Soc Sci 3Instructor: April Mae A. Ydel

3 Concepts [essential for the understanding of human behavior and social groups]:

1. Society2. Culture3. Personality

- “no society can exist without a culture and no culture can develop without a society”.

SOCIETY – formulated during the 16th and 17th century- Totality of social organization; a group of people who

share a common culture- Symbolizes the group within which human beings can

live a total common life: peer groups, family and kinship groups, economic, political, religious and educational groups and communities

- Small/large groups: they interact and possess a distinct culture

PERSONALITY – Sigmund Freud (19th century)- The organization of biological, psychological, social,

culture, and situational factors which undertie a person’s behavior

- Organization of traits of the individual as it develops in social interaction

- Develops through social interaction

Meaning of CULTURE

• Derived from the Latin word “cultura” or “cultus” which means care and cultivation.

• Culture as care: the face that human infant has a prolonged dependency, he has to be taken care of by the people around him.

• Culture as cultivation: every human being is a potential member of his own social group; he is endowed with certain innate qualities to make use, however, he cannot develop these inborn talents without the other people.

• Edward B. Taylor: “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”.

• Beals, Hoyer, and Beals (1977): “…human capacity to use language and with related capacities for learning and for the transmission of ideas and ways of behaving.

• Leslie A. White: “an organization of phenomena that is dependent upon symbols, phenomena which include acts (pattern of behavior), objects (tools and things made by tools), ideas (beliefs, knowledge), and sentiments (attitudes, values, etc.)

• T.S. Eliot, poet: “the way of life of a particular people living in one place.”

• Hunt, et. al., “the entire way of life followed by a people and everything learned and shared by people in society.”

• Down (1975), “a product of how people think about things – their cognition”

• Brinkerhoff and White (1988): ‘the total way of life shared by members of a society, which includes language, values, and symbolic meanings and also technology and material objects”

• Panopio, et. al. (1994): “a person’s heritage or the customary ways in which groups organize their ways of behaving, thinking, and feeling, which are transmitted from one generation to another through language.”

• Culture also includes people’s material inventions and accomplishments: tools, weapons, instruments.

• These are called ‘artifacts’; or the material aspect of culture; they tell much about the things a people

value and the processes with which those people provide solutions to their biological and cultural needs.

Based on the definitions given by known sociologists an anthropologists, it can be said that culture is the sum total of man’s creation which are handed down from generation to generation.

2 Ideas1. Culture as real phenomena.

- Real things and specific human activities- Readily visible things and reality as any of the

other phenomena in nature2. Culture as an abstraction.

- Behavior; may be observed from the activities of the people

Importance of Culturea. Distinguishes human beings from the lower animal

forms, making them uniqueb. Limitations of a person’s natural state (without

culture they cannot survive)c. Helps us overcome our physical disadvantages

Components of Culture1. Material Culture

- the physical objects a society produces, things people create and use.

- They range from the prehistoric stone tools of primitive man to the more advanced and complex implements and machinery of modern man.

- These are the tools, furniture, clothing, automobiles, and computer systems, to name a few.

- Thus, the awareness of the kind of objects created and how people use them bring about greater understanding of the culture of a society.

2. Non-material Culture- consists of elements termed norms, values,

beliefs, and language shared by the members of a society.

- considered as the carriers of culture

2.1 Language- symbol: the very foundation of culture- The essence of culture is the sharing of

meanings among members of a society. - It is through language that idea; values,

beliefs, and knowledge are transmitted, expressed, and shared.

- Without language, there will be no culture.2.2 Beliefs

- ideas that people hold about the universe or any part of the total reality surrounding them.

- are things how people perceive reality.- Result from his experiences about the

physical, biological and social world in which he lives.

o Superstitionso Riddleso Philosophyo Theologyo Technologyo Arto Science

2.3 Values- shared ideas about desirable goals.- They are considered desirable or important

by the members of the society.- the person’s ideas about worth and

desirability or an abstract of what is important and worthwhile.

- make up our judgments of moral and immoral, good and bad, right or wrong, beautiful and ugly, etc.

2.4 Norms

Interrelated; though similar, they are not identical

- shared rules of conduct that specify how people ought to think and act.

- Are guides or models of behavior which tells us what is proper or improper, appropriate or inappropriate, right or wrong.

- Usually in the form of rules, standards, or prescriptions followed by people who follow certain roles.

- To ensure that the norms are followed and the expectations obeyed, there are sanctions which are used.

o Rewardso Punishment

- has three forms: mores, folkways, and lawsForms of Norms

1. MORES - these are norms associated with strong ideas of right

and wrong- are standards of conduct that are highly respected

and valued by the group and their fulfillment is felt to be necessary and vital to group welfare.

- They represent obligatory behavior because their infraction results to punishment, formal or informal.

- The “must” and “should” of a society.

2. FOLKWAYS- These are norms that are simply the customary,

normal, habitual ways a group does things.- They are the old, traditional, tried, easy ways.- Customary ways are accumulated and become

repetitive patterns of expected behavior, which tends to become permanent traditions.

- One of the essential features of folkways is that there is no strong feeling of right or wrong attached to them.

- Sanctions:o Ridiculeo Disapprovalo Embarassment

- They are handed down from one generation to another.

- Group expectations:- Rules of eating, cooking, drinking, dressing, sleeping,

working, forms of greetings and salutations, ceremonies and rituals for some occasions, rules of conduct in institutional setting and burial practices.

3. LAWS- are often referred to as the formal norms.- are rules that are enforced and sanctioned by the

authority of the government.- Enforcing organizations:

o Policeo Courtso Prisonso Other regulatory agencies

Other Components Fashions, Fads, Crazes

- Short-lived social norms which demand compliance at the time they operate.

- Examples: Style of dresses, bags, shoes, and hair Style of houses, furniture, cars, and

gadgets- They are powerful regulators of behavior in

urban areas and industrialized centers.- The prestige and status of a person depends

on his use of these new styles.

Social Institutions- When the varied social norms, beliefs and

values and material objects become regular and organized around some fundamental human needs, they become normative systems or institutions.

- They are man-made ways of solving problems that all individuals and societies face and are organized around critical issues of survival and are responsible for supporting the important values of the group.

- Needs, Problems and Activities : Sustenance and shelter Child care and rearing Sexual gratification

Maintenance of peace and order Establishment of communion

between man and the supernatural- Important Social Institutions

Family Economic institution Political institution Religious institution Educational institution These institutions are the great

conservers and transmitters of the cultural heritage.

They are interrelated with each other.

Characteristics of Culture

1. Culture is learned.- Culture is basically a creation of man.- That culture is created and developed by man

implies that it is learned.- The habits, skills, values, and knowledge which

constitute one’s culture is acquired during the course of one’s life and not transmitted genetically.

- Culture is learned through the process of interaction.

2. Culture is shared.- No one person knows the entire culture; there

are those things that an individual may know that other person may not know, or vice versa. Hence, the sharing of ideas.

- Only man can transmit his acquired habits and knowledge to his offspring; culture is inculcated orally and by writing through the medium of language.

3. Culture is cumulative.- Culture is said to be cumulative because it has a

tendency to grow and expand.- Stored knowledge is transmitted from one

generation to another. Newly acquired knowledge is then added to the stocks of knowledge as it passes through the process of transmission.

4. Culture is dynamic.- Change in culture is continuous and no culture is

totally fix or static.- Cultures change from within and without.- One of the principal sources of change is

diffusion, which involves borrowing or transfer from one culture to another.

5. Culture is diverse.- This means that culture varies and is different

from one another6. Culture is ideational.

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

7. Culture is gratifying.- Culture has provisions to satisfy the biological

and socio-cultural needs of man.8. Culture is adaptive.

