LESSON 02

The Difference between Pop, Folk, Working-Class, and High

Culture, and the Different Theoretical Perspectives of Philippine
Pop Culture.

Pop Culture vs Folk Culture:

• Folk culture tends to be local, rural, consistent over time,

but inconsistent over geography. Pop culture, on the other
hand, tends to be widespread and uniform over a large
geographic distance, it tends to be based in urban centers,
and it generally experiences fairly rapid change over time.

• Folk culture- the culture traditionally practiced primarily

by small, homogenous groups living in isolated rural areas.
Popular culture- the culture found in large, heterogeneous
societies that share certain habits despite differences in
other personal characteristics.

Working Class Culture

• Working-class culture is more parochial and present-oriented,

whereas middle-class culture is more cosmopolitan and future-
oriented. The middle class is much more individualistic and
anxious about status. The working class tends to be
contemptuous of status hierarchies and more comfortable with
mutual dependencies.

• "Working class" is a socioeconomic term used to describe

persons in a social class marked by jobs that provide low
pay, require limited skill, or physical labor. Typically,
working-class jobs have reduced education requirements.

• Working-class culture is a range of cultures created by or

popular among working-class people. The cultures can be
contrasted with high culture and folk culture, and are often
equated with popular culture and low culture. Working-class
culture developed during the Industrial Revolution.

High Culture

• High Culture is associated with wealth and restricted to the

upper, elite classes of society. High culture also encompasses
a thought of higher education and intellect, including
cultural activities in the arts like ballet, opera, theater,
and classical music.

• People often associate high culture with intellectualism,

political power, and prestige. In America, high culture also
tends to be associated with wealth. Events considered high
culture can be expensive and formal—attending a ballet, seeing
a play, or listening to a live symphony performance.

• In popular usage, the term high culture identifies the

culture either of the upper class (an aristocracy) or of
 a status class (the intelligentsia); high culture also
identifies a society’s common repository of broad-range
knowledge and tradition (folk culture) that transcends the
social-class system of the society. Sociologically, the
term high culture is contrasted with the term low culture,
which comprises the forms of popular culture characteristic
of the less-educated social classes, such as the barbarians.

• Matthew Arnold introduced the term high culture in the

book Culture and Anarchy (1869). The Preface
defines culture as "the disinterested endeavour after man’s
perfection" pursued, obtained, and achieved by effort to "know
the best that has been said and thought in the world". Such
a literary definition of high culture also
includes philosophy. Moreover, the philosophy of aesthetics
proposed in high culture is a force for moral and political
good. Critically, the term "high culture" is contrasted with
the terms "popular culture" and "mass culture".

The Different Theoretical Perspectives

The study of culture is a vast, complex task. There are so
many aspects of culture, and although many are widely accepted,
not all sociologists agree on the way that culture should be
studied. Let's examine three of the most common theoretical
approaches used to analyze culture: structural-functional theory,
social conflict theory, and sociobiology.

Structural-Functional Theory
• The first approach is structural-functional theory. This
approach views society as a complex, interconnected
system. Think of the human body as an example, where all
of our limbs, organs and other parts all have their own
individual functions but also work together to create a
fully functioning system. Structural-functional theory
proposes that culture functions as the structure in
society that exists to meet human needs.
• For example, our culture gives our lives meaning and
direction, giving us cues for what to do and how to live.
It encourages us to work together to find resources to
help us survive and to make connections with other people
who provide care and comfort.
• Additionally, even though all cultures are unique,
structural-functional theory proposes that certain
cultural universals exist, even beyond the category
elements that we discuss in another lesson. For example,
all cultures have behavioral norms, customs and even
rituals that are unique. Yet, funeral rituals - although
practiced differently - also exist universally to help
the people in every culture to cope with death.

Social Conflict Theory

• The second approach to analyzing culture is social
conflict theory, which proposes that cultural
traits always benefit some members of a society more
 than others. This theory is all about inequality and
proposes that laws and norms that are created as part of
a culture reflect the interests of the most powerful
members of society.
• For example, this is easy to see in American culture. We
have a capitalist society that values competitiveness
and material wealth. This benefits those who obtain
material success but hurts those who do not. This results
in a drastic contrast between the richest and the poorest
members of our society.

