Components of Culture PDF

Subject Code SS6 Civic Engagement and Leadership LG Code 2.0 Culture and Society Lesson Code 2.3 Components of Culture Time Frame 30 minutes Components Tasks TA ATA...

Subject Code SS6 Civic Engagement and Leadership LG Code 2.0 Culture and Society Lesson Code 2.3 Components of Culture Time Frame 30 minutes Components Tasks TA ATA (min)a (min)b Target At the end of this module, the student should be able to: 1. analyze the concept of culture in terms of its characteristics, components/aspects, and functions; 2. understand the concept of culture in relation to society; and 3. apply the concept of society and culture in a social/literary analysis. Hook Food for thought: 5 mins. "Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning (Geertz, 1973)." Clifford Geertz Have you ever felt out of place? What accounts for this feeling? …when in you’re wearing the wrong attire? …when you don’t have a clue about a topic your friends are crazy about? …when you don’t share an experience others deem important? Why does this happen? Best answer: People who don’t share the same ideas and experiences are not living in a common internal “lifeworld”. Even if they are together, they are “worlds apart”. They have no common understandings and no mutuality of mind. Communication is difficult. You feel out of place in the internal lifeworld of culture even if you are physically present in time and space. (Atmosfera et al., 2018) Social Science 6 Page 1 of 5 Ignite What do masters of Social Science says of culture? 8 mins. Max Weber vital contribution to sociology is the concept of “verstehen”. This is a German word for mutual understanding. This is the common inner agreement of people about life and society in general. This is what is called in sociology as the lifeworld or the internal world space that people share as common meanings or common interpretations of life in general. This is the intersubjective element that all society share which is called culture. Edward Tylor’s holds that, “Culture… is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Tylor, 1871). Émile Durkheim says, “Society exists because people share the same values and beliefs, which are reproduced and strengthened through collective action or rituals” (Durkheim, 1912). George Herbert Mead says, “Society as an exchange of gestures involving the use of symbols. The self emerges in society as a product of social experience” (Mead, 1934). The components of culture are: 1. Symbols and Language. Of all the animals, only the homo sapiens sapiens can create society. Our complex neo-cortex or the new brain has the capacity to understand symbols. Spoken word is a symbol that refers to an element of reality. The interpretation of the spoken word is what makes communication possible. The written word makes possible the transmission and accumulation of knowledge so that the legacy of human knowledge through millennia is passed on to every new generation. With greater unity of thought and the accumulated knowledge of the world, human society develops and progresses in time. Thus, social reality is interpreted reality as it is based on the deciphering words and symbols. Language is the sum of the people’s symbols. It reflects a people’s worldview. This is the reason why Filipino language is important for progress because it contains the core and internal organization of our Filipino pride, identity and legacy as people. 2. Values and beliefs. Values contain general guidelines for living. People support and encourage good values and decry and discourage bad values. They act as basis for beliefs about life in general and provides grounds for social interpretation of all phenomena. Values and beliefs are the motive force behind all human action in society. Religion and science reflect values and beliefs in society. 3. Norms are social rules of human interaction where bad behavior is sanctioned, and good behavior encouraged. Different cultures have different values and beliefs which underlie norms, so that different cultures have different rules by which humans can go on living harmoniously with society. Social Science 6 Page 2 of 5  4. Knowledge base. Every culture has a knowledge base. And this knowledge is reflected in the material conditions of society. During the Dark Ages people believed in myths and that the world was flat. This was reflected in their agrarian lifeways and small-scale organization. When humans learned science and that the world was round, society became industrial and globally interconnected. Different societies have different cultures. In a globally interconnected world, we need to respect diversity as well as push for universal standards for human rights. Culture while it maintains and preserves society can also be contested. Contestation creates cultural change, counter culture, and possibly bring structural changes in society. (Macionis, 1989) Navigate Explain satisfactorily from the perspective of society and culture 15 Pocahontas’ song to John Smith “Colors of the Wind.” (It is best if mins. the students have already watched the movie so they could simply search the song in YouTube.) Have you ever heard a wolf cry to the blue corn moon? Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned? Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain? Can you paint with all the colors of the wind? You can own the earth and still all you own is earth until, You can paint with all the colors of the wind.(Atmosfera et al., 2018) This may be answered online during online classes or may be answered separately and sent to the teacher for comments. Best answer: Pocahontas culture is different from John Smith. She communicates in a language that John Smith could barely understand. A wolf crying to the blue corn moon is poetic, magical and mysterious that John Smith could barely fathom with his practical and analytical mind. If you ask why a bobcat is grinning, John Smith will consider you ridiculous if not stupid because he cannot participate in such a pