Lesson 4: CULTURE

Culture is the way of life of people and is a vital part of any society.
Culture binds people of a community together, offer an individual a
exceptional identity, and provide as the founding principles of one’s life.
Culture is a strong element of people's lives. It has the power to influence
their views, their principles, their humor, their expectations, their
allegiance, and their worries and fears. So when you are working with the
community and building relationships with them, it helps to have some
viewpoint and understanding of their cultures. But as we explore culture,
it's also imperative to remember how much we have in common. This
chapter will give you practical information about how to understand
culture, establish relationships with people from cultures different from
your own, recognize the rich cultural heritage of the Philippines, and build
strong and diverse communities.
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

After studying this chapter, the students should be able to:

1. Articulate what culture means;

2. Identify the characteristics and Elements of Culture; and
3. Suggest ways on how to protect, preserve and promote
the Filipino Culture.
LECTURE NOTES

The concept of Culture

Culture describes a collective way of life, or way of doing things. It is the
sum of attitudes, values, goals, and practices shared by individuals in a
group, organization, or society. Cultures vary over time periods, between
countries and geographic regions, and among groups and organizations.
Culture reflects the moral and ethical beliefs and standards that speak to
how people should behave and interact with others.
 Cultural norms are the shared, sanctioned, and integrated systems of
beliefs and practices that are passed down through generations and
characterize a cultural group. Norms cultivate reliable guidelines for daily
living and contribute to the health and well-being of a culture. They act as
prescriptions for correct and moral behavior, lend meaning and coherence
to life, and provide a means of achieving a sense of integrity, safety, and
belonging. These normative beliefs, together with related cultural values
and rituals, impose a sense of order and control on aspects of life that
might otherwise appear chaotic or unpredictable. This is where culture
intersects with ethics. Since interpretations of what is moral are influenced
by cultural norms, the possibility exists that what is ethical to one group will
not be considered so by someone living in a different culture.
The Characteristics of Culture

 Culture is shared-Culture gives the people a collective identity. It

belongs to a community and not to any single human being.
 Culture is learned- Culture is not biologically passed from older
generations to the newer ones. It is learned through
experience. Culture propagates through generations, which adopt
their old customs and traditions as a part of their culture.
 Culture changes-Cultures undergo a gradual change. With passing time,
some beliefs change, certain traditions or rituals are eliminated,
language and mannerisms of people change, and thus their
culture. Migration and globalization lead to a mixing of cultures.
 Culture takes years to form- culture evolves over time and takes years to
develop. It is not a set of rules made by one or more people and
followed by generations. With passing time, a culture develops and even
changes in the process.
 Culture cannot be isolated- There is hardly any social community that is
completely isolated from the rest of the world. Every culture is mostly
influenced by cultures of the surrounding regions. 
 Culture is essential- Culture gives us an identity. The art and history that
we are proud of, the literature we learn from, our education, and our
upbringing shapes our personalities. 
 Culture is transmitted across generations- Cultural values are transferred
across generations in the form of symbols and stories that make them
easier to understand.
 The Elements of Culture

Language
Language, be it spoken, written, or
gestured, is the basic means of
communication between humans. It has
evolved along with humans, originating with
a combination of basic sounds, calls, and
gestures to coherent speech, scripts,
accents, and dialects.
Social Structure
In a broad sense, social structure or
organization refers to a pattern of
relationships between and among
individuals and groups. These relationships
or groups are created to augment the
smooth functioning of society.

Customs and traditions

Customs and traditions influence and
govern each aspect of our behavior. These
may be informal or formal in nature, and
tend to vary from region to region.
Arts
Human emotions and ideas have always
found the perfect medium of expression in
the arts. Arts encompass a wide range of
forms, including literature, crafts,
architecture, music, dance, dramatics, etc.
Values
Values are another important element of
culture and involve judgments of what is
good or bad and desirable or undesirable.
Symbols
Every culture is filled with symbols, or things
that stand for something else and that often
evoke various reactions and emotions.
Some symbols are actually types of
nonverbal communication, like material
objects.
Understanding Culture in the Filipino way
 
Moral values, judgment, behavior as well as moral dilemmas and
how we perceive them are largely shaped and influenced by history, power
dynamics, and the religion of a society. The way we appreciate and assess
things are not created out of nothing simply out of our imagination. In other
words, culture is what shapes and influences social and personal values,
decisions, behavior, and practice. Thus, to understand how culture works
and its features is to also grasp the reason why things are done in a
particular way and why we do these things the way we do them. Let us
think about this idea concretely in and through our very own context, the
Philippines.
 To understand Filipino values is to understand Filipino culture. However, in order to
understand Filipino culture one must recognize that it has been profoundly Christianized. After
hundreds of years of colonization by Western Christian empires, the Filipinos’ moral and ethical
imagination cannot be understood outside Christian values and morality. Christianity is pervasive
in our culture so that the way we judge and value things and how things ought to be follows the
doctrinal grid of Christian theology. An example of this pervasiveness and influence of Christianity
to Filipino culture is how Filipinos value more neighborliness (i.e., “bayanihan” or
“pakikipagkapwa tao” or “pakikisama”) more than, say, the filial piety (of Confucianism).

To conclude, let us consider a work in contemporary cultural studies particularly as it

relates to the question of religion and culture. The aim of this concluding section is to emphasize
the fact that culture is not a homogenous space nor has a singular operative logic. It is infused
with “other” elements that may have shaped its logic. This discussion highlights as well the point
that a Filipino culture today is, by and large, shaped by a religious ethos of the Christian faith.
Thus, to talk about Filipino culture is to talk about Filipino religiosity/spirituality. In this sense,
Filipino culture is an expression and way of being of the Filipino people that manifests their
“ultimate concern” (Paul Tillich, 1959).
 REFERENCES

Aquino, K., and Reed, A. II. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. J. Pers.
Soc. Psychol. 83, 1423 1440.
Chapter 8: The Characteristics of Culture. Retrieved from
http://nideffer.net/classes/GCT_RPI_S14/readings/Chap8CharacteristicsofCulture
.htm
Gibbs, J. C., Basinger, K. S., Grime, R. L., and Snarey, J. R. (2007). Moral judgment
development across cultures: revisiting Kohlberg’s universality claims. Dev.
Rev. 27, 443–500.
Jia, F. (2016). Moral Identity from Cross- and Bi-Cultural
Perspectives (unpublished doctoral dissertation). Wilfrid Laurier University,
Waterloo, ON.
Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Retrieved from
https://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/chapter/3-2-the-elements-of-culture/
 LEARNING ACTIVITY
MIDTERM PROJECT

Activity: “ALL ABOUT THE FILIPINOS”

CREATE A GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS WHICH SHOWS THE

CULTURE AND WAYS OF FILIPINOS. EXPLAIN THE
HISTORY OF EACH CULTURE IN THE WAY FILIPINOS DO.
 

DEADLINE: MARCH 31, 2022