ANTHROPOLOGY

WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
Anthropology and Sociology are two distinct disciplines, even if they are very much
related if not intertwined. Anthropology is the study of people and cultures in the past
and today. How did people live a few decades ago, or thousands of years ago? How
have societies and cultures changed over time? How have humans evolved?
FOUR BRANCHES OF ANTHROPOLOGY:
1. ARCHEOLOGY
– is the study of how people lived in the past. Archaeologists learn from things people
leave behind or artifacts like pottery, tools, relics, ceramics, weapons, or anything made
or used by humans.
2. PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
– is the study of human biology, including how people adapt to where they live and how
bodies changed over time (human evolution). Physical anthropologists also study
nonhuman primates.
3. LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
- is the study of how people speak and the words they use and how their language
developed and evolved. Linguistic anthropology also studies the evolution of language
and how it changed what people think and how people change their language.
4. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
-is the study of how people live their lives in the present and how they may have lived in
the past, including the tools they used and the food they produced and consumed. It is
also related to sociology and social psychology.
The self and person in Contemporary Anthropology
• the self refers to a set of implicit cultural values that we try to adhere to and use them
to guide our lives. We adopt these values and become reflections of specific
sociocultural practices in the place where we exist and that we learn them in our
everyday interactions starting from our earliest age. The self is one interpretation of
being human, among others. The most influential in terms of self-development is
family’s history, basically referring to the culture one has been brought up in.
Self as embedded in culture

• Anthropologists believe that culture is the full range of learned behavior patterns.
Culture, as defined by Sir Edward B. Taylor, founder of cultural anthropology, is the
complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, morals, law, customs, arts, and any
other capabilities and habits acquired by a human as a member of society.
CULTURE:
• is everything that makes up the way a culture-is-not- group of people lives. It includes
their beliefs, values, and real traditions. The experiences we go through in life are
facilitated by the culture we live in because culture provides the environment which
allows all these experiences to take place.
TWO COMPONENTS OF CULTURE:
1. Material culture consists of human technology

• all the things that people make and use. These are the physical manifestations of
culture. The goods and products we buy and the products we use are also included here.
Culture is very much dynamic. It changes from time to time. The fluidity of culture can be
ascribed to man’s distinct ability to create, transform, and re-create culture itself. The
evolution of material culture can be attributed to the technological advances that
humanity was able to make. As such, material culture has drastically changed. Cultural
exchanges also paved the way for the alteration of material culture. A very apt example
of this is the evolution of mobile phones from the time it was introduced in 1973 to the
present.
2. NON MATERIAL CULTURE:

• intangible human creations like beliefs, values, norms, morals, rules, language, and
organizations. This non-material culture also helps shape our perspective of the society,
of ourselves, and even of the material world. For example, the non material cultural
concept of religion consists of a set of ideas and beliefs about God, worship, ethics, and
morals. These beliefs, then, determine how the culture responds to its religious issues,
topics, and events.
1. Relationships Culture
• is an influential factor in how you enter into and maintain relationships. This influences
how adults encourage children to form relationships: For instance, do they choose whom
to play with, or are children encouraged to play in certain ways to promote group welfare?
2.Personality traits
• influences whether you value and how you value traits like humility, politeness,
assertiveness, sympathy, and selfesteem. Culture also influences how you perceive
hardship and how you feel about relying on others.
3. Achievement Culture
• influences how you define success and whether you value individual and group
achievements.
4. Expressing emotions
• influences how feelings are expressed, whether you consider feelings public or private,
openly or discreetly.
REMINDER ABOUT CULTURE:
Always remember that it is important for you to respect others' cultures and acknowledge
and understand that individuals may not develop a sense of self in the same manner. A
family’s cultural values shape the development of the child’s selfconcept. Culture shapes
how we each see ourselves and others. For instance, some cultures prefer children to be
quiet and respectful when around adults. This does not mean that a quiet child lacks self-
confidence. Young children learn from stories told to them that often emphasize a family’s
values and affect how a child develops his selfconcept. As children grow older and attend
school and spend more leisure time with their peers, they begin to learn that others may
not have the same values as their family. For example, a family may value academics
over playing sports while another family may value the arts and learning to play a musical
instrument. Every family influences a child’s self-concept within their cultural context.
Young children may describe themselves based on their family’s values, beliefs, and
morals.
According to Catherine Raeff (2010), a developmental psychologist, culture can
influence how you, your peers, and families view.
Summary
Anthropology is the study of people and cultures across time. It, basically, tries to
understand what it means to be human. There are four branches of Anthropology:
Archeology, Physical Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, and Cultural Anthropology.
The anthropological perspective of the self considers the self as a set of implicit cultural
values that we try to adhere to and use them to guide our lives. Culture plays an immense
role in the development of the self. What we call culture is everything that makes up the
way a group of people live. There are two components of culture: the material culture and
the non-material culture. Culture helps us define how we see ourselves and how we relate
to others. We may differ in many ways when it comes to culture, and it is important to
respect other people’s cultures and acknowledge and understand that individuals may
not develop a sense of self in the same manner.

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WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?

FOUR BRANCHES OF ANTHROPOLOGY:

Self as embedded in culture

TWO COMPONENTS OF CULTURE:

1. Material culture consists of human technology

2. NON MATERIAL CULTURE:

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