Lesson 2 Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics.pptx

CULTURE AND SOCIETY: THE PERSPECTIVES
OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY
Understanding Culture, Society, and
Politics
CHAPTER II

SOCIETY AND CULTURE: NICHE AND
FUGITIVE CONCEPTS
Society and culture are two durable constructs in the
vocabulary of the social sciences. Although they can be
claimed as “niche concepts” in sociology and
anthropology, these terms are so malleable that other
disciplines (such as political science, psychology, history,
and economics to mention a few) have been quite
successful in expanding their respective frontiers using
them as tools. In this context, culture and society
become “fugitive concepts” as their explanatory features
move beyond the ambits of their original disciplines.
Introduction Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics

Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics
Sociology
Anthropology
Political
Science
SOCIAL
interpretive
dynamics of
society
critical dynamics
of human
evolution
structural dynamics
of culture
Fig. 1 Interpretive, Critical, and Structural Dynamics of the
Social

SOCIETY AS A CONCEPT
 The word “society” was coined by social
scientists to facilitate their explorations of
social phenomena.
 It is a tool to grasp the complexity of the
phenomenon it represents and a means to
explore its many other dimensions hidden
by its normative use.
 As a concept, society represents an ideal
type, which m less depicts the form,
process, and dynamics of the social reality it
embodies.
The Interpretive Dynamics of Society

SOCIETY AS A FACTICITY
 Society is formally defined as constituting a
fairly large number of people who are living
in the same territory, are relatively
independent of people outside their area,
and participate in a common culture.
 It is limited simply because it belittles the
most important component of this
phenomenon – interactions.
 It is limiting because the interpretive
tradition of sociology may provide a more
coherent definition of society.

WHAT MAKES
SOCIETY
POSSIBLE:
THREE
THEORITICAL
PERSPECTIVES

STRUCTURAL -
FUNCTIONAL
CONFLICT
THEORY
SYMBOLIC
INTERACTIONISM
THREE CLASSICAL THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF SOCIETY

STRUCTURAL
FUNCTIONALISM AND
SOCIAL ORDER
What Makes Society Possible: Three Theoretical
Perspectives

The structural-functional school of thought looks at
social “order”. It argues that society is made possible
by cooperation and interdependence. Given this line
of argumentation, this view sees society as a system
with parts, and these parts have their respective
functions to perform. The health and condition of the
entiure system is dependent on these two processes
of functions and interdependence. As such, this basic
allusion to parts, functions, and interdependence
reflects the succeeding theoritical principles in almost
all areas of sociological investigations – from social
stratification, to deviance, to institutions, to
socialization.
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM AND SOCIAL ORDER

CONFLICT THEORY AND
CONFLICT
Perspectives

The Marxist-inspired perspective on the question of
society looks at the other side of the issue. Instead of
putting importance to social order, the conflict
perspective sees society as an arena. Social actors are
gladiators fighting for their very lives. The winner
takes the reward and ease assured of freedom.
Resources and their scarcity make up the bone of
contention in every conflict situation. However, the
conflict approach do not take the usual assumptions
about the nature and ethos of conflict. Rather than
emphasizing competition, this view sees conflict as
something positive and advantageous.
CONFLICT THEORY AND CONFLICT

For the proponents of this view, conflict makes
change and dynamism – features of society that have
not been clearly conceived by the structural
functional theory – possible. Conflict brings about a
new set of relations and interactions, which produces
new dynamism in society. So to answer the question
“WHAT MAKES SOCIETY POSSIBLE?,” the conflict
theory invokes the social processes rather than
functions and interdependence.
CONFLICT THEORY AND CONFLICT

SYMBOLIC
INTERACTIONISM AND
MEANING-MAKING
Perspectives

Unlike the previous two theories, symbolic
interactionism does not deal with either order or
conflict. Instead, it explores the issues of meaning-
making and why this is crucial in understanding order
or conflict as processes that brought about society.
Humans as social beings have the capacity to
generate meaning from their surroundings, be it
social or otherwise. Meaning is important because it
is the basis of actions towards or against specific
elements of the environment. Meaning cannot be
derived easily as it is lodged on and ascribed to
symbols – anything that can stand as a representation
of something.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM AND MEANING-MAKING

Symbols, like meaning, are interpreted
intersubjectively by social actors. The constellations of
meaning assigned to an object, event, or person
become the basis of social interactions, and they are
constitutive of events and social phenomena. The
latter statement means that interpretation of symbols
may have a reality-making effect on people implicated
in an interaction situation. W.I. Thomas’ definition of
situation is a classic example of why definitions of
situation have real effects on people’s actions and
interactions. So to answer the question “WHAT MAKES
A SOCIETY POSSIBLE?”, the symbolic interactionist
perspective would say symbols and meanings.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM AND MEANING-MAKING

RULES:
INVISIBLE
HAND OF
SOCIETY

However, not all rules are visible, that is,
written and understood by all. The written
ones are easily seen and hence are easily
observed and obeyed. A lot of difficult
situations are made simpler by written and
visible rules. The situation is different,
however, in cases where rules are invisible
and unwritten. At first, you may surmise
that invisible rules create more disorder
than order, which they are meant to
establish in the first place. This assumption
proves to be incorrect as our lives are
made more meaningful by unwritten rules.
Rules are guides in the performance of
roles and in everyday actions and
interactions. They provide order in a system
characterized by the presence of many
actors with different businesses and
agenda to pursue. What orchestrate the
simultaneous yet orderly transactions and
interactions are the rules.
With this thought, rules are essential in the
everyday conduct of the members of
society. In cases where there are conflicts,
rules become the arbiter of disagreements
and people’s respect for rules gives them
this organizing power over human actions
RULES: INVISIBLE HAND OF SOCIETY

Unwritten rules are exciting to study
because they give invaluable insights into
the nature of social behavior. Without us
realizing it, almost 90% of our day-to-day
actions are governed and shaped by these
invisible rules. You may not know that rules
exist for example, in certain contexts or
situations. By simply observing how people
act, behave, and interact, you may gain
sufficient information as to what unseen
rules are in operation in particular
situations and contexts.
RULES: INVISIBLE HAND OF SOCIETY

CULTURE AS
A CONCEPT
Understanding Culture, Soceity, and Politicsc

 Culture according to E.B. Tylor “is that
complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
custom, and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by man as a member of
society.”
 The Cambridge English Dictionary states
that the culture is “the way of life,
especially the general customs and
beliefs, of a particular group of people
at a particular time.”

 As a defining aspect of what it means to
be human, culture is a central concept
in anthropology, encompassing the
range of phenomena that are
transmitted through social learning in
human societies.
 In the humanities, one sense of culture,
as an attribute of the individual, has
been the degree to which it has
cultivated a particular level of
sophistication in the arts, sciences,
education, or manners

 In common parlance, culture is often
used to refer specifically to the
symbolic markers used by ethnic
groups to distinguish themselves visibly
from each other, such as body
modification, clothing, or jewelry.
 Mass culture refers to the mass-
produced and mass-mediated forms of
consumer culture that emerged in the
twentieth century.

 Some schools of philosophy, such as
Marxism and critical theory, have
argued that culture is often used
politically as a tool of the elites to
manipulate the lower classes and
create a false consciousness.
 When used as a count noun, culture is
the set of customs, traditions, and
values of a society or community, such
as an ethnic group or nation.

 In this sense, multiculturalism is a
concept that values the peaceful
coexistence and mutual respect
between different cultures inhabiting
the same territory.
 Sometimes “culture” is also used to
describe specific practices within a
subgroup of a society, a subculture or a
counter-culture.

CULTURE
AND
SOCIETY

The relationship between society, culture,
and personality is stressed by Ralph
Linton: “a society is an organized group of
individuals. A culture is an organized
group of learned responses. The
individual is a living organism capable of
independent thought, feeling, and action,
but his independence is limited and all his
resources are profoundly modified by
contact with the society and culture in
which he develops.”

A society cannot exist apart from culture.
A society is always made of persons and
their groupings. People carry and
transmit culture, but they are not culture.
No culture can exist except as it is
embodied in a human society; no society
can operate without cultural directives.
Like matter and energy, like mind and
body, culture and society are
interdependent and interactive yet they
express different aspects of the human
situation.

One must always keep in mind the
interdependence and reciprocal
relationship between culture and society.
Each is a distinguishable concept in which
the pattern and organization of the whole
is more important than any of the
component parts.

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Lesson 2 Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics.pptx

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