Concepts, Aspects, and Changes

of Culture and Society

UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY
AND POLITICS
First Quarter

JANSSEN MICHAEL C. VALDEZ

Developer

Department of Education • Cordillera Administrative Region

 Republic of the Philippines
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Cordillera Administrative Region
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ABRA
Actividad-Economia St., Zone 2, Bangued, Abra

Published by:
Learning Resource Management and Development System

COPYRIGHT NOTICE
2020

Section 9 of Presidential Decree No. 49 provides:

“No copyright shall subsist in any work of the Government of the Philippines.
However, prior approval of the government agency of office wherein the work is
created shall be necessary for exploitation of such work for profit.”

This material has been developed for the implementation of K-12 Curriculum
through the Curriculum Implementation Division (CID)—Learning Resource
Management Section. It can be reproduced for educational purposes and the source
must be acknowledged. Derivatives of the work including creating an edited version,
an enhancement or a supplementary work are permitted provided all original work is
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material for commercial purposes and profit.

Borrowed materials (e.g., texts, illustrations, musical notations, photos, and

other copyrighted contents) included in this learning resources are owned by their
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for further Learning Resource Copyright evaluation and the inventory of copyrighted
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The Curriculum Learning Material is owned by the Department of Education
Schools Division of Abra Curriculum Implementation Division Learning Resource
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 PREFACE

This module is a project of the Curriculum Implementation Division particularly

the Learning Resource Management and Development Unit, Department of
Education, Schools Division of Abra which is in response to the implementation of
the K to 12 Curriculum.

This Learning Material is a property of the Department of Education, Schools

Division of Abra, Curriculum Implementation Division, Learning Resource
Management Section. It aims to improve learners’ performance specifically in
English.

Date of Development : September 1, 2020

Resource Location : Schools Division of Abra
Learning Area : Understanding Culture, Society and Politics
Grade Level : 11/12
Learning Resource Type : Module
Language : English
Quarter/Week : Q1/W3
Learning Competency/Code : Explain the importance of cultural relativism in
attaining cultural understanding. (MELC)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The developer wishes to express his gratitude to those who

helped in the development of this learning material. The fulfillment of this learning
material would not be possible without these people who gave their support, helping
hand and cooperation:
To all the contributors,evaluators, editors and the Learning Resource
Management and Development Unit for their constructive comments , critisism and
suggestions for the completion of this module.
I would also like to thank Abra High School Family for the trust, support and
ideas.To my school principal, thank you for encouraging me to make this module,
and trusting me all the time
Lastly, to Almighty God for his continous guidance throughout the
preperation of this module.
.

JANSSEN MICHAEL C. VALDEZ

Abra High School/Senior High School

DIVISION LRMDS STAFF:

RIZA E. PERALTA RYNWALTER A. PAA

Librarian II Project Development Officer II

RONALD T. MARQUEZ
Education Program Supervisor for LRMS

CONSULTANTS:

HEDWIG M. BELMES
Chief Education Supervisor, Curriculum Implementation Division

SORAYA T. FACULO, Ph.D.

Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

BENILDA M. DAYTACA, CESO VI

Assistant Schools Division Superintendent
Officer In-Charge Office of the Schools Division Superintendent

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Copyright Notice …………………………………………………..……...…..…. ii
Preface …………………………………………………………………...…….… iii
Acknowledgement……………………………………………………. …….…... iv
Table of Contents……………………………………………………….……. … v
Title Page…………………………………………………………………………. 1
What I Need to Know……………………………………………………………. 2
What I Know……………………………………………………….….…………. 3
What’s In…………………………………………………………………………. 4
What’s New ………………………………………………….…………………. 4
What’s In It ………….….…….…………………….……………………… 7

What’s More
Assessment 1: …………..……………………………………………………… 8
Activity 2: ……………… …………………….. ……………………..………… 9
Assessment 2: …………………………….…………..…………………..…… 10
What I Have Learned…………………………………………………………… 11
What I Can Do………………………………………………………..…………. 11
Post Assessment…………………………………………………………………
Additional Activity

Answer Key……………………………………………………………………….. 13
Reference Sheet…………………………………………………...…….…….… 14

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Concepts, Aspects, and Changes of
Culture and Society
Module in Understanding Culture,
Society and Politics
First Quarter

https://www.google.com/search?q=culture+icon&tbm

JANSSEN MICHAEL C. VALDEZ

Developer

1
What I Need to Know
 Hello learners! This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is
here to help you master the nature of Understanding Culture Society and Politics.
The scope of this module permits it to be used in many different learning situations.
The language used recognizes the diverse vocabulary level of students. The lessons
are arranged to follow the standard sequence of the course.

