UNDERSTANDING CULTURE,

SOCIETY AND POLITICS

 SOCIETY AS A CONCEPT
Society
- was coined to facilitate
exploration on social
phenomenon.
 SOCIETY AS A FACTICITY
Mechanics of Operation in the
society as a factual entity.
(1) Social Forces
(2) Social Facts
 SOCIETY AS A FACTICITY
We can liken society to a deity or God is
supposed to possess the tripartite (three-
fold)
- Omnipotence (All powerful)
- Omniscience (All knowing)
- Omnipresent (Everywhere)
 SOCIETY is.....
Omnipotence (All powerful)
- because its “agents” controls and runs the
mahinery of social control
Omniscience (All knowing)
- because its “library” keeps all the possible
knowledge and collects the memories of the
people who form it
 SOCIETY is.....

Omnipresent (Everywhere)
- its “spies” are scattered in the
four corners of the land
 SOCIETY AS A FACTICITY
Everything we do, think,
and are capable of doing
and thinking are all emanate
from society.
 SOCIETY AS A FACTICITY

Every single action of

ours is controlled by
society.
 SOCIETY AS A FACTICITY
What we eat, how we eat, how
to love, when to die, or how to
die are all within the domain of
society.
 SOCIETY AS A FACTICITY
Disobedience
Society has the capacity and
legitimate authority to punish us,
even take away our lives.
-Society controls the laws made.
SOCIETY AS A FACTICITY

“Society robs us of our

freedom and free will”
 Three Classical Theories of
the Origin of Society
 Structural – Functionalism
 Conflict Theory
 Symbolic Interactionism
 Structural Functionalism
 Social Order
 Society is made possible by
cooperation and interdependence.
 Parts and Functions to perform.
 Structural Functionalism
Deviance and Punishment
 Conflict Theory
 Society as an Arena
 Social actors are gladiators fighting
for their lives
 Conflict makes change and
dynamism
 Symbolic Interactionism
 Meaning and symbols become
the basis of social interactions.
 People’s actions and
interactions
 In Japan, you should slurp your noodles
noisily because it means you love what
you’re eating.
 In Ethiopia for example, everybody eat
from the same plate, with their hand. Be
sure to use your right hand because the
left one is usually considered unclean.
 In some countries, it’s customary
to arrive late when you’re invited for
dinner. In Japan, count 1 hour delay.
In Tanzania, between 15 and 30
minutes.
 Endocannibalism
The Yanomami tribe lives in villages within the
Amazon rainforest, near the border of
Venezuela and Brazil. They are known for their
tradition of endocannibalism: consuming the
flesh of a member of one’s own tribe, usually
after they’ve died
The Toraja people of Indonesia practice a
truly singular ritual of exhuming the
corpses of their fellow villagers. But it
doesn’t end there: The corpse is draped in
special garments and paraded around the
village. Even the bodies of children and
bodies that are decades old are exhumed.
While not wholly specific to China, an
interesting traditional Chinese custom
says that a husband should carry his bride
over a pan of burning coals before
crossing the threshold of their home as
husband and wife. According to tradition,
the ritual ensures that the wife will have
an easy and successful labor.
RULES: The Invisible Hand
 Rules are guide in our everyday
actions and interactions.
 Not all RULES are WRITTEN
 Some rules are UNWRITTEN