1. INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY
SSF1044
INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY

2. Learning outline What is Anthropology ? What is Sociology?
Some common ground? Differences?
Importance of Anthropology & Sociology

3. At present, what do you currently know about anthropology and sociology?

4. Anthro & Socio: Similarities
Common interest: People and society
Social relations
Organization
Behaviour
Social and cultural realities of life
Comparative study of human life in historical and contemporary times

5. What about differences
What about differences? But first of all, what is Anthropology and what is Sociology. Then, we discuss about differences.

6. ANTHROPOLOGY

7. What is Anthropology?
Anthropology = Anthropos (human) + logia (study) = “study of human”
The nature of anthropology
Holistic
Past, present, future
Society, culture, biology, language etc.
Comparative: to gain complete understanding of “human nature”.

8. What is Anthropology?
Anthropology is the study of the human species and its immediate ancestors.
Anthropology is holistic in that the discipline is concerned with studying the whole of the human condition: past, present and future. Anthropology studies biology, society, language, and culture.
Anthropology offers a unique cross-cultural perspective by constantly comparing the customs of one society with those of others.

9. What is Anthropology? People share both society and culture.
Society is organized life in groups, a feature that humans share with other animals.
Cultures are traditions and customs, transmitted through learning, that govern the beliefs and behaviors of the people exposed to them.
While culture is not biological, the ability to use it rests in hominid biology

10. What is Anthropology?
Interested in diversity: biologically and culturally
Variations across time and space.
How do people vary? Why?
How do people adapt to different environment and social conditions?
What changes can be seen across time/changes? Why?

11. Discussion
Compare 2 different societies. For example, one living in a cold climate and the other in a hot climate. How do they differ? Biologically? Culturally? Why do they differ?
Does biology influence culture, and vice versa? Example?

12. Sub-disciplines of Anthropology
Physical (Biological) Anthropology
Archaeology
Cultural Anthropology
Linguistic Anthropology

13. Physical Anthropology
Physical anthropologists are interested in:
Palaeoanthropology/Human Palaeontology: emergence of humans and their later evolution (i.e. researching 'ancient humanity' – the fossil record of human and hominid evolution)
Human Variations: biological or physical variations in contemporary human population

14. Physical Anthro: Palaeoanthropology
In order to reconstruct human evolution
Search and study fossils of human, prehuman and related animals
Also interested in behaviour and evolution of our closest “relatives”: Primates (prosimians, monkeys and apes)  primatology
Fossil of “Lucy”
(Australopithecus afarensis)
Dian Fossey - primatologist

15. Anthropology on the big screen

16. LUCY (Australopithecus afarensis)
3.2 million years ago

17. Physical Anthro: Human variation
Why are there differences (physically, biologically) between contemporary humans?
Physical anthropologists uses the principles, concepts and techniques of three other disciplines:
Human genetics – study of human traits that are inherited
Population biology – study of environmental effects on, and interaction with, population characteristics
Epidemiology – study of how and why diseases affect different population in different ways

18. Spencer Wells “Journey of Man”

19. Archaeology
Seeks to reconstruct the culture of the past through the study of material/cultural remains
Also to trace cultural changes and to offer explanations of those changes
In order to study past cultures, archaeologists collect materials (usually by excavations) from sites of human occupations
Difference between archaeology and history?
Use techniques and findings borrowed from other fields such as: geology, physics, chemistry, history, geography etc.

20. Archaeology: Gua Tupak, Bau, Sarawak
Evidence of human occupation dating as far back as 1,100 years ago
Findings: food remains (shells and animal bones), pottery, stone flake

21. Archaeology on the big screen

22. Cultural Anthropology
Studies society and culture: describing, analysing and explaining social and cultural similarities and differences.
2 aspects:
Ethnography (based on fieldwork)
To gather data from the field
Traditionally, ethnographers have lived in small communities and studied local behaviour, beliefs, customs, social life, economic activities, politics and religion
Ethnology (based on cross-cultural comparisons)
Examines, interprets and compares the results of ethnography

23. Cultural Anthropology
Comparison between Ethnography and Ethnology
ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOLOGY
requires fieldwork to collect data
draws upon data collected by a series of researchers
descriptive
synthetic
group/community specific
comparative/cross-cultural

24. Culture on the big screen

25. Linguistic Anthropology
The study of languages in its social and cultural context (in space and through time)
Linguists are interested in the emergence of languages and also with the divergence of languages over thousands of years
Examples:
Study universal features of language, linked perhaps to uniformities in human brain
Reconstruct ancient languages by comparing their contemporary descendants
Study linguistic differences to discover varied perceptions and patterns of thought in different cultures

26. Austronesian Languages

27. SOCIOLOGY

28. What is Sociology?
Sociology = Socius (Latin for “companion” or “associate”) + logia (Greek for “study”)
Sociology is the study of human behaviour in society.
Sociologists are interested in:
Human social life, groups and societies.
How society affects human behaviour.
How changes affects human behaviour.

29. Example: eating

30. Sociology
The sociological perspective  the ability to see societal patterns that influence human behaviour.
It requires us to think imaginatively and to detach ourselves from preconceived ideas about social life.

31. Example: The quest for “beauty”
Who defines what is “beautiful”?

32. Sociology The scope of sociology – extremely wide! Levels of analysis
Ranging from analysis of passing encounters between individuals on the street to investigation of global social processes (e.g. globalisation, religious fundamentalism etc.)
Levels of analysis
Microsociology: the study of everyday behaviour in situations of face-to-face interaction
Macrosociology: the analysis of large-scale social systems e.g. political system or economic order
Also includes the analysis of long-term processes of change, e.g. development of industrialism
Why is macro-analysis important? Micro-analysis?

33. What Is Sociology??? Sociology Scope of Sociology
The systematic study of human societies, with special emphasis on social groups in modern industrialized systems.
Scope of Sociology
The scope of sociology studying all human relationships, groups, institutions, and societies
Health illness, racial ethnic conflicts, poverty, education, immigration, sexuality, gender, class, and crime punishment, environment economic development all come under the scope of sociology.

34. The Development of Sociological Thinking
Sociology encompasses a diversity of theoretical approaches.
Theories - constructing abstract interpretations that can be used to explain a wide variety of empirical situations.
Micro and Macro Approaches to the Study of Society
Micro-sociology individual characteristics social interactions
Level of Analysis Macro-Sociology
Micro-Sociology
Microsociology - the study of everyday behavior in situations of face-to-face interaction.
Macro-sociology large-scale phenomena
Macrosociology - the analysis of large-scale social systems.
The two are closely connected.

35. Developing Sociological Perspective
Social reproduction
the way societies keep going over time.
Social transformation
processes of changes derived from conscious intentions to change
processes of unintended outcomes via social reproduction
Sociology studies the resulting balance between these two processes.

36. Early Sociologists Auguste Comte Emile Durkheim
He invented the word sociology.
Scientific evidence
Seeing sociology as a means to predict control
human behavior, which in turn contributes to human welfare
Emile Durkheim
Social changes division of labor
Sociology must study social facts
Harmony among specialized institutions
Society is an integrated whole (organic solidarity).

37. Early Sociologists Karl Marx Max Weber
All human history thus far is the history of class struggles. Emphasizing economic inequality its influences on social changes
The ruling class exploited the working class and
the working class struggled to overcome that exploitation.
Max Weber
Emphasizing Durkheim's notions of social values and ideas.
Values and ideas, such as those of religion and science, can shape a society.
Rationalization of social and economic life
Bureaucracy-efficiency and red tape
Sociology of religion

38. Modern Theoretical Approaches
Symbolic Interactionism
Symbols
The exchange of symbols between individuals in social interaction
Small-scale interactions of individuals, not society as a whole
Functionalism
Seeing society as a whole
Robert Merton has been particularly influential
Manifest, latent functions and dysfunction
Study of deviance

39. Modern Theoretical Approaches
Feminism
Linking sociological theory and political reform
womens lives and experiences
Gendered patterns and inequalities are socially constructed.
Postmodernism
Society is no longer governed by history or progress.
Postmodern society is highly pluralistic and diverse, with no "grand narrative" guiding its development.

40. Is Sociology a Science Science
Systematic methods of empirical investigation
Data analysis
Theoretical thinking
Logical assessments of arguments
A body of knowledge about a particular subject matter
Value-free, objective observable
Empirical evidence facts

41. How Can Sociology Help Us in Our Lives?
Understanding social circumstances provides us a better chance of controlling them.
Sociology provides the means of increasing our cultural sensitivities.
We can investigate the consequences of adopting particular policy programs.
Sociology provides self-enlightenment, offering groups individuals an increased opportunity to alter the conditions of their own lives.

42. Thank You!
Questions?