Sociobiology
• The third and final theory used to analyze culture which
proposes that culture is not only socially constructed
but is also affected by human biology. Sociobiologists
theorize that certain cultural behaviors have persisted
and even evolved over time due to biological impulses
that prioritize survival and maximize reproduction. They
suggest that some elements of culture, particularly
values and behavioral norms, are created because of human
instinct, which is based on our biology.
• Sociobiologists maintain that human behavior, as well as
nonhuman animal behavior, can be partly explained as the
outcome of natural selection. They contend that in order
to fully understand behavior, it must be analyzed in
terms of evolutionary considerations.

• Natural selection is fundamental to evolutionary theory.

Variants of hereditary traits which increase an
organism's ability to survive and reproduce will be more
greatly represented in subsequent generations, i.e.,
they will be "selected for". Thus, inherited behavioral
mechanisms that allowed an organism a greater chance of
surviving and/or reproducing in the past are more likely
to survive in present organisms. That inherited adaptive
behaviors are present in nonhuman animal species has
been multiply demonstrated by biologists, and it has
become a foundation of evolutionary biology. However,
there is continued resistance by some researchers over
the application of evolutionary models to humans,
particularly from within the social sciences, where
culture has long been assumed to be the predominant
driver of behavior.

FUNCTIONALISM

Functionalists view society as a system in which all parts

work—or function—together to create society as a whole. They
often use the human body as an analogy. Looking at life in
this way, societies need culture to exist. Cultural norms
function to support the fluid operation of society, and
cultural values guide people in making choices. Just as
members of a society work together to fulfill a society’s
 needs, culture exists to meet its members’ social and personal
needs.

Functionalists also study culture in terms of values. For

example, education is highly valued in the U.S. The culture
of education—including material culture such as classrooms,
textbooks, libraries, educational technology, dormitories and
non-material culture such as specific teaching approaches—
demonstrates how much emphasis is placed on the value of
educating a society’s members. In contrast, if education
consisted of only providing guidelines and some study material
without the other elements, that would demonstrate that the
culture places a lower value on education.

Functionalists view the different categories of culture as

serving many functions. Having membership in a culture, a
subculture, or a counterculture brings camaraderie and social
cohesion and benefits the larger society by providing places
for people who share similar ideas.

CONFLICT THEORY

Conflict theorists, however, view social structure as

inherently unequal, based on power differentials related to
issues like class, gender, race, and age. For a conflict
theorist, established educational methods are seen as
reinforcing the dominant societal culture and issues of
privilege. The historical experiences of certain groups—
those based upon race, sex, or class, for instance, or those
that portray a negative narrative about the dominant culture—
are excluded from history books. For a long time, U.S. History
education omitted the assaults on Native American people and
society that were part of the colonization of the land that
became the United States. A more recent example is the
recognition of historical events like race riots and racially
based massacres like the Tulsa Massacre, which was widely
reported when it occurred in 1921 but was omitted from many
national historical accounts of that period of time. When an
episode of HBO’s Watchmen showcased the event in stunning and
horrific detail, many people expressed surprise that it had
occurred and it hadn’t been taught or discussed (Ware 2019).

Historical omission is not restricted to the U.S. North Korean

students learn of their benevolent leader without information
about his mistreatment of large portions of the population.
According to defectors and North Korea experts, while famines
and dire economic conditions are obvious, state media and
educational agencies work to ensure that North Koreans do not
understand how different their country is from others (Jacobs
2019).
 Inequities exist within a culture’s value system and become
embedded in laws, policies, and procedures. This inclusion
leads to the oppression of the powerless by the powerful. A
society’s cultural norms benefit some people but hurt others.
Women were not allowed to vote in the U.S. until 1920, making
it hard for them to get laws passed that protected their
rights in the home and in the workplace. Same-sex couples
were denied the right to marry in the U.S. until 2015.
Elsewhere around the world, same-sex marriage is only legal
in 31 of the planet’s 195 countries.

