CULTURE
Culture plays a crucial role in shaping
human behavior.
Socialization explains why we behave the
way we do & explains why we obey or
violate rules.
Some statements about common
practices in other countries:
In Britain, you tip your plate away from you
when having soup.
Brazilians usually wear black shoes in offices.
Eating with left hand is taboo in Saudi Arabia.
Italian executives often come to business
meetings in designer sports jackets & flannels.
White flowers are given at funerals in Japan.
British people prefer tea to coffee.
Arabs expect gifts to be opened in front of the
giver.
Mexicans try to keep their hands on the table during
a meal.
Arabs adhere to Islam.
Japanese & Chinese can read each other’s
newspapers.
In Thailand, a pale face is a sign of beauty in a
woman.
The thumbs-up sign means ’’OK’’ in Argentina.
Spaniards like to maintain eye contact during
conversations.
In India, holy men usually wear white.
Dog meat is delicacy in China.
Korean friends bow to each other when they meet
on the street.
Defining Culture……
It is the shared product of human group or
society.
It was first used by the pioneer English
anthropologist Edward B. Tylor in his book
Primitive Culture.
“a complex whole which includes knowledge,
beliefs, arts, morals, customs & other
capabilities & habits aquired by man as a
member of the society”
The most important cultural adaptation in the early
history was a shift to big-game hunting, which
produced radical new social patterns.
*Food sharing
*Division of labor by sex
*Cooperation
*Making of tools
The development of culture meant that,
humans could alter the environment to their
own advantage.
Culture itself became a major influence on the
biological evolution of the human body.
Society refers to interacting people who
share a culture. Culture is the product of
that interaction.
Human society & culture cannot exist
independently of each other.
Ethnocentrism –the tendency to use one’s own
culture as a standard against which to judge other
people’s cultures.
Xenocentrism –a culturally-based tendency to
value other cultures more highly than one’s own.
Xenocentric people are more appreciative of other
societies’ culture.
Cultural relativism –the ideal way to view culture.
-the belief that other people & their ways of
doing things can be understood only in terms of
the cultural context of those people.
Culture Shock –it refers to the feeling of disbelief,
disorganization & frustration one experiences when
he encounters cultural behaviors or practices which
are different from his.
Counterculture or contraculture -the
subgroups whose standards are in conflict with the
conventional standards of the society.
Example: criminals, prostitutes, drug addicts
Subculture –refers to smaller group which develop
norms, values, beliefs & special languages which mae
them distinct from the broader society.
Example: teenagers, senior citizens, ilokanos
Humans as Social &
Cultural Beings
To be social & cultural means that we are not
fixed at birth but can become many different
things as our lives unfold.
To be social & cultural also means that we are
bound by our families & the traditions of our
culture.
To be social & cultural can be both liberating &
limiting at the same time.
Culture as Material & Non-Material
Material Culture refers to those tangible, concrete,
man-made objects, artifacts, tools, weapons,
utensil,buildings, machines, fishponds, burial
grounds, etc.
“An ordinary piece of ground is nothing on the
viewpoint of culture, but if it has become a burial
ground, a factory site, or a football field, then it has
become a part of culture.”
-Lundberg & Larsen (1958)
ASPECTS/CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE:
1. CULTURE IS LEARNED. Culture is not genetically
transmitted. It is acquired through education,
training, socialization & experience & not through
heredity.
2. CULTURE IS SOCIALLY TRANSMITTED THROUGH
LANGUAGE. It is not biologically transmitted.
3. CULTURE IS A SOCIAL PRODUCT. It is the
product or result of man’s social interactions &
associations.
4. CULTURE IS A SOURCE OF GRATIFICATION.
It provides satisfaction of man’s varied needs & wants.
5. CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE. Through
inventions, discoveries & other cultural behavior,
man overcomes inhospitable forces of his
environment & claims dominion of his natural
habitat.
6. CULTURE IS MATERIAL & NON-MATERIAL.
Culture is tangible & intangible, concrete &
abstract. However, culture is essentially non-
material:it is behavior.
7. CULTURE IS A DISTINCTIVE WAY OF LIFE OF A
GROUP OF PEOPLE. Although all people have
culture, each culture differs from one society to
another.
8. CULTURE HAS SANCTIONS & CONTROLS.
Society has rewards for conformity but
there are also punishments for deviation to
society’s prescriptions.
9. CULTURE IS STABLE YET DYNAMIC.
It is firm & continuous but it also changing with
the passing time.
10. CULTURE IS AN ESTABLISH PATTERN OF
BEHAVIOR. Culture serves as a guide or blueprint
for a fairly uniform manner of behavior for the
members of the society.
COMPONENTS OF CULTURE:
NORMS
—the guidelines, standards or shared
rules on what is right or wrong.
Social Norms:
Folkways –the everyday habits,customs
& traditions & do not have particular moral
& ethical significance.
Example: Walking barefooted &
eating with their bare hands among the barrio
folk.
Mores -are norms with coercive moral &
ethical significance & which carry strong moral
& legal sanctions.
Example: Code of Ethics, The Ten
Commandments
• Positive mores –”Thou shall behavior”
• Negative mores or taboo –”Thou shall not
behavior”
LAWS
—are formalized norms enacted by
people vested with legitimate authority.
Example: Revised Penal Code, R.A.,City,
municipal & barangay ordinances.
IDEAS, BELIEFS, VALUES
Ideas-these are man’s conception of his
physical, social & cultural world.
Example: Idea of a model citizen, family or
community, idea of alternative marriage.
Beliefs -it refers to a person’s
conviction about a certain idea, or the
people’s perception or view of reality &
the world.
Example: Belief in spirits, belief in the
afterlife.
Values -these are abstract concepts of
what is important & worthwhile, desirable &
undesirable.
Example: High value upon success, freedom
& heroism.
MATERIAL CULTURE
—refers to the material products or
objects or adjuncts of the cultural behavior.
SYMBOLS
—an object, gesture, sound, color or
design that represents something “other
than itself”
Example: Cross for Christianity, Dove for
freedom, thumbs up for “ok”.
Language –the most important set of
symbols that without it, much of human
thought would not be possible.
SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS –argues
that the differences among languages do
not just reflect the needs & environment
of their speakers.
CULTURE & THE PHILIPPINE VALUES
VALUES POSITIVE EFFECTS NEGATIVE EFFECTS
Respect for Good manners Overdependence;
authority blind obedience
Strong family ties Strong positive Overdependence;
support blind obedience;
justifies graft &
corruption,
nepotism &
patronage system
Bahala na Strength & will Mañana habit;
ningas kugon
Strong desire to Industry & diligence Crab mentatility
improve one’s life (kasipagan at
(pag-angat sa katiyagaan)
buhay)
Hiya Minimum conflict Lie; cover up failure or
mistake; undermine
hardwork &
determination
Trying to get along Harmonius Gossip; manipulate or
others (pakikisama) interpersonal deceive others; lack of
relationship sense of responsibility
& accountability;
engage in vices
Debt of gratitude Gratitude & Engage in graft &
(utang na loob) appreciation corruption;
overindulge in
excesses
