Sie sind auf Seite 1von 12

UCSP MIDTERM REVIEWER

1. Culture, Society and Politics as Conceptual Tools

Culture, society and politics are concepts. They exist in the realm of ideas and thoughts. As such,
they cannot be seen or touched and yet the influence the way we see and experience our
individual and collective social beings.

Concepts are created and have been used to have firm grasp of a phenomenon. Just like any
other words, concepts are initially invented as icons to capture phenomena and in the process
assist the users/inventors to describe facets of social experience in relation to the phenomena
concerned.

What is interesting about concepts is that as conceptual tools, they allow us to form other
concepts, or relate concepts to each other or even deconstruct old ones and replace them with
something new.

Students as Social Beings

The way we live our lives—or should we say, the way we are being steered to live our lives- presupposes
omnipotent forces shaping the very fabric of our existence. The categories that we possess as
individuals—labels that are ascribed or given to us individually and collectively—are testament to the
operation of these forces which leave us unsuspecting of their intrusive and punitive implications in our
lives. Our categories as male/female, rich/poor, or tall/short and even the problematic effect of the
color of our skin are evidences of the operation of these social forces.

Our sociality is defined by the very categories that we possess, the categories assigned to us by the
society at large. These labels so to speak, function, as tags with which our society read our worth and
value. These categories that we possess are not natural; rather they are socially constructed.

Identity

Identity is the distinctive characteristic that defines an individual or is shared by those belonging to a
particular group. People may have multiple identities depending on the groups to which they belong.
The Scope of Anthropology, Sociology and Political Science

A. The Holistic Study of Humanity: Anthropology Definition and Scope of Anthropology

Anthropology is derived from two Greek words anthropos and logos, which intensively studies
human and the respective cultures where they were born and actively belong to.

It is considered the father or even grandfather of all social and behavioral sciences like
sociology, economics and psychology, to name a few. The discipline had its humble beginnings
with early European explorers and their accounts which produced initial impressions about
the native peoples they encountered In their explorations.

The father of American anthropology, Franz Boaz, a physicist, strongly believed that the same
method and strategy could be applied in measuring culture and human behavior while
conducting research among humans including uniqueness of their cultures.

Two American anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and William Henry Morgan, became prominent
in their field since their specialization included the championing of indigenous rights like
traditional cultural preservation and ancestral domain of the American Indian tribes they
intensively studied.

Historical Beginnings
Ruth Benedict became a specialist in anthropology and folklore and authored the famous
book Patterns

of Culture.

The field of anthropology offers several topics for relevant research and discussion in various
academic fields since its distinct way of data gathering from their respondents applies
participant observation which is central to ethnography. Bronislaw Malinowski is the founding
father of this strategy.

The Study of the Social World: Sociology

Sociology and the Sociological Perspective


Sociology is the study of society, social institutions, and social relationships. Sociology is
interested in describing and explaining human behavior, especially as it occurs within a
social context (Merriam- Webster).

Studying sociology is practical and useful. A social beings, we gain understanding of how the
social world operates and of our place in it. C.Wright Mills (1959) calls it sociological
imagination which he defined as “the vivid awareness of the relationship between private
experience and the wider society.”

Sociology’s point of view is distinct from other sciences. Peter Berger explains that the
perspective of sociology enables us to see “general patterns in particular events” (Macionis,
2010). This means finding general patterns in particular events. The first systematic study on
suicide provides a good example. Emile Durkheim’s pioneering study on suicide in the 1800s
revealed that there are categories of people who are more likely to commit suicide.

History of Sociology as Science

B. Sociology emerged with the two of the most significant social and political revolution in
the history. The French Revolution of 1789, along with the Industrial Revolution in
England during the 18th century, tremendously changed people’s lives.
Early Thinkers
August Comte (1798-1857) is the person who “invented” sociology in 1842, by bringing
together the Greek word socius or “companion” and the Latin word logy or “study”. He
originally used “social physics” as a term for sociology. Its aim was to discover the social
laws that govern the development of society. Comte suggested that there were three stages
in the development of societies, namely the theological stage, the metaphysical stage, and
the positive stage.
The founding mother of sociology is Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), an English writer and
reformist. In her accounts in her book How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838), the
deep sociological insights we call now ethnographic narratives are fully expressed.

Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher and revolutionary further contributed to the
development of sociology. Marx introduced the materialist analysis of history which
discounts metaphysical explanation for historical development. Before Marx, scholars
explain social change through divine intervention and the theory of “great men”.

Marx is the forerunner of the conflict theory. He wrote the Communist Manifesto a book
that is focused on the misery of the lower class (working class) caused by the existing social
order. He reiterated that political revolution was vital in the evolutionary process of the
society, the only means to achieve improvement of social conditions.

Emile Durkheim (1864-1920) a French sociologist who put forward the idea that individuals
are more products rather than the creator of society; the society itself is external to the
individual. In his book Suicide, Durkheim proved that social forces strongly impact on
people’s lives and that seemingly personal event is not personal after all.

Max Weber (1864-1920) Weber stressed the role of rationalization in the development of
society. For Weber, rationalization refers essentially to the disenchantment of the world. As
science began to replace religion, people also adopted a scientific or rational attitude to the
world. People refused to believe in myths and superstitious beliefs.

B. The Study of Politics: Political Science

Political Science is part of the social sciences that deals with the study of politics, power,
and government. In turn, politics refers to “ the process of making collective decisions in a
community, society, or group through application of influence and power” (Ethridge and
Handelman 2010, p.8). Political Science studies how even the most private and personal
decisions of individuals are influence by collective decisions of a community. “The personal
is political.”
Politics
Generally, politics is associated with how power is gained and employed to develop
authority and influence on social affairs. It can also be used to promulgate guiding rules to
govern the state. It is also a tactic for upholding collaboration among members of a
community, whether from civil or political organizations.
Concept of Politics
Politics is allied with government which is considered as the ultimate authority. It is the
primary role of the government to rule the society by stipulating and transmitting the
basic laws that will supervise the freedom of the people. Each form of government
possesses power to attain order that should lead toward social justice.

Politics as Science
Science is commonly defined as the knowledge derived from experiment and observation
systematically done. Policy-making and government decisions should be done through
proper research, social investigation, analysis, validation, planning, execution and
evaluation. Thus, politics is a science.

Theoretical Foundations of Culture, Society and Politics

Humans seek explanations about why things happen. Each person has ideas about the nature of
existence, motion, and relationships. Our ideas come from everywhere- from experiences,
conversations, materials we read, media we access, our teachers, family friends and foes—all these are
sources of ideas.

A. What is a Theory?
Theory explains how some aspect of human behavior or performance is organized. It thus enables us to

make predictions about that behavior.

The components of theory are concepts (ideally well defined) and principles.

A concept is a symbolic representation of an actual thing - tree, chair, table, computer, distance, etc.

Construct is the word for concepts with no physical referent - democracy, learning, freedom, etc.
Language enables conceptualization.

A principle expresses the relationship between two or more concepts or constructs. In the process of
theory development, one derives principles based on one’s examining/questioning how things/concepts
are related.

Concepts and principles serve two important functions:


1) They help us to understand or explain what is going on around us.

2) They help us predict future events (Can be causal or correlational)


Theories are crucial to science because they provide a logical framework for making sense out of
scientific observations. In sociology, a theory is a set of general assumptions about the nature of society.

B. Theoretical Paradigms

Macro vs. Micro view

Sociologists may study human society by focusing on the large social phenomena or “the big picture”,
such a social institutions and inequality to see how it operates. This is the macro view. They can also
zero in on the immediate social situation where people interact with one another or looking at the
situational patterns of social interaction. This is the micro view.

Three Major Perspectives in Sociology

Sociologists analyze social phenomena at different levels and from different perspectives. From concrete
interpretations to sweeping generalizations of society and social behavior, sociologists study everything
from specific events (the micro level of analysis of small social patterns) to the “big picture” (the macro
level of analysis of large social patterns).

The pioneering European sociologists, however, also offered a broad conceptualization of the
fundamentals of society and its workings. Their views form the basis for today's theoretical perspectives,
or paradigms, which provide sociologists with an orienting framework—a philosophical position—for
asking certain kinds of questions about society and its people.

Sociologists today employ three primary theoretical perspectives: the symbolic interactionist
perspective, the functionalist perspective, and the conflict perspective. These perspectives offer
sociologists theoretical paradigms for explaining how society influences people, and vice versa. Each
perspective uniquely conceptualizes society, social forces, and human behavior (see Table 1).
The symbolic interactionist perspective

The symbolic interactionist perspective, also known as symbolic interactionism, directs sociologists to
consider the symbols and details of everyday life, what these symbols mean, and how people interact
with each other. Although symbolic interactionism traces its origins to Max Weber's assertion that
individuals act according to their interpretation of the meaning of their world, the American philosopher
George H. Mead (1863–1931) introduced this perspective to American sociology in the 1920s.

According to the symbolic interactionist perspective, people attach meanings to symbols, and then they
act according to their subjective interpretation of these symbols. Verbal conversations, in which spoken
words serve as the predominant symbols, make this subjective interpretation especially evident. The
words have a certain meaning for the “sender,” and, during effective communication, they hopefully
have the same meaning for the “receiver.” In other terms, words are not static “things”; they require
intention and interpretation. Conversation is an interaction of symbols between individuals who
constantly interpret the world around them. Of course, anything can serve as a symbol as long as it
refers

The symbolic interactionist perspective

The symbolic interactionist perspective, also known as symbolic interactionism, directs sociologists to
consider the symbols and details of everyday life, what these symbols mean, and how people interact
with each other. Although symbolic interactionism traces its origins to Max Weber's assertion that
individuals act according to their interpretation of the meaning of their world, the American philosopher
George H. Mead (1863–1931) introduced this perspective to American sociology in the 1920s.

According to the symbolic interactionist perspective, people attach meanings to symbols, and then they
act according to their subjective interpretation of these symbols. Verbal conversations, in which spoken
words serve as the predominant symbols, make this subjective interpretation especially evident. The
words have a certain meaning for the “sender,” and, during effective communication, they hopefully
have the same meaning for the “receiver.” In other terms, words are not static “things”; they require
intention and interpretation. Conversation is an interaction of symbols between individuals who
constantly interpret the world around them. Of course, anything can serve as a symbol as long as it
refers to something beyond itself. Written music serves as an example. The black dots and lines become
more than mere marks on the page; they refer to notes organized in such a way as to make musical
sense. Thus, symbolic interactionists give serious thought to how people act, and then seek to
determine what meanings individuals assign to their own actions and symbols, as well as to those of
others.

Consider applying symbolic interactionism to the American institution of marriage. Symbols may include
wedding bands, vows of life-long commitment, a white bridal dress, a wedding cake, a Church
ceremony, and flowers and music. American society attaches general meanings to these symbols, but
individuals also maintain their own perceptions of what these and other symbols mean. For example,
one of the spouses may see their circular wedding rings as symbolizing “never ending love,” while the
other may see them as a mere financial expense. Much faulty communication can result from
differences in the perception of the same events and symbols.
Critics claim that symbolic interactionism neglects the macro level of social interpretation—the “big
picture.” In other words, symbolic interactionists may miss the larger issues of society by focusing too
closely on the “trees” (for example, the size of the diamond in the wedding ring) rather than the “forest”
(for example, the quality of the marriage). The perspective also receives criticism for slighting the
influence of social forces and institutions on individual interactions.

The functionalist perspective

According to the functionalist perspective, also called functionalism, each aspect of society is
interdependent and contributes to society's functioning as a whole. The government, or state, provides
education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state depends to keep
itself running. That is, the family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good
jobs so that they can raise and support their own families. In the process, the children become law-
abiding, taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the state. If all goes well, the parts of society produce
order, stability, and productivity. If all does not go well, the parts of society then must adapt to
recapture a new order, stability, and productivity. For example, during a financial recession with its high
rates of unemployment and inflation, social programs are trimmed or cut. Schools offer fewer programs.
Families tighten their budgets. And a new social order, stability, and productivity occur.

Functionalists believe that society is held together by social consensus, or cohesion, in which members
of the society agree upon, and work together to achieve, what is best for society as a whole. Emile
Durkheim suggested that social consensus takes one of two forms:

Mechanical solidarity is a form of social cohesion that arises when people in a society maintain similar
values and beliefs and engage in similar types of work. Mechanical solidarity most commonly occurs in
traditional, simple societies such as those in which everyone herds cattle or farms. Amish society
exemplifies mechanical solidarity.

In contrast, organic solidarity is a form of social cohesion that arises when the people in a society are
interdependent, but hold to varying values and beliefs and engage in varying types of work.

Organic solidarity most commonly occurs in industrialized, complex societies such those in large
American cities like New York in the 2000s.

The functionalist perspective achieved its greatest popularity among American sociologists in the 1940s
and 1950s. While European functionalists originally focused on explaining the inner workings of social
order, American functionalists focused on discovering the functions of human behavior. Among these
American functionalist sociologists is Robert Merton (b. 1910), who divides human functions into two
types: manifest functions are intentional and obvious, while latent functions are unintentional and not
obvious. The manifest function of attending a church or synagogue, for instance, is to worship as part of
a religious community, but its latent function may be to help members learn to discern personal from
institutional values. With common sense, manifest functions become easily apparent. Yet this is not
necessarily the case for latent functions, which often demand a sociological approach to be revealed. A
sociological approach in functionalism is the consideration of the relationship between the functions of
smaller parts and the functions of the whole.
Functionalism focuses on social order. Emile Durkheim differentiates two forms of social order. The first
is mechanical solidarity. It is a type of social cohesion that develops when people do similar work. Most,
often it exists in small scale traditional societies. The second is organic solidarity. It is a type of social
cohesion that is formed in a society whose members work in specialized jobs.

Functionalism has received criticism for neglecting the negative functions of an event such as divorce.
Critics also claim that the perspective justifies the status quo and complacency on the part of society's
members. Functionalism does not encourage people to take an active role in changing their social
environment, even when such change may benefit them. Instead, functionalism sees active social
change as undesirable because the various parts of society will compensate naturally for any problems
that may arise.

The conflict perspective

The conflict perspective, which originated primarily out of Karl Marx's writings on class struggles,
presents society in a different light than do the functionalist and symbolic interactionist perspectives.
While these latter perspectives focus on the positive aspects of society that contribute to its stability,
the conflict perspective focuses on the negative, conflicted, and ever-changing nature of society. Unlike
functionalists who defend the status quo, avoid social change, and believe people cooperate to effect
social order, conflict theorists challenge the status quo, encourage social change (even when this means
social revolution), and believe rich and powerful people force social order on the poor and the weak.
Conflict theorists, for example, may interpret an “elite” board of regents raising tuition to pay for
esoteric new programs that raise the prestige of a local college as self-serving rather than as beneficial
for students.

Whereas American sociologists in the 1940s and 1950s generally ignored the conflict perspective in
favor of the functionalist, the tumultuous 1960s saw American sociologists gain considerable interest in
conflict theory. They also expanded Marx's idea that the key conflict in society was strictly economic.
Today, conflict theorists find social conflict between any groups in which the potential for inequality
exists: racial, gender, religious, political, economic, and so on. Conflict theorists note that unequal
groups usually have conflicting values and agendas, causing them to compete against one another. This
constant competition between groups forms the basis for the ever-changing nature of society.

Critics of the conflict perspective point to its overly negative view of society. The theory ultimately
attributes humanitarian efforts, altruism, democracy, civil rights, and other positive aspects of society to
capitalistic designs to control the masses, not to inherent interests in preserving society and social
order.

Concept of Society

In order to concretize society mainstream sociologists have tended to define it as structure that is a
recognizable network of inter-relating institutions.

The word recognizable is crucial in its context because it suggests that the way in which societies differ
from one another depends on the manner in which their particular institutions are inter-connected. The
notion that societies are structured depends upon their reproduction over time. In this respect the term
institution is crucial. To speak of institutionalized forms of social conduct is to refer to modes of belief
and behaviors that occur and recur are socially reproduced. While we may subscribe to the arguments
that society is both structured and reproduced the Marxist account attempts to provide us with a basis
for understanding how particular social formations arise and correspond with particular mode of
production. Society is not a static or peace-fully evolving structure but is conceived of as the tentative
solution to the conflicts arising out of antagonistic social relations of production. Frequently social
scientists emphasize the cultural aspect of social relationships. In doing so they see society as being
made possible by the shared understanding of its members. Because human beings exist in a linguistic
and symbolic universe that they themselves have constructed the temptation is to construe society as a
highly complex symbolic and communication system.

This stress on culture is associated with the notion that society is underpinned by ideas and values.
Society is a process in which people continuously interact with one another, the key terms are
negotiation, self, other, reflexivity the implication being that society is constituted and reconstituted in
social interaction. Society is not imposed upon people in the processual definition rather it has to be
accepted and confirmed by participants. Each interaction episode contains within it the possibility of
innovation and change. So against the view of society that sees it as structure the process view asserts
that people make structure.

Definitions of Society

August Comte the father of sociology saw society as a social organism possessing a harmony of
structure and function. Emile Durkheim the founding father of the modern sociology treated society as
a reality in its own right..

According to Talcott Parsons Society is a total complex of human relationships in so far as they grow out
of the action in terms of means-end relationship intrinsic or symbolic.

G.H Mead conceived society as an exchange of gestures which involves the use of symbols.
Morris Ginsberg defines society as a collection of individuals united by certain relations or mode of
behavior which mark them off from others who do not enter into these relations or who differ from
them in behavior. Cole sees Society as the complex of organized associations and institutions with a
community. According to Maclver and Page society is a system of usages and procedures of authority

and mutual aid of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human behavior and liberties. This ever
changing complex system which is called society is a web of social relationships.

Social Reproduction or How Societies Persist

If one defines society as “organization of groups that is relatively self-contained,” then the next question
is how societies manage to exist and persist across time and space. The problem of explaining how
societies manage to exist over a long period of time is called reproduction by Louis Althusser. No
society can edure over time if it does not support its very own reproduction. To do this all societies
require the creation of institutions to perpetuate the existence of the society.

Two types of institution that reproduce the condition of social life:


Ideological State Apparatuses – are institutions that are and used by society to mold its members to
share the same values and beliefs that a typical member of the society possess.

Repressive state apparatuses – refer to those coercive institutions that use physical force to make the
members conform the laws and norms society like courts,police and prisons.

Adaptation- is the capacity of society to take resources from society and distribute them accordingly.
This function is carried out by the economy which includes gathering resources and producing
commodities to social redistribution.

Goal Attainment- is the capacity to set goals and mobilize the resources and energies necessary to
achieve the goals set forth by society. This is set by the political subsystem. Political resolutions and
societal objectives are part of this necessity.

Integration- or harmonization of the entire society to achieve consensus. Parsons meant, the
coordination, adjustment and regulation of the rest of the subsystem so that society will continue to
function smoothly. It is a demand that the values and norms of society are solid and sufficiently
convergent.

The strength of reproduction theory is also its weakness. It fails to explain how people do not simply
reproduce the very social conditions that they are born with, but they also possess the power of agency.
One can be born slave in a slave society, but it does not mean that being born a slave, one has no power
and opportunities to ameliorate and change the conditions of one’s birth. People can also change the
social structures that they themselves created. For if societies simply reproduce their own existence,
then no radical change is forthcoming.

The complexity of Culture

Culture is a people’s way of life. This classic definition appears generic, yet prefigures both the processes
and structures that account not only for the development of such a way of life, but also for the inherent
systems that lend it its self-perpetuating nature.

According to British literary scholar, Raymond Williams, the first thing that one has to acknowledge in
defining culture is that culture is ordinary. This means that all societies have a definite way of life, a
common way of doing and understanding things.

Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by
symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment, in
artifacts , ideas and their attached values.

Elements of Culture

To understand culture, it is necessary to understand the different elements that compose it: Knowledge
– It refers to any information received and perceived to be true.
Beliefs—The perception of accepted reality. Reality refers to the existence of things whether material or
nonmaterial

Social Norms-- These are established expectations of society as to how a person is supposed to act
depending on the requirements of the time, place, or situation.

Different forms of Social Norms


Folkways—The patterns of repetitive behavior which becomes habitual and conventional part of living.

Mores—The set of ethical standards and moral obligations as dictates of reason that distinguishes
human acts as right or wrong or good from bad.

Values—Anything held yo be relatively worthy, important, desirable, or valuable.


Technology—The practical application of knowledge in converting raw materials into finished products.

Aspects of Culture

Since culture is very complex, there are important aspects of culture that contribute to the development
of man’s social interaction.

  Dynamic, flexible and adaptive


  Shared and contested
  Learned through socialization or enculturation
  Patterned social interactions
  Integrated and at times unstable
  Transmitted through socialization
  Requires language and other forms of communication

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

The range of variations between culture is almost endless and yet at the same time cultures
ensemble one another in many important ways. Cultural variation is affected by man’s
geographical set-up and social experiences. Cultural Variation refers to the differences in social
behaviors that different culture exhibit around the world. There are two important perceptions
on cultural variability namely ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Ethnocentrism- It is a perception that arises from the fact that cultures, differ and each culture
defines reality differently. Judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one’s
own culture.

Cultural Relativism- The attempt to judge behavior according to its cultural context. The
principle that an individual person’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in
terms of that individual’s own culture.

Xenocentrism and Xenophobia


Xenocentrism refers to preference for the foreign. In this sense it the opposite of
ethnocentrism. It is characterized by a strong belief that one’s own products, styles, or ideas are
inferior to those which originate elsewhere.

Xenophobia- is the fear of what is perceived as foreign or strange.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen