ANTHROPOLOGY

ANTHROPOLOGY

 The term ANTHROPOLOGY

comes from the Greek roots
antropos meaning man and logos
meaning word or study.

 Anthropology, the study of all

aspects of human life and culture.

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 ANTHROPOLOGY

 Anthropology examines such

topics as how people live,
what they think, what they
produce, and how they
interact with their
environments.

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 Anthropologists ask such
basic questions as:
1. When, where, and how did
humans evolve?
2. How do people adapt to different
environments?
3. How have societies developed
and changed from the ancient
past to the present?

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 ANTHROPOLOGY

 Much of the work of

anthropologists is based
on three key concepts:
society, culture, and
evolution.

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SOCIETY AND CULTURE
Two interrelated
anthropological concepts,
society and culture, are
crucial in understanding
what makes humans
unique.
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 ANTHROPOLOGY

 CULTURE
- Culture, in anthropology,

the patterns of behavior

and thinking that people
living in social groups
learn, create, and share.

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So what is
CULTURE?

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 ANTHROPOLOGY

- Culture includes their

beliefs, rules of
behavior, language,
rituals, art, technology,
styles of dress, ways of
producing and cooking
food, religion,
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Kulturang Pilipino

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 CHARACTERISTICS OF
CULTURE
- Culture has several
distinguishing
characteristics.
 It is based on symbols.
 Culture is shared.
 Culture is learned.
 Culture is adaptive.
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 ANTHROPOLOGY

CULTURE IS SYMBOLIC
People have culture primarily
because they can
communicate with and
understand symbols.

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Example of Symbolic Culture…

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 Example of Symbolic Culture
- Language provides a
means to store,
process, and
communicate amounts
of information.

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 CULTURE IS LEARNED
-People are not born with culture; they have
to learn it. In all human societies, children
learn culture from adults.

-ENCULTURATION
(cultural transmission)
Learning one’s culture for necessity from
adults, or parents.
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CULTURE IS SHARED
- People living together in a
society shares culture.

- All the people of a society

collectively create and
maintain culture.

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 Self-identity usually depends
on culture.
 If a person does not share

common ways of life or

beliefs it can cause a feeling
of confusion and
disorientation which is called
CULTURE SHOCK

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 ANTHROPOLOGY

 Ethnocentrism, the
notion that one’s culture
is more sensible than or
superior to that of other
culture.
 -one’s own culture is

more superior that other

culture.
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At its worst, ethnocentrism
has led people to commit
ethnocide, the destruction of
cultures, and genocide, the
destruction of entire
populations.

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CULTURAL RELATIVISM- Each
culture should be judged based on its
merits
Ex. Smoking tobacco of certain
ethnic group

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 ANTHROPOLOGY

 Someone observing cultural

relativism tries to respect all
cultures equally.
 However, most

anthropologists believe that

cultural relativism has its
limits.

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CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE
Culture helps human societies
survive in changing natural
environments.
Cultural adaptation has made
humans one of the most
successful species on the
planet.
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