Culture

Chapter 3

What is Culture?

A state of refinement, of being well-versed in the arts, philosophy and languages

Refer to expressive culture which includes plastic and graphic arts when utilized as an artistic
medium

Popular culture includes activities, products and services that are assumed primarily to members
of the middle and working class

What is Culture?

Refers to the total and distinctive way of life or designs for living of any society (learned
behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values and ideals)

Human invention that has a fundamental role on people’s adaptation to their environment and
are shared by the members of society

What is Culture?

Culture is the sum total of human creations-intellectual, technical, artistic and moral- guide
social life

Interprets our surroundings, gives them meaning and allows us to express ourselves

Language, religion, science, art, notions of right and wrong and explanations of the meaning of
life

What is Culture?

Culture is a people’s social heritage. The customary ways in which groups organize their ways of
behaving, thinking and feeling

Culture represents the designs for living, the interrelated network of norms and roles. It tells
one what to do, what not to do and how to do things

What is Culture?

Culture is the aspect of our existence which is familiar to some people but different to others

A way of life that is common to a group of people which enables them to share ideas and
patterns of behavior that distinguishes them from others

Society and Culture

Society is a group of people occupying a geographical territory, with a common culture and
interacting with each other.

Society is united by social relationships, share a common language and beliefs and consume
similar goods

Society and Culture

Functionalists consider society a social system which has a set of components related to one
another in a more or less stable fashion through a period of time

Major social institutions – family, religion, education, economy and the state

A change in one will affect the other

Society and Culture

Conflict theorists analyze society based on conflict and power

Wealth, power and prestige are scanty and dominated by the elite and rich

Poor and the lower class are exploited by the rich, resulting in conflict for scarce resources

Society and Culture

Conflict theory and Functionalism complement each other

It is like studying two aspects of the same reality as consensus and conflict are paramount
features of social life

Language and Culture

Language refers to the systematized usage of speech and hearing to convey, communicate or
express feelings and ideas.

It is made up of a set of verbal and written symbols used within a certain culture

Symbol is anything that stands or represents something else and is not immediately present to
our senses

Language and Culture

Meanings are conferred on them

The existence of culture is made possible by the use of symbols as these enables people to share
ideas

Symbols – emblem, colors, gestures, designs, marks or words

Language and Culture

Culture is inculcated orally and by writing through the medium of language

Language is an abstraction and is made up of rules for generating speech

Social and cultural factors influence its vocabulary

Research shows that vocabulary may be influence by cultural, environmental, and physiological
factors

Language and Culture

Language is an integral part of culture and human culture cannot exist without it

Our observations, norms, values and ideas exist because we have learned to identify or
experience these through language and share and transmit these from one generation to
another

Characteristics of Culture

Culture is learned

The norms, skills, values and knowledge which constitute one’s culture are acquired
during the course of one’s life and not transmitted genetically

Culture is derived from the family and other social groups through conditioning,
imitation, suggestion, informal and formal instruction and mass communication

Characteristics of Culture

Culture is transmitted

While animals are capable of learning, only humans can transmit their acquired habits
and knowledge to their offspring

Culture is transmitted by conditioning children to acquire attitudes essential in social life

and training them in accordance with expected patterns of behavior

Characteristics of Culture

Culture is social, collective and learned

For a behavior pattern, values, beliefs to be considered part of culture, it must be shared
by groups of individuals are kept relatively uniform by certain social sanctions and
pressures

Characteristics of Culture
Culture is gratifying

Culture has provisions to satisfy the biological and sociocultural needs of people

There are some basic needs common to all mankind which demand similar forms of
gratification – universal culture patterns

Characteristics of Culture

Culture is adaptive

Cultures are always changing and these changes represents adjustments to the
environment

Culture plays a fundamental role in the people’s adaptation to the environment and
adaptation to meet specific sets of circumstances

No culture is static. Cultures are in constant flux

Change occurs as a result of discoveries, inventions and cultural borrowing

Characteristics of Culture

Culture is an integrated whole

The various parts of the culture are closely interrelated and integrated into a whole

According to Durkheim, culture is the product not of a single individual but of a

collective. A collective consciousness exists beyond the individual

Components of Culture

Knowledge

The total range of what has been learned or perceived as true

Body of information is accumulated through experience, study, or investigation

Culture includes natural, supernatural, technical, magical knowledge

Components of Culture

Natural knowledge

Refers to the accumulated facts about the natural world, both physical and biological
aspects

Technological Knowledge
 Pertains to the knowledge of nature which are useful in dealing with practical
problems like methods of acquiring food, dealing with diseases, means of
transportation and weapons of war

Components of Culture

Supernatural knowledge

Refers to perceptions about the actions of gods, demons, angels or spirits and natural
beings like shamans, witches, prophets who possess powers