At the core of conflict theory is the effect of economic

production and materialism. Dependence on technology in rich
nations versus a lack of technology and education in poor
nations. Conflict theorists believe that a society’s system
of material production has an effect on the rest of culture.
People who have less power also have fewer opportunities to
adapt to cultural change. This view contrasts with the
perspective of functionalism. Where functionalists would see
the purpose of culture—traditions, folkways, values—as
helping individuals navigate through life and societies run
smoothly, conflict theorists examine socio-cultural
struggles, including the power and privilege created for some
by using and reinforcing a dominant culture that sustains
their position in society.

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

Symbolic interactionism is the sociological perspective that

is most concerned with the face-to-face interactions and
cultural meanings between members of society. It is considered
a micro-level analysis. Instead of looking how access is
different between the rich and poor, interactionists see
culture as being created and maintained by the ways people
interact and in how individuals interpret each other’s
actions. In this perspective, people perpetuate cultural
ways. Proponents of this theory conceptualize human
interaction as a continuous process of deriving meaning from
both objects in the environment and the actions of others.
Every object and action has a symbolic meaning, and language
serves as a means for people to represent and communicate
interpretations of these meanings to others. Symbolic
interactionists perceive culture as highly dynamic and fluid,
as it is dependent on how meaning is interpreted and how
individuals interact when conveying these meanings.
Interactionists research changes in language. They study
additions and deletions of words, the changing meaning of
words, and the transmission of words in an original language
into different ones.
CATEGORY FOLK CULTURE
FOOD “Lechon”
The entire pig is spit-roasted
over coals, with the crisp,
golden-brown skin served with
liver sauce, the most coveted
part.
“Halo Halo” (Mix-mix)
Halo-halo is a popular
Filipino dessert with mixtures
of shaved ice and evaporated
milk to which are added
various boiled sweet beans,
jello and fruits. It is served
in a tall glass or bowl.
ART/MUSIC “Tinikling”
Tinikilng is a traditional
folk dance where bamboo sticks
are brought together and apart
in a beat, while people dance
in and out of them.
“Bahay Kubo”
One of the most well known
fool songs in the Philippines.
Bahay Kubo tells the story of
a small hut
CLOTHING “Barong”
The barong is a traditional
dress shirt that men wear on
special occasions.
Women can wear them too! But
theirs are more colorful.
POP CULTURE
“McDonald’s”
“Jollibee”
Two very popular fast
food chains in the
Philippines
“Karaoke”
Karaoke is a popular
activity among
Filipinos, Karaoke Bars
are numerous and
prosperous, while many
families own a karaoke
machine for home.
“Hip-Hop”
Hip-hop influence has
spread among the
Philippines.
“Westernized Clothing”
Lot’s of Western
looking clothing is
trendy in the
Philippines, but of
course still very
colorful.
“Fashion Shows”
Western fashion spreads
to the Philippines, and
you’ll see Western
style clothing on
runways in the
Philippines.
 SHELTER

Lot’s of local Filipinos live

in small homes made of palm
and bamboo.
“Sky Scrapers”
In prosperous cities
skyscrapers can be
spotted; western
influence.

“Nipa Hut” “Nuvali, Philippines”

Traditional house on stilts Western-influenced
for people who live on/near architecture is present
the water in the Philippines. in the Philippines.
TECHNOLOGY

“Indigenous Tools”
Tools made from indigenous
Filipinos.
“Filipino Taxis”
Western influenced
taxis.

“Machetes”
Machetes are commonly used to
cut down bamboo trees, and
help get through the tropical “Cell Phones”
forestry part of the Cell phones are popular
Philippines. in the Philippines.
BELIEFS A lot of Filipinos are very Popular superstitions
superstitious. Some of their
in the West with
traditional superstitions are… Philippino twist.
Pregnant Women: Pregnant women
One should not open an
should not cut their hair, or umbrella while inside a
their baby will be born bald. house; a centipede is
likely to fall from the
Newlyweds: Upon entering their ceiling and he will be
new home, the couple should go bitten by it.
up the stairs alongside each Seven (7) is a lucky
other so that neither one will number and all other
dominate the other. odd numbers are lucky.