CONCEPT OF CULTURE

Culture – is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, law, custom, and any
other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of the society.

(Edward Tylor- English Anthropologist)

* Refers to man’s social and material inventions, man’s artificial or man-made environment
including the learned ways of doing things

* Provides prescriptions and proscriptions for group life – the values, customs, norms, rules,
laws, and sanctions for the deviance

CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE:

1. Culture is learned – it is acquired through education, training and experience.

2. Culture is socially transmitted through language

- it transmitted from one generation to another through the

medium of language, verbal or non-verbal through gestures or signs, orally or in writing.

3. Culture is a social product – culture is a product of social

interaction, through the mutual inter-stimulation and response of people with one another. Many
people interacting with one another develop culture.

4. Culture is a source of gratification.

- it provides satisfaction of man’s varied physiological, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual
needs.

5. Culture is adaptive – through inventions and discoveries man has been able to overcome his
limitations to outdo all other animals.

6. Culture is the distinctive way of life of a group of people.

- the members of the society have developed their unique way of life that suits their needs and
particular situation.

7. Culture is material and non-material

Material culture- buildings and machines

Non-material culture – knowledge and skills

8. Culture has sanctions and controls –these sanctions could be formal or informal.

*Rewards – for conformity to culture

*Punishments – for deviation from or violation of the culture

9. Culture is stable yet dynamic – it is preserved and, highly stable and continuous. is also changing; it
grows and accumulates with the passing of time.

10. Culture is an established pattern of behavior

– people act in a fairly uniform manner because they share mutual beliefs, customs and the ways of
doing things.

COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

1. NORMS – these are guidelines people are supposed to follow in their relation with one another; they
are shared rules that specify what is right or wrong and the appropriate and
inappropriate behavior. They indicate the standards of propriety, morality, legality and ethics of a
society that are covered by sanctions when violations are made.

Ex. We are supposed to be sad and depressed when a family member dies.

Social Norms:

a. Folkways – these are everyday habits; customs, traditions and conventions people obey without
giving much thought to the matter. They do not have particular moral and ethical significance.

Ex. Barrio folks eat with their bare hands and walk along the streets barefooted while city folks eat using
spoon and fork and walk wearing slippers or shoes.

b. Mores – they are society’s code of ethics, moral

commandments and standards of morality.

Two Kinds of Mores:

... Positive mores or duty or the “Thou shall behavior.” Duty – refers to the behavior which must
be done because they are ethically and morally good.

... Negative mores or taboo or the “Thou shall not behavior.” Taboo – refers to societal prohibitions on
certain acts which must not be done because they are not only illegal, but unethical and immoral.

c. Laws – these are formalized norms enacted by people vested with legitimate authority. They are
group expectations, which have formal sanction by the state.

2. IDEAS, BELIEFS, VALUES

…Ideas – are non-material aspects of culture and embody man’s conception of his physical, social and
cultural world.

…Beliefs – refers to a person’s conviction about a certain idea.

…Values – are abstract concepts of what is important and worthwhile.

3. MATERIAL CULTURE – it refers to the concrete and tangible objects produced and used by man to
satisfy his varied needs and wants.

4. SYMBOLS – it refers to an object, gesture, sound, color or design that represents something other
than itself.