UCSP Handout

Dao Catholic High School, Inc.
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

TOBIAS FORNIER, ANTIQUE
Government Recognition (R-VI) No. S-63, S 2005
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS

Lesson 1 - 3
Name: ________________________________________________________________________ Group No:___________________
Grade & Section: ________________________________________ Date: __________________ Score: ___________________
Culture
Is generally defined as the sum of an individual’s way of life, ranging from food he or she
eats, the clothes he or she wears, and the house where he or she lives.
The concepts of nationality and ethnicity are not interchangeable. Both, however, are
capable of informing an individual’s behavior and habits due to a set of cultural norms that
each category provides.
Nationality – is the identity that is tied to being part of the nation or country.
Country – a group of people who share the same history, traditions, and language.
Nationality can be acquired by being born in a country or by the process of legal application
called Naturalization.
Ethnicity
As the most potent cultural concept, ethnicity is the expression of the set of cultural ideas
held by a distinct ethnic or indigenous group.
An ethnic group refers to the people who collectively and publicly identify themselves as
distinct and unique based on distinguishable cultural features that set them apart from
others, such as language, shared ancestry, common origin, customs, and traditions.
Social Differences – include categories on gender, socioeconomic class (social

class and economic status), political identity and religion.
Gender – refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes
that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. (WHO-2013)
Gender categories are more varied, accommodating identities such as lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI).
Sex – refers to the biological characteristic of humans such as male or female.
Types of Gender based on a person’s orientation
Heterosexual – a person with this gender is inclined to be sexually attracted to a person of
the opposite sex.
Homosexual – when a person is attracted to a person of the same sex.
Lesbian – a female who is romantically and sexually attracted to another female.
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VISION
A Christ-centered community of Excellence in Holistic Transformation.
MISSION
To evangelize and empower the Antiqueño Youth.
SHS Module/ UCSP. //JNAS// 1
Gay- a male romantically and sexually attracted to another male.

Bisexual – individual who are attracted to both sexes.
Asexual- are individuals who are totally incapable of being attracted to any sex.
Polysexual – are individuals who are attracted to multiple types of gender.
Pansexual – individuals who accommodate all types of gender.
Transgender – individuals whose gender identities do not match their biological identity as
male or female.
Transsexual – individuals believe that the discord between their internal gender and
gender role that they have to perform can be addressed through medical sexual
reassignment.
Socioeconomic class
The concept of socioeconomic class varies between societies as the ideas associated with
being poor or rich differ based on the collective experiences of individuals. As such,
Filipinos who are from the global south (developing countries) would perceived poverty
differently from Singaporeans who are from global north (developed countries or
industrialized nations).
People falling into different social classes are bound to experience life differently such as in
the form of transportation and the type and amount of food that they can afford and
consume daily. The typical determinants of one of one’s social status include income, value
of assets and savings, cultural interests and hobbies, and economic status of his or her
peers and relatives.
In the Philippines, our indicators of social class are different, given the economic and
political context in which our country is in. although government surveys take into account
the factors enumerated earlier such as income and value of assets, Filipinos often describe
their social class in personalized context. Hence, when you ask a Filipino what his/ her
social class is, the response can be any of the following: Mahirap, medyo mayaman,
sakto lang, mayaman, and the like.
Political Identity
Political Identity as a social category refers to the set of attitudes and practices that an
individual adheres to in relation to the political systems and actors within his or her
society.
Religion
The belief in the supernatural has been one of the universal preoccupations of humans as
early 60 000 years go. The earliest form of religion revolved around making sense of natural
occurrences such as extreme weather conditions, natural and man-made calamities,
sickness, and even death.
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Religion is an organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere or the supernatural,
along with associated ceremonial or ritualistic practices by which people try to interpret
and/or influence aspects of the universe otherwise beyond human control.
Exceptionality
Exceptionality, as used in this context, refers to the state of being intellectually gifted
and/or having physically or mentally challenged conditions concerning
personality/behavior, communication, intellect, physical appearance, or a combination of
more than one specific exceptionality or disability.
Social, Political, and Cultural Behavior and Phenomena

Every society has its own norms to follow. These norms serve as guides or models of
behavior which tell us what is proper or improper, appropriate or inappropriate, right or
wrong. They set limits within which individuals may seek alternative ways to achieve their
goals.
Norms
Are often in the form of rules, standards, or prescriptions that are strictly followed by
people who adhere on certain conventions and perform specific roles. Often, norms indicate
a society’s standards of propriety, morality, ethics, and legality.
Norms of Decency and Conventionality

