LESSON 5: DEFINING CULTURE AND boundary.

It is an important product of human

SOCIETY FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF
ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY
SOCIETY
 describes a group of people who share a
common territory and a culture. By
“territory” sociologists refer to a definable
region- as small as a neighborhood
 SOCIETY EX: BARANGAY, CITY,
COUNTRY, ASIA
interaction and interconnectedness. It symbolizes the
group within which human beings can live a total
common life.
As defined by Edward B. Tylor, culture refers to
complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs,
arts, morals, laws, customs, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member
of society.
FORM OF SOCIETIES

CULTURE 1. Hunting and Gathering Society

2. Pastoral Society
 refers to “that complex whole which 3. Horticultural Society
encompasses beliefs, practices, values, 4. Agrarian or Agricultural Society
attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, 5. Feudal Society
knowledge, and everything that a person 6. Industrial Society
learns and shares as a member of society”. 7. Post-industrial Society
 Neither society nor culture could exist
without the other
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE:
CULTURE REPRESENTS: BELIEFS
PRACTICES ARTIFACTS 1. KNOWLEDGE
2. SOCIAL NORMS
SOCIETY REPRESENTS: SOCIAL 3. BELIEFS
STRUCTURES ORGANIZATIONS 4. LANGUAGE
All human groups possess culture to the same 5. SYMBOLS
degree. Anthropologists are concerned mainly with 1. KNOWLEDGE – It is the total range of what has
differences between cultures not whether societies been learned or perceived to be true.
have more or less culture (“ elite culture” and
“popular culture”). 2. SOCIAL NORMS-These are established
expectations of society as to how a person is
If culture is defined broadly , it includes all the supposed to act depending on the requirements of the
things individual learn while growing up among time, place, or situation.
particular groups, attitudes, standards of morality,
rules of etiquette, perceptions of reality, language,  Norms differ according to the age, sex,
notion about the proper way to live and so forth. religion, occupation, or ethnic group.
 Among special norms are folkways, mores,
Society – a group of people living in a given territory and laws.
who share culture and who interact with people of
that territory more than with people of other territory. TYPES OF NORMS

largest form of human group A. FOLKWAYS

 They are commonly known as the customs,
Culture – refers to what people share with each other traditions and conventions of a society.
within a society.
 They are the general rules, customary and
It does not refer solely to the fine arts and refined habitual ways and patterns of expected
intellectual taste. It consists all objects and ideas behavior within the society where it is
within a society. followed, without much thought given to the
matter.
Each people have a distinctive culture.
 Folkways are norms governing everyday
Society refers to a group of people sharing a behavior whose violation might cause a dirty
common culture within a defined territorial look, rolled eyes, or disapproving comment.
  Example: walking up a “down” escalator in a
department store challenges our standards of
appropriate behavior.
B. MORES
 They are special folkways which are
important to the welfare of the people and
their cherished values.
 They are based on ethical and moral values
which are strongly held and emphasized.
 each society demands obedience to its mores
(violation can lead to severe penalties)
FOLKWAYS VS. MORES
 Sociologist Ian Robertson illustrated the
difference between folkways and mores: A
man who walks down a street wearing
nothing on the upper half of his body is
violating a folkway; a man is wearing nothing
on the lower a half of his body is violating
one of mores (requirement that people cover
their genitals and buttocks in public)
C. LAWS
 They are formalized norms, enacted by
people who are vested with governmental
power and enforced by political and legal
authorities designated by the government.
SANCTIONS FOR VIOLATORS
Folkways. Sanctions may be in the form of ridicule,
disapproval, or being considered as funny, ridiculous,
eccentric or labeled as an “odd ball”
Mores. Violators are considered immoral, sinful,
vicious or antisocial.
Laws. Negative sanctions include fines,
imprisonment, or the death penalty.
3. BELIEFS—The perception of accepted reality.
Reality refers to the existence of things whether
material or non-material.
 They embody people’s perception of reality
and include the primitive ideas of the
universe as well as the scientist’s empirical
view of the world.
 Examples are superstitions, and those that
relate to philosophy, theology, technology,
art, and science.
4. LANGUAGE—The organization of written or
spoken symbols into a standardized system to
express any idea.
 Soul of every culture
ASPECTS OF CULTURE
a. Dynamic, Flexible, & Adaptive
b. Shared & Contested (given the reality
of social differentiation)
c. Learned through socialization or
enculturation
d. Patterned social interactions
e. Integrated and at times unstable
f. Transmitted through
socialization/enculturation
g. Requires language and other forms of
communication
A. DYNAMIC, FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTIVE
 There is continuous change of culture as new
ways of life evolved by the changing
conditions of the societal life. There are
cultural practices that no longer useful today.
The cultural adaptation is the evolutionary
process that modifies the social life.
 Culture necessarily changes, and is changed
by, a variety of interactions, with individuals,
media, and technology, just to name a few.
 Cultures interact and change. Most societies
interact with other societies, and as a
consequence their cultures interact that lead
to exchanges of material (ex: tools and
furniture) and non-material (ex: ideas and
symbols) components of culture.
 in the aspect of music, we can see that music
may change from time to time. 1920s was
jazz; 1970s was disco.
 We are now more inclined to use computers
and tablets especially when playing games.
 in language, development of new words.
B. SHARED AND CONTESTED
 Culture is collective—it is shared by some
group of people. Social learning is the
process by which individuals acquire
knowledge from others.
 Example: you have a classmate who grew up
in the US and only started living in the
Philippines a few months ago. You help him
 learn our culture by asking him to play game
like patintero and eat Filipino dishes.
Interacting with other people is a good way to
share our culture.
C.LEARNED THROUGH SOCIALIZATION OR
ENCULTURATION
 Enculturation or socialization is the process
by which infants and children socially learn
the culture of those around them.
D.PATTERNED SOCIAL INTERACTIONS
 People act differently because of the
distinctions their culture make between males
and females, old and young, rich and poor,
plumbers and attorneys, and so forth.
 Culture as a normative system has the
capacity to define and control human
behaviors.
E.INTEGRATED AND AT TIMES UNSTABLE
 Human beings always consider the
harmonious relationship with any group
cultures being grown for a period of time.
F.TRANSMITTED THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
AND ENCULTURATION
 Social learning is the process by which
individuals acquire knowledge from other in
the groups to which they belong.
G.REQUIRES LANGUAGE AND OTHER
FORMS OF COMMUNICATION
 The communication process uses language or
symbols to identify the given actions,
attitudes and behaviors of the people.

PREPARED BY:

MADELENE JOY M. RICIO

UCSP TEACHER