SSF 1044 Introduction to

Anthropology & Sociology

Learning outline
What is Anthropology ?
What is Sociology?
Some common ground? Differences?
Importance of Anthropology & Sociology
 At present,

what do you currently know about

anthropology and sociology?
Anthro & Socio: Similarities
Common interest:
People and society
 Social relations
 Organization
 Behaviour
Social and cultural
realities of life
Comparative study of
human life in historical
and contemporary times
 What about differences?

But first of all, what is Anthropology and what is

Sociology.

Then, we discuss about differences.

 What is Anthropology?
Anthropology = Anthropos (human) + logia (study)
= “study of human”

The nature of anthropology

 Holistic
Past, present, future
Society, culture, biology, language etc.
 Comparative: to gain complete understanding of “human
nature”.
What is Anthropology?
Interested in diversity:
biologically and culturally
 Variations across time and
space.
 How do people vary? Why?
 How do people adapt to
different environment and
social conditions?
 What changes can be seen
across time/changes? Why?
Discussion
Compare 2 different societies. For example, one living
in a cold climate and the other in a hot climate. How
do they differ? Biologically? Culturally? Why do they
differ?

Does biology influence culture, and vice versa?

Example?
Sub-disciplines of Anthropology
Physical (Biological) Anthropology
Archaeology
Cultural Anthropology
Linguistic Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
Physical anthropologists are
interested in:
 Palaeoanthropology/Human
Palaeontology: emergence of
humans and their later evolution
(i.e. researching 'ancient
humanity' – the fossil record of
human and hominid evolution)
 Human Variations: biological or
physical variations in
contemporary human population
 Physical Anthro: Palaeoanthropology
In order to reconstruct human evolution
 Search and study fossils of human, prehuman and
related animals
 Also interested in behaviour and evolution of our
closest “relatives”: Primates (prosimians, monkeys
and apes)  primatology
Dian Fossey - primatologist
Fossil of “Lucy”
(Australopithecus afarensis)
Anthropology on the big screen
LUCY (Australopithecus afarensis)

3.2 million years ago

Physical Anthro: Human variation
Why are there differences (physically, biologically)
between contemporary humans?
Physical anthropologists uses the principles, concepts
and techniques of three other disciplines:
 Human genetics – study of human traits that are
inherited
 Population biology – study of environmental effects on,
and interaction with, population characteristics
 Epidemiology – study of how and why diseases affect
different population in different ways
Spencer Wells
(“Journey of Man”)
Archaeology
 Seeks to reconstruct the culture of the past through the
study of material/cultural remains
 Also to trace cultural changes and to offer explanations of
those changes
 In order to study past cultures, archaeologists collect
materials (usually by excavations) from sites of human
occupations
 Difference between archaeology and history?

 Use techniques and findings borrowed from other fields

such as: geology, physics, chemistry, history, geography etc.
Archaeology: Gua Tupak, Bau, Sarawak

 Evidence of human occupation dating as far back as 1,100 years ago

 Findings: food remains (shells and animal bones), pottery, stone
flake
Archaeology on the big screen
Cultural Anthropology
Studies society and culture: describing, analysing and
explaining social and cultural similarities and
differences.
2 aspects:
 Ethnography (based on fieldwork)
To gather data from the field
Traditionally, ethnographers have lived in small communities
and studied local behaviour, beliefs, customs, social life,
economic activities, politics and religion
 Ethnology (based on cross-cultural comparisons)
Examines, interprets and compares the results of
ethnography
Culture on the big screen
Linguistic Anthropology
The study of languages in its social and cultural context
(in space and through time)
Linguists are interested in the emergence of languages
and also with the divergence of languages over
thousands of years
Examples:
 Study universal features of language, linked perhaps to
uniformities in human brain
 Reconstruct ancient languages by comparing their
contemporary descendants
 Study linguistic differences to discover varied perceptions
and patterns of thought in different cultures
Austronesian Languages
What is Sociology?
Sociology = Socius (Latin for “companion” or
“associate”) + logia (Greek for “study”)
Sociology is the study of human behaviour in society.
Sociologists are interested in:
 Human social life, groups and societies.
 How society affects human behaviour.
 How changes affects human behaviour.
Example: eating
Sociology
The sociological perspective  the ability
to see societal patterns that influence
human behaviour.

It requires us to think imaginatively and to

detach ourselves from preconceived ideas
about social life.
Example: The quest for “beauty”

Who defines what is “beautiful”?

Sociology
 The scope of sociology – extremely wide!
 Ranging from analysis of passing encounters between
individuals on the street to investigation of global social
processes (e.g. globalisation, religious fundamentalism etc.)
 Levels of analysis
 Microsociology: the study of everyday behaviour in
situations of face-to-face interaction
 Macrosociology: the analysis of large-scale social systems
e.g. political system or economic order
 Also includes the analysis of long-term processes of change, e.g.
development of industrialism

 Why is macro-analysis important? Micro-analysis?