MODULE 3

ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE

STUDY OF CULTURE
 What is Anthropology?

Antropos = human
ANTHROPOLOGY
Logos = study

STUDY OF HUMANS
 Linguistic
Anthropology
Cultural Physical
Anthropology Anthropology

Applied
Archaeology Anthropology
 ARCHAEOLOGY

It examines the remains of

ancient and historical
human populations to
promote an understanding
of how humans have
adapted to their
environment and
developed.
 Promotes the study of a society’s
culture through their belief system,
practices, and possessions
 LINGUISTIC
ANTHROPOLOGY

It examines the
language of a group
of people and its
relation to their
culture
 PHYSICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY

It looks into the biological

development of humans and
their contemporary variation
 APPLIED
ANTHROPOLOGY

It attempts to solve
contemporary problems
through the application
of theories and
approaches of the
discipline.
Culture is everything. It is what a person has,
does, and thinks as part of society

Material Culture – includes all the tangible and

visible parts of culture, which include clothes,
food and buildings.

Nonmaterial Culture – includes all the

intangible parts of culture, which consist of
values, ideas, and knowledge
 CULTURE IS LEARNED

Enculturation - It is the process of learning your

own culture
Acculturation - It is due to constant interaction
between societies, culture can be modified to
accommodate desirable traits from other culture
 CULTURE IS LEARNED

Deculturation - It is when culture of the older

generation comes into conflict with the needs and
realities of the younger generation, where the
reason for the culture has been lost and even the
cultural trait itself is in the process of being forgotten
 CULTURE IS SHARED

Culture of Culture of Culture of

parent’s individual interacting
society society
 CULTURE AFFECTS BIOLOGY
Humans are born into
cultures that have values
on beauty and the body.
As such, they alter their
bodies to fit into the
physiological norms that
are dictated by the
culture.
Lip plate as worn by Mursi woman
Lotus feet
 CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE

Both the material and

nonmaterial parts of the
culture are influenced
by the goal of humans
to address their needs
as dictated by the
environment and their
biology.

TUPIQ
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 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 remained the same.

Traffic congestion in EDSA

 CULTURE CHANGES

This dynamism of culture is due to the

changing needs of humans as they
interpret and survive in their
environment.
 THEORIES ON CULTURE
THEORY PERSPECTIVE ON CULTURE
Cultural All cultures undergo the same development
Evolution 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
Anthropology learning culture.
 THEORY PERSPECTIVE ON 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
 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
4.All forms of human actions and beliefs