UCSP: Society, Culture, and Politics

• UCSP covers society, culture, and politics.

Social, Political, and Cultural Observations

• Cultural taboos are activities deemed inappropriate within a specific group.
• Examples of taboos: Dinuguan sa INC, not showering every day, wearing shoes inside.

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact

• COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to an economic standstill.
• A global economic recession occurred.
• Strict lockdowns, educational disruptions, and healthcare struggles occurred in the Philippines.

Idling/Inactivity

• Istambays are people who are not joining the labor force from the word "stand by".

Online Messaging

• The Philippines was once known as the "SMS Capital of the World."
• Online messaging has become a new mode of communication due to smartphone growth.

Social Media

• Filipinos consume large amounts of social media content on platforms like Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook.
• Many Filipinos browse social media for an unhealthy amount of time.

Political Dynasties

• Political dynasties monopolize political power in an area by a single clan.
• Political dynasties exist when two or more ruling politicians are from the same family and is an irony to democracy.
• Political dynasties hinder other potential leaders without powerful families.
• Thin Dynasty involves intergenerational succession.
• Fat Dynasties involve the simultaneous monopoly of seats.

Elections

• Elections can have a "distorted notion of democracy" due to elite politicians using kinship to gain power.

Transnational Families

• Transnational families have members who are physically separated between nations.

Social Sciences

• Anthropology studies people throughout the world, their evolutionary history, and how they adapt to different environments.
• Sociology is a discipline dealing with the interpretation and explanation of social action, defined as action involving orientation to other actors.
• Political science studies politics and how power works from domestic, international, and comparative perspectives, including governments, public policies, and political behavior.

Society

• Society is defined as a group living together in organized communities, following common laws, values, customs, and traditions.
• Society impacts the way you live.

Social Institutions

• Social institutions are organized systems of social relationships representing a society's common values and procedures.
• Family is considered the bedrock or foundation of society.
• Education is the formal institution designated to preserve and transfer cultural knowledge.
• Economy is the social institution responsible for production and allocation of scarce resources.
• Government is a social institution that states policy and enforces law.
• Media is the institution for circulating information among society members.
• Religion is an organized collection of beliefs intended to explain the meaning, origin, and purpose of existence.
• Health involves government health initiatives.

Culture

• Culture is a complex whole that encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms, and knowledge shared by members of society.

Elements of Culture

• Norms are society's standards of acceptable behavior and are essential because people pattern their lives after them.
• Folkways are repetitive patterns of societal behavior.
• Mores are valued folkways involving moral or ethical values.
• Laws are formalized mores that are legislated, approved, and implemented.
• Beliefs define how people make sense of experiences or ideas believed to be true, factual, and real.
• Symbols are used to represent, express, or stand for an event, situation, person, or idea.
• Language is the system of symbols that individuals use to communicate, interact, and share their views, creating an understanding among individuals.

Culture Components

• Values are guidelines for social living, helping shape a society by suggesting what is good and bad.

Social Institutions

• Social institutions are organized system of relationships embodying common values.

Characteristics of Culture

• Culture is learned
• Culture is symbolic.
• Culture is shared.
• Culture is dynamic, flexible, and adaptive.
• Culture is integrated.

Society and Culture

• Cultural Universals are patterns or traits common to all societies across the globe.
• George Murdock recognized the existence of cultural universals.

Orientations in Viewing Other Cultures

• Ethnocentrism pertains to the belief that one's native culture is superior or the most natural.
• Cultural imperialism is the deliberate imposition of one's own cultural beliefs on another culture.
• Xenocentrism is the opposite of ethnocentrism; belief that one's own culture is inferior to another.
• Cultural relativism involves viewing other cultures as neither inferior nor superior.

Roles of Society

• Socialization primarily consists of processes and techniques to achieve an "acceptable, proper, and desirable way of living."

Concept of Personality

• The concept of personality is an organization of consistent attitudes, values, and modes of perception within an individual, resulting in consistent behavior.

