FACT SHEET FOR UCSP 3.

Theoretical perspective is used to analyze and explain

objects of social study, and facilitate organizing sociological
The nature, goals and perspectives of anthropology, sociology knowledge. In functionalist perspective, societies are
and political science thought to function like organisms, with various social
1. Anthropology relates to sociology, it always describes institutions working together like organs to maintain and
human, human behaviour and human societies around reproduce societies. The conflict perspective sees social life
the world. It is a comparative science that examines all as a competition, and focuses on the distribution of
societies. The term anthropology means scientific study resources, power, and inequality.
of man or human beings. 4. Political science perspective studies the tendencies and
The study of Man and its various aspects is actions of people which cannot be easily quantified or
known as Anthropology. It may be a subject of science examined. Political science is more focused than most
and arts. It is a branch of sociology. It describes social sciences. It sticks to the political arena and to the
human, human behavior and human societies and it realm of politics, either dealing with situations with two
examines all societies around the world. It also competing sides or the lateral decisions that affect the
describes the ancestors through time and space in group as a whole. An example is the study of democracy as
relation to its environmental, social relations, and a form of government and why is democracy considered as
culture the best form of government.
2. Sociology is the study of human social relationships Anthropology: its Scope and Fields
and institutions. Sociology’s subject matter is diverse, Anthropology has been described by different
ranging from crime to religion, from the family to the anthropologist focusing on the different characteristics of the
state, from the divisions of race and social class to the anthropology. Some of this Anthropologist has given stressed on
shared beliefs of a common culture, and from social the physical characteristic while others have emphasized on the
stability to radical change in whole societies. The cultural characteristics of the anthropology. As shown below is the
purpose of sociology is to understand how human main fields of anthropology:
action and consciousness both shape and are shaped
by surrounding cultural and social structures.
3. Political Science is a social science that deals with
humans and their interactions. It is a branch of
sociology; it essentially deals with the large-scale
actions of humans, and group mentality it is a discipline
that deals with several aspects such as the study of
state and government. It deals with the nature and
formation of the state and attempts to understand its
forms and functions. The goal of Political Science is to
constantly deepen the knowledge, discover progress
and protect the quality of life within a group, A. Physical/ Biological Anthropology: 
community, country, and the world. Thus, it is the Based from the diagram above, physical/biological
study of power relationships and competing interests anthropology is the systematic study of human as a biological
among states around the world. organism. It focuses on the present day of human variation in the
whole world. 
PERSPECTIVE
1. Anthropological perspectives are culture, cultural Issues being discussed:
relativism, fieldwork, human diversity, holism, bio-cultural In his cultural anthropology, Kottak identified the five special
focus. The four main perspectives of Anthropology are the introits. The following are as follows:
cross-cultural or comparative emphasis, its 1. Pale anthropology states that human evolution was
evolutionary/historical emphasis, its ecological emphasis, discovered by the fossil record.
and its holistic emphasis. An example for this is the analysis 2. Human genetics is the scientific study of the ways in
and solutions of the different aspects of the society such as which different characteristic are being passed from generation to
the environment issues of pollution, the issues on health generation. Examples: Body structure, color, shape etc.
and medicine and other issues related to the human 3. Human growth and development is the study of human
activities. variations that examines how and why contemporary human
populations differ in biological and physical characteristics.
2. Sociological perspective introduces the discipline of Example: language, attitude, behavior etc.
sociology, including something about its history, questions, 4. Human biological plasticity is the body’s ability to
theory, and scientific methods, and what distinguishes it change as its copies with stress such as heat, cold and attitude.
from other social science disciplines. Central features Example: Australian people, African people etc.
include social interaction and relationships, social contexts, 5. Others: The biological evaluation behavior and social life
social structure, social change, the significance of diversity of monkey’s apes and other nonhuman primates.  
and human variation, and the critical, questioning character
of sociology. It also explores what sociologists do. B. Cultural Anthropology: 
Sociology includes three major theoretical perspectives: According to Havilland (1975), cultural anthropology
1. the functionalist perspective; focuses on human behavior and is divided in different areas such
2. the conflict perspective; and as archaeology, linguistic anthropology and ethnology. The
3. the symbolic interaction perspective. following has its own interests and methods however all of these
areas deal with cultural data. 

a) Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of material remains
that usually from the past that will describe and explain
 human behavior. Archaeology is the study of the ancient 3. Sociology is the categorical and not a normative
and recent human past through material remains. discipline. When we talk about Sociology, it “restrains
Archaeologists might study the million-year-old fossils of itself to statement about what is not what should be or
our earliest human ancestors in Africa. Or they might ought to be”. As a social science, sociology is necessary
study 20th-century buildings in present-day New York silent when it comes to questions of value and it is
City. Archaeology analyzes the physical remains of the ethically neutral.
past in pursuit of a broad and comprehensive 4. Sociology is a pure science and not an applied science.
understanding of human culture. The main aim of pure science is the attainment of
b) Linguistic Anthropology knowledge and it is not concerned whether the acquired
The study of languages, ancient, and modern written knowledge is useful or can be put to use.
form, talking style is refer to Linguistic Anthropology. This is 5. Sociology is the relatively an abstract science and not
divided into three parts; concrete science. Sociology does not restrict itself to
1.  Historical linguistic deals with the history of the study of this society of that particular society or social
language. The process of finding historical linguistic is called organization, or marriage, or religion or group and so on.
‘Diachronomical’. It deals with the following factors such as words In short, sociology is neither an abstract nor a concrete
living language and dead language. science.
2. Socio linguistics is the study of how language is used in 6. Sociology is the generalizing and not particularizing or
social context and it is acceptable by everybody. individualizing science. Sociology attempts to find out
3. Descriptive structural includes how contemporary the overall laws or principles about human interaction
languages differ specially in their construction. Example: sounds, and association, about the nature from content and the
grammar meaning.  structure of human groups and societies. It tries to make
c) Ethnology generalization on the basis of the study of some selected
Ethnology is the systematic description of a cultural events.
based on first hand observation. This could be in a form of 7. Sociology is a general science and not an empirical
universality, particularity and generality. science. The extent of inquiry of sociology is general not
Universality is a custom that shared by all human being, specialized. It is primarily focused on human interaction.
such as—Infant dependency.
Particularity is a custom which is common to several Social Differences
groups not to all groups. Example: Birth ceremony, Death Social differences are the complex differences that
ceremony, Marriage ceremony etc. includes: Class, role, culture, age, ability, sex etc... Social
Generality stands between universality and particularity. differences can create discrimination among individuals on the
These are cultural traits that occur in many societies but not all of basis of their social characteristic. Social differences are shared
them. cultural beliefs that define the socially significant distinctions on
the basis of which society is structured and inequality is organized
Human Cultural variation (e.g. race, gender, occupation) They provide cultural schemas for
It refers to the differences in social behaviors that enacting social relations on the basis of a given difference by
different cultures exhibit around the world. What may be indicating the attributes by which people may be categorized
considered good etiquette in one culture may be considered bad according to the distinction and the traits and behaviors that can
in other etiquette. It refers to the differences in social behaviors be expected as a result. (Ridgeway, 1999).
that different cultures exhibit around the world. An example of
human variation can be found with a cline. A cline is a genetic Social Change
variation between populations of species that are isolated in their It refers to any significant alteration overtime in
reproduction (such as skin color variation in humans). Human skin behavior patterns and cultural values and norms by significant
color variation is a selective adaptation that relates to the alteration, sociologist means changes yielding profound social
populations' proximity to the equator. Because of pigmentation consequences. Sociologists define social change as changes in
characteristics within the human population, a system and term human interactions and relationships that transform cultural and
emerged to categorize the differing variations. This category is social institutions. These changes occur over time and often have
recognized as race. Populations of humans in equatorial regions profound and long-term consequences for society. Well known
have selective advantages as a result of their darker skin examples of such change have resulted from social movements in
pigmentation, whereas populations in more northern civil rights, women's rights, and LBGTQ rights, to name just a few.
environments have less selective pressure to evolve darker Relationships have changed, institutions have changed, and
pigmentation and have lighter skin. Other clines include cultural norms have changed as a result of these social change
differences in stature and hair type. movements. Dunfey, T.S. (2019)

Understanding the Concept of Sociology

Nature of Sociology
Sociology is the branch of knowledge that studies the society and
it has its own characteristics. Sociology has different way of
understanding the nature of society. In other words, sociology is
different from other sciences in certain aspects. Below are the
following main characteristics of sociology as mentioned by
Robert Bierstedt in his book “The Social Order”;
1. Sociology is an independent science. Sociology is not
treated as studies as a branch of any other science like
philosophy or political philosophy or history.
2. Sociology is a social science and not a physical science.
As a social science it focuses its attention to man, his
social behavior, social activities and social life.