COMPLEXITY OF

CULTURE
E.B. Taylor describes culture as
“that complex whole, which encompasses beliefs, practices, values,
attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything
that a person learns and shares as a member of society”
 Anthropology Sociology

The
The What The How The Why
Refers to the Refers to the Refers to the reasons for compliance
contents of culture processes that and the mechanisms that facilitate
guarantee the performance
transmission of the

What,
contents
Actions Through socialization/enculturation:
Individuals are exposed to and

How and
experience lessons in everyday
Learned interactions. The lessons are
practical and address their basic
social needs.

Why of
Language Through conformity: Actions of
individuals are routinized and
Shared institutionalized in contexts like
family, church, schools, and

Culture
government. In time, they become
part of their habits.
Attitude Through social control: Conformity,
Communicated or its absence thereof, is meted out
through the system of giving
rewards and imposing of
punishments.
 Enculturation refers to the gradual acquisition of
the characteristics and norms of a culture or group
by a person, another culture, etc.
Enculturation Enculturation starts with actual exposure to
another culture and the duration and extent of
exposure account for the quality of the resulting
enculturation.

It is a good example of enculturation. Individuals

Third Culture
who have stayed for quite a good portion of their
lives in a foreign culture may be shocked by their
birth culture once exposed to it again. The shock
Shock created by their birth culture is a product of their
enculturation in the second culture.
 Sir Edward
Burnett
Tylor
An English
Anthropologist.
He was the first to coin
the term “culture” in the
eighteenth century.
 1. The study of society is incomplete
without proper understanding of the
culture of that society because culture and
society go together.
ASPECTS 2. Culture is a unique possession of man.

OF 3. Man is born and brought up in a

cultural environment.
CULTURE 4. Culture is the unique quality of man
which separates him from the lower
animals.
5.Culture includes all that man acquires
in his social life.
 DEFINITIONS OF CULURE
B. Malinowski defined it as the “handwork of man and the medium
through which he achieves his ends”
R. Redfield defined it as an “organized body of conventional
understandings manifest in art which persisting through
tradition, characterizes a human group”
V. de Robert defined culture as “the body of thought and knowledge,
both theoretical and practical, which only man can
possess”
E.B. Taylor describes culture as “that complex whole, which
encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws,
norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything that
a person learns and shares as a member of society”
In simpler terms culture is the way of life of people or their design of living.
 Explicit Culture refers to
Kluckhohn and Kelly
define culture as a similarities in words and actions
historically derived which can be directly observed.
system of explicit
and implicit designs
for living, which Implicit Culture exists in abstract
tends to be shared by
all or specially forms which are not quite
designed members of obvious.
a group.
The following characterization of culture revolves
around the three essences of culture as a system:
1. Super-Organic – culture is seen as something superior to
nature because nature serves as the ingredient of any cultural
productions.
2. Integrated – culture possesses order and system. Its various
parts are connected with each other and any new element
which is introduced is also connected.
3. Pervasive – culture touches every aspect of life and is
manifested in many ways.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
1. Culture is social because it is the product of social behavior.
Culture does not exist in isolation
2. Culture varies from society to society.
Every society has a culture of its own that differs from other
societies
3. Culture is shared.
Culture is not something that an individual alone can possess
4. Culture is learned.
Culture is not inborn. It is learned.
Behaviors that are obvious are called “overt”.
Behaviors not openly visible are called “covert”.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
5.Culture is transmitted among members of society.
Cultural ways are learned by persons from persons.
6. Culture is continuous and cumulative.
Culture exists as a continuous process.
The fact of unending change.
7. Culture is gratifying and idealistic.
Culture provides proper oppurtunities for the satisfaction of our
needs and desires.
 FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
1. Culture defines situations.
Each culture has many subtle cues which define each situation. It reveals whether
one should prepare to fight, run, laugh or make love.
2. Culture define attitudes, values an goals.
Each person learns from his/her culture what is good, true, and beautiful. Attitudes,
Values, and Goals are defined by the culture.
3. Culture defines myths, legends, and the supernatural.
Myths and Legends are important parts of every culture. They may inspire or
reinforce effort and sacrifice and bring comfort in bereavement.
4. Culture provides behavior patterns.
People find a ready-made set of patterns awaiting them which they need only to
learn and follow.
 ETHNOCENTRISM
The word ethno comes from the Greeks and it refers to a people, nation, or cultural
grouping.Centric on the other hand comes from Latin and refers to the center.
The term ethnocentrism then refers to the tendency of each society to place its own
culture patterns at the center of things.
It also refers to the practice of comparing other cultural practices with those of one’s own
and automatically finding those other cultural practices to be inferior.
It is the act of evaluating other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the
standards and customs of one’s own culture.
The term ethnocentrism was coined by William Graham Summer. He also defined that
ethnocentrism is the belief that your native culture is the most natural or superior way of
understanding the world.
 1.Ethnocentrism
encourages the solidarity of
a group.
Functions of 2.Ethnocentrism hinders
Ethnocentrism the understanding or the
cooperation between
groups.
3.Conflict in ethnocentrism
leads to social change.
 1. When you judge the behavior and beliefs of people
who are different from you.

When do we Way out: To stop ethnocentric behavior, you

must stop judging others who are different from you.
become 2. When you believe that there are primitive cultures,

ethnocentri
especially if their way of life is different from yours.
Way out: Ethnocentrism is taught. You have to

c and what unlearn that your culture is superior and all other
cultures are inferior.
is our way 3. When you believe that some cultures are backward if

out?
the lack the technology and consumerism of your own
culture.
Way out: Remember that there are no primitive
or backward cultures. All cultures provide their
members with the means for meeting all human
needs.
 - Is the view that all beliefs, customs
and ethics are relative to the
individual within his/her own social
context.
Cultural - In other words “right” and “wrong”
Relativism are culture specific.
- What is considered moral in one
society, can be considered immoral
another, and since no universal
standard of morality exists, no one
has the right to judge another
society’s custom.
 • Refers to a preference for the foreign.
Xenocentrism It is characterized by a strong belief that
one’s own products, styles, or ideas are
inferior to those who originate
elsewhere.

• Is the fear of what is perceived a foreign or

strange. It may include the fear of losing
Xenophobia identity, suspicion of other cultures,
aggression, and the desire to eliminate the
presence of other groups to secure
presumed purity.
 Cultures have tangible and intangible

Culture
components.
The tangible ones are those that are
produced and created based on specific
as and practical purposes and aesthetic
values. Example the Philippine Flag and

Heritag cultural artifacts. The intangible ones

may be associated with events. Also it

e can include our national anthem and

literary creations, such as music and
dance which are unique to the
Philippines.