdisciplines
Paleoanthropology

Human evolution,
earlier hominids
Genetics
 Gene structure, patterns of
inheritance of traits
Primatology
 Non-human primates
Osteology
 Skeletal remains
Paleopathology
Trace of disease and inquiry
in human skeletal remains.
Forensic Anthropology
Analysis
and identification
of human remains.
2. Cultural Anthropology
 Also called as Social
Anthropology.
 Involves the study and
comparative analysis of pre-
literate societies, including all
aspects of human behavior.
Aspects of culture such as:
 Religion
 Ritual
 Myth
 Technology
 Gender roles
 Kinship forms
 Economic structure
 Music
Subdisciplines
Ethnography
 Provides descriptive accounts
which form the basis for
comparative studies of many
cultures.
Ethnographer
 Spends long period of time in
a community under study
while he or she talks to
people, observes their ways
and thoughts and records
these observations
afterwards.
Subdisciplines
Urban anthropology

Issues of inner
cities such as
poverty,
immigration, and
social stratification.
Medical Anthropology

Relationship
between culture
and health or
disease.
Example:
 Bagobo inhabitants of Davao bury their
dead relative to neighborhood.
 T’boli of South Cotobato hangs corpses
of dead infant on trees.
Economic Anthropology

Distributionof goods
and resources within
and between cultures.
Archaeology
 Involvesthe study of earlier
cultures and ways of life by
way of retrieving and
examining the material
remains of previous human
societies.
Archaeologist attempts to
reconstruct people with the
everyday life and customs
of early people, they also
seek to explain different
cultural changes.
Linguistic Anthropology
 Also called as anthropological
linguistics is the study of human
speech and language as well as the
various changes that have taken place
over time.
 It tries to comprehend different
processes in human communication,
language variation , and language use.
Subdisciplines
Historical linguistics
Attempts to explain how
numerous languages have
changed in the past and
their possible links to one
another.
Sociology
 Itis a field of study dealing
with the systematic study of
patterns of human interaction.
 This term is derived from
socius meaning “companion”
and from the greek word
logos meaning “word” or
“study”.
Sociologist attempt to
unravel patterns in group
behavior and not on specific
expressions of individual
being.
Sociology is a science
 Science is a systematized body of
knowledge or facts.
 Sociology deals with the
systematized or organized body
of facts about patterns of human
interactions, group of life, and of
people living in interdependence.
Branches
General Sociology
Deals with the properties
and homogenity common
to all social and cultural
phenomena, including those
characteristics found among
groups.
Special Sociology
Focuses on specific
sociocultural phenomenon
usually selected for further
study, including socialization,
interaction, conflict and
domination.
Theoretical Sociology
 Under this branch of Sociology, the
theories of Karl Marx, Auguste Comte,
Max Weber, Emile Durkhaim, Sorokin, etc
are studied under the theories of
sociology. These theories are based on
theoretical perspectives and the
assumption that social systems like family,
roles, culture, social structure, and society
as a whole exists and are real.
 For example, sociologists analyze different
books and theories like ‘The theories of
“Economic determinism” and the “Theory
of Suicide” by Emile Durkhaim. These
theories help sociologists in organizing
ideas and thoughts amidst the huge
cluster of theories available and utilizing
them simultaneously.
Historical Sociology
 Another name in the list of branches of
Sociology is History! This is considered to
be the study of social facts and social groups.
The background is usually studied in this
category. We get to know about the social
events at large. The answers to different
questions are given like how and when
different social groups or organizations
originated? The sociologists analyze and
study The history of Hindu, Roman, Greek,
etc. and other major civilizations.
Sociology of Knowledge
 This branch of sociology helps to
know and help to gain knowledge of
social phenomena. They come to
conclusions that highlight how
knowledge is always influenced by
society. The economic,
religious, political, and other interests
save human belief and ideas.
Criminology
 This branch of sociology studies the
criminal behavior of people or groups
of people. Many questions are
answered through it, like knowing the
origin of the crime, its types of nature,
causes as well as law, punishment,
police, etc. The efforts for the
improvement are also studied
Sociology of Religion
 This branch of sociology helps to
study the structure of religion in
the social system. Since religion has a
lot of impact on society and as no
society is free from it. It analyses the
social behavior of human beings
towards religion and their faith, along
with the study of religious
constitutions and their role in the
society.
Sociology of Economy
 This one in the list of branches of
Sociology studies the production,
distribution, consumption and
exchange of goods and services. It
helps to study the economic activities
of the society in which the focus is
given about the socio-cultural factors.
Rural Sociology
 This branch of sociology studies the way
of life of rural people as the rural
population is higher than the urban.
Patterns of life such as behavior,
belief, culture, tradition norms, values,
etc. which are totally different from
urban people are analyzed in this branch.
So, it studies rural society in a scientific
way. It also studies rural life, social
institutions, social structure, social
processes, etc. of the rural society.
Urban Sociology
 This branch of sociology helps to know
the way of life of urban people. It gives
details about the social organizations of
urban society as well as the social
structure and social interaction the
urban people got through. It also studies
the social pathology of urban society
such as discrimination, crime, corruption,
robbery, beggary, loot, theft,
unemployment, prostitution,
environmental pollution, etc.
Political Sociology
 This branch of sociology studies
different political moments of society. It
includes the study of different political
ideologies of individuals, their
origin, development and functions. In
this study, different political parties are
considered as social institutions.
Various activities and behavior of
political parties are studied in this
branch. It helps to understand the
factors on which the political decisions
are taken.
Sociology of Demography
 Under this branch, there are studies
about the size, situation, composition,
density, distribution, and measurement
etc. of the population. In this branch of
sociology, we study the distribution of
the human population with
the analysis of population change in
sociological perspectives. It also finds
out the determining factors of
population change and its trend.
Sociology of Law
 Sociology of law and the legal system
are considered as an integral part of
society. Law is one of the very important
means of social control. Law is related
to other different social subsystems.
This branch of sociology is related to
moral order for the society as
formulation and implementation of rules
and regulations, law and order come
under this.
Industrial Sociology
 This branch of sociology is concerned
with the industrial relationship of
human beings. It studies the different
industrial organizations and
institutions. As well as their
interrelationship and links with other
various institutions of society. The
relationship of individuals with respect
to the industrial area is analyzed.
Does Sociology has
relationship with
other social science
discipline?
 Why it is
important to
study sociology?
 Are sociology and
anthropology
similar or different?
Relationship of Sociology and
Anthropology
 Both science attempts to
understand the way of life of
various cultures or various
societies.
 The two science borrow from
each other.
 Both science that interested in
studying social issues