CULTURAL CHANGES

Whenever two or more people come together with a shared purpose, they form a
culture with its own written and unwritten rules for behaviour. Each cultural environment
provides a set of standards to which we must adapt. Our behavioural patterns change
dramatically from one cultural context to another. We are expected to behave according to the
standards of the group. We may choose not to behave in accordance with our cultures, but we
must be prepared for the consequences.

Changes in culture that are initiated by a group need cultural support from the members
of the group, or else they will not last long.

Multiculturalism – is the policy that emphasizes the unique characteristics of different

cultures especially as they relate to one another in receiving nations.

Four approaches to a related goals according to James Bank:

1. Contributions approach – the ethnic heroes and holidays are included in the curriculum.
2. Additive approach – a unit or course is incorporated (for example, a unit of women in
history), but no substantial change is made to curriculum as a whole.
3. Transformation approach – the entire Eurocentric nature of the curriculum is changed.
Students are taught to view events and issues from different diverse ethnic and cultural
perspective.
4. Social approach – it goes beyond the transformation approach. Students not only learn
to view issues from multiple perspectives but also become directly involved in solving
related problems. Rather than political passivity, the typical by-product of many
curricular programs, this approach promotes decision-making and social action in order
to achieve multicultural goals and a more vibrant democracy (Sadker and Sadker, 2003).

Multicultural education is a progressive approach for transforming education

that holistically critiques and addresses current shortcomings, failings, and
discriminatory practices in education.

Five dimensions of multicultural education:

 Content integration
 Knowledge construction process
 Prejudice reduction
 Equity pedagogy
 Empowering school culture and social structure

Subculture: refers to cultural patterns that set apart some segment of society’s population. It
can be based in age, ethnicity, residence, sexual preference, occupation, and many other
factors.

TWO BASIC LEVELS OF AN INDIVIDUAL’s PLACE IN SOCIETY:

 In terms of a general sense of culture – what it means to people, for example, to be

English, French, American, and so forth.
 In terms of a specific sense of subcultures – that is, the various groups we belong to
involve particular sets of norms that apply only when we participate in this groups.

Functions of subcultures:”
  Permit specialized activity
 Identity in mass society
 Cultural adaptation and change

Cultural differences imply the transmission of ideas from generation to generation by

significant members of the older generation (parents, trachers, religious leaders, and other
stakholders).

What is a Culturally Responsive Teaching?

Cultural responsive teaching acknowledges cultural diversity in classrooms and

accommodates this diversity in instructions.

“There are cultural changes that influence the behaviour anf ways of life of people in the
different countries throughout the world such as: multiculturalism and student subcultures”.

“Teachers are in the best position to understand and recognize that students have
diverse cultural backgrounds and can adapt their instructions to meet these diverse learning
needs.

Activities:

I – explain:

 Cultural change and its effect/s on the life of the people.

 What is subculture? Is it advantageous or disadvantageous to the progress of
society?
 How can teacher meet the diverse needs of an increasingly multicultural
student?

II – Choose the best answer.

1. The theory about the foundations of a culture rather than the practice which consumes
cultural ideas is __________________________________.
a. Transformational culture c. subculture
b. Theoretical culturalism d. multiculturalism
2. Which is a progressive approach for transforming education that holistically critiques
current short-coming, failings and discriminatory practices on education?
a. Multicultural education c. disciplinary education
b. Peace education d. values education
3. Teachers use examples and content from a variety of cultures and groups to illustrate
key concepts, generalizations, and issues within their subject area or disciplines. Which
is describes?
a. Demo teaching c. subject focus
b. Content integration d. cultural changes
4. Which exists when teachers modify their teaching in ways that will facilitate the
academic achievement of student from diverse racial, cultural, and social class groups?
a. School culture and social culture c. prejudice reduction
b. Equity pedagogy d. content integration
5. Which can be based in the variety of factors, including religion, race ethnicity, age, and
sexual orientation?
a. Culture c. culture identification
b. Multiculturalism d. subculture
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS:

Is a group of social positions, connected by social relations, performing a social role. Or,
in a narrow sense, as any institution in a society that works to socialize the groups of people in
it.

CHARACTERISTICS AND FUNCRIONS OF AN INSTITUTION:

1. Institutions are purposive – each of them has the satisfaction of social needs asnits own
goal or objective.
2. They are relatively permanent in their content – the pattern roles and relations that
people enact in a particular culture become traditional and enduring.
3. Institutions are structures – the components tend to band together, and reinforce one
another. This is because social roles and social relations are in themselves structured
combinations of behaviour patterns.
4. Institutions are a unified structure – they function as a unit. They are dependent on one
another.
5. Institutions are necessarily value-laden – their repeated uniformities, patterns, and
trends become codes od conduct.

Various Functions of an Institution:

1. Institutions simplify its behaviour for the individual person.

2. Institutions, therefore, provide ready-made forms od social relations and social roles for
individual.
3. Institutions also act a agencies of coordination and stability for the total culture.
4. Institutions tend to control behaviour.

Five major Social Institutions:

The Family, Education, Religion, Economics, and Government.

A. The Family – the smallest social institution with unique function of producing and
rearing the young. “The family is the toughest institution we have. Kt is, in fact, the
institution to which we owe our humanity” Margaret Mead.

Functions of the family:

 Reproduction of the race and rearing of the young – this is a unique function which
cannot be done by any other institution.
 Cultural transmission or enculturation – the culture of the family is acquired from
the father and the mother.
 Socialization of the child – it is in the family where the child learns his roles and
status.
 Providing affection and a sense od security.
 Providing the environment for personality development and the growth of sel-
concept in relation to others.
 Providing social status.

Kinds of family patterns: (according to sociologists)

Membership Residence Authority Descent

Nuclear Neolocal Patriarchal Bilinial
extended Matrilocal Matriarchal Patrilineal
Patrilocal equaletarian Matrilineal
Classification/Types of Family according to Structure:
a. Conjugal or nuclear family – this is the primary or elementary family consisting of
husband, wife, and children,. And
b. Consanguine or extended Family – it consists of married couple, their parents, siblings,
grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.
B. Education – the basic purpose of this is the transmission of knowledge/
 The school is the place or the contemplation of reality.
 Manifest functions of school;
 Social control
 Socialization
 Social placement
 Transmitting culture
 Promoting social and political integration
 Agent of change
 In addition to manifest function, all social institutions have LATENT FUNCTIONS-
the hidden, unstated, and sometimes, unintended consequences of activities
within an organization or institution. They are;
1. Restricting some activities – keeping the students off the street and out of the
full-time job market for a number of years, by helping keep unemployment
within reasonable bounds.
2. Matchmaking and production of social networks – because school brings
together people of similar ages, social class, and race, young people often meet
future marriage partners and develop social networks that may last for many
years.
3. Creation of generation gap - students may learn information in school that
contradicts beliefs held by their parents or their religion.
 Functions of school as stated by Calderon (1998):
a. Conservation function
b. Instructional function
c. Research function
d. Social service function
C. Religion – is the socially defined patterns of beliefs concerning the ultimate meaning of
life; it assumes the existence of the supernatural. Stark
Characteristics of religion:
1. Belief in a diety or in a power beyond the individual
2. A doctrine (accepted teaching) of salvation
3. A code of conduct
4. The use of sacred stories
5. Religious rituals (acts and ceremonies)
Functions of Religion: (by Calderon)
1. Religion serves as a means of social control.
2. It exerts a great influence upon personality development.
3. Religion allays fear of the unknown.
4. Religion explains events or situations which are beyond the comprehension of man.
5. It gives man comfort, strength, and hope in times of crisis and despair.
6. It preserves and transmits knowledge, sklls, spiritual, and cultural values and practices.
7. It serves as an instrument of change.
8. It promotes closeness, love, cooperation, friendliness, and helpfulness.
9. Religion alleviates sufferings from major calamities.
10. It provides hope for a blissful life after death.

What are the differences among churches, sects, and cults?

Churches – tends to be large, with inclusive membership, in low tension with surrounding
society. Church tends towards greater intellectual examination and interpretation of
the tenets of religion.
Sect – has a small, exclusive membership, high tension with society. It tends towards the
emotional, mystic, stress faith, feeling, conversion experience, to be “born again.”
Fundamentally, literal in teaching – biblical passages are the literal words of God – meaning
literally what they say; people are to do what the passages say.
Cults – are referred to y Stark and Bainbridge (1985) as the more innovative institutions
and are formed when people create new religious beliefs and practices.

3 types of Cults;
1. Audience cults, which are characterized by doctrines delivered to consumers via , TV,
radio, in printed materials.
2. Client cults which have religious leaders who offers specific services to their followers.
3. Cult movements which are client cults that have been enlarged because of a closely-knit
organization (San Juan, et al 2007)

The Elements of Religion : sacred and profane, legitimation of norms, rituals, and religious
community.

1. Sacred - refers to phenomena that are regarded as extraordinary, transcendent, and

outside the everyday course of events – that is, supernatural. The terms profane refers
to all phenomena that are sacred.
2. Legitimation of norms – religious sanctions and beliefs reinforce the legitimacy of many
rules and norms in the community.
3. Rituals – are formal patterns of activity that express symbolically a set of shared
meanings, in the case of rituals such as baptism or communion, the shared meanings are
sacred.
4. Religious community – religion establishes a code of behaviour for the members, who
belong and who does not.

D. Economic Institution – refers to any institution that is a player in an economy.

Categories of economic institution:

 Manufacturers
 Distributors
 Consumers

Microeconomics vs. Macroeconomics

Microeconomics is concerned with the specific economic units of parts that make an economy
system and the relationship between those parts. Its emphasis is places on understanding the
behaviour of individual firms, industries, households, and ways in which such entities interacts.
(Spencer, 1980, as cited by Javier et al, 2002)

Macroeconomics is concerned with the economy as a whole, or large segments of it. It focuses
on such problems as the role of unemployment, the changing level f prices, the nation’s total
output of goods and services, and the ways in which government raises and spends money.

“Microeconomics looks at the trees, while Macroeconomics looks at the forest. Both
categories involve the construction of theories and formulation of policies – activities that are
the heart of economics.”

E. Government as a Social Institution

Government is an institution intrusted with making and enforcing the rules of society as
well as regulating relations with other society. Also, an institution which resolves conflicts
thaty are pulic in nature and involve more than a few people.
3 branches of government:

1. Executive – proposes and enforces rules and laws

2. Legislative – makes rules and laws. and
 3. Judicial – adjudicates rules and laws.

“The government is aimed at maintaining a good social order where the people enjoy the
political and economic blessings of life in an atmosphere of justice, freedom, and equality.”

Types of Government.

1. Monarchy – a political system in which a representative from one family controls the
government and power is passed on through the family from generation to generation.
2. Democracy – a political system in which citizens periodically choose officials to run their
government.
3. Authoritariarism – a political system that does not allow citizens to participate in
government.
4. Totalitarism – a political system under which the government maintains tight control
over nearly all aspects of the citizens’ lives.

Three forms in government conflicts:

1. Revolution – a violent overthrow of the government y the citizens.

2. War – armed conflict between nations or societies. Societies have always waged war
over rights to land and resources to or because of conflicting moral, political, or religious
objectives.
3. Terrorism – a politically motivated violent attack on civilians by an Indio or group.
Extremist groups within and outside a country have become an increasingly potent
threat.

Functions of Government:

1. The constituent function – contribute to the very bonds of society and are, therefore,
compulsory.
2. The ministrant functions - are those undertaken to advance the general interest of
society, such as public works, chsrity, and regulation of trade and industry.

“In any human society, there are social structures and social mechanisms of social order
and cooperation that govern the behaviour of its members. These are called social
institutions and according to functional theorists, they perform five essential tasks namely: 1)
replacing members or procreation, 2) teaching new members; 3) producing, distributing, and
consuming goods and services; 4) preserving order; and 5) providing and maintaining a sense
of purpose.
Institutions tend to appear to people in society as part of the natural, unchanging
landscape of their lives. Sociology traditionally analysed social institutions such as the
family, education, religion, economic and government, in terms of interlocking social roles
and expectations. They are created and are composed of groups of roles or expected
behaviors. The social unction of the institution is determined by the fulfilment of its roles and
functions in society.”