Understanding

CULTURE,
SOCIETY, and
POLITICS
 Anthropology is
philosophy with the
people in.

-- Tim Ingold
Anthropology tries to account
for the social and cultural
variation in the world, but a
crucial part of the
anthropological project also
consists in conceptualizing and
understanding similarities
between social systems and
human relationships.
As one of the foremost
anthropologists of the 20th century,
Claude Levi-Strauss, has expressed
it: ‘Anthropology has humanity as
its object of research, but unlike
the other human sciences, it tries
to grasp its object through its most
diverse manifestations’ (1983).
Anthropology is about how
different people can be, but it
also tries to find out in what
sense it can be said that all
humans have something in
common.
Another prominent
anthropologist, Clifford Geertz,
has expressed a similar view in
an essay which essentially deals
with the differences between
humans and animals.
What is anthropology?
Anthropology comes from the compound
of two Greek words, ‘anthropos’ and
‘logos’, which can be translated as
‘human’ and ‘reason’, respectively. So
anthropology means ‘reason about
humans’ or ‘knowledge about humans’.
Social anthropology would then mean
knowledge about humans in societies
Anthropology may be defined
as the comparative study of
cultural and social life. Its most
important method is
participant observation, which
consists in lengthy fieldworld
in a particular setting.
The central problem of
anthropology is the diversity of
human social life according to
Michael Carrithers (1992).
The word ‘culture’, originates from
the Latin ‘colore’, which means to
cultivate.
Cultural anthropology means
‘knowledge about cultivated
humans;’ that is, knowledge about
those aspects of humanity which are
not natural, but which are related to
that which is acquired.
Culture define it as those
abilities, notions and forms of
behavior persons have acquired
as members of society (Tylor).
Relationship of culture and
society
Culture refers to the acquired,
cognitive and symbolic aspects
of existence, whereas society
refers to the social organization
of human life, patterns of
interaction and power
relationships.
 ETHNOCENTRISM
This term from Greek word ‘ethnos’, meaning ‘a
people’ means evaluating other people from
one’s own vantage-point and describing them in
one’s own terms. Ethnocentrism is the term
anthropologists use to describe the opinion that
one’s own way of life is natural or correct. Some
would simply call it cultural ignorance.
Ethnocentrism means that one may see his/her
own culture as the correct way of living.
An example of ethnocentrism in culture is
the Asian cultures across all the countries
of Asia. Throughout Asia, the way of eating
is to use chopsticks with every meal. These
people may find it unnecessary to find that
people in other societies, such as the
American society, eat using forks, spoons,
knives, etc. Since these countries use
chopsticks to eat every meal, they find it
foolish for other cultures to not use
utensils similar to chopsticks.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
Cultural relativism is the idea that a
person's beliefs, values, and
practices should be understood
based on that person's own culture,
rather than be judged against the
criteria of another.
Cultural relativism is an
objective analysis of other
cultures – understanding a
culture’s beliefs and practices
from that culture’s point of
view.
"What is unacceptable
and bad in a group of
people may be good and
acceptable in another
group of people."
Oftentimes, we are quick in judging
certain aspects of the culture of other
people as "immoral" or "uncivilized"
without being aware of the fact that
others may judge us also in a similar
vein. This is because there are always
a tendency on our part to look at the
ways and manners of other groups
from our own perspective or point of
view, making our own ways as the
measuring stick.
Examples of Cultural
Relativism
SOCIOLOGICAL
IMAGINATION
 Enables us to understand the larger historical
scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life
and the external career of a variety of
individuals.
 It enables us to take into account how
individuals, in the welter of our daily
experience.
 It enables us to grasp history and biography and
the relations between the two within society.
No social study that does not come
back to the problems of biography,
of history and of their intersections
within a society has completed its
intellectual journey. Those who
have been imaginatively aware of
what being social analysts are
consistently asked three sorts of
questions:
(1) What is the structure of this
particular society as a whole? What
are its essential components, and
how are they related to one
another? How does it differ from
other varieties of social order?
Within it, what is the meaning of any
particular feature for its continuance
and for its change?
(2) Where does this society stand in
human history? What are the mechanics
by which it is changing? What is its place
within and its meaning for the
development of humanity as a whole?
How does any particular feature we are
examining affect, and how is it affected
by, the historical period in which it
moves? And this period – what are its
essential features? How does it differ
from other periods? What are its
characteristics ways of history-making?
SOCIETY
Sociologists define society as the people
who interact in such a way as to share a
common culture. The cultural bond may be
ethnic or racial, based on gender, or due to
shared beliefs, values, and activities. The
term society can also have a geographic
meaning and refer to people who share a
common culture in a particular location.
ACTIVITY
POSTER MAKING
Theme: My ideal society
THE PERSON AND SOCIETY
Person is the main social unit.
According to Aristotle’s statement that
man is by nature a political animal. Man is
a political animal because he is a rational
animal, because reason requires
development through character training,
education and the cooperation of others,
and because is thus indispensable to the
accomplishment of human dignity.
According to Jacques Maritain, there are two
important reasons why as a person seeks to
live in society..
First, because of its very imperfections, as
person, and its inner urge to the
communications of knowledge and love which
require relationship with other persons.
Second, because of its needs or deficiencies,
which derive from its material individuality.
WHAT IS POLITICS?
The word politics is derived from Greek
word polis, meaning literally ‘city or
state’.
Politics refers to a set of activities
associated with the governance of a
country, or an area. It involves making
decisions that apply to members of a
group.
Politics refers to achieving and
exercising positions of governance
– organized control over a human
community, particularly a state.
A political system is a framework
which defines acceptable political
methods within a given society.
DEMOCRACY
Democracy is a system of
government in which power is
vested in the people and
exercised by them directly or
through freely elected.
PHILIPPINES POLITICAL
HIERARCHY
Philippines exercise a well-organized and
well structured political system which is
balanced by its democratic republic,
representative and presidential elements.
In nutshell, the government of Philippines
can be regarded as constitutional
democracy headed by the President of
the country.
In the Philippines political hierarchy, the President is
both the head of the state and the head of the
government and the country showcases a Pluriform
multi-party system (a system of government in which
three or more major political parties participate in the
electoral process). The political hierarchy of Philippines
cannot be regarded as a vertical hierarchy but instead
the country’s political system showcases a horizontal
hierarchy with three levels – Executive, Legislative and
judicial which further are subdivided in a vertical
hierarchical format.
PHILIPPINES POLITICAL
HIERARCHY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Social structure is the system of
socioeconomic stratification
(most notably the class
structure), social institutions, or
other patterned relations
between large social groups.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Social organization is a pattern of
relationships between and among
individuals and social groups.
Characteristics of social organization
can include qualities such as sexual
composition, leadership, structure,
division of labor, and communication
systems.
According to Broom and Selznick,
social organization means social
relationship among groups.
Individuals and groups
interrelated together create social
organization. It is the result of
social interaction among people.
PHILIPPINES SOCIAL
HIERARCHY
A social dissection is a basic categorization
method whereby a community ranks one
another as superior or inferior. Although there
are many factors that contribute in the social
segregation of people but majorly this ranking &
evaluation is done on the basis of authority,
wealth, status and social influence. This was
done as an appropriate hierarchical organization
& arrangement of these social classes form
specific social groups in the society.
PHILIPPINES SOCIAL
HIERARCHY
Upper Class / Maharlika
These were the top most authority holder in this hierarchy and
the richest of all in the Philippines’ social hierarchy. This social
class further got divided and sub divided as follow:
Class I– This was the class of leader of the society and his family.
It incorporated the following:
•Datu - is the title for chiefs, sovereign princes, and monarchs in
the Visayas and Mindanao Regions of the Philippines. Together
with Lakan, Apo in Central and Northern Luzon, Sultan and Rajah,
they are titles used for native royalty, and are still currently used
especially in Mindanao and Sulu.
•Datu’s Family
DATU and DATU’s Family
Class II– These were inferior to Datu and his family but
superior to rest of the people of Philippine. The people
in this class were involved in administrative works like
trading, lawmaking, warfare, implementing of the laws,
handling and taking care of rituals and religion.
•Umalohokan - They were responsible for going around
and making people aware of new laws and policies
enacted by the Datu or chieftain.[1
•Lakan - Belonging to the Maginoo social class, the
lakan was democratically selected by other ruling Datus
from among themselves, to serve as "pangulo" (head).
UMALAHOKAN
LAKAN at LAKAMBINI
Middle Class
This was the middle level social class of the
hierarchy. It further incorporated two social
classes that are portrayed as below. Just have
a look:

Timawa – These were the Freed Slaves.

They bought their freedom by some possible
mean. They were engaged in agriculture,
boat making, livestock, carpentry,
hunting, fishing and many more such manual
work. They were allowed to get married
and had family of their own.
TIMAWA
Lower Class
This was the lowest class of the hierarchy. It
further incorporated into two classes that are
described as below:

Aliping Namamahay – These were also sort of

slaves but had some rights provided by their
owners. They could get themselves free by any
means possible at that time. When an Aliping
Namamahay bought his freedom, he then
became a Timawa.
Aliping Sangigilid – This was the poorest
class of the Philippines’ social hierarchy.
These people had zero or negligible
rights. They were not allowed to own a
property in the country. They were not
even allowed to get married. They were
pretty much like slaves who could be
traded or even sold out by their owners
and were not allowed to repulse their
master’s decision.
MGA ALIPIN
ACTIVITY 1
Directions:
1. Get one whole sheet of
paper.
2. Write your name inside the
circle.
3. Draw figure 1 on the sheet of
paper.

See Figure 1
4. Write the following
information of yourself in the 4
spaces:
a. gender
b. socio-economic class
c. ethnicity
d. religion
ACTIVITY 2
Directions: The teacher will
group the students into 4. Each
group will choose a leader and
a secretary to consolidate their
answers on a table similar to
what is shown below.

See table 1
ACTIVITY 3
Directions: Based on the output from the
previous activity, the teacher will ask the
students to discuss their observations
based on the following questions:
1. What are the similarities and differences
of every individual?
2. Do these similarities and differences
affect the life of the whole community?
Why?
The teacher will give each group a time
frame of 10 minutes to present their
answers group outputs. Processing of
answers shall follow