After going through this module, you are expected to:

- Know the importance of cultural relativism,
- The difference between cultural relativism and ethnocentrism

This module serves as your guide to better understand humans, human

behavior and societies in the past and present. Sociology is the study of human
social relationships and institutions. Political science, the systematic study of
governance by the application of empirical and generally scientific methods of
analysis.

2
 What I Know
Direction: Describe and share the culture you have by answering the following
questions below. Place you answer inside the box.

CUSTOMS and TRADITIONS CULTURAL GAMES

1. 1.

2.
2.

3.

3.

BELIEF SYSTEM

1.

2.
 3
What’s In?
Before we proceed, let us go back with some of the important concepts about
culture, which is the focus of our discussion.
According to E.B. Taylor; culture is a “complex whole,” which encompasses
beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms, artefacts’, symbols, knowledge, and
everything that a person learns and shares as a member of a society.
Likewise, a society is understood or sometimes judged based on their culture.
What comprises a culture? Let us refresh our mind by answering the matching type
test below.
Source: Wikimedia Commons. From Popular Science Monthly 26 (1884):
145. Public Domain.

Match the correct description in Column A to the aspect of culture in Column B.

Description Aspect of Culture
_____1. Family is the most important unit of
this aspect of culture. Through family, a. Arts and literature
children learn how they are expected to act
and what to believe in. b. Customs and traditions

_____2.It usually answers basic questions c. Economic systems

about the meaning of life.
d. Forms of government
_____3.This is considered the cornerstone
of culture. It is the way of communicating e. Language
and understanding each other.
f. Religion
_____4. These products of human
imagination usually help people to pass on g. Social organizations
their culture’s basic beliefs.

_____5. It maintains order within a society

and protects it from outside threats.
_____6. This refers to how people use their
limited resources to satisfy their wants and
needs.

_____7. It is the rules of behavior that

enforce ideas as right or wrong.

What’s New?
Am I Different?
Fill in “‘Me’ and My Culture” table by describing how you behave and practice
your own culture under similar circumstances.
“Them” and their culture “Me” and my Culture
Marriage Marriage
A man can have multiple wives. He
can share his wife to his brothers and
visitors as a sign of hospitality. (Eskimos)
Behavior Behavior
When entering a nearly empty
movie theater or public vehicle, you are
rude when you do not sit beside the only
person in the theater or public vehicle.
(South Africa)
Hand Gestures Hand Gestures
The V- hand gesture is an offensive
sign in United Kingdom, Australia, and
South Africa. In Japan, China, and South
Korea, using this symbol with the palm
facing the person means he/she is looking
cute in picture.
Child-rearing Child-rearing
In order to control their population in
difficult environments, Eskimos sometimes
kill their children if they could not take care
of them. They also kill females more than
males. (Infanticide)

Religion Religion
Individuals practicing Hinduism
believe in millions of gods and goddesses.
All are responsible for governing their lives,
destiny, and fate.
Reading text Reading Text
Hebrew and Arabic books are read
from right to left.
Table Manners Table Manners
 Europeans and Americans use
spoon and fork in eating, while Chinese and
Koreans use chopsticks.
Direction: Say something (a phrase or a sentence) about the following
questions below.
1. Are their respective cultures the same as your own culture? In what ways
are they similar and in what ways do they differ?
2. Can we consider some of their cultural practices as right or wrong?
Explain.
3. If one culture behaves in a particular act, does it mean that all cultures can
behave the same way? Discuss further.

What’s in It?
What is Ethnocentrism?
Ethnocentrism is a belief in the superiority of your own culture. It results from
judging other cultures by your own cultural ideals. Ethnocentrism is linked to cultural
blind spots. Blind spots occur when we fail to attribute differences between our
behaviours and beliefs and those of others to differences in cultural schemas.

Cultural schemas are mental frameworks for interpreting the world that are
shared by members of a cultural group. They act as social codes to guide
individuals’ behaviour as they strive to fit in and succeed in a particular cultural
context.

