UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS

MODULE
WEEK II

Understanding Culture
Lesson II and Society
Anthropology, Sociology and Political Science are the three essential academic disciplines that take a
closer look at society and culture. Understanding hoe individual behave, interact, and develop within
societies can enlighten us on the factors, forces, and processes that encourage and hinder the progress of
societies and cultures in today’s world. An appreciation of the underlying principles and concepts that
define society and culture can set us on the road toward understanding, analyzing, and solving the
significant issues and concerns that confront our own society.

Learning goals:
At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:
1. Define society and its essential characteristics and elements;
2. Describe the growth and development of different societies:
3. Define culture and discuss its various aspects and component:
4. Understand the socialization and enculturation and how they contribute to the
development of society;
5. Learn anthropology, its essential features and main concerns, and how it contributes
in understanding culture and society.
6. Understand the sociology, its essential features and main concerns, and how it
contribute in understanding culture and society:
7. Understand political science, its essential features and main concerns, and how it
 contributes in understanding culture and society.
8. Define ethnocentrism and xenocentrism; and
9. Discuss cultural relativism, multiculturalism, and cultural sensitivity.
Essential Question for Consideration
1. What are the contributions of other cultures to Philippine culture? Did they endanger?
or enrich the evolution of Philippine culture?
2. What is the best way to manage conflicts based on cultural differences in the
Philippines?
Pre- Lesson Activities
Research at least one prominent myths, legends, or folk tales from any part of the Philippines and
complete the table below.

Title of Story /
Narrative

What is it about?
Provide brief summary

What information
regarding Philippine
history, customs,
traditions, and value is
conveyed in the story?
Building Vocabularies
Society Ethnocentrism
Agricultural Conflict theory
Cities Structural functionalism
Culture sentivity
Material and non-material culture
Norms
Folkways
Socialization
Enculturation
Context
Relativistic approach
Ethnocentric approach

People to Remember

Ruth Benedict
Franz Boas
Augustine Comte
 Society – is a group of individuals sharing a common culture, geographical location, and government?
Human beings are considered to be naturally inclined to established societies, since it is in interacting
with others that are able to ensure their survival by establishing mutually beneficial relationships with one
other. Societies enable individuals to acquire necessary survival skills, maximize their potential, and share
resources.

A society is characterized by the presence of the following elements:

a. Social Solidarity where by members of the community live together for mutual
benefit
b. shared identity and culture among members that serve as basis for their patterns of
action and behavior;
c. a common language
d. a large population and the ability to sustain succeeding generations of members;
e. definite geographical area; and
f. political, economic, and social organization.
Five major types of societies according to how they changed and developed over time.
 Hunting and gathering
 Horticultural and pastoral societies
 Agricultural societies
 industrial societies
 post industrialization societies
Hunting and Gathering- Societies that rely primarily or exclusively on hunting wild animals, fishing,
and gathering wild fruits, berries, nuts, and vegetables to support their diet. Until humans began to
domesticate plants and animals about ten thousand years ago, all human societies were hunter-gatherers
Horticultural society -is an organization devoted to the study and culture of cultivated plants. Such
organizations may be local, regional, national, or international. Some have a more general focus, whereas
others are devoted to a particular kind or group of plants.

An agricultural society, also known as an agrarian society, is a society that constructs social order
around a reliance upon farming. More than half the people living in that society make their living by
farming.
Industrial society is a society driven by the use of technology to enable mass production, supporting a
large population with a high capacity for division of labor. Industrial societies use external energy
sources, such as fossil fuels, to increase the rate and scale of production.

A post-industrial society is a stage in a society's development during which the economy transitions
from one that primarily provides goods to one that primarily provides services. Information, services, and
advanced technology are more important in post-industrial societies than manufacturing tangible goods.
Culture- the set of beliefs, ideas, values, practices, knowledge, history and shared experiences, attitudes,
as well as material objects and possessions, accumulated over time and shared by the members of society.
Two primary categories of culture
1. Material -refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to
define their culture.
2. Nonmaterial -refers to the nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture,
including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations,
and institutions.

