Lesson II

Aspects of Culture
Aspects of Culture
• For us to see the importance and the function of culture in society, a very careful study of its
characteristics is needed. Below are some of the major characteristics of culture:
• Culture is dynamic, flexible, and adaptive;
• It is shared and contested;
• It is learned through socialization or enculturation;
• It is composed of patterned social interactions; integrated and, at times, unstable;
• It is transmitted through socialization or enculturation; and
• It requires language and other forms of communication.

Let us examine each of those characteristics.

Dynamic, Flexible, and Adaptive
Dynamic
In contemporary societies, where culture is highly
developed, people can even fit their environment to
their daily needs; for example, building temperate
house in tropic regions or constructing an ice
amusement park in countries like Philippines.
Adaptive
The cumulative and social nature of human ideas,activities,
and artifacts gives a tremendous potential source of variablity
in adaption. It also allows people to maintain universal and
generalized affairs like settling permanently on places where
jobs generally available and the locality is safe for
residence,and further improving one's self .
Flexible
This mean that some cultures through experience have
developed diverse ways in adapting to their
environment,which is even tantamount to their survival in the
planet.
Shared and Contested
Learning through Socialization or Enculturation
Every normal infant has the potential to learn any
culture and grows and survive the various stage of
life .
Through the process of socialization or
enculturation, the child acquires the prevailing
attitudes and beliefs, the forms of behavior
appropriate social roles he or she occupies, and
the behavior patterns and values of into which he
or she is born.
Patterned Social Interactions
Integrated and at times Unstable
Transmitted through Socialization or enculturation

Acquired through learning,culture ideas,activities, and

artifacts are handed down from generation to
generation as a super organic inheritance,which means
it is inherently passed on through generation. Some
forms of cultural ideas,activities,and artifacts are also
acquired through social learning by imitating the acts of
others and through communication and language.
Requires Language and Other Forms of Communication
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