Norm of Appropriateness or decency is commonly exhibited on the type of clothing a
person wears in a specific occasions. This norm also includes the manners and behaviors
that show a person’s refinement and civility.
Norm of Conventionality are beliefs and practices that are acceptable to certain cultures
but can be inimical to other cultures.
Conformity and Deviance

Conformity is defined as the state of having internalized norms as part of the social
expectation.
Despite the tendency of social control to enforce conformity as a potent mechanism in the
socialization process, there are forms of behavior that are relatively o distinctly set away
from a norm. This form of behavior can be referred to us deviant behavior or
nonconformity. Deviant and nonconformist behavioral patterns can be tolerated,
approved, or disapproved depending on social views.
Deviance is divided into two types: formal and informal. Formal deviance includes
actions that violate enacted laws, such as robbery, theft, graft, rape, and other forms of
criminality. Informal deviance refers to violations to social norms that are not codified
into law, such as pricking one’s nose, belching loudly, and spitting on the street, among
others.
Taboos
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Taboos related to food are also manifestations of deviancy. Though this practices may be a
case-to-case basis since what one society views as deviant may be seen by other societies
as normative, traditional, or desirable.
Anthropology is derived from two Greek words anthropos and logos, which intensively
studies human and the respective cultures where they were born and actively belong to.
It is considered the father or even grandfather of all social and behavioral sciences like
sociology, economics and psychology, to name a few. The discipline had its humble
beginnings with early European explorers and their accounts which produced initial
impressions about the native peoples they encountered In their explorations.
The father of American anthropology, Franz Boaz, a physicist, strongly believed that the
same method and strategy could be applied in measuring culture and human behavior
while conducting research among humans including uniqueness of their cultures.
Two American anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and William Henry Morgan, became
prominent in their field since their specialization included the championing of indigenous
rights like traditional cultural preservation and ancestral domain of the American Indian
tribes they intensively studied.
Sociology is the study of society, social institutions, and social relationships. Sociology
is interested in describing and explaining human behavior, especially as it occurs within a
social context (MerriamWebster).
Studying sociology is practical and useful. A social beings, we gain understanding of how
the social world operates and of our place in it. C.Wright Mills (1959) calls it sociological
imagination which he defined as “the vivid awareness of the relationship between private
experience and the wider society.”
Sociology’s point of view is distinct from other sciences. Peter Berger explains that the
perspective of sociology enables us to see “general patterns in particular events” (Macionis,
2010). This means finding general patterns in particular events. The first systematic study
on suicide provides a good example. Emile Durkheim’s pioneering study on suicide in the
1800s revealed that there are categories of people who are more likely to commit suicide.
Political Science is part of the social sciences that deals with the study of politics,
power, and government. In turn, politics refers to “ the process of making collective
decisions in a community, society, or group through application of influence and power”
(Ethridge and Handelman 2010, p.8). Political Science studies how even the most private
and personal decisions of individuals are influence by collective decisions of a community.
“The personal is political.”
Politics
Generally, politics is associated with how power is gained and employed to develop
authority and influence on social affairs. It can also be used to promulgate guiding rules to
govern the state. It is also a tactic for upholding collaboration among members of a
community, whether from civil or political organizations.
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Concept of Politics
Politics is allied with government which is considered as the ultimate authority. It is the
primary role of the government to rule the society by stipulating and transmitting the basic
laws that will supervise the freedom of the people. Each form of government possesses
power to attain order that should lead toward social justice.
Politics as Science
Science is commonly defined as the knowledge derived from experiment and observation
systematically done. Policy-making and government decisions should be done through
proper research, social investigation, analysis, validation, planning, execution and
evaluation. Thus, politics is a science.
FIVE SUBDISCIPLINES OF ANTHROPOLOGY
 Archaeology – examines the remains of ancient and historical human populations to
promote an understanding of how humans have adopted to their environment and
developed.
 Cultural anthropology – promotes the study of a society’s culture through their
belief systems, practices, and possessions.
 Linguistic anthropology – examines the language of a group of people and its
relation to their culture.
 Physical anthropology – looks into the biological development of humans and their
contemporary variations.
 Applied anthropology – attempts to solve contemporary problems through the
application of theories and approaches of the discipline.
Culture – is everything that a person learns as a member of a society.
 Culture is everything – it is what person has, does, and thinks as part of society.
this implies all of person’s belief system, set of behaviors, and material possessions.
Material culture – includes all the tangible and visible parts of culture, which
include clothes, food, and even buildings.
Non-material culture – includes all the tangible parts of culture, which consists of
values, ideas, and knowledge.
 Culture is learned – culture is a set of beliefs, attitudes, and practices that an
individual learns through his or her family, school, church, and other social
institutions.
Enculturation – the process of learning your own culture.
Acculturation – due to constant interaction between societies, culture can be
modified to accommodate desirable traits from other cultures.
Deculturation – when the culture of the older generation comes into conflict with the
needs and realities of younger generations.
 Culture is shared – the set of behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs that a person
possesses is part of a greater collection of values and ideas that is communally
owned and practiced by members of a society.
 Culture affects biology – humans and born into cultures that have values on beauty
and body. As such, they alter their bodies to fit into the psychological norms that are
dictated by culture.
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 Culture is adoptive – both the material and non-material parts of culture are
influenced by the goal of humans to address their needs dictated by their
environment and their biology.
 Culture is maladaptive – culture can cause problems for the people who subscribe
to it.
 Culture changes – the final characteristic of a culture is that it is never static.
Sociological Concepts
Society – can be defined as a product of human interactions as humans subscribe to the
rules of their culture.
Social interactions –is a compilation of ways and means by which humans interact with
each other within the confines of a society.
Social organizations – refers to the interrelationship of parts of society.
 Group – is a basic unit of an organization.
 Institutions – are stablished when roles, statuses, and groups are perpetuated
within the context of a society.
Social structure and agency – this is the foundation of every society from which emanates
the possible roles, statuses, institutions, and organizations.
Subdisciplines of Sociology
Social organization –Studies that involve social structures such as institutions, social
groups, social stratification, social mobility, and ethnic groups.
Social psychology – the study of the impact of group life to a person’s nature and
personality.
Social change and disorganization – is the branch of sociology that inquires on the shift
in social and cultural interactions and the interruption of its process through delinquency,
deviance, and conflicts.
Human ecology – pursues studies that relate human behavior to existing social
institutions.
Population or demography – inquires into the interrelationships between population
characteristics and dynamics with that of a political, economic, and social system.
Applied sociology – uses sociological research and methods to solve contemporary
problems.
Methods in sociology
 Positivist orientation – Perceives society as a quantifiable subject from which

objective conclusions can be made.
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 Anti-positivist orientation – promotes a subjective approach wherein social

phenomena are understood through individual experiences.
Political Science as Discipline

Political science comes from two greek words : polis and Scire. Polis refers to the city in
ancient Greece. The political activities within a polis are later termed as politikus (Latin).
Scire means “to know”. Combining two meanings, political science aims to know the
activities within the state.
 Political theory – examines the contemporary application of political concepts such

as human rights, equality, peace, and justice.
 Comparative politics – is a branch of political science that aims to provide context
to the differences in government and political systems.
International relations – the study of state-to-state relations and the wider margin of the
impacts of globalization and climate change such as terrorism, piracy, and democratization
of non-western territories fall into the category of international relation.
Political behavior – this field covers the attitudes, knowledge, and actions of an individual
in response to political variables such as policies created by the government, behavior of
politicians, and general political environment.
Public policy – this field inquires on the types of governmental policies and the underlying
motivations for their enactment and implementation.
Public administration – this branch examines the various administrative schemes
implemented by government officials.
Given the scope and nature of the discipline of political science, it is oriented toward an
applied and interdisciplinary approach. Applied orientation pervades all of its sub
disciplines as they all address contemporary issues on politics, ethics, and goverenance.
Politics – this is the central concept in the discipline.
Alfred Boyer – Politics is the interaction between the civil society and the government in the
activity of governance.
Max Weber – Politics is the exercise of power within a state.
David Easton – Politics is the authoritative allocation of scarce values.
Power – the ability of person A to make person B do what person B would not otherwise do.
State – is a political entity that consists of four elements:
 Government – the set of personnel who manages the affairs of the state in its act of
allocating scarce values.
System of classification of government
 Monarchy
 Tyranny
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 Aristocracy
 Oligarchy
 Polity
 Democracy
 Sovereignty – this is the capacity of a political system to make independent
decisions within its territory.
 Territory – this is the geographic space in which the sovereignty of a state is
exercised.
 People – is synonymous to a Nation. A nation is a concept that is related to ethnicity,
as people within it are bound by cultural and historical ties.
“Inequality is the root of all social evil.”

Pope Francis
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Dao Catholic High School, Inc.

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS

Social Differences – include categories on gender, socioeconomic class (social

Gay- a male romantically and sexually attracted to another male.

Social, Political, and Cultural Behavior and Phenomena

Norms of Decency and Conventionality

Conformity and Deviance

 Positivist orientation – Perceives society as a quantifiable subject from which

 Anti-positivist orientation – promotes a subjective approach wherein social

Political Science as Discipline

 Political theory – examines the contemporary application of political concepts such

“Inequality is the root of all social evil.”

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