Symbols – anything that conveys meaning or represents idea; essential in communication, shaping
thoughts and ideas, and defining a society’s culture.
Language- a set of symbols that enable members of society to communicate verbally and nonverbally.
Values- shared ideas, norms, and principles that provide members of society standards pertaining to what
is right or wrong.
Norms- shared rules of conduct that determine specific behavior among society members.
Folkways- norms that may be violated without serious consequences
Mores- norms with moral connotations.
Laws- norms that are legally enacted and enforced.
Socialization- the process of forging identity through social interaction and social agents.
Enculturation- the process whereby an individual learns and acquires the culture of the society he or she
belongs to
Context- The particular circumstances of a society.
Society and Culture According to the Three Disciplines
Social science, any discipline or branch of science that deals with human behavior in its social and
cultural aspects. The social sciences include cultural (or social) anthropology, sociology, social
psychology, political science, and economics.
Anthropology considers culture as the central focus of its discipline. It studies the different cultures of
different societies.
Two Major Views
Relativistic Approach – considers cultures as equal. This view holds that there are no “superior” and
“inferior “cultures, and each is unique in its own way.
Ethnocentric Approach – the belief in that one’s native culture is superior to others culture.
Ethnocentrism societies tend to have a negative view of other countries and people.
Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology as well as in colloquial English discourse means to
apply our own culture as a frame of reference in order to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors,
beliefs, and people, instead of using the standards of the particular culture involved.

The term xenocentrism refers to the desire to engage in the elements of another's culture rather than one's
own. Styles, ideas and products can all be items of preference by someone with xenocentrist viewpoints.
Cultural relativism- the recognition and acceptance of the cultural differences of societies.
Sociology- the systematic study of social life, group, and society.
Structuralism functionalism- the perspective that operates on the assumption that society is a stable and
orderly system; it considers cultures as a glue that binds society together, leading to social order.
Conflict theory – the perspective that societies are defined by the contradiction between social classes,
particularly the capitalist and working classes.
Symbolic interactionism- the perspective that considers individual and group behavior and social
interactions as defining features of society’s and that culture provides shared meanings to the members of
society.
Political Science- the systematic study of politics, focusing on the fundamental values of equality,
freedom, and justice and their relation to the dynamic of conflict and cooperation.
Multiculturalism- a set of ideologies acknowledging and promoting cultural diversity within the society.
Multiculturalism entails the establishment of political groups and institutions comprised of people from
diverse cultures. This view challenges the idea of the nation-state and the advancement of nationalist and
ultranationalist.
Cultural sensitivity- the view that all aspects of a particular culture should be accepted and celebrated.
Cultural sensitivity advances awareness and acceptance of cultural differences but encourages a critical
stance in dealing with issues regarding diversity. This believes that all cultural practices, traditions, and
views can be integrated, and that distinct cultures can harmoniously coexist in society. This view
advocates a respectful view of the uniqueness and distinctness of other cultures, and encourage in
individuals and societies to guard against ethnocentric and exocentric views, as these are significant
threats to cultural diversity and social stability.
ACTIVITY 1
Complete the graphic organizer by writing the required information in the appropriate
spaces.

TERM DEFINTION EXAMPLES

Ethnocentrism

Xenocentrism

Cultural Relativism
 Multiculturalism

Cultural sensitivity

ACTIVITY 2. TRUE OR FALSE. WRITE TRUE IF THE STATEMENT IS CORRECT. WRITE

FALSE IF WRONG. IF YOUR ANSWER IS FALSE EXPLAIN WHY.
1. Mutually interdependent relationships can be formed among members of society
2. A contextual and relational approach enables us to understand the existence of a multitude of societies
that have their own unique culture.
3. Cultural relativism and multiculturalism make it impossible to synthesize a particular society’s overall
identity.
4. As culture is dynamic and changing, it is possible for a society to forge an identity and culture that are
completely different from its past.
5. Sociology, anthropology, and political science enable us to understand the various aspects related to
society.
6. Horticultural and pastoral societies relied largely on hunting and gathering as primary means of
obtaining food.
7. The government’s declaration of the Eid al- Fitr as a national holiday is an example of cultural
sensitivity.
8. Colonial mentality is an example of ethnocentrism.
9. A community without a definite geographical area is still considered a society.
10. There are various sociological perspectives that aid in relating culture to the overall social order.

ACTIVITY 3. IN 100 WORDS EXPLAIN THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.

1. IS TEHRE A SINGLE PHILIPPINE CULTURE OR ARE THERE DIFFERENT CULTURES
IN THE PHILIPPINES?
2. IS PHILPPINE CULTURE SUPERIOR OR INFERIOR TO OTHER CULTURES? EXPLAIN.
3. WHAT ARE THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF OTHER CULTURES TO PHILIPPINE CULTURE?
DID THEY ENDANGER OR ENRICH THE EVOLUTION OF PHILIPPINE CULTURE?
4. WHAT ARE THE THREATS AND CHALLENGES TO PHILIPPINE CULTURE? WHAT
CAN YOU DO ABOUT THEM?
5. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO MANAGE CONFLICTS BASED ON CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES IN THE PHILIPPINES?