Social Anth. Module 1 Topics 1&2 (1) (1).pptx

ANTHROPOLOGY, CULTURE AND
SOCIAL CONSCIENCE

ANTHROPOLOGY AS A SCIENCE AND ITS
SUBDISCIPLINES
TOPIC 1

Anthropology is the science devoted to the study of the ancient and
modern human beings and their lifestyles.
“Given the range and complexity of the subject, the different
branches of anthropology focus on different aspects or dimensions
of human experience”.
Thus, anthropology, is enriched by contributions from various
disciplines and goes beyond them. This is where can be recognized
the characteristics of anthropology: by gathering all aspects of a
human group (holistic perspective*) and comparing them with those
of other groups (comparative perspective*), it seeks an explanation
by contrasting both the characteristics they have in common and
those that make them different from each other.
Do you remember them? You saw them at Human Being class WITH ME! Jajajaja I suppose not! jajaja
DEFINITION

There are four main areas, depending on the particular aspect from
which we access the study of human beings. Each of these four
areas include, in turn, numerous branches, depending on the main
subject of study of the researchers.
Physical anthropology
Archaeology
Anthropological linguistics
Cultural anthropology

It studies the physical characteristics of humans
through the fossils found and the distinctive
features of contemporary groups. Here, you can
recognize primatology, human paleontology,
forensic anthropology, and population genetics.
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

It is devoted to the study of material remains of past
cultures. By reconstructing extinct forms of life, it
seeks to know the ecological environment and the
causes that led to its demise. Among the most
widespread branches have historical and industrial
archeology.
ARCHAEOLOGY

It studies the diversity of languages spoken by the
existing human groups, attempts to reconstruct the
history of their origin, as well as the role of the
relationship between language and the development of
the groups that speak it. The branches in which this
aspect is divided include historical linguistics,
descriptive linguistics and sociolinguistics.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS

Also known as Social Anthropology. It refers to the
analysis and description of cultures, both from the past
and from human groups of today. This includes applied,
medical, urban, development, and religion
anthropologies, as well as politics, anthropology and
indigenous, among other themes.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

HISTORY, THEORIES AND PRECURSORS
IN ANTHROPOLOGY
TOPIC 2

For some researchers the beginnings of anthropology are hard to
locate, however most of the scientist agree in giving more
importance to the documentation of the conquest of new political
and commercial territories carried out by the Greeks and their
successors, the Romans in classical antiquity, and the trips made
by the Spaniards in the mid-sixteenth century in the Americas.

These wars of conquest, which made the Mexican or Aztec, Mayan
and Inca cultures disappear almost completely, also caused an
extensive compilation of the way these cultures lived. Specifically,
the case of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, whose works show many
related details, which constitute a valuable contribution to the study
of the ancient history of our country and laid, in turn, the basis for
many anthropological studies.

1.- Description of other cultures and reflection on the transformation
of their practices.
It took place in the second half of the 16th century, boom period of
the Spanish colonialist enterprise in Mexico and Peru. It is known
through the stories and accounts of representatives of religious
orders that came along with the conquerors, such as Bernardino de
Sahagún, José de Acosta, Bartolomé de las Casas and Vasco de
Quiroga. Contributions of the original inhabitants of the conquered
places are also important; among them are Fernando de Alva
Ixtlixochitl, Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, and Juan Bautista
Pomar.
THREE STAGES CAN BERECOGNIZED INTHE
DEVELOPMENT OFANTHROPOLOGY:

2.- Search for scientific laws of evolution of societies and their
institutions.
Begins in the last third of the 19th century and its main
representatives are Edward B. Tylor and Lewis H. Morgan, authors
that pose —as a scientific law— the unilineal evolution of society and
its institutions (family, state, property and religion).
This stage is considered as the emergence of anthropology as a
formal science and marks the point spread and it is recognized by
most scholars of anthropological theory.

3.- Search for scientific laws of the functioning of societies, from
divergent approaches.
Located in the last third of the 20th century, the emphasis here is on
the functioning of cultures. It coincides with the professionalization
of anthropology at major universities in the United States, England
and France, which developed schools of thought and founder
authors of each. Thus, we have Franz Boas and his cultural
anthropology in the United States, and the social anthropology of
Radcliffe-Brown and Bronislaw Malinowski in England.

