2. Origin of CULTURE?
• The dawn of culture may be the single most important development
in human evolution.
• Humans may not be humans without culture to mediate their
relationships with the environment.
• Traditional people explain the origin of culture through myths about
the first fire or the gift of corn.
3. • Appearance of flaked stone tools, about 2.5 million years ago is the
earliest evidence for culture.
• About 1.7 million years ago, appearance of a human with full body
proportions that coincidence with invention of hand axe and first
hominid movement out of Africa.
• 600,000 years ago. Development of Lithic technology and appearance
of Archaic homo sapiens.
• 45,000 to 50,000 years ago – appearance of full human creative use
and manipulation of culture.
4. What is CULTURE?
• Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by
man as a member of society.
• Culture is a concept that has been used in several social science
disciplines to explain variations in human thought processes in
different parts of the world.
• Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of
people.
5. • Culture is a learned and shared behaviors and norms transmitted by
the members of a particular society.
• Culture is a collective facts that distinguish a particular society from
the other.
• Culture is a total of human achievements.
• Culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and
interactions, cognitive and affective understanding that are learned
through socialization.
6. Elements of Culture
1. SYMBOLS – things that stand for something else and that often evoke to
various reactions and emotions.
e.g. gestures
movements of the hands, arms and other parts of the
body
2. LANGUAGE - most important set of symbols, it’s what we used to
communicate with other members of the society.
e.g. Tagalog, Spanish, French or English
Sign language and Polari
7. 3. NORMS – standard and expectations of behaving. It is the formal and
informal rules regarding what kind of behavior are appropriate and
acceptable within a cuture.
FORMAL NORMS – standard behavior that is most important to
any society.
e.g. traffic law, crime law, college context or school rules
INFORMAL NORMS – customs and behavior we usually learned
from home or in school.
e.g. table manners, the used of po and opo,
8. 4. RITUALS – established procedures and ceremonies that often
mark transitions in the life course.
5. VALUES – another important element of culture and involve
judgements of what is good and bad, desirable or undesirable.
6. THE WORK ETHICS – a belief that work and diligence have a
moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen
character and individual.
7. ARTIFACTS – a material object that constitute a society’s material
culture.
9. CHARACTERISTICS of CULTURE
1. Culture is learned.
2. Culture is shared.
3. Culture is based on symbols.
4. Culture is dynamic.
5. Culture is integrated.
6. Culture is a pattern of behavior.
7. Culture is transmitted from one generation to the
next.
10. FUNCTIONS of CULTURE
1. Culture functions as a way to bring a group of people with similar
interests, backgrounds, and beliefs together while shaping their
views of the world.
2. Culture can also function as a set of guidelines or traditions in
families, schools or other groups.
3. Culture brings like-minded people together and affects their
outlook of life.
4. Culture serves as a sense making and control mechanism that
guides and shapes employee’s behavior.
5. It enhances stability of the social system.
