UNDERSTANDING

CULTURE, SOCIETY
AND POLITICS
U C S P 11
P R E PA R E D B Y: E LW I N A . N A R C I S O
CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
AND SOCIOLOGY
CHAPTER 1

E.A.Narciso, Social Science

LESSON 4:

CULTURE AND IT’S

STRUCTURES
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 OBJECTIVES
Define culture;
Explain how culture and heredity affect social
behavior;
Describe how language and culture are related;
Name the essential components of culture;
Discuss how cultural diversity promoted within a
society; and
Understand the role of Ethnocentrism in society.
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 WHAT IS
CULTURE?
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CULTURE Refers to the knowledge,
language, values, customs, and
physical objects that are passed
from generation to generation
among members of a group. It is a
human creation.
Derives from the Latin word
“colere”,which means to tend to
the earth and grow, or cultivation
and nurture.
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CULTURE
Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of
knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes,
meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles,
spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and
material objects and possessions acquired by a group
of people in the course of generations through
individual and group striving.

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TYPES OF CULTURE

Material Culture Nonmaterial Culture

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MATERIAL CULTURE
Material culture is physical
things that are created by a
society.
Examples: Car, Books, Clothing,
Houses, etc.

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NONMATERIAL CULTURE
The intangible things produced
by humans.
Abstract human creations.
In other words, the parts of
culture you cannot touch, feel,
taste, or hold. Common
examples include social roles,
ethics, beliefs, or even language.
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COMPONENTS
OF CULTURE
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1. TECHNOLOGY
are the physical object created
by people which determined to
do specific function.
The art of humanity that is
combined through skills
(nonmaterial culture) and
through which parts (material
culture) has specific functions
guided by rules.

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1. TECHNOLOGY
Using items of material
culture, particularly tools,
requires various skills, which
are part of the nonmaterial
culture.

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2. SYMBOLS
Anything that represents
something else.
Symbol has a shared
meaning attached to it.
The use of symbols is the
very basis of human culture. It
is through symbols that we
create culture and
communicate it
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2. SYMBOLS
Symbols range from
physical objects to sounds,
smells, and tastes.

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3. LANGUAGE
A system of communication
using vocal sounds, gestures,
and written symbols. Probably
the most important
component of culture because
it allow us to communicate.
One of the most obvious
aspects of any culture.

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3. LANGUAGE
It is the organization of
written or spoken symbols
into standardized system.
When organized according
to the accepted rules of
grammar, words can be
used to express any idea.

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4. VALUES
Abstract standards of
goodness.
These are shared beliefs
about what is good or bad,
right or wrong, desirable or
undesirable.
Values indicate what people
find important and morally
right (or wrong).
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4. VALUES
The types of values held by a
group help to determine the
character of its people and the
kind of Culture they create.
A society that values war and
displays of physical strength
above all else will be very
different from one that places
emphasis on cooperation and
sharing.
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4. BELIEFS
An idea that is accepted
without any facts.
Are specific statements that
people hold to be true.
Example:
A man expresses his belief in
God through prayer. Wherein
faith in God is an example of
a belief.
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6. NORMS
Are shared rules of conduct that
tell people how/what to act in
specific situations.
It is important to keep in mind
that norms are expectations for
behavior, not actual governing
certain behaviors and does not
necessarily mean that the actions
of individuals will be in line with
those norms.
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6.NORMS
Examples of Norms:
when you encounter people,
people are expected to say
hello (rather than punch you)
when you apply for an
important job, you’re
expected to suit up a little bit
when you’re at a restaurant,
you’re expected not to eat
with your fingers
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TYPES OF
NORMS
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a. FOLKWAYS
Are norms that describe
socially acceptable behavior
but do not have great moral
significance attached to
them.
Outline the common
customs of everyday life.

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a. FOLKWAYS
Examples:
Brushing your teeth, kinds
of clothes you wear,
gestures, religious fasting,
kind of car you buy, or even
kind of house you live in.

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b.MORES
Are norms that are strictly
enforced because they are
thought essential to core
values of the well being of
the group.
Are norms or rules that are
guided by standards of
morality within that culture,
and has consequences if not
followed.
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b.MORES
Example:
Tardy slip in St. Paul University
is required for those students
who keeps on getting late in
their class. Failure to comply
with this rule of the University
will be subjected to disciplinary
action by the Discipline Chair.

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c. TABOO
The prohibition of an action
based on the belief that such
behavior is either too sacred
and consecrated or too
dangerous and accursed for
ordinary individuals to
undertake.

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c. TABOO
Taboo, alternatively called
tabu, tapu or Tongan. It is a
prohibition of social actions
based on false beliefs that
performing such actions is
either too scared, or too
dangerous for the human
race.

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c. TABOO
Disregarding taboo is
generally considered a
deviant act by the society.
Taboo is putting a person or
a thing under temporary or
permanent prohibition,
especially as a social
custom.

