Module 3- Anthropology and the Study of Culture

Anthropology- “antropos” which means “human” and “logos” which means “study”
- Study of humans
- the scientific study of humans, human behavior and societies in the past and
present

Five sub-disciplines of Anthropology

1. Archaeology
-It examines the remains of ancient and historical human populations to promote an
understanding of how humans have adapted to their environment and developed.
2. Cultural Anthropology
- Promotes the study of a society’s culture through their belief system, practices, and
possessions
3. Linguistic Anthropology
- It examines the language of a group of people and its relation to their culture
4. Physical Anthropology
It looks into the biological development of humans and their contemporary variation
5. Applied Anthropology
-It attempts to solve contemporary problems through the application of theories and
approaches of the discipline.

Characteristics of Culture
1. Culture is everything. It is what a person has, does, and thinks as part of society
Material Culture– includes all the tangible and visible parts of culture, which
include clothes, food and buildings.
Nonmaterial Culture– includes all the intangible parts of culture, which consist
of values, ideas, and knowledge
2. Culture is Learned
Enculturation- It is the process of learning your own culture
Acculturation - It is due to constant interaction between societies, culture can
be modified to accommodate desirable traits from other culture
Deculturation- It is when culture of the older generation comes into conflict
with the needs and realities of the younger generation, where the reason for the culture
has been lost and even the cultural trait itself is in the process of being forgotten
3. Culture is Shared
4. Culture affects Biology
-Humans are born into cultures that have values on beauty and the body. As such, they
alter their bodies to fit into the physiological norms that are dictated by the culture.
5. Culture is adaptive
-Both the material and nonmaterial parts of the culture are influenced by the goal of
humans to address their needs as dictated by the environment and their biology.
6. Culture is maladaptive
-Culture can also cause problems for the people who subscribe to it. These problems
arise when the environment has changed and culture remained the same.
7. Culture changes
-This dynamism of culture is due to the changing needs of humans as they interpret and
survive in their environment.
 THEORIES ON CULTURE
1. Cultural Evolution
-All cultures undergo the same development stages in the same order. The main
classifications include savagery, barbarism, and civilization.
2. Diffusionism
-All societies change as a result of cultural borrowing from one another.
3. Historicism
-Each culture is unique and must be studied in its own context.
4. Psychological Anthropology
-Personality is largely seen to be the result of learning culture.
5. Functionalism
-Society is thought to be like a biological organism with all of the parts
interconnected. Existing institutional structures of any society are thought to perform
indispensable functions, without which the society could not continue.
6. Neo-evolutionism
-Culture is said to be shaped by environmental and technological conditions. Cultures
evolve when people are able to increase the amount of energy under their control.
7. Materialism
-Culture is the product of the “material conditions” in which a given community of
people finds itself

ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

The key strength of anthropology as a discipline of the social science is its

holistic approach to the study of humans. It is holistic in the sense that it studies;
1. Humans, both as biological and social creatures
2. Human behavior from the time the species existed to the time that it will desist
3. Human behavior from all regions of the world
4. All forms of human actions and beliefs

Prepared by:

MR. CARLO H. FALCUNITIN

UCSP Teacher