introduction to sociology PDF

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very detailed notes on introduction to sociology with summaries at the end of each topic along with review questions and highlights of keywords ...

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DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

PREAMBLE This module is aimed at introducing you to the discipline of Anthropology as a physical as well as social science. As the study of man, Anthropology aspires to understand man in totality and especially to understand how the human society is evolving in its form, structure and organization. It is therefore assumed that this course in Anthropology will enhance your understanding of man, his society and culture as they have developed. The course should also create an impetus for the appreciation of both the past and modern society and the various structures that characterize them. As part of their course work, students are expected to do extra study on their own. Various texts are provided to guide you in your search for literature. Most of these are available in the local libraries.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS LESSON 1- UNDERSTANDING ANTHROPOLOGY 

The study of anthropology ………………………………… ……

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Subject matter of Anthropology…………………………………. Branches of Anthropology………………………………………. Anthropology, History, Literature, Music and Geography……… Significance of studying Anthropology………………………….

5 7 10 13

LESSON 2 - FOUNDING FIGURES IN THE STUDY OF ANTHROPOLOGY       

Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917)………………………… Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942)……………………………. Margaret Mead (1901-1978)……………………………………. Arthur Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955)…………………………… Sir James Geo rge Frazer, (1854-1941)......................................... Alfred Kroeber (1876-1960).......................................................... Franz Boas (1858-1942)………………………………………….

15 15 16 16 16 17 17

LESSON 3- MAIN APPROACHES IN ANTHROPOLOGY    

Evolutionary approach…………………………………………… Anthropological Functionalism………………………………….. Psychological approach…………………………………………. Other approaches…………………………………………………

19 19 20 20

LESSON 4- CONCEPTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE      

Social Structure, Social Institutions, Organization……………. Values and Norms, Sanction………………………………… Social Stratification and Mobility, Age ………………………… Sex, Ethnic Groupings, Locality, Descent……………………….. Belief and Ritual, Common Property Interest…………………… Voluntary Association……………………………………………

22 23 24 26 26 27

LESSON 5- CULTURE     

Defining Culture…………………………………………….. Characteristics of Culture…………………………………… Concepts Related to culture…………………………………. Functions of Culture………………………………………… Culture Change………………………………………………

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31 31 32 32 35

LESSON 6- SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS     

Marriage and Family Marriage as an institution within the family……………………… 39 Bride-wealth and Dowry……………………………………….... 39 Marriage Customs, Forms of Marriage …………………………… 40 Family systems, Family forms, Functions of the family………….. 42

LESSON 7- KINSHIP  Forms of Kinship  Principles of Descent………………..….……………………….  Clan and Moeity…………………………………………………  Affinal Kins……………………………..………………………  Affinal’s Residence………………………………………………  Functions of Kinship………………………………………………

46 46 47 47 48

LESSON 8- SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS   

The Education Institution…………………………………………51 Meaning……………………………………………………………..51 Functions……………………………………………………………52

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The Economic Institution Meaning…………………………………………………………… 52 Functions of The Economic Institution……………………………..53

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The Political Institution Meaning ………………………………………………………… 53 Evolution of Political Systems…………………………………… 54 Functions of The Political Institution…………………………… 55

LESSON 9- RELIGION      

Meaning……………………………………………………………..58 Identifying Features………………………………………………. 58 Evolution of Religious Systems………………………………… 59 Associated Terms and Activities………………………………… 60 Religious Practitioners…………………………………………… 60 Functions of Religion……………………………………………. 61

LESSON 10- RESEARCH IN ANTHROPOLOGY   

Anthropological Enquiry and Method………………………….. 60 Applied Anthropology……………………………………………. 65 Contemporary Trends and Interests In Anthropology…………… 65

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LESSON 1 UNDERSTANDING ANTHROPOLOGY In this lesson, we will particularly focus on the meaning of Anthropology, its origin and development and also its distinguishing characteristics amid other subjects related to it. You will also be able to learn about the various sub-branches of Anthropology and their specific concerns. Lesson objectives At the end of this lesson, Learners should be able to:    

Explain the meaning of Anthropology Trace its development and maturation Identify and explain its main concerns and areas Decipher the importance of studying Anthropology

The study of Anthropology Anthropology derives from the Greek word Anthropos which means man and Logia which means study or knowledge. Therefore Anthropology is literally the study or science of man. It studies man from a biological, social and humanistic perspective. As the study of man, Anthropology endevours to discover when, where and why humans appeared on the earth, how and why they have changed since their appearance and how and why modern human populations vary in certain physical features. Anthropology also deals with how and why societies in the past and present differ in their cultural practices. The origins of Anthropology can be traced back to the ancient times when travelers and philosophers speculated about the human species and their physical and cultural differences. Their experiences with other societies affirmed that men differed greatly in their shape, colour, stature and cultures. These observations led to an interest in and speculation about human origins and human development. The first known philosopher to adopt an anthropological perspective was Xerophanes (570-475 BC). After his observations, Xerophanes concluded that society is created by man himself, gods are created in the human image and religion is a social product. Later on another philosopher named Heroditus (484-425BC) traveled widely and tried to describe the life styles of people he met, their physical characteristics, language, customs, institutions, laws, political and military organizations and also their belief systems (Oke, 1984:3).