1.- Evolutionist school
Argues that the societies shall pass through states of development, in that way
they could be able to place in some of them. The work of the social scientist is
to discover and present the stages that spanned all cultures to reach the
highest level of development, generally associated with the European societies
of that time.
Nowadays, it’s kind of weird to think all societies evolved in the same way,
however when these theory was created all the sciences think about evolution
and progress, supposedly all the societies will have to evolved to the
civilization, let’s keep in mind that Europe came from the Industrial Revolution,
Charles Darwin published his book “The origin of species”, the big European
cities were consolidates due to the country migration to the city, in that way the
social sciences took that notion of progress as a model to classified the
cultures.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORIES
THROUGH TIME

One of the most important authors of this current is the British Edward B. Tylor,
author of the first textbook of general anthropology. He proposed to explain the
evolution of human societies by passing through various stages to reach a
developed or superior stage. One of his contributions is the concept of survival of the
culture or survivals, understood as “processes or customs that —since they became
habits— have remained at different stages of the evolution of societies, which are
themselves examples of previous stages."
It was Tylor who establish the bases of the study of the anthropology, when he
proposed the first concept of culture, defining it in its broad, is that complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, an any other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
For its part, the proposal of the American Lewis H. Morgan is one of the most
influential of the evolutionist postulate. In his work Primitive Society (1877), based on
the extensive observation of a group of Iroquois near his home in New York, he
proposes a classification of the evolution of mankind from three stages
ANTHROPOLOGICALTHEORIESTHROUGHTIME

For its part, the proposal of the American Lewis H. Morgan is one of
the most influential of the evolutionist postulate. In his
work Primitive Society (1877), based on the extensive observation
of a group of Iroquois near his home in New York, he proposes a
classification of the evolution of mankind from three stages:
Lower savagery
- Higher savagery
Barbarism
- Higher stage of barbarism
Civilization

Lower Savagery
Characterized by the subsistence through the collection of wild
food, promiscuity, nomadic horde as a basic unit of this type of
societies, and common property of resources.
Higher Savagery
They already had utensils for hunting (bow and arrows), banned
marriage among siblings, and family relationships were recognized
exclusively through women.

Barbarism
Recognizable by the invention of agriculture and pottery, the
prohibition of incest was extended to all female offspring, and the
clan and village formed the basic units of organization.
Higher stage of Barbarism
When metallurgy was being developed, family relationships were
traced by the male line, men married several women (which is
known as polygyny) and private property appears.

Civilization
When writing developed, the civil government,
and the monogamous couple as the basis of the
family.

2.- Historical Particularism
Emerges as a reaction to the prevailing evolutionary ideas. It is proposed, to emphasize
particular aspects of the singular history of the studied cultures: “Every culture or society,
is the consequence of its own particular process which result of the sum of the aspects
who have been build it through the pass of time”
The notion of cultural relativism arises, which disqualifies the existence of savage cultures
and higher cultures. This proposal is led by the American Franz Boas, and one of his main
contributions is his demonstration that race, language and culture are elements
independent from the human condition and that it is possible to find societies that shared
the same racial features, behaviors and different languages.
The idea of defined stages with distinctive biological and cultural features finds in this
proposal the demonstration that evolution was not a simple process.

3.- Diffusionism
Emerges as a reaction to evolutionism, proposes that cultures adopted their
elements by imitation. Independent creation is discarded, and the most ancient
cultures are the centers of origin from which, over time, techniques and knowledge
have been transmitted or distributed.
The cultural characteristics were diffused from one society to another by the
voluntary or involuntary contact, it causes that several societies share language,
ideology, ways of think, religion, economy, among other elements. That’s why there
are a lot of similar characteristics in different societies.
Appearing a very important concept, acculturation, understanding it as “the
exchange of cultural features, a result of continuous direct contact between two
groups”

4.- Functionalism
The emphasis of this British current is on function; the duty of the anthropologist is to
describe the functions of the customs and institutions for the society studied, means
by which we come to understand its origins.
This position is represented by British researcher Bronislaw Malinowski. Very close
to this proposal we have the structural functionalism of Radcliffe-Brown, who
added to the concept of function the place it occupied in the social structure, i.e., the
way society was organized as a whole. One of the contributions of this theory is the
importance of conducting field work for long periods, learning the language and local
customs as the only method that provides valid and reliable data in anthropology.

