CULTURE: ITS UNITY

AND DIVERSITY
C. Wright Mills argues that a great number of our social experiences can
overwhelm us into inaction. He then offers a solution: a way of seeing
society that can help us understand everyday events and make better
choices as individuals and as a group. He calls this the “sociological
imagination,” which is a way of looking at people in terms of the
intersection of their own lives with the larger social and historical
context. In Mills’s view, society—not people’s personal failings—is the main
cause of social problems (Macionis 2012: 7). To illustrate how one can
develop a sociological imagination, Mills distinguishes between two kinds
of situations that people find themselves in: “private troubles” (personal
problems) and “public issues” (social problems). He points out that there
are indeed private troubles, but some of them also affect many other
people since they have large-scale causes. Examples of private troubles
that are also public issues are poverty; unemployment; lack of access to
education; poor quality of education; air, water, and noise pollution;
bullying; single parenthood; and so on. According to Mills, addressing or
solving a private trouble is different from addressing a public issue. Since
personal trouble is a private matter, its resolution lies within the
individual and within the scope of his or her immediate personal
experience. In contrast, people viewing personal problems as public issues
will look for solutions to social problems not at the level of the individual.
Instead, they will look into bringing people together to create needed
change by organizing themselves and through their social institutions.
 THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE
 Culture is the aspect of our existence which is
familiar to some people to others .

 Itis the way of life common group of people

which enables them to share ideas and patterns
of behavior that distinguishes them from
others.

 Culture varies one society to other.

 SOCIETY AND CULTURE
 Sociologist define society as a group of people
occupying geographical territory, with a common
culture, and interacting with each other.

 The members are united by social relationships,

share a common language and beliefs, and
consume similar goods.

 The society has social boundaries that set off

members from all other persons and groups.
 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
 Culture is inculcated orally and by writing through
the medium of a language.

 Language is an abstraction and is made up of rules

for generating speech.

 All societies have languages.

 Even simple societies where people cannot read or

write, they have a spoken language.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
 Culture is learned. The norms, skills, values, and
knowledge which constitute to one’s culture are
acquired during the course of one’s life and not
transmitted genetically.

 Culture is transmitted. While all animals are

capable of learning, only humans can transmit
their acquired habits and knowledge to their
offspring.
 Culture is social, collective, and learned. It is
developed through group interaction and results
from the accumulation of knowledge and group
expectations.

 Culture is ideational. Within the culture are

group habits considered as ideal patterns of
behavior which the members are expected to
follow.

 Culture is gratifying. Culture has provisions to

satisfy the biological and sociocultural needs of
people.
 Culture is adaptive. All cultures are always
changing and these changes represent adjusments
to environment.

 Culture is an integrated whole. The various parts

of the culture are closely interrelated into whole.
 COMPONENTS/ELEMENTS OF
CULTURE
 Cultureis made up of many elements which are
interrelated and unified in order for all its aspects
to function effectively.

 There
is a network of social relationships involving
a complex series of reciprocal responses.

 Modes of acting, thinking, and feeling in various

social situations are defined by the members of
society who learned and share these.
KNOWLEDGE

 The total range of what has been learned or

perceived as true is knowledge.

 This body of information is accumulated

through experience, study, or investigation.

 Considered to be the truth may change.

 SOCIAL NORMS
 In our ordinary everyday activities like eating,
talking, dressing, cooking, courtship, child rearing,
working, spending leisure time, as well as in
special occasions like weddings, burials, or
Christmas, there are certain prescriptions or
standards of behavior called the norms.

 Norms are rules or group expectations of how one

should behave or act in certain situations.
SOCIAL NORMS
 THE FOLKWAYS
o Folkways are commonly known as the customs,
traditions, and convections of society.

o They are general rules, customary and habitual

ways, and patterns of expected behavior within the
society where they are followed, without much
thought given to the matter.
THE FOLKWAYS
 MORES

 Mores are special folkways which are important to

the welfare of the people and their values.

 They are based on ethnical and moral values which

are strongly held and emphasized.

 They are social norms associated with strong

feelings about what is right and what is true.
 MORES


 LAWS
 Lawsare formulized norms, enacted by the people
who are vested with government power and
enforced by political and legal authorities
designated by the government.

 Laws are enforced by the formal sanctions like

fines, imprisonment, or death.

 Theyhave strong support of public opinion and

tend to reinforce folkways and mores.
 COLLECTIVE FORMS OF
BEHAVIOR
 Fashions, fads, crazes, and other passing fancies
operate primarily as forces of social change, yet
these may be considered short-lived social norms.

