UCSP Reading Material

UCSP reading material
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 continue 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.
On Society
Material: Mills, C. Wright. (1959). “The Promise,” The Sociological Imagination.
New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 3–24
Summary C. 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.
Key Concepts
Sociology is the systematic study of human society (Macionis 2012: 2), focusing particularly on
the dynamic interplay between individual and society. At the heart of sociology is the
sociological perspective, a special point of view of sociology that sees general patterns of society
in the lives of particular people (Ibid.).
 One of the works that elaborate this special point of view is C. W. Mills’s Sociological
Imagination, a quality of mind that enables the possessor to link personal with the social.
 The sociological imagination helps us understand everyday events. According to Mills, “society
—not people’s personal failings—is the main cause of poverty and other social problems. By
turning personal problems into public issues, the sociological imagination also is the key to
bringing people together to create needed change” (Macionis 2012: 7).
 The sociological imagination also requires a global perspective, a study of the larger world and
our society’s place in it (Macionis 2012: 6).
On Politics
Material: Yu-Jose, Lydia (2010). “Politics, You and Democracy,” Philippine
Politics: Democratic Ideals and Realities. Quezon City: Ateneo University Press.
Summary
Yu-Jose’s article localizes the Western concepts of politics. It discusses politics and its place in
the Philippines and its democratic institutions and processes. The article begins with a
discussion on the various definitions of politics and its scope or focus. Particular interest on how
the study of politics revolves around the state, its institutions, its decisions and its relationship
with other states and individuals.
Pinpointing the scope of politics, however, remains a complicated task because of the relational
nature of politics. Therefore, an alternative way is to decide what is political and what is not is to
look at individuals’ attitudes toward the state—active participation, rejection, or indifference. It
ends with a discussion on the importance of participation in the promotion and maintenance of
democracy.

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