Personality Vs Identity

• Personality traits can include being witty, a dreamer, competitive, funny, intelligent, and generous.
• Identity can include being vegan, a fashionista, agnostic, environmentalist, an animal lover, or a human rights advocate.

Personality Formation

• Personality formation is influenced by biological inheritance (nature) and environment (nurture).

Theories of Identity Development

• Theories of identity development include identity vs role confusion, identity status, and identity formation in emerging adulthood.

Identity Vs. Role Confusion

• Erik Erikson studied indentity vs. role confusion.
• Identity crisis is a period of confusion over identity, typically due to changes in roles in society.

Identity Status

• Identity diffusion means a person has not resolved their identity crisis and has not committed to specific goals.
• Identity foreclosure means a person follows values and roles set by others without exploring what suits them.
• Identity moratorium is a stage where a person explores and discovers themselves before coming to identity achievement.
• Identity achievement is attained when a person has resolved their identity crisis and committed to specific goals and aspirations.
• Jeffrey Arnett studied identity formation in emerging adulthood (18-25).
• Identity formation is critical during these years as individuals experience different opportunities in love, work, and worldviews.

Influences on Identity

• Factors influencing identity include cognitive, sociocultural, political, and media-related factors.
• For most people the critical stage in identity development starts in adolescence.

Socialization Process

• Hunt (1982) described a human being as a "weak, dependent, helpless creature" whose needs can only be filled through socialization.
• Family is the first environment of socialization.
• Socialization is based on the communication of meaning and values.

Statuses and Roles

• Social roles refer to patterns of expected behavior attached to a particular status.
• Status is a person's position in a social system.
• Ascribed status is a predetermined status.
• Achieved status is obtained by choice.

Types of Status Pairs

• Complementary status occurs when two people have different roles but work well together.
• Symmetrical status occurs when people in the same role act the same way toward each other.
• Role strain is feeling overwhelmed because one role has too many responsibilities.

Agents of Socialization

• Agents of socialization include family, peer groups, school, socio-civic groups, and mass media.

Social Processes

• Enculturation is how a person learns or adopts the culture followed by their co-members.
• Acculturation is when a person adapts to the influence of another culture by borrowing many of its aspects.
• Assimilation is when an individual learns a new culture and loses their previously held cultural identity.
• Cooperation is a form of social interaction wherein two or more persons work together for a common end or purpose.
• Differentiation is how major social spheres become disconnected to focus on specialized roles and create a stronger organizational framework.
• Amalgamation happens when two families or groups become one through a formal union, such as marriage.
• Stratification involves the hierarchical arrangements and establishment of social categories that may evolve into social groups.
• Conflict is the struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power, and resources.

Social Interactions

• Intrapersonal [within self]
• Interpersonal [person vs person]
• Intergroup [person in a group]
• Intragroup [Group vs group
• Suggests the struggle between two or more persons or groups

Social Control & Conformity

• Social control is how people's social behavior is controlled to maintain or re-establish order.

Social Sanctions

• Informal sanctions include disapproval, ridicule, gossip, or deprivation.
• Formal sanctions include fines, imprisonment, or death.
• Conformity is the process of altering one's thoughts and actions to adapt to the accepted behavior within their group or society.
• Deviance is a violation of established social norms, whether folkways, mores, or laws.

Forms of Deviance

• Innovation is breaking or bending the rules to achieve success.
• Ritualism is following rules just for the sake of it, even if the original goal no longer matters.
• Retreatism is giving up on society's goals and avoiding responsibilities.
• Rebellion is rejecting society's rules and fighting for change.

Organization of a Society

• A group is a number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who regularly and consciously interact.

Groups

• Groups can include academic clubs, theater groups, and dance troupes.

School Organizations

• In school, one of the most popular organizations is the student government.
• Rules are made to maintain peace and understanding among its members.
• Primary groups are intimate, with face-to-face association and cooperation among members.
• Secondary groups are formal and impersonal, with little social intimacy or mutual understanding.
• In-groups are groups where people feel they belong.
• Out-groups are groups where members feel they should not have been.
• Reference groups are groups considered as role models and standards.

Network

• Being affiliated with a group is one way of forming a network.
• Micro-level networks start from a single individual expanding their contacts.
• Meso-level networks involve individuals and groups linked with individuals and each other.
• Macro-level is the most complex level of network but individuals who belong to this level rarely exhibit intimate social interactions

Social and Political Institutions

• Institutions are particular segments of society where social, cultural, and political roles exist.
• Institutions are society units where members share and play certain behavior.

Kinship

• Kinship is peoples relationship with their relatives.
• Consanguinal kinship is kinship by blood.

Descent

• Descent refers to the biological relationship.
• Bilateral descent traces ancestors through both lines.
• Unilateral descent follows one line.
• Matrilineal descent follows the female line.
• Patrilineal descent follows the male line.
• Ambilenial descent allows individuals to choose either line.

Affinal Kinship

• Affinal kinship is kinship by marriage
• Marriage: Legal foundation to a family

Marriage Categories

• Endogamy involves marrying within one's own group.
• Exogamy involves marrying outside one's own group.
• Monogamy involves a marriage of two people.
• Bigamy occurs when a man marries two women.
• Polygamy occurs when a man marries more than two women.
• Polyandry occurs when a woman marries more than one man.

Family and Marriage Endings

• Divorce is a court decree that terminates or dissolves a marriage, not allowed in the Philippines.
• Annulment nullifies a marriage completely as if it never existed.

Grounds for Annulment

• Bigamy: either party was already married
• Forced consent: married due to force or threats
• Fraud: agreed through lies or misrepresentation
• Marriage prohibited by law: incestuous marriage
• Mental illness or incapacity: one or both spouse(s) under the influence of alcohol/drugs

Reasons marriage may fail

• Inability to consummate marriage.
• Underage marriage.

Relationships

• Legal separation is the separation, but legally separated couples cannot remarry.
• Defacto separation is when separated on their own, without court sanction

Types of Marriage

• Arrange marriage
• Child marriage
• Exchange Marriage
• Diplomatic marriage
• Modern Arrange marriage

Types of Relationships

• Fictive kinship are relations happen through adoption / rituals
• Through baptism, godparent, child, parents form a fake kinship

Family

• Consists of a set of people related by blood, marriage or adoption.
• Is universal
• Each family different from each other.

Major Functions of Family

• Take care of children and guide them
• Provide love and support.
• Shape Identity
• Pass down generations beliefs / customs

Types of family

• Family Nucleus
• Can be : married couple with our without children, father or mother with unmarried children.

Nuclear Family

• One family nucleus lives in one house.
• Can be: never married, separated family, same sex or same sex parent family.

Extended Family

• Composed of 2 or more blood related
• Can be subdivided: vertical, horizontal, or reconstituted family

Political and Leadership Structures

• Political organization is any entity involved in political process.
• Engages in achieves political goals, improve system, benefit members
• Uncecentralized society: bands / tribes
• Centralized societies: chiefdoms / states

Bands

• Kin-based group
• Kin based with minimal economic distinctions
• Leadership: informal

Tribes

• Small self sufficient society
• Leader: tribal society
• Members strongly bonded by ethic and religious beliefs.

Indigenous People

• Aeta live in mountain area of Luzon e.g. Zambales
• Igorot : collective term
• Mangyan occupy mindoro
• Lumad: of mindanao
• Bajau: sea gypsies traditionally in the ocean
• Palawan : island of palawan inhabitants
• Tagbanua: live in island of palawan
• Tausug, lives in mindano mainly in the Sulu.

Chiefdoms

• Politcial organization
• Village under leader (chief)
• Makes decision / has counselores
• Leadership: hereditary

State

• Soverign political entity
• Own terrirtory
• Has govn't
• Population independent from outside

Legal Power

• Nation Power: based on well defined law
• Obeyed by leaders

Legal-Rational Authority

• Based on well defined laws
• Society follows because legitimate

Bureacracy

• A form of organisation where basis of decission is laws / written rules.

Qualities

• Division Of Labour
• Hierachy Authority
• Written Rules and Regulations
• Impersonality
• Meritocarcacy