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Other early philosophers who had an interest in man, his physical and cultural organization include Socrates (461-321BC) and Plato (429-347 BC). With the fall of the Roman Empire and the influx of refugees into Western Europe, people came to discover that every society was a separate entity with its own nature and ways of doing things. As more information emerged, scholars intensified their interest in man. During the middle ages, the Italian adventurer Marco Polo (1254-1324) traveled through China and other parts of Asia and provided a wide range of information about the peoples and customs of the Far East. Later on as the age of discovery set in, new fields of knowledge were explored as people traveled to the new worlds of Africa, south Asia and the South seas. Many scholars began theorizing about the long-term evolution and the development of human civilization thereby setting the foundation that anthropology was later to be founded on. During the early 19th Century, exploration and discovery became very popular. At the same time Europe was extending its empire to include Africa, Asia and Latin America. This resulted in large-scale contact with people from various societies. From the knowledge of non-western societies as well as systematic data collection, attempts were being made to sketch the history of man from his earliest forms. Further, the interest in man’s evolution meant that anthropology had to reach out to other physical sciences for a comprehensive understanding. As a result, discoveries and theories such as Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution became integrated into the study of Anthropology. By the close of the 19th century, anthropology had come of age and was ripe to stand in its own right as a discipline among many. The study of Anthropology continued to develop in consistence with the idea that man evolved from collateral animal forms and that culture was a changing and evolving entity. One of the earliest Anthropologists Edward Tylor (1832-1917) argued that man’s progression was orderly and lawful following a defined order from savagery to barbarism and to civilization. Later on, many scholars began to focus on the question of how societies maintained and sustained themselves. Some explained that society existed much like an organism with different functional parts. Thus the functionalist view, now a popular approach in Anthropology emerged. This view has been popularized by key figures in Anthropology such as Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1978) and Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955). Currently, Anthropology is a recognized academic discipline which has contributed immensely to the study of man and especially the concept of race. The Subject matter of Anthropology Anthropology has become the most comprehensive of the sciences that deal with man and his works. Its subject matter being man, it is concerned with man in totality. It traces his development beginning with his emergence to the present. It looks at the great variety of man and his works. It is not the only subject that studies man but it is unique because it combines the biological and social study of man into one discipline (Oke, 1984).

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According to Ember and Ember (1988), the distinctiveness of Anthropology lies in its broadness of scope, its concern with all varieties of people throughout the world and its concern with people of all periods.

Braches of Anthropology Though the discipline of anthropology strives for a complete and systematic picture of humanity, no single individual could possibly command a detailed understanding of every aspect of the lives of all people. Consequently, specialization in anthropology is a common and practical necessity. Hence, most anthropologists select one or two aspects of the human conditions for intensive study. Anthropology can be broadly classified into two main sub-disciplines namely;  Physical and  Social Cultural Anthropology Physical Anthropology is concerned with the physical man and can be further broken down into two:  Human Paleontology or Paleo-anthropology and  Human variation Human Paleontology deals with the evolution of man as a physical organism. Physical Anthropologists search and examine human and pre-human fossils, geological formations, animal and plant fossils in order to add on to knowledge on human evolution. They also give information on plants, and ancient animal forms that can be used to explain the ancient man and his cultures. In this endevour, the paleontologists collaborates with the geologists and physicists to provide reliable dates for a study of human evolution Paleontologists have discovered among others, evidence to show that man’s evolution has been an extremely long process. Fossils discovered in Neandertal in Germnany for instance point to this. Elsewhere, paleontologists working in East Africa have evacuated the fossil remains of man like creatures who lived in the region about 3 million years ago. These creatures have been described as the direct ancestors of all humans. These findings and others have helped us to determine man’s ancestors, his cradle and subsequent physical and cultural developments. They give us a picture of what life was like for our ancestors and how and why we evolved. Paleontologists also investigate the evolution of other mammals such as the primates which have human likeness and attempt to discover similarities in their origins. Human variation on the other hand studies the differences and direction of change among both individuals and groups, past and present. All human beings belong to one species known as Homo-sapiens and all can successfully interbreed yet there is much variation among human populations. The sources of variation lie in genetic differences and environmental modification of the genetic potential. Human variation therefore endevours to understand why human beings differ in anatomy and other aspects. It also 6

seeks to compare physiological responses of different individuals and groups to their environment. Among their most commonly handled questions include how people adapt to their environment, why some are darker or lighter in complexion, why some are taller and others shorter. In their investigations, physical anthropologists require to borrow extensively from other disciplines such as genetics, demography and epidemiology (the study of why diseases affect different populations in different ways). Branches of Anthropology Anthropology

Physical Anthropology

Human Palaeontology

Social-cultural Anthropology

Human variation

Ethnology

Linguistics Archaeology

Adapted from: Oke (1984)

Socio-cultural Anthropology Its primary concern is the study of human social life in totality. It is the study of the social, symbolic and material lives of humans It is interested in all cultures because they help to explain man’s behaviour in diverse circumstances. Socio-cultural anthropology is concerned with the social inheritance of human kind which denotes all those aspects of human existence that are passed on through social and cultural experience rather than genes. Socio-cultural Anthropology can be divided into three main areas:  Archeology  Linguistic and  Ethnology Archeology is concerned with studying the customs of people who lived in the past through examining past remains such as fossils. This is necessary because no written records exist to show the way of life of the very past societies (writing only evolved about 5000 years ago). From Archeology, we learn about how man first acquired culture and how these cultures have evolved over time. Hence, archeologists study humanity’s

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past by excavating especially cultures which have no written records (Cohen et al., 1982:xxi). However, some archeologists study the remains of recent people who have had written information. According to (Dectz, 1970), Archaeology has 3 main concerns  The reconstruction of culture history over massive segments of time such as past religious beliefs, livelihoods and so on.  The detailing of the daily ways of life of earlier cultures such as eating habits.  The elucidation of the cultural process in a broad sense with emphasis on the dynamic aspects of culture. The field of archaeology has become more sophisticated with time. In the present times, archaeologists use atomic–age sensitive methods to find clues to the past. Moreover, their investigations are increasingly linked theoretically with anthropological studies. The importance of Archaeology lies in the fact that it has contributed immensely to our knowledge of cultural history and development. From it we have learned where and when man first acquired culture, specific human adaptations to their environment such as agriculture and tool-making and we also learn about ancient cities and their characteristics. Through archeology, we gain knowledge on the evolution of human cultures and we discover that cultural evolution has progressed at varying pace and not been equally rapid all over the world. Anthropological linguistics- It is generally interested in language because language plays a basic role in the development of human culture since it is the primary means by which customs are transmitted from generation to generation. Although interested in all languages, anthropological linguistics has a special interest in unwritten languages and a special concern with the relationship of languages to other aspects of culture. Linguistic Anthropology is also interested in the way man learns language, sounds (phonemics) and word order (syntax). Anthropological linguistics has several sub-fields namely;  Descriptive linguistic- which deals with how languages are constructed and how the various parts are interrelated to form coherent system of communication. It deals with how rules of language are developed and institutionalized and how, sounds and words are put together in speech.  Historical linguistics- which is concerned with the evolution of languages and how they change. It explains diversity in languages and compares languages to determine those features common to all.

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 Socio-linguistics- which studies how language is used in relation to social factors such as class, ethnicity, age, sex and status of the speakers.  Language and culture- which deals with the examination of the ways language might affect how we think or converse and how our beliefs and values might affect our linguistic behaviour.  Ethnology is defined as the study of cultures and patterns of behaviour. It is also the systematic comparative study of patterns and process in living and recent cultures. Its primary concern is how and why patterns of behaviour differ in contemporary societies, the dynamics of cultural change and how cultures interact with one another. The Ethnologist is primarily interested in the less advanced cultures and peoples. The ethnologist’s utmost aim is to preserve the cultures that are steadily disappearing especially those of the less advanced people. This is necessary because not much is known about these people and their way of life may disappear in the course of time as a result of urbanization or modernization. Nonetheless, ethnologists are also interested in and actually study culturally advanced societies. Ethnology also has various areas of specialization such as Ethno-history which investigates written documents such as missionary accounts, reports by traders or explorers, official government records and so on. It relies heavily on reports of others and pieces them together in an attempt to make sense of the widely scattered and sometimes contradictory information. Ethno-history has interest similar to that of a historian, except that it is usually concerned with history of people without written records. Another area is ethnography. The Ethnographer is typically concerned with the ways of life of a particular group of people. He spends time with people whose custom he is researching. He observes the people, asks questions and participates in their day-to-day activities such as their social organization, their religion, clothing and material culture. His work often results in a detailed description of his observations. Finally, the comparative or cross-cultural ethnologist combines and analyses data collected by the ethnographer and ethno-historian. His concern is to discover which of the explanations suggested by the ethnographer and the ethno-historian for particular cases may be reasonably or generally applicable.

Anthropology and Other Disciplines Anthropology has primary relation to many other disciplines. It relates to both the natural and the social sciences. Indeed, Anthropology could not have developed by itself and has thus borrowed some of its facts from other subjects. For instance, for Anthropology to understand a particular society, it needs to take stock of the economic, political, cultural, geographical environments, language, religion, law and even its interaction with the rest

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of the world. This might as well mean that it needs economics, political science, geography, linguistics, and other relevant subjects. However, other subjects might also require anthropology to understand certain aspects of their inquiry. That perhaps implies that no single subject can be independent of others. Anatomy for example is concerned with the physical aspects of man and anthropological knowledge might shed light on the changing anatomical features of the human race. The uniqueness of Anthropology however, lies in the fact that it combines in one discipline the approaches of both the biological and social sciences. Consequently anthropology has attempted to broaden the study of man by being ...