 Some styles of dresses and decorative items which

were fashionable years ago appear funny and
ridiculous today.
 COLLECTIVE FORMS OF
BEHAVIOR

SANCTIONS
 Sanctions may be formal or informal.

 Informal sanctions are gossip, unfavorable

and favorable public opinion, and giving or
withdrawing love or relationship.

 Formal sanctions are used for violations of

norms in organizations or associations.
VALUES
 Values are abstract concepts of what is
important and worthwhile.

 These values are the basis of our judgment,

of what we consider good, desirable, and
correct as well as what is considered bad,
undesirable, and wrong.

 We hear the people label those who have

done wrong as having “ no sense of values”.
VALUES

BELIEFS
 Embody people’s perception of reality and
may include the primitive ideas of the
universe as well as the scientist’s empirical
view of the world.

 They result from one’s experiences about the

physical, biological, and social world in
which the individual lives.
BELIEFS

ACTIVITY 1: GIVE EXAMPLES OF EACH OF THE GIVEN NORMS /STANDARDS

Group Laws Beliefs Values Folkways

Family

Muslim

Hindu

Buddhist

Your
Religion
 MATERIAL CULTURE AND
TECHNOLOGY
 Through the use of technology, raw materials are
converted into objects that can be utilized by
society.

 Aside from nonmaterial aspects of culture, which

include language, social norms, values, and beliefs,
there are certain material techniques and products
used by societies.

 Technology applies the principles of science and

mechanics to the solution of problems or to
accomplish a specific task.
 THE ORGANIZATION OF
CULTURE
 In culture are small units called the culture traits.

A culture trait cannot be broken down into smaller

units.

 It is related to a particular need for a particular

situation.

 Each trait whether material or nonmaterial, is a

product of social interaction and conveys some
meaning.
 SUB-CULTURE
o Subcultures arise from individual needs to obtain
assurance and security from others or inability to
cope with dominant culture

o Some subcultures have symbols or badges which

enhance solidarity, a feeling of esprit de corps,
and a sense of belonging.

o The existence of subcultures in a society gives rise

to the concept of multi-culturalism, which denotes
a number of subcultures living together with
tolerance and respect for each other.
 ETHNOCENTRISM
 The tendency to regard one’s culture as the best
and better than those of others.

 Literally, ethnocentrism means a belief of one’s

group is that “the center of everything and all
others are scaled and rated with reference it”.

 There is attitude that “my culture is right and

yours is wrong”.
 PRIMARY CAUSE OF CULTURAL
SIMILARITIES
 Biological-people in the world have the same
biological needs

 Social being-participation in the production and

distribution

 Psychic Unity for Mankind-the need for love,

security and language

 Geographical Environment- limitation to prevent

scarcity
 IMPORTANCE OF PRESERVING
OUR FILIPINO CULTURE
 Filipino Identity
 Culture will last (infinite)
 XENOCENTRISM
• When people reject their own group or some part
of their culture, we call this reverse ethocentism.

• Xenocentrism is centered on a product, an idea, or

a lifestyle.

• This the idea that what foreign is the best that

one’s lifestyles, products, or ideas are inferior to
that others.
 CULTURE SHOCK
 The cultural values ad norms of behavior are
internalized in the socialization process.

 What happens when an individual goes to a

different society? He or she loses the familiar signs
and symbols of social intercourse and experiences
unpleasant sensations of frustrations
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM
 When people first come in contract with another
culture and observe that it patterns are different
from their own, they tend to judge the new ways
as strange, exotic, weird, or immoral

 Culture is relative, and no culture is good or bad in

itself.

 This is the concept of culture relativism which is an

alternative perspective ethnocentrism
 CULTURAL UNIVERSALS
 These are similarities in the general features of
society, rather than the particular or specific
cultural traits.

 Culture universals are accounted for by the

people’s biological similarities, psychic unity,
dependence on group life.
 DIVERSITY OF CULTURE
 Refers to the wide range of differences in cultural
patterns, ideas, beliefs, knowledge, forms of social
organizations and practical responses to the
environment.
 FACTORS THAT PROMOTE THE
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
1. This refers to the collective of persons who
shared common social characteristics like age,
sex, and religion.

2. Cultures are differ in ideas ad practical responses

to the environment.
CULTURE VARIABILITY

Cultures differ because of the great variety of

solutions evolved by people from the
different societies.
SUPPLY THE APPROPRIATE CULTURE OF EACH
PEOPLE
Culture
Universal
Cultural Diversity

Filipino Americans Arabs

Language

Clothing

Religion

Government

Eating

Food