There is great variation among the cultural schemas of different social groups,

but when we do not appreciate the diversity of cultural schemas, we are limited to
interpreting the world narrowly through our own cultural filter—our natural cultural
code defines our reality and determines what is true and right for us. Any variations
are deemed bizarre, wrong, or inferior. https://cultureplusconsulting.com

Ethnocentrism is a belief that one’s own culture is better than others. They
tend to compare, evaluate, and even judge other people’s ways based on the values
and standards set in one’s own culture. Their worldview is based on the beliefs,
assumptions, expectations, and values shaped by one’s language, behavior,
customs, values, religions and other aspects.
Due to ethnocentric beliefs, many people are blinded from seeing things in
another perspective. Ethnocentric people tend to dislike or make false judgment on
other cultures. They tend becoming biased and judge another culture as bad and
wrong.
Even though we deny it, most of us are ethnocentric at some point in our
lives. Some do not even realize that they are being ethnocentric at that moment.
Below are some of the examples of ethnocentrism:
 The American society sees themselves as a world leader. As a result, they
interfere in the political affairs of other countries and try to control them,
 leading to misunderstanding and miscommunication amongst nations which
sometimes result to war.
 During the time of Adolf Hitler, Germans believed that they are a superior
race. This led to the death of 6 million Jews whom they considered as an
inferior race.
 European countries go beyond their ethnocentric biases and saw non-
European cultures as uncivilized and underdeveloped countries of savages
and barbarians. They used this perspective to justify colonialism and
imperialism.
 Cases of hate crimes and terrorism violence can usually be traced back to
religious conflicts and misunderstandings.

The opposite of ethnocentrism is cultural relativism: the judging of cultural

elements relative to their cultural context.

Groups of people develop distinct patterns of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors

as they respond to the survival challenges of their shared environment. Culture is
flexible and has helped human beings adapt and survive in nearly
every socioecological environment on the planet.

Recognizing the adaptive nature of culture supports cultural relativism. Every

culture has succeeded as a system for human survival. No culture can be judged
as evolutionary superior to another and cultural features can only be
understood in terms of their role in the complete system.

Cultural relativism encourages respect for different cultural values, beliefs, and

practices. We are less likely to interpret differences as bizarre, offensive, or deficient
if we consider them in terms of their own cultural context.
https://cultureplusconsulting.com

Cultural Relativism as the Opposite View

Cultural relativism is a belief that cultures are equally complex. There is
no such thing as superior or inferior culture.
Cultural relativism is very important in studying the culture of other
people. It is a way of viewing the beliefs, values, and practices of a culture from its
own viewpoint. Another way to say this is that others should understand an
individual’s beliefs and activities in terms of that person’s own culture.
 Cultural relativism promotes greater appreciation of the cultures that an
individual might encounter along the way.
 Cultural relativism is a good way to rehearse the norms and values of a
society a requirement that one must subscribe to, regardless of his/her
cultural origin.
 It means that the function and meaning of a trait are relative to its cultural
setting.
To understand better the main difference between ethnocentrism and cultural
relativism, an illustration was provided below:

Hello, I am Ben. I am an ethnocentric. I Hello, I am Lisa. I am a cultural

always believe that my culture is superior from
others. I often use my own culture to judge
others. I consider their beliefs and practices as
savage or corrupt. Most of the time I tend to
discriminate others, bully them for their practices,
and get into conflict with them.
relativist. I believe that culture of people must
be looked at in terms of the world these
people inhabit. I try to look at their culture
based on what their practices bring in to them.
If Eskimos kill their infant sometimes, I believe
that there is a practical reason why they do
that. That is why for me, culture is relative.
 7
For additional ideas and concept about philosophy you can watch and listen
by clicking this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzT-RDrWbZo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlyS4zrklww