Magical Knowledge

Refers to perceptions about methods of influencing supernatural events by

manipulating laws of nature

Components of Culture

Social Norms

Rules of how one should behave or act in certain situations

They define what behavior is required, acceptable or appropriate in particular

situations

Conformity brings rewards while deviance bring punishment

Society’s standards of propriety, morality, ethics and legality

Components of Culture

Folkways

Commonly known as the customs, traditions and conventions of society

They are general rules, customary and habitual ways and patterns of expected
behavior within the society where they are followed without much thought

Innumerable group expectations like rules of eating, drinking, working, sleeping,

rituals

Components of Culture

Mores

Special folkways which are important to the welfare of the people and their values

Based on ethical and moral values which are strongly held and emphasized
 They are social norms associated with strong feelings about what is right and what is
true

Coercive in nature, observance is compulsory

Components of Culture

Laws

Laws are formalized norms, enacted by people who are vested with government
power and enforced by political and legal authorities designated by the government

Collective Forms of Behavior

Sanctions

Not all members of society follow the norms. This may be due to ignorance or lack of
knowledge

To ensure that the norms are followed and obeyed

Violation of folkways – ridicule or disapproval

Violations of mores – considered immoral

Violations of laws – fines, incarceration,

Collective Forms of Behavior

Values

Values are abstract concepts of what is important and worthwhile

These values are the basis of our judgment, of what we consider good, desirable, and
correct

Collective Forms of Behavior

Beliefs

Beliefs embody people’s perception of reality and may include the primitive ideas of
the universe as well as the empirical view of the world

They result from one’s experiences about the physical, biological, and social world in
which the individual lives

Organization of Culture

Culture trait
 Material trait – concrete or tangible objects associated with an idea, a social norm or
a technique

Non-material trait – are abstract and include folkways, beliefs and values

Organization of Culture

3 levels of cultural participation according to Linton

Culture Universal – are the norms values, beliefs and conditioned emotional responses
common to members of society. Necessary for the existence of a given society

Specialties – behavior expectations confined to certain subgroups. These often require

unusual skill/training and reflect the division of labor and hierarchy of statuses in a
culture

Organization of Culture

3 levels of cultural participation according to Linton

Alternatives are behavior expectations which permit a certain range of choice in

human behavior and specify the tolerable variations

Shared by some individuals but are not common to all

Organization of Culture

Sub Culture

Based on age, social class, occupational, political, educational, religious interests,

regions, nationality and ethnicity

The group develops its distinctive set of cultural norms and beliefs

Associate with one another more personally than with the other groups

Organization of Culture

Sub Culture

Youth subculture – they develop their own patterns of behavior; they evolve
specialized language and susceptible to fads and crazes

Individuals need to obtain assurance and security from others

They have symbols which enhance solidarity and a sense of belongingness

Organization of Culture
Sub Culture

Some sub cultures adhere to standards that come in conflict with the conventional
standards

Contra-culture – when subcultures emphasize conflict between a group and a larger

society

The subgroups become a threat to the prevailing social values are considered a social
problem

Organization of Culture

Ethnocentrism

A belief that one’s group is at the center of everything and all others are scaled and
rated with reference to it

To regard one’s culture as the best and better than those of others

Organization of Culture

Ethnocentrism

Even within society, there are subgroups who consider themselves as superior to other
groups

Examples: Muslims, Tagalogs, Kapampangan, School

Ethnocentrism serves a society by developing greater feelings of group unity and

sense of loyalty

Organization of Culture

Xenocentrism

When people reject their own group or some part of their culture

The idea of what is foreign is best and that one’s lifestyle, products or ideas are
inferior to that of others

“colonial mentality”

Organization of Culture

Culture Shock

When people encounter another culture whose patterns of behavior are different from
their own, they may get disorganized and disoriented
 The individual loses familiar signs and symbols of social interactions and experiences
unpleasant sensations or frustrations

Organization of Culture

Cultural Relativism

Culture is relative and no cultural practice is good or bad in itself

Cultures differ, so that a cultural trait, act or idea has no meaning or function by itself
but has meaning only within its cultural setting

Organization of Culture

Cultural Universals

Features and elements common to all culture

All societies are confronted more or less the same problems in sustaining social life

Diversity of Culture

Cultural diversity

Refers to the wide range of differences in cultural patterns, ideas, beliefs, knowledge,
forms of social organization and practical responses to the environment

Diversity of Culture

Factors that promote cultural diversity

Presence of social categories

Existence of subgroups called subcultures

Cultures differ in ideas and practical responses to the environment

Diversity of Culture

Cultural Variability

The environment within which the society lives

Biology is natural but there are variations of meeting our needs

Sex differences

Child bearing practices

Human ingenuity
Diversity of Culture

Cultural integration

Within a society, one set of beliefs or actions can differ from another, between
institutional goals and means