Understanding Culture, Society and Politics

1. Making Sense of Our Everyday Experiences
A broad swath of people around the world relate with each other in different ways but a
closer examination of these differences also reveal how people are alike in terms of their
biological features and what they do as they interact with each other. The difference and
similarities by which people live, act, and interact show the numerous aspects of human
existence. In the discipline of anthropology, these diverse but familiar manifestations of
humanity are referred to as culture. For anthropologists, culture is the reference point by
which people organize themselves and make sense of themselves as members of their
own society. For that matter, anthropology regards culture as the “acquired cognitive and
symbolic aspects of human existence, whereas society refers to the social organization
of human life, patterns of interaction and power relationships” (Eriksen 2001: 4).
Analyzing how people culturally differ and what they share in common deepens our
knowledge of humans as biological and social beings. Being human and becoming
human is to be a social person shaped by culture but tempered or enabled by their own
bodily anatomy. The anthropological discipline offers a detailed study of human
engagements that include family life, child raising, beliefs and religion, politics, material
productions and innovations, laws, economic life and the relationship between men and
women in different social settings and time periods.
In a sense, anthropology ask big questions about the human condition but draws answers
from the study of the particular experiences of people living under different circumstances,
be these in a small village deep in the jungles, a farming settlement, a bustling
metropolitan city or a string of communities across different countries. By looking at the
general and particular aspects of human social life, anthropology provides explanation of
the interrelationship of the various facets of human life that explains sociocultural and
political practices of societies around the world across time and spaces. Understanding
these relationship means making sense of the unique situation and linkages that people
establish within and between societies.
Key Concepts
What is Anthropology?
The etymology or origin of the term anthropology can be traced back to two Greek words,
‘anthropos’ and ‘logos’. When translated into English, ‘anthropos’ means ‘human’ while
‘logos’ refers to ‘knowledge’ (Eriksen 2001: 2). In this sense, anthropology can be
understood as the ‘knowledge about humans’ (Ibid.). The subject of anthropological study
is humanity but unlike other disciplines in the human sciences, anthropology studies the
diversity and similarity of the way a person live and make connections as social and
cultural beings. Anthropology as a discipline compares cultural and social life primarily
through participant observation, a research method that entails lengthy fieldwork or
immersion in a specific social setting. Through participant observation, anthropologists
study in depth the various aspect of society and then compare how that society differ and
reflect other societies. For example, an anthropologist who studies the sea faring

2. communities of Sama Dilaut in the Sulu Archipelago would find ways of comparing and
contrasting them to the broader Bajao seafaring cultures across Southeast Asia or
elsewhere in the world. By doing these comparative studies, anthropology as an
academic discipline provides a more grounded, insightful, and deeper understanding of
our common humanity. Through the years, a wide range of subfields of studies emerged
within the academic discipline of anthropology. These subfields include social and cultural
anthropology, archeology, biological anthropology, evolutionary anthropology, socio-
linguistic anthropology, visual anthropology, political and legal anthropology, cyborg
anthropology, psychological anthropology, economic anthropology, urban anthropology,
climate anthropology, development anthropology, and several more. The subfields of the
discipline continues to expand today but as the range of anthropological knowledge grew
and expanded, humanity are better equipped in answering the question of how it is to
become human.
Sociology is the systematic study of human society (Macionis 2012: 2), focusing
particularly on the dynamic interplay between individual and society. At the heart of
sociology is the sociological perspective, a special point of view of sociology that sees
general patterns of society in the lives of particular people (Ibid.).
 One of the works that elaborate this special point of view is C. W. Mills’s
Sociological Imagination, a quality of mind that enables the possessor to link
personal with the social.
 The sociological imagination helps us understand everyday events. According to
Mills, “society—not people’s personal failings—is the main cause of poverty and
other social problems. By turning personal problems into public issues, the
sociological imagination also is the key to bringing people together to create
needed change” (Macionis 2012: 7).
 The sociological imagination also requires a global perspective, a study of the
larger world and our society’s place in it (Macionis 2012: 6).