Understanding Culture Society and Politics Senior High Chapter B - defining culture and society from the perspectives of anthropology and sociology

1. Lesson 2
Defining Culture and Society
from the Perspectives of
Anthropology and Sociology

2. Defining Culture and Society from the Perspectives of
Anthropology and Sociology
Topics:
1. Society as a group of people sharing a common culture
2. Culture as a “‘that complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices,
values, attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything
that a person learns and shares as a member of society.” (E.B. Tylor 1920
[1871]).
3. Aspects of Culture
a. Dynamic, Flexible, & Adaptive
b. Shared & Contested (given the reality of social differentiation)
c. Learned through socialization or enculturation
d. Patterned social interactions
e. Integrated and at times unstable
f. Transmitted through socialization/enculturation
g. Requires language and other forms of communication
4. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism as orientations in viewing other
cultures

3. Objectives:
1. Explain the concept of culture and
society using anthropological and
sociological perspectives;
2. Differentiate Ethnocentrism, Cultural
Relativism, Xenocentrism and
Xenophobia.
3. Become aware of why and how
cultural relativism provides remedy to
ethnocentrism.

4. People rarely distinguish the difference
between the terms “culture” and
“society”, but for sociologists, the two terms
have different meanings and the distinction is
important.

5. A culture is a way of life of a group of
people--the behaviors, beliefs, values,
and symbols that they accept, generally
without thinking about them, and that
are passed along by communication and
imitation from one generation to the
next.
Culture

6. Includes knowledge, belief, art, law,
morals, custom, and other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as a
member of society.
Culture

7. House: Nipa Hut – Bahay Kubo

8. Dances

9. Music

10. Food

11. Religious Activities

12. Religious Activities

13. Costumes

14. Games

15. The people who interact in such a way as to
share a common culture.
The term society can also have a geographic
meaning and refer to people who share a
common culture in a particular location.
Society

17. Culture and Society are
intricately related. A culture
consists of the “objects” of a
society, whereas a society
consists of the “people” who
share a common culture.

18. Aspects of Culture
Cultures have key features (classification
and elements) and characteristics that are
present in all cultures.

19. Classification of Culture:
a. Material
b. Non-Material
b.1. Cognitive
b.2. Normative

20. Material Culture
• Weapons
• Machines, gadgets
• Eating utensils
• Jewelry
• Art
• Hair styles
• Clothing
includes all material objects or those
components or elements of culture with
physical representation.

22. Non-material Culture
There are components of culture that are
nontangible or without physical
representation
• language
• gestures
• values
• beliefs
• rules (norms)
• philosophies
• customs
• governments
• institutions

23. 2 Categories of Non-material Culture:
1. Cognitive culture
includes the ideas, concepts, philosophies,
designs, etc. that are products of the mental
or intellectual functioning and reasoning of
the human mind
2. Normative culture
includes all the expectations, standards and
rules for human behavior.

24. Elements of Culture
All cultures consist of key elements that are
crucial to human existence:
a. Beliefs
Beliefs are conceptions or ideas people have
about what is true in the environment around
them like what is life, how to value it, and
how one’s beliefs on the value of life relate
with his other interaction with others and the
world. These may be based on common
sense, folk wisdom, religion, science, or a
combination of all of these.

25. Belief
– perception of reality
– are the convictions that people hold to
be true. Individuals in a society have
specific beliefs, but they also share
collective values.

26. b. Values
Values describes what is appropriate or
inappropriate (good or bad; desirable or
undesirable; worthy or unworthy) in a given society
or what ought to be. These are broad, abstract, and
shared to influence and guide the behavior of
people.
People live in a culture wherein symbols are used
to understand each other. Symbols can be verbal
(words) or nonverbal (acts, gestures, signs, and
objects) that communicate meaning that people
recognize and shared.

27. Values
– shared ideas, right or wrong
– are a culture’s standard for discerning what
is good and just in society. Values are deeply
embedded and critical for transmitting and
teaching a culture’s beliefs.

28. c. Language
Language is a shared set of spoken and written
symbols. It is basic to communication and
transmission of culture. It is known as the
storehouse of culture.

29. d. Technology
Technology refers to the application of
knowledge and equipment to ease the task of
living and maintaining the environment. It
includes all artifacts, methods and devices
created and used by people.

30. e. Norms
Norms are specific rules/standards to guide
appropriate behavior. Societal norms are
different types and norms.

31. Types of Norms:
a. Proscriptive
Defines and tells us things not to do
b. Prescriptive
Defines and tells us things to do

32. Forms of Norms:
1. Folkways
2. Mores
3. Taboos
4. Laws

33. 1. Folkways
Also known as customs, these are norms for
everyday behavior that people follow for the
sake of tradition or convenience.
Folkways are norms that ordinary people
follow in everyday life.
Folkways are not strictly enforced.

34. Examples of Folkways
1. Pagmamano when meeting an elder.
2. Harana - serenading of the woman when a
man is courting.

35. 3. The use of “Po” and “Opo” when a person
is talking to an elder or older person, a
person of superior or of higher status.
4. Another is the “pamamanhikan” wherein
the man’s family bring some food to the
woman’s family for a conference to affirm
their children’s engagement.

36. 2. Mores
These are strict norms that control moral
and ethical behavior. Mores are norms based
on definitions of right and wrong.
Mores are norms are taken more seriously and
are strictly enforced. Considered as "essential
to our core values." We insist on conformity.

38. Examples of Social Mores:
 Talking to oneself in public is not
considered a normal behavior.
 Nudity in public is not acceptable in most
areas.
 Picking one's nose in public is not an
acceptable behavior.
 Rising for the national anthem is an
expected behavior.
 When dressing for a job interview in an
office, men should wear and a suit and tie.

39. 3. Taboos
These are norms that society holds so
strongly that violating it results in extreme
disgust. Often times the violator of the taboo is
considered unit to live in that society.
Taboos approximate super mores. Taboos are so
"strongly ingrained that even the thought of its
violation is greeted with disapproval, disgust or
hate."

40. Examples of Taboos:
Abortion - terminating a pregnancy
Addiction - addiction to legal or illegal drugs,
including alcoholism
Adultery - sexual intercourse with someone other
than your spouse
Bestiality or Zoophilia - sexual relations between a
human and an animal
Cannibalism - a human being eating the flesh of
another human being

41. 4. Laws
These are codified ethics, and formally agreed,
written down and enforced by an official law
enforcement agency.
A law is a norm that is formally enacted by a
political authority. The power of the state
backs laws.

44. By themselves, norms are guidelines for
human behavior. Sanctions encourage
conformity to norms. Sanctions are socially
imposed rewards and punishments in society
which may be formal or informal.

45. Ideal Culture and Real Culture
Ideal Culture refers to the norms and values
that a society professes to hold. ideal culture
describes models to emulate and which as
worth aspiring to.
Real Culture refers to norms and values that
are followed in practice.

46. IDEAL

47. REAL

48. Characteristics of Culture:
1. Culture is Learned
2. Culture is Shared
3. Culture is Integrated
4. Culture is Adaptive and Dynamic
5. Culture is Abstract
6. Culture is Symbolic

49. 1. CULTURE IS LEARNED
- Is learned through families, friends,
institutions and media.
Enculturation – process of learning
about culture.

50. 2. CULTURE IS SHARED
- Groups of people usually share similar
behavior patterns which develop
overtime.
But shared culture does not mean that it
is homogenous.

51. 3. CULTURE IS INTEGRATED
- Culture is holistic in nature, different
cultures are interconnected. Different
cultural manifestation distinguished one
society from another.
Example: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao

52. 4. CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE AND DYNAMIC
Adopts to various environmental and
geographical conditions.
From hunter-gatherer to globalized
world.

53. 5. CULTURE IS ABSTRACT
No single tangible manifestation that can
take the form of culture itself. Exist in the
minds of the individual interacting with
one another within a particular society or
even across societies.
Manifest through behavior, habits,
mannerisms, and activities.

54. 6. CULTURE IS SYMBOLIC
Societies developed a way to manifest
concepts and ideas, and a symbol stands
for different meaning for different
societies.
Example: White for western countries is a
symbol of purity and peace. White for
Eastern and Asian culture is death,
mourning and misfortune.

55. Different Perspective of
Culture
a. Ethnocentrism
b. Xenocentrism
c. Xenophobia
d. Temporocentrism
e. Cultural Relativism

56. a. Ethnocentrism
- Comparing other cultural practices with
those of one’s own and automatically
finding those other cultural practices to
be inferior.
- It is the act of evaluating other cultures
according to preconceptions originating in
the standards and customs of one’s own
culture.

57. b. Xenocentrism
- Refers to a reference for the foreign.
- Exact opposite of Ethnocentrism.
- Anything foreign is superior.
“Filipinos seems happy to buy imported
goods rather than local products because
of the assumption that anything abroad is
better”

58. c. Xenophobia
- The fear of what is perceived as
different, foreign or strange.

59. d. Temporocentrism
- one’s time culture is important than
other time culture.
Ex. Old People

60. e. Cultural Relativism
- Idea that all norms, belief, and values are
dependent on their cultural context and
should be treated as such. It is the
principle that an individual human’s beliefs
and activities should be understood by
others in terms of that individual’s own
culture.
- Promotes greater appreciation of the
cultures one encountered along the way.

61. It also covers ideas of moral relativism
(ethics depend on a social construct),
situational relativism (right or wrong is
based on the particular situation), and
cognitive relativism (truth itself has no
objective standard).