Understanding Culture Society And Politics PDF

Understanding Culture Society and Politics Quarter 1: Week 2 Concepts, aspects and changes in/of culture and society MELC Analyze the concepts, aspects and changes in/of culture and society (UCSP11/12SPU-lb Specific Learning Objectives 1. explain the concept of society and culture in ant...

Understanding Culture Society and Politics Quarter 1: Week 2 Concepts, aspects and changes in/of culture and society MELC Analyze the concepts, aspects and changes in/of culture and society (UCSP11/12SPU-lb Specific Learning Objectives 1. explain the concept of society and culture in anthropological and sociological perspective; 2. describe some major characteristics of society and culture; 3. differentiate between the various meanings of culture within society; and 4. appreciate the significance of culture in the society WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION? WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION? WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION? WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION? WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION? WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION? CONCEPT MAPPING Meaning and Nature of Society  According to sociologist, a society is a group of people with common territory, interaction, and culture. Arcinas (2016) in his book, Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics, defined society as group of people who share a common territory and culture. It is a group of people living together in a definite territory, having a sense of belongingness, mutually interdependent of each other, and follow a certain way of life. Society is derived from the Latin term “societas”, from socius, which means companion or associate. Thus, it refers to all people, collectively regarded as constituting a community of related, interdependent individuals living in a definite place, following a certain mode of life (Ariola, 2012). Definition of society has two types  The functional definition and the structural definition. From the functional point of view, society is defined as a complex of groups in reciprocal relationships, interacting upon one another, enabling human organisms to carry on their life-activities and helping each person to fulfill his wishes and accomplish his interests in association with his fellows. From the structural point of view Society is the total social heritage of folkways, mores and institutions of habits, sentiments and ideals. The important aspect of society is the system of relationships, the pattern of the norms of interaction by which the members of the society maintain themselves. The following a. For survival – No man is an island. No man can live alone. From birth to death, man are reasons always depends upon his parents and from others. The care, support, and protection given people live by them are important factors for survival. together as a society (Ariola, 2012): b. Feeling of gregariousness – This is the desire of people to be with other people, especially of their own culture. People flock together for emotional warmth and belongingness. the need for approval, sympathy and understanding to which the individual belongs is a psychosocial need. Among Filipinos, the feeling of gregariousness is found in all levels of society, especially among the lower socio- economic classes. The more the person is needy, the more he craves sympathy and understanding from someone else. c. Specialization – Teachers, businessmen, students, physicians, nurses, lawyers, pharmacists, and other professionals organize themselves into societies or associations to promote and protect their own professions. Characteristics of Society  1.It is a social system. A social system consists of individuals interacting with each other. A system consists of sub-parts whereby a change in one part affects the other parts.  2. It is relatively large. The people must be socially integrated to be considered relatively large than if the people are individually scattered. Thus, the people in a family, clan, tribe, neighborhood, community are socially integrated to be relatively large in scope.  3. It socializes its members and from those from without. Since most of society’s members are born to it, they are taught the basic norms and expectations. Those who come from other societies, before being accepted as functioning members, are socialized and taught the basic norms.  4. It endures, produces and sustains its members for generations. For Society to survive, it must have the ability to produce, endure and stain its new members for at least several generations. For instance, if a society cannot assist its members during their extreme conditions of hunger and poverty, that society will not survive long  5. It holds its members through a common culture. The individuals in a society are held together because that society has symbols, norms, values, patterns of interaction, vision and mission that are commonly shared by the members of such society.  6. It has clearly-defined geographical territory. The members in a society must live in a certain specific habitat or place and have a common belongingness and sense of purpose. Major Functions of Society 1. It provides a system of socialization. Knowledge and skills, dominant 2. It provides the basic needs of its patterns of behavior, moral and social members. Food, clothing, shelter, values, and aspects of personality are medicine, education, transmitted to each members, transportations and communication especially to the young. the family, the facilities, among others must be peer group, the school, the church provided by society to satisfy the basic and other government and non- needs of its members. government organizations play a role in the individual’s development. 3. It regulates and controls people’s behavior. Conformity to the prevailing norms of conduct ensures social control. The police, armed forces, law enforcement agencies and even the church and other government and non-government organizations exist as means of social control. Peace and order are created through a system of norms and formal organizations. 4. It provides the means of social participation. Through social participation, the individuals in a society learn to interact with each other, present and discuss their concerns and solve their own problems or renew their commitment and values. the people are give the opportunities to contribute to their knowledge and skills for the betterment of their family, neighborhood and community. religious organizations, civic organizations, people’s organizations (PO) and non-government organizations (NGOs) do their part in community development.  5. It provides mutual support to the members. Mutual support is provided to the members of society in the form of relief in any form and solution to problems met by them. This form of assistance may come from the family, neighbors, clans, government and non-government agencies, civic and religious organizations. Types of Societies  Societies exist in particular places and times, and they change over time. Societies are organized in particular patterns, patterns that are shaped by a range of factors, including the way people procure food, the availability of resources, contact with other societies, and cultural beliefs. For example, people can change from herding to farming only if they have the knowledge, skills, and desire to do so and only in environments that will support agriculture. As societies develop, changes take place in the social structures and relationships between people that characterize each type of society. For example, in industrialized societies, relationships between people typically must become more formal because people must interact with strangers and not just relatives. It is important to note that not all societies go through all stages. Some are jolted into the future by political events or changes in the global system, and some resist pressures to become modernized and continue to live in simpler social systems.  Sociologists and anthropologists (experts who study early and tribal cultures) identified different types and classification of societies. Below are the different types of societies as mentioned by Ariola (2012) in his book Sociology and Anthropology with Family Planning: Dissolution of a Society (2) when an outside force (4) when a small exterminates the society is (6 when the members of the (5) when an absorbed by a people living in There are several (1) when the society; (3) when existing society is stronger and such a society ways by which a people kill each the members submerged in larger society by voluntarily attach society is other through civil become water killing all the means of themselves to dissolved: revolution; apathetic among people and other conquest or another existing themselves or living things in it; or territorial society. have no more absorption; sense of belongingness; Meaning and Nature of Culture It was E.B. Taylor who conceptualized the definition of culture in 1860s. According to him, culture is a complex whole which consist of knowledge, beliefs, ideas, habits, attitudes, skills, abilities, values, norms, art, law, morals, customs, traditions, feelings and other capabilities of man which are acquired, learned and socially transmitted by man from one generation to another through language and living together as members of the society (Arcinas, 2016).  Culture is a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic Formby means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards life. – Clifford Geertz Culture consists of learned systems of meaning, communicated by means of natural language and other symbol systems, having representational, directive, and affective functions, and capable of creating cultural entities and particular senses of reality. – Roy D’Andrade · Culture is an extrasomatic (nongenetic,nonbodily), temporal continuumof things and events dependent upon symbols. Culture consists of tools,implements, utensils, clothing, ornaments, customs, institutions, beliefs, rituals, games, works of art, language, etc. – Leslie White · Culture consists in the shared patterns of behavior and associated meanings that people learn and participate in within the groups to which they belong. – Whitten and Hunter · A society’s culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members. – Ward Good enough · Culture is an instrumental reality, and apparatus for the satisfaction of the biological and derived need”. It is the integral whole consisting of implements in consumers’ goods, of constitutional characters for the various social groupings, of human ideas and crafts, beliefs and custom. – Malinowski  Culture in general as a descriptive concept means the accumulated treasury of human creation: books, paintings, buildings, and the like; the knowledge of ways of adjusting to our surroundings, both human and physical; language, customs, and systems of etiquette, ethics, religion and morals that have been built up through the ages. – Kluckhohn and Kelly  Culture refers to that part of the total setting [of human existence] which includes the material objects of human manufacture, techniques, social orientations, points of view, and sanctioned ends that are the immediate conditioning factors underlying behavior or in simple terms it is the “man made part of the environment. – Herskovits  A culture is the total socially acquired life-way or life-style of a group of people. It consists of the patterned, repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are characteristic of the members of a particular society or segment of a society. – Harris  The concept of culture as everything that people have, thinks, and does as members of a society. This definition can be instructive because the three verbs correspond to the three major components of culture. That is, everything that people have refers to material possessions; everything that people think refers to those things they carry around in their heads, such as ideas, values, and attitudes; and everything that people do refers to behavior patterns. Thus all cultures comprise (a) material objects, (b) ideas, values, and attitudes, and (c) patterned ways of behaving. – Gary Ferraro  1. Dynamic, flexible and adaptive - Culture necessarily changes, and is changed From by, a variety of interactions, with individuals, media, and technology, just to name a few. - Cultures interact and change. Most societies interact with other societies, and as a the consequence their cultures interact that lead to exchanges of material (ex: tools and furniture) and non-material (ex: ideas and Perspective symbols)components of culture. of - All cultures change, or else, they would have problems adjusting and adapting to changing environments. - Culture is adaptive and dynamic, Sociologists) once we recognize problems, culture can adapt again, in a more positive way, to find solutions. - We need our cultural skills to stay alive. From the Perspective of Anthropologists  (1) it serves as the “trademark” of the people in the society; (2)it gives meaning and direction to one’s existence; (3) it promotes meaning to individual’s existence; Importance/Functions of Culture (4) it predicts social behavior; (5) it unifies diverse behavior; (6) it provides social solidarity;  (7) it establishes social personality; (8) it providessystematic behavioral pattern; (9) it provides social structure category; Importance/Functions of Culture (10) it maintains the biologic functioning of the group; (11) it offers ready-made solutions to man’s material and immaterial problems; and (12) it develops man’s attitude and values and gives him a conscience. Elements of Culture SYMBOLS 1. Symbols refers to anything that is used to stand for something else. It is anything that gives meaning to the culture. People who share a culture often attach a specific meaning to an object, gesture, sound, or image. An example of which are the feasts we are celebrating. Those particular events give a representation of a particular culture. Even the meanings we provide to things such as colors and graphic symbols provide understanding which is common to a certain group of people (David and Macaraeg, 2010). For instance, a cross is a significant symbol to Christians. It is not simply two pieces of wood attached to each other, nor is it just an old object of torture and execution. To Christians, it represents the basis of their entire religion, and they have great reverence for the symbol. LANGUAGE  2. Language is known as the storehouse of culture ( Arcinas, 2016). It system of words and symbols used to communicate with other people. We have a lot of dialects in the Phillipines that provide a means of understanding. Through these, culture is hereby transmitted to future generation through learning (David and Macaraeg, 2010). TECHNOLOGY  3. Technology refers to the application of knowledge and equipment to ease the task of living and maintaining the environment; it includes artifacts, methods and devices created and used by people (Arcinas, 2016). VALUES 4. Values are culturally defined standards for what is good or desirable. Valuesdetermine how individuals will probably respond in any given circumstances. Members of the culture use the shared system of values to decide what is good and what is bad. This also refers to the abstract concept of what is important and worthwhile (Davidand Macaraeg, 2010). What is considered as good, proper and desirable, or bad, improper or undesirable, in a culture can be called as values (Arcinas, 2016). It influence people’s behavior and serve as a benchmark for evaluating the actions of others. Majority of Philippine population is bonded together by common values and traits that are first taught at home and being applied in our day to day lives. Filipinos are known for the following values: (a) compassionate; (b) spirit of kinship and camaraderie; (c) hardwork and industry; (d) ability to survive; (e) faith and religiosity; (f) flexibility, adaptability and creativity; (g) joy and humor; (h) family orientation; (i) hospitality; and (j) pakikipagkapwa-tao. BELIEF  5. Beliefs refers to the faith of an individual ( David and Macaraeg, 2010). They are conceptions or ideas of people have about what is true in the environment around them like what is life, how to value it and how one’s belied on the value of life relate with his or her interaction with others and the world. These maybe based on common sense, folk wisdom, religion, science or a combination of all of these (Arcinas, 2016). NORMS  6. Norms are specific rules/standards to guide for appropriate behavior (Arcinas, 2016). These are societal expectations that mandate specific behaviors in specific situations (David and Macaraeg, 2010). Like in school, we are expected to behave in a particular way. If violate norms, we look different. Thus, we can be called as social deviants. For example, Filipino males are expected to wear pants, not skirts and females are expected to have a long hair not a short one like that of males. Social norms are indeed very essential in understanding the nature of man’s social relationship. They are of different types and forms According to Palispis (2007), as mention by Baleña (2016), in the social interaction process, each member possesses certain expectations about the responses of another member. Therefore, it is very important to determine the different forms of societal norms. Types: a. Proscriptive b. Prescriptive norm defines norm defines and tells us and tells us things not to do things to do Forms:  a. Folkways are also known as customs (customary/repetitive ways of doing things); they are forms of norms for everyday behavior that people follow for the sake of tradition or convenience. Breaking them does not usually have serious consequences. We have certain customs that were passed on by our forebears that make up a large part of our day to day existence and we do not question their practicality. Since they are being practiced, it is expected that we do them also. For example, we Filipinos eat with our bear hands.  b. Mores are strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior; they are based on definitions of right and wrong (Arcinas, 2016). They are norms also but with moral undertones (David and Macaraeg, 2010). For example, since our country Philippines isa Christian nation, we are expected to practice monogamous marriage. So if a person who has two or more partners is looked upon as immoral. Polygamy is considered taboo in Philippine society c. Laws are controlled ethics and they are morally agreed, written down and enforced by an official law enforcement agency(Arcinas, 2016). They are institutionalized norms and mores that were enacted by the state to ensure stricter punishment in order for the people to adhere to the standards set by society(David and Macaraeg, 2010).  Two  1. Material culture consists of tangible things (Banaag, 2012). It refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people Components use to define their culture. These include homes, neighborhoods, cities, schools, of Culture churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, offices, factories and plants, tools, means of production, goods and products, stores, and so forth. All of these physical aspects of a culture help to define its members' behaviors and perceptions. Everything that is created, produced, changed and utilized by men is included in the material culture (Arcinas, 2016).  