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c. TABOO
Examples:
In many Jewish and Muslim communities, people are
forbidden from eating pork.
In Western cultures which value youth, asking a
woman’s age is often discouraged/ disrespect to
them.
In some Polynesian communities, people are
forbidden to touch the shadow of a chief/leader.
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c. TABOO
Example: universal taboo
 Incest, cannibalism, and killing one’s parents are
considered universal taboo because it projects
violation on what is good in the community.

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d. LAWS
A law is a norm that is
formally inscribed at the state
or federal level and is enforced
by police or other government
agents.
 law is typically conceived as
the whole of legal norms in
society as well as the practices
and institutions that are
associated with those norms.
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d. LAWS Those who enforce laws
have been given legal right
by a government to control
behavior for the good of
society at large. When
someone violates a law, a
state authority will impose a
sanction, which can be as
light as a payable fine or as
severe as imprisonment.
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d. LAWS
Example:
VAWC act
Bill of Rights
Suffrage
Magna Carta for Women,
etc.

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ASPECTS OF
CULTURE
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1. Culture is DYNAMIC, FLEXIBLE, & ADAPTIVE

Culture is Dynamic
Culture is fluid rather than static, which means that
culture changes all the time, every day, in subtle and
tangible ways.
Culture continuously change as new ways of life
evolved by the changing conditions of the societal life.

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1. Culture is DYNAMIC, FLEXIBLE, & ADAPTIVE

Culture is Dynamic
All cultures are dynamic and constantly changing
as individuals navigate and negotiate the beliefs,
values, ideas, ideals, norms, and meaning systems
that make up the cultural environment in which they
live.

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1. Culture is DYNAMIC, FLEXIBLE, & ADAPTIVE

Culture is Dynamic
Example:
Filipino man before are very known to their style of courtship,
wherein man are oblige to do harana to show how deeply in
love he is to the lady she loved most. But as time passes by
this traditions vanishes and was change by “pang madalian
style”, wherein the mode of courting is made easy through the
used of modern technology (cellular phone)-wherein courting
only last for an hour.

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1. Culture is DYNAMIC, FLEXIBLE, & ADAPTIVE

Culture is Flexible
Adapts effectively to the changing demands and
allows quicker, smoother reactions to out of the
ordinary events.
This means that culture can adapt, exist and survive
even when the whole environment is prone to
changes. Where learning the context of trends is just
normal and can be acquired easily.

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1. Culture is DYNAMIC, FLEXIBLE, & ADAPTIVE

Culture is Flexible
Example:
Technology usage has been a part of the evolving
modern culture in which people need the gadget to
survive in this era.

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1. Culture is DYNAMIC, FLEXIBLE, & ADAPTIVE

Culture is Adaptive
a relatively new concept used to define the specific
capacity of human beings and human societies to
overcome changes of their natural and social
environment by modifications to their culture.
This means that culture is continuously embracing
the emerges of modification in order to sustain life on
its ground.

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1. Culture is DYNAMIC, FLEXIBLE, & ADAPTIVE

Culture is Adaptive
Example:
From hunting and gathering to technology based
capital activities, people tend to adapt and learned the
improvement in the society. In order to survived and
never left behind by time people need to blend with
the changes around them.

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2. Culture as SHARED & CONTESTED
Culture is shared by the social interaction may take in
many forms to transmit the beliefs, values and
expectation of the human society.
The exchange of social ideas may provide
understanding and learning the human culture and
tradition.
The culture works by social dynamism using
language, communication, technologies, and
commercial trades.
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3. Culture is LEARNED THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
&ENCULTURATION

This means that when culture is shared there lies

learning, wherein through conversation with others we
acquire new information that can benefit us.
The acquisition and application of learned knowledge
is considered one of the major reason of cultural
changes.
Cultural transmission or enculturation and
socialization is the best way to describe culture is
learned. E.A.Narciso, Social Science
3. Culture is LEARNED THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
&ENCULTURATION

The people acquire information about culture in many

ways. This is done by learning the language and other
form of educational information of the society.
Socialization
is the process by which people learn and internalize
rules and patterns of behavior that are affected by
culture (refers to the society).
The actual process
E.A.Narciso, Social Science
3. Culture is LEARNED THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
&ENCULTURATION

Socialization
Considered the learning process about culture.
For example, Maria and Joseph is discussing about
each others culture whereby sharing information
between is considered socialization.

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3. Culture is LEARNED THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
&ENCULTURATION

Enculturation
Is the process by which people learn and adopt the
ways and manners of other culture (refers to culture)
Product of socialization process.
Considered the actualization of the learned culture
(referring to application)

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3. Culture is LEARNED THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
&ENCULTURATION

Enculturation
Example: Listening to someone with an slang accent
and trying to learned and adopt how it is done and
make it as your practice.
 note: enculturation is somewhat like “panggagaya
at pagtutulad” in Filipino.

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3. Culture is LEARNED THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
&ENCULTURATION

How it is done (ways of learning culture through

socialization and enculturation)
The members of the social group learn to understand
and apply certain ideals, values, expectations, beliefs
and traditions to the society.
The younger generations readily accept the norms of
the society as a part of their education to sustain the
societal system within their family or tribe.
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3. Culture is LEARNED THROUGH SOCIALIZATION
&ENCULTURATION

How it is done? (ways of learning culture through

socialization and enculturation)
The culture is also learned by the language,
literature, arts, music and local history that are passed
across generations.