What’s More?
Before we proceed, let us go back with some of the important concepts about
culture that is the main focus of our discussion.
Assessment 1
Activity 1:
Direction: Read the following items carefully. Write the letter that
corresponds to your answer on a separate sheet of paper.
1. Ben is an ethnocentric. He considers other people, specifically indigenous
tribes, as backwards people who have no manners at all. Why do you think
Ben come up with this bias?
a. He regards another culture as superior.
b. He regards his own culture as superior.
c. He regards his own culture as normal and uses it to measure foreign
cultures.
d. He regards another culture as superior and uses it to measure his own
culture
2. Lisa was a proud cultural relativist. She sees that Ilocanos are thrifty because
of their geographical location. Likewise, she sees nothing wrong about it.
What did Lisa exhibit in that situation?
a. She believes anything goes in one’s own culture.
b. She measures behavior by how the other culture regards this practice.
c. She has no concept of right or wrong.
d. She measures which cultures are related to others.
 3. What might be the result of ethnocentrism on a global scale?
a. Other people may be treated as savage or morally corrupt.
b. There is no way to determine which is right or wrong.
c. Native people often wish to colonize superior culture.
d. Believing one’s own culture is superior makes one a morally corrupt
savage.
4. For better opportunities, many Filipinos were forced to work abroad,
exposing themselves to unfamiliar culture. Culture shock is a feeling of
disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to other’s
way of life or set of attitudes. Which of the following is NOT a symptom of
culture shock?
a. Feeling homesick when in a new place
b. Feeling like the new culture is superior to your own
c. Obsessing about the cleanliness of food and water in a new place
d. Feeling the hostility towards natives or locals
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5. .Which of the following statements is a positive effect of ethnocentrism?
a. Rina posted on her Facebook wall saying that eating fried tarantula is
“yuckie.”
b. Greg posted a statement which says, “Ang galing ng Pinoy, angat sa
iba, kaya’t tayo ay magkaisa.”
c. Shiela posted a picture of Carlos P. Romulo with a caption, “This little
brown monkey that you are referring to does not eat banana peelings.
He is a Filipino not an American.
d. Wendel tweeted, “Nakakatakot na ang panahon ngayon daming taong
gumagala na tadtad ng tattoo ang katawan.”

For numbers 6-10, identify whether the given statement is an example of

ethnocentrism or cultural relativism. Write letter A if it is ethnocentrism and B if it is
cultural relativism.
6. Korean culture is better than our culture because many Filipinos try to
imitate and adopt this culture.
7. The Aetas of Zambales ,the Mangyans of Mindoro and other Filipino tribes
have different religious beliefs. Their Gods are manifested on the different
forms of nature like trees, mountains, rivers, volcano, their dead ancestors,
and many more. I think there is nothing wrong about that. It does not make
them a lesser group of people.
8. Indigenous people should learn to change their old and traditional ways of
life in order to be happy and successful.
9. People in my culture could learn a lot from people in other cultures.
10. Filipinos’ religious traditions like the celebration of fiestas should be
banned because it is just a waste of time, energy, and resources.

Activity 2:
 Direction: Create a slogan that promotes respect and tolerance towards other
cultures all over the world.

Rubrics for POSTER-SLOGAN

Indicator Description Points

Required Elements The poster includes all required elements as well as additional information. 10

Craftsmanship The poster is exceptionally attractive in terms of design, layout and neatness. It is well- 10
constructed and not messy.

Graphics (Relevance) All graphics are related to the topic and make it easier to understand. 10

Originality The slogan is clear and easy to read. It is original and catchy. 10

Total 40

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Assessment 2: THINK AND ACT FOR BETTER
Direction: Make a simple concept map about discussing the positive and
negative aspects of having a multi-cultural society.

NEGATIVE SIDE
POSITIVE SIDE
1.
1.
2.
2.
3.
3.

CULTURAL
DIVERSITY

WAYS THAT WE NEED TO

HAVE DO TO STOP
CULTURAL
DISCRIMINATION
1.
2.
3.

10
 What I Have Learned
Direction: Copy the beginning words or phrase and complete them. Use yellow paper
for your answer

The Topic was about_______________________________________________________

It Matters because _________________________________________________________

I’ve Learned today that ______________________________________________________

What I Can Do
In this activity, you will be asked to conduct a simple case study examining
the culture of other people that is somehow different from yours. If you are an
Ilocano, the subject of your study could be people who identify themselves as
Tagalog, Bisaya, Bicolano, or other ethnicity. If you know someone who belongs to
an indigenous group of people, it is much better to have them as subjects. Since you
are not allowed to go out at present because of the threat of COVID-19 pandemic,
look for someone who is near to your place or whom you have contact with through
social media.

Be guided with the following questions as you write your case study:
1. Describe the group of people that you chose. Who are they? What
do they do? Where did they come from? What do you know about
them?
2. Discuss their way of life in terms of:
a. Social organizations
b. Language
c. Religion
d. Arts and literature
e. Economic systems
f. Values, beliefs and tradition

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Post Assessment

12
Key to Correction

13
 REFERENCES

Paolo Nino M. Valdez, Phoenix English for the Globalized Classroom Series: English
for Academic and Professional Purposes (PhoenixPublishing House Inc. 2016), 6-16

Grace M. Saqueton, and Marikit Tara A. Uychoco, Applied Track: English for
Academic and Professional Purposes(Rex Printing Company,Inc.2016),3-11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3D6lCF1iU8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4snTnMpET60

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