2. Non-material culture consists of intangible things (Banaag, 2012). Non‐material culture refers to the nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and institutions. For instance, the non‐material cultural concept of religion consists of a set of ideas and beliefs about God, worship, morals, and ethics. These beliefs, then, determine how the culture responds to its religious topics, issues, and events. When considering non‐material culture, sociologists refer to several processes that a culture uses to shape its members' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Four of the most important of these are symbols, language, values, and norms. Non-material culture can be categorized into cognitive and normative culture. The former includes ideas, concepts, philosophies, designs etc. that are product of mental or intellectual functioning and reasoning of the human mind. Whereas, the latter includes all expectations, standards and rules for human behaviour (Arcinas, 2016) Modes of  1. Imitation - Children and adults alike have the tendency to imitate the values, attitudes, language and all other things in their social Acquiring environment. Some of those things imitated are internalized in their personality and Culture become a part of their attitude, character and other behavioral patterns  2. Indoctrination or Suggestion - This may take the form of formal training or informal teaching. Formally, the person learns from school. Informally, he may acquire those behaviors from listening or watching, reading, attending training activities or through interaction.  3. Conditioning - The values, beliefs, and attitudes of other people are acquired through conditioning. This conditioning can be reinforced through reward and punishment. Adaptation of Culture  1. Parallelism means that the same culture may take place in two or more different places. Example: The domestication of dogs, cats, pigs and other animals may have semblance in other places.  2. Diffusion refers to those behavioral patterns that pass back and forth from one culture to another. This is the transfer or spread of culture traits from one another brought about by change agents such as people or media Examples: food and eating practices, marriage and wedding ceremonies, burial rituals, feast celebrations  3. Convergence takes place when two or more cultures are fused or merged into one culture making it different from the original culture.  4. Fission takes place when people break away from their original culture and start developing a different culture of their own  5. Acculturation refers to the process wherein individuals incorporate the behavioral patterns of other cultures into their own either voluntarily or by force. Voluntary acculturation occurs through imitation, borrowing, or personal contact with other people.  6. Assimilation occurs when the culture of a larger society is adopted by a smaller society, that smaller society assumes some of the culture of the larger society or cost society.  7. Accommodation occurs when the larger society and smaller society are able to respect and tolerate each other’s culture even if there is already a prolonged contact of each other’s culture. Causes of Cultural Change  1. Discovery is the process of finding a new place or an object, artefact or anything that previously existed. For example, the discovery of fire led to the art of cooking; discovery of oil, of organisms and substances; of diseases; of atoms and sources of energy  2. Invention implies a creative mental process of devising, creating and producing something new, novel or original; and also the utilization and combination of previously known elements to produce that an original or novel product. It could be either social or material or it could also be invention of new methods or techniques. Example of social invention: invention of number system, government, language, democracy, religion, and alphabet Example of Material Invention: invention of the wheel, machines  3. Diffusion is the spread of cultural traits or social practices from a society or group to another belonging to the same society or to another through direct contact with each other and exposure to new forms. It involves the following social CONT…. a. Acculturation – cultural borrowing and cultural imitation Example: The Filipinos are said to be the best English- speaking people of Asia. b. Assimilation – the blending or fusion of two distinct cultures through long periods of interaction Example: Americanization of Filipino immigrants to the US c. Amalgamation – the biological or hereditary fusion of members of different societies Example: Marriage between a Filipino and an American d. Enculturation – the deliberate infusion of a new culture to another Example: The teaching of American history and culture to the Filipinos during the early American Regime  4. Colonization refers to the political, social, and political policy of establishing a colony which would be subject to the rule or governance of the colonizing state. For example, the Hispanization of Filipino culture when the Spaniards came and conquered the Philippines.  5. Rebellon and revolutionary movements aim to change the whole social order and replace the leadership. The challenge the existing folkways and mores, and propose a new scheme of norms, values and organization Other Important Terms Related to Culture 1. Cultural diversity refers the differentiation of culture all over the world which means 2. Sub-culture refers to a there is no right or wrong smaller group within a larger culture but there is culture. appropriate culture for the need of a specific group of people. 3. Counterculture refers cultural patterns that strongly oppose 4. Culture lag is experienced those widely accepted within a when some parts of the society society (example in the 1960”s do not change as fast as with counter culture among other parts and they are left teenagers reflect long hair, blue behind jeans, peace sign, rock and roll music and drug abuse). 5. Culture shock is the inability to read meaning in one’s surroundings, feeling of lost 6. Ideal culture refers to the and isolation, unsure to act as social patterns mandated by a consequence of being cultural values and norms. outside the symbolic web of culture that binds others. 7. Real culture refers 8. High culture refers to the actual to the cultural patterns that only patterns that approximate cultural distinguish a expectations. society’s elite  9. Popular culture refers to the cultural 10.Culture change is patterns that are the manner by which widespread among a culture evolves. society’s population.