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4. Culture as PATTERNED SOCIAL INTERACTION

Culture is patterned by specific dimension of social

life such as the economic and political activities.
These norms of conformity for the human beings to
follow in order to meet the psychological and social
needs.
Refers to the registered actions, words, norms or
values that guides a person on what must be done
and not.
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4. Culture as PATTERNED SOCIAL INTERACTION

Examples:
The economic activities are patterned by the
innovation and inventions of cultural groups that need
to be integrated by the social life of the member of the
society. The word “bili kayo mga suki” is a
registered (patterned) practice that can not be deleted
on any economic activities in some places in a plaza
or market.
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4. Culture as PATTERNED SOCIAL INTERACTION

Examples:
Activities that we always do such as going to toilet,
washing the hands, cleaning the house, driving the
car, going to bedroom and etc. are considered
patterned activities. We tend to follow these certain
habits because these are patterned by specific culture
of a given society. (American practice is different from
Philippine practice).
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5. Culture is INTEGRATED AND AT TIMES UNSTABLE
Culture is different from each other as we must
consider the social experiences, traditions, norms,
mores and other cultural ways in the community.
Human being must always consider the harmonious
relationship within any group cultures being grown for
a period of time.
Example: A person (with a different culture) who visited
Tabuk, Kalinga who ate with his bare-hands as a sign
of conforming to the practices of the tribes.
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6. Culture is TRANSMITTED THROUGH SOCIALIZATION/
ENCULTURATION

The cumulative culture may be passed from one

generation to the next generation. Those pertinent
knowledge and culture are gradually built as it is
useful to the society. However, those information that
are no longer useful to the society may gradually
phased out and change it new culture similar to the
one which is gone.
Example: pagmamano
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7. Culture REQUIRES LANGUAGE AND OTHER FORMS OF
COMMUNICATION

The communication process uses symbols to identify

the given actions, attitudes and behaviors of the
people.
The use of language has varied types of symbols
depending on its natural environment, exposure and
education to groups or tribes, the social experiences
and influence.

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7. Culture REQUIRES LANGUAGE AND OTHER FORMS OF
COMMUNICATION

The social experiences as a whole provides specific

communicative symbols along arts, music, literature,
history, and other forms of societal actions.
The abstract knowledge is reinforced in the way they
understand and learn the feelings, ideas and
behaviors of certain group of people in the society.

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 ORIENTATIONS IN
VIEWING CULTURE
AND OTHER CULTURE
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ETHNOCENTRISM
Is the practice of judging another culture by the
values and standards of one’s own culture.
Ethnocentric individuals judge other groups relative
to their ethnic group or culture, especially with
concern for language, behavior, customs, and religion.
Example:
"my culture is the best in every way.“
“among all religion, Christianity is the best.”
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TWO TYPES OF ETHNOCENTRISM
Sinocentrism
 a belief that a certain culture is considered the
center of all culture. It is the practice of viewing
something as superior and undoubtable.
Example:
Chinese people believes that their country is the center
of the earth and must be respected for they are the
superiority on earth.
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TWO TYPES OF ETHNOCENTRISM
Eurocentrism
 a belief that all cultures are product of European
Civilization.
A belief that suggest that a particular culture is just a
subordinate of another culture (especially European
culture).

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CULTURAL RELATIVISM
Is the principle that an individual person’s beliefs and
activities should be understood by others in terms of
that individual’s own culture.
For example, instead of thinking, “Fried crickets are
disgusting! ” one should instead ask, “Why do some
cultures eat fried insects?”.

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XENOCENTRISM
Is a culturally based tendency to value other cultures
more highly than one’s own, which can be materialize
in a variety of different ways.
It serves as an antithesis to ethnocentrism.
It relies instead on a fascination of others’ culture and
contempt for one’s own, often spurred by gross
injustice of government, antiquated ideologies, or
oppressive religious majorities.
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XENOPHOBIA
Came from the Greek
words xenos (stranger)
and phobos (fear).
an unreasonable fear ,
distrust, or hatred of
strangers, foreigners, or
anyone perceived as
foreigner or different.
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CULTURE SHOCK
Refers to personal
disorientation when
experiencing an unfamiliar
way of life. A physical or
emotional discomfort or
anxiety that one suffers when
coming to live in another
country or a place that is
different from the place of
origin.
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 THE REAL AND
IDEAL CULTURE
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REAL CULTURE
A culture which can be observed in our social life. The
culture on which we act upon (values, norms, beliefs,
etc.) in our daily life is real culture. It is that parts of
culture, which the people adopt in their social life.
For example, If a person says that he/she is Muslim,
will be, when followed all the principles of Islam is the
real culture and when doesn’t follow, it is not a real one.

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IDEAL CULTURE
The culture which is presented as a pattern to the
people is called ideal culture. It is the goal of society
and never achieved fully because some parts remain
out of practice. This culture is explained in books,
speeches etc.

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END OF LESSON 4:

THANK YOU AND GOD

BLESS!!!

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