ON THE PICTURE YOU HAVE IN HAND, WRITE AT

LEAST 5 OBSERVATION ON A CLEAN PAPER.

ACTIVITY 1: EACH GROUP SHOULD HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE

PICTURE TO DISCUSS THE OBSERVATIONS THAT YOU
HAVE COME UP AND EXPLAIN.
ANALYSIS
AT LEAST TWO MEMBERS AT EACH GROUP.
 BY: MR. VANDER JHON E. OLVEZ

UNDERSTANDING CULTURE,
SOCIETY AND POLITICS IN
THE PHILIPPINES
• THIS LESSON PROVIDES CULTURAL, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL CONCEPTS THAT EXIST IN THE REALM OF IDEAS
AND THOUGHTS. AS SUCH, THEY CANNOT BE SEEN OR TOUCHED AND YET THEY INFLUENCE THE WAY WE SEE
AND EXPERIENCE OUR INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE LIVES AS SOCIAL BEINGS.

OVERVIEW
EXPLORE ACTIVITY 1.
PINPOINT!

• USING THE PICTURE, IDENTIFY THE CONCEPTS THAT

YOU CAN ASSOCIATE WITH CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND
POLITICS. WRITE YOUR ANSWERS IN THE GRAPHIC
ORGANIZER.
 PROCESS QUESTION:

FROM YOUR ANSWERS, GIVE YOUR OWN DEFINITION OF CULTURE,

SOCIETY, AND POLITICS.
CULTURE

• THE CUSTOMARY BELIEFS, SOCIAL FORMS, AND

MATERIAL TRAITS OF A RACIAL, RELIGIOUS, OR
SOCIAL GROUP.
• THE SET OF SHARED ATTITUDES, VALUES, GOALS, AND
PRACTICES THAT CHARACTERIZES AN INSTITUTION
OR ORGANIZATION

• TO GROW IN A PREPARED MEDIUM

SOCIETY

• A VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION OF INDIVIDUALS FOR COMMON ENDS

• ESPECIALLY : AN ORGANIZED GROUP WORKING TOGETHER OR PERIODICALLY MEETING BECAUSE OF
COMMON INTERESTS, BELIEFS, OR PROFESSION
• A COMMUNITY, NATION, OR BROAD GROUPING OF PEOPLE HAVING COMMON TRADITIONS, INSTITUTIONS,
AND COLLECTIVE ACTIVITIES AND INTERESTS
POLITICS
• THE ART OR SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT
• POLITICAL AFFAIRS OR BUSINESS
• ESPECIALLY : COMPETITION BETWEEN COMPETING INTEREST
GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS FOR POWER AND LEADERSHIP (AS IN
A GOVERNMENT)
• THEART OR SCIENCE CONCERNED WITH WINNING AND
HOLDING CONTROL OVER A GOVERNMENT
LESSON 1:
Making Sense
Of Our
Everyday
Experience
ON CULTURE
Guide questions:
1. Why are there great variations in the way
people around the world live?
2. Amid these variations, why do we see
similarities among societies?
3. In what way can the study of the different and
common aspects of human existence
contribute to our understanding of culture,
society, and politics?
• 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 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.
• Wright mills argues that a great number of our
social experiences can overwhelm us into
inaction. He then offers a solution: a way of
seeing society that can help us understand
everyday events and make better choices as
individuals and as a group. He calls this the
“sociological imagination,” which is a way of
looking at people in terms of the intersection of
their own lives with the larger social and
historical context. In mills’s view, society—not
people’s personal failings—is the main cause
of social problems (macionis 2012: 7).
• TO ILLUSTRATE HOW ONE CAN DEVELOP A SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION, MILLS DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN
TWO KINDS OF SITUATIONS THAT PEOPLE FIND THEMSELVES IN: “PRIVATE TROUBLES” (PERSONAL
PROBLEMS) AND “PUBLIC ISSUES” (SOCIAL PROBLEMS). HE POINTS OUT THAT THERE ARE INDEED
PRIVATE TROUBLES, BUT SOME OF THEM ALSO AFFECT MANY OTHER PEOPLE SINCE THEY HAVE LARGE-
SCALE CAUSES. EXAMPLES OF PRIVATE TROUBLES THAT ARE ALSO PUBLIC ISSUES ARE POVERTY;
UNEMPLOYMENT; LACK OF ACCESS TO EDUCATION; POOR QUALITY OF EDUCATION; AIR, WATER, AND
NOISE POLLUTION; BULLYING; SINGLE PARENTHOOD; AND SO ON.
• ACCORDING TO MILLS, ADDRESSING OR SOLVING A PRIVATE TROUBLE IS DIFFERENT FROM ADDRESSING
A PUBLIC ISSUE. SINCE PERSONAL TROUBLE IS A PRIVATE MATTER, ITS RESOLUTION LIES WITHIN THE
INDIVIDUAL AND WITHIN THE SCOPE OF HIS OR HER IMMEDIATE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. IN CONTRAST,
PEOPLE VIEWING PERSONAL PROBLEMS AS PUBLIC ISSUES WILL LOOK FOR SOLUTIONS TO SOCIAL
PROBLEMS NOT AT THE LEVEL OF THE INDIVIDUAL. INSTEAD, THEY WILL LOOK INTO BRINGING PEOPLE
TOGETHER TO CREATE NEEDED CHANGE BY ORGANIZING THEMSELVES AND THROUGH THEIR SOCIAL
INSTITUTIONS.