- All cultures are always changing and these changes represent adjustments to the environment.

9. Culture is integrative.- Various elements of a given culture form a

consistent and unified whole; society always tries to work out a balance between the unequal rates of change among the elements in the society.

Functions of Culture1. Culture helps people to adapt to the demands

of the surrounding physical environment.2. Culture compensates for many human physical

limitations.3. Culture provide ways and means to regulate

human collective existence.

4. Culture provides behavioral patterns.

THE ORGANIZATION OF CULTURE

Cultural Pattern Is a frequently recurring and regularly ordered

trait complex of ideal and actual words and actions which a number of persons conform to under similar situations.

The relatedness of the cultural patterns in some kind of meaningful relationships.

Within the culture are various culture patterns revolving around certain activities such as the economic, religious, political and educational activities.

Levels of Cultural Participation

The levels of participation of the individuals in a culture vary depending on age, sex, occupation or the demands of the culture.

Linton (1936: 272-273) classifies the levels of cultural participation into three namely:

1. Culture UniversalsAre the cultural traits, complexes, and patterns shared among all members of a given population (habits, ideas, and conditioned emotional responses common to members of the society).

2. SpecialtiesAre behavior expectations confined to certain subgroups which often demand unusual skill or training and reflect the division of labor and hierarchy of statuses in a culture.Not shared by the total population.Special trainings are required (doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants).

3. AlternativesAre the behavior expectations which permit a certain range of choice in human behavior and specify the tolerable variations in behavior. Shared by some individuals but are not common to all the members of the society or even to all the members of any one group (ways of eating, greeting, courtship, rearing children, and other aspects of social living).

SUBCULTURE Smaller groups which develop norms and

values different from that of the broader society.

May be based on age, social class, occupational groups, religions, regional groups, nationality and ethnicity.

Example: Special language, set of norms and

values of a group of urban adolescents Lifestyle of the upper class

While these subcultures have distinctive norms and values they still contain the dominant values and norms of the broader society.

This is what has been called: “a small culture within a culture”.

CONTRA-CULTURE When the subculture emphasizes conflict

between a group and a larger society as seen by the presence of an inverse or counter culture.

What they believe in is not shared by the majority of the members of the society.

Examples: Drug addicts Hippies Criminals Juvenile delinquents Rebels

These subgroups become a threat to the prevailing social values and become considered a social problem.

Ethnocentrism The feeling that one’s culture is the best and

superior to that of other groups. Each group has pride in his own group. Example:

Germans as the superior race Americans and Japanese as the most

progressive nation in the world Philippines as the “Pearl of the Orient

Seas” Catholicism/Islam as the true religion

Culture Shock A result of disorganization and frustration when

a person encounters another culture whose pattern of behavior and ideas are different from his.

A situation brought about by unfamiliarity, lack of understanding and inability to communicate with the host culture.

Examples: When a person goes to societies of

primitive people. When a conservative Filipino migrates

to the United States. Social distances in foreign cultures In some countries, it is a social faux

pas to use your left hand, to pass anything to anyone else.

Cultural Relativism The view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics

are relative to the individual within his own social context.

Respect of other cultures and treating them as "as good as" one's own.

The cultural practices and values of other people which we may consider queer, funny, or immoral may be considered right, appropriate, and moral in other cultures.

Culture is relative and no cultural practice is good or bad by itself.

Why do the Chinese use chopsticks? Why do they bring food to the

cemetery? Why do Italian males kiss in greeting? Why do Muslims and Hindus refuse to

eat pork? Why do some simple societies consider

premarital sex as immoral? Why do Eskimos lend their wives to

their visitors? Why do Muslims practice polygamy? Why do Americans practice divorce?

Anthropological views: All cultures are of equal value and need

to be studied from a neutral point of view.

The study of a and/or any culture has to be done with a cold and neutral eye so that a particular culture can be understood at its own merits and not another culture’s.