CULTURE

That complex whole which includes

knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
customs and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by man as a member of
society.
 Culture and Civilization

Civilization retained its evaluative connotation,

but culture came to refer to a way of life of the
people. A culture becomes a civilization only when
it possesses a written language, science,
philosophy, a highly specialized division of labor,
and complex technology and political system.
 Elements of Culture:

Material Culture – Consists of man-made objects.

(artifacts.)

Non material Culture – consist of words, ideas,

customs, beliefs and habits.
 Culture as a system of Norms
Normative which is another way of saying that it
provides standard of proper conduct.

Several Kinds of Norms:

• Folkways – customary, normal, habitual ways a group
does things. E.g. Barong Tagalog
• Mores - compulsive and strong ideas of right and
wrong that require certain act and forbid others.

• Institution – long established permanent ways of

satisfying fundamental human needs and interests.
• Institution – long established permanent ways of
satisfying fundamental human needs and interests.
The basic institutions everywhere are marriage and
the family, religion, education, economics, and
politics.

• Relationship of Institution – these institutions

everywhere are integrated with one another. Beliefs,
practices, and knowledge crisscross among them,
creating mutual support.
• Laws – written and formalized social norms enacted by
people vested with political power.

• Customary Law – if a village or tribal council meets to

determine guilt and passes sentence upon a serious
infraction of the mores, if the mores “have some
special organization for their enforcement, we may call
them laws”. Laws, such as this is customary law, it
lacks codification, settled procedure, and enforcement
specialists.
• Enacted Law – requires a concentration of government
power, and it is accompanied by a host of enforcement
specialist, such as judges, attorneys, policeman and
guards.

• Regulatory Law – another type of enacted law, regulatory

law without roots in the mores has been developed in
answer to the need for regulating secondary laws,
separate from mores and traditional sentiment, “are in
themselves regarded from a secular point of view, which
encourages a tendency to violate them whenever suitable
opportunity offers itself”.
• Ideas – symbols of abstract aspects of culture.

• Beliefs – man’s convictions about the reality of things.

• Values – considered desirable or undesirable from the

preference of the people.
*utang na loob
*hiya
*pakikisama
Study of Values: Four Fold Test by Robin
Williams
1. Extensiveness
2. Duration
3. Intensity
4. Prestige of its carrier
 The forces that shape contemporary
Philippine Values
• Oriental – this means people from the Orient who came
to the Philippines to colonize the islands.
Bushido Code – Harakiri or the taking of one’s life
when one’s honor is tarnished such as being defeated in a
duel0 fight, or being guilty of a crime.

• Occidental – this means people from the Western part of

the world who likewise came to the Philippines for more
than three hundred years and the Americans.
 Non-Rational– Rational Values
1. Non-Rational – this involves protection of customs and traditions by
showing unquestioning obedience to authority.

2. Rational – this involves the use of one’s reason and logical thinking.
Bahala na (Bathala)
Tiyaga
Itinalaga ng Diyos
Gulong ng palad
Hiya (shame)
Utang na loob (debt of gratitude)
Amor Propio (self Esteem)
SIR (Smooth interpersonal relations)
Pakikisama
Hele hele Quiere or pakipot
Delicadeza
 Personalism – Impersonalism

Personalism
- This gives importance to kith and kin and getting
things done.

Impersonalism
- refers to standardized and institutionalized procedures
in working conditions without the influence of friends and
kin.
 Particularism – Universalism
• Particularism
- When a man is concerned only with his relatives,
friends, or members of the group to which he belongs,
he is particularistic.

• Universalism
- When an individual is concerned with the
welfare of the common good he is universalistic.
 The Structure of Culture

A culture is not simply an accumulation

of folkways and mores but it is an
organized system of behavior.
 Cultural Traits and Complexes

• Traits – smallest unit of the culture.

• Non-Material Culture – consist of words,

ideas, custom, beliefs and habits.
 Cultural Variations

Each culture has a unique character.

Culture adapts to meet specific sets of
circumstances, such as climate, level of
technology, population, and geography. This
adaptation is evident in differences in all
elements of culture, including norms,
sanctions, values and language.
 Aspect of Cultural Variation
Subcultures
- culture within a culture.
Countercultures
- opposed to the dominant values of the society.
Ex. hippies
Culture shock
- experience of disorientation and frustration
that occurs when an individual finds himself among
people with culture different than his own.
 Attitude toward Cultural Variation

Ethnocentrism
- feelings that one’s culture is the best.
Cultural Relativism
- no universal standard to evaluate a culture a good or bad
because each culture must be seen in it’s own context.
Xenocentrism
- beliefs that the products, style or ideas of one’s society
are inferior to those that originate elsewhere.
Thank you…