Lesson 5 Flashcards
Anthropologists cite three types of societal evolution:
Biological
Cultural
Technological
organisms undergo various genetic and physical changes
Biological evolution
According to him living things on earth have their origins in other pre-existing types and the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations.”
-biological evolution is a process of descent with modification. Lineages of organisms change through generations;
Francisco Jose Ayala
They learned to create various tools and equipment for their daily tasks such as planting crops, domesticating animals, and trade.
-accumulated over time and FORGED A SENSE OF CULTURE
Technological Evolution
“the mutual interactive evolution of human biology and culture.”
- “a basic concept in understanding the unique components of human evolution.”
This concept recognizes the role of culture in social evolution.
We adapt our environment bioculturally not through biological response alone.
Biocultural Evolution
people’s capacity for language, tool-making, and technological innovation.
In particular, anthropologists put emphasis on the role of effective participation in social networks in cultural development.
Cultural Development
came up with an evolutionary scheme that divided history into three stages of development:
savagery
barbarism
civilization.
Lewis Henry Morgan
is the lowest stage of development which is exemplified by the nomadic and hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
Savage stage
is the middle stage of development where people began learning agricultural techniques and the domestication of animals.
Barbaric stage
is the highest stage of development where people learned writing.
Civilized Stage
developing a theory on the origin of private property and the state.
-accumulation of private property paved the way for the collapse of primitive communities
Friedrich Engels
social institutions evolve primarily due to the struggle between social classes over the means of production such as wealth and private property.
Engels & KARL MARX
societies engage in a competition for survival whereby the superior ones dominate those who are of the inferior type.
Herbert Spencer
notion that an individual’s attitudes, beliefs, and ideas are based on the cultural context of his or her society.
Cultural Relativism
human behavior is not rooted in biology but is socially constructed.
-the product of environment and culture.
Franz Boas
refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right or wrong, strange or normal.
Cultural Relativism
INFO
Sociologists mainly subscribe to two different ideas regarding the origins of social and political institutions. :
First, there are those who subscribe to the idea that evolution occurs based on “stages of development” such as Morgan and Engels.
Second, there are those who subscribe to the idea that one stage does not necessarily precede or lead to another stage like Franz Boas. It should be stressed, however, that while there are different perspectives on the evolution of societies and its institutions,
Hunting
Men
Gathering
Women
earliest societies were comprised of the hunters-gatherers, and were referred to as
-They were basically small and nomadic family groups and were plainly organized. These groups were believed to be highly egalitarian and nonhierarchical.
band-level societies or simply “bands.”
emergence of more complex social organizations came about on the.
-establishment of permanent settlements, the invention of tools, the introduction of new and varied tasks, and the increasingly complex social interactions communication were significant changes in human society that required new for of social and political organization.
Advent of agriculture
-made up of several bands and groups that were connected through a clan structure or kinship.
Tribe
was a more formal and established leader. He had significant influence among the members of the tribe and was recognized as a person of great importance. The headman took advantage of the kinship ties among tribe members to assert his authority and power
Leader of the tribe/ headman
consisted of tribes united under one leader or chief.
Chiefdom
event introduced significant social, cultural, and political changes in the lives of the people of Europe.
Industrial revolution
the effects of the Industrial Revolution were :
increased migration, the growth of urban populations, changes in lifestyle, increased production,
argued that the role of the state is to facilitate the growth of the economy and maintain an unregulated, “free market.”
Adam Smith
*SOCIETY AS A NATURAL INSTITUTION:
believed that human beings are by nature social and political animals, and that human interactions fulfill certain basic needs.
Aristotle
considered the polis or city-state as the highest form of interaction
Aristotle
an agreement made by the members of society that defines and influences their interactions, particularly with those in authority.
Social Contract
agreement was necessitated by the need to guarantee the security of the people.
Thomas Hobbes
According to him the social contract was needed in order to guarantee the fair and impartial enforcement of the law.
John Locke
emphasize the idea of the natural equality of humans. Therefore, the only justified authority is one that emerges from an agreement among all in which each particular will has been submitted to the general will.
Jean Jacques Rousseau
historical-materialist perspective means asserts that societies evolve in stages in relation to the development of the means of production and its ownership.
Engels and karl marx
observed the processes of rationalization and bureaucratization .
-more specialized functions have to be performed by social institutions as societies expand economically.
Max Weber
the types of authority that dominated were traditional and charismatic
early stages of social development
industrial societies, leadership was based on a rational-legal framework.
Modern
French bureau meaning
Office
kratos meaning
“hierarchy.”
bureaucracy
means “rule by officials.”
He described traditional societies to be bound by what he called mechanical solidarity,
Emile Durkheim
a sense of bonding within the community based on similar beliefs, values, and well as kinship ties between its members.
Mechanical Solidarity
where division of labor is more specialized.
-individuals are not self-sufficient and have to depend on other people for many things. *
organic solidarity
INFO
For Durkheim, division of labor increases the productive capacity and skill of the workman.
Division of labor also creates a feeling of solidarity between people. It goes beyond economic interests and establishes social and moral order within society.