The functionalism, has a strong influence in the social sciences, sociologist as Émile
Durkheim made important researches since this particular way of seeing the culture.
A very clear analogy that explains this system is the comparison between a
biological organism and a social system. This posture sustains how it is possible to
study an organism thru its physiology and morphology, also it is the same way with
the societies. Understanding it of the next way:

One of the most representative works of the functionalist school of
thought is the research made by Durkheim, about the way the
society keeps integrated and allows its appropriate function. In
other words, analyze which are the functions of the social
institutions as the economy, kinship, religion and crime in society in
order to maintain the social cohesion, understanding the cohesion
as the proper function of the society.

5.- Neoevolutionism
After World War II, Leslie White re-examines the evolutionist paradigm. The works of
Morgan are re-examined and his contributions to the science of culture are
redeemed: the existence of a cultural evolution determined by the amount of energy
that could be captured and put into execution by person.
Almost simultaneously, Julian Steward and his cultural ecology propose to include
the influence of the natural environment (climate and natural conditions of the land)
with cultural factors, such as technology and the economy.
This interaction would allow you to learn both the differences and similarities of
ancient and contemporary civilizations.

6.- French Structuralism
This school —represented by Levi-Strauss, from France— uses an analogy to explain
the origin of the differences and similarities among cultures:
“The crux lies in the existence of a general structure or symphony, an underlying
pattern common to all cultures. And what marks the difference among them is the
melody, understood as the arrangement or interpretation that each society makes of
them, where the main interest is to understand said structure“
Another contribution of this current is the tendency of the human mind to think in
binary terms; an example of this is the nature versus culture opposition, present in
numerous myths collected along the anthropological endeavor.

Since World War II, anthropologists are gradually moving away from remote
societies and increasingly starting to study contemporary societies in which
colonialism has considerable influence and which are immersed in the world system,
understood as the network of economic and political relations that make up society,
from that time to the present.
Some of the key concepts of anthropological theories through history are:
Man
Being endowed with intelligence and articulate speech, ranked
among the primate mammals, whose main features include the
possession of a large brain, an upright posture and opposable thumbs
in the upper limbs that allow them to take things. The adult individual
of the human species.
Society
Group of people who live according to certain forms of behavior,
gathered to fulfill, through mutual cooperation, all or some of the
purposes of life. Society is also understood the gathering of people,
peoples or nations that coexist and are related by common laws.

State
Political unit with an independent government and a centralized organization;
it is composed of all the political and administrative institutions that control a
defined territory. A characteristic of the state is the exclusive right to use force
as a method to control the society it governs.
Otherness
Relationship with beings that suggest the notion of other as interpersonal
phenomenon. The world is inhabited by a multitude of others, whose
differences also help find matches among some human organizations and allow
us to create our own identity. In other words, perceiving the other puts us in
the construction of the identity of the social being; identity is discovered by
observing the diversity of others.
It is an essential condition for the existence of the other, the identity of the
same. This other may cause contradictory reactions: first, fascination because
the other is so different, and then, a rejection for the unknown and
incomprehensible. This is the case of many migrants who, being in a different
place, rediscover their roots and value what they left behind.

Acculturation
Exchange of cultural features, a result of continuous direct contact
between two groups. This contact can alter the cultural patterns of each
group or both, with no group losing their differences. Acculturation may
also occur asymmetrically, since usually one culture is more capable of
imposing their patterns on the other. An example of this concept is the
work of evangelization carried out by Christian missionaries with Native
American cultures, an outcome that completely changed their cultural
values by those of the Catholic religious system, and even replaced their
language by Spanish. In some cases, when elements from two or more
cultures merge, we are talking about syncretism.
Enculturation
Learning process of the culture to which all human beings are exposed.
It is through this process, developed within society, that the individual
acquires and becomes the bearer of the elements of the society that
gives rise to them.

Affinity
Set of relationships that link two groups through marriage, and help
maintain relationships and social solidarity in groups larger than the
nuclear family. Thus, a related person is what is known as an in-law
relative, because there are no blood relations. In all systems of
kinship, affinity relationships take up a prominent place.
Polygyny
Practice where a male person lives and has sexual relations with
several women simultaneously. In some societies it is a common
practice, and a man can have as many women or wives as he can
hold.
Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism refers to judging other cultures using own cultural
standards.
Ego
Individual who is the central and starting point in kinship studies,
that allows marking the origin of a specific genealogy and set the
name of the remaining relatives.
Empathy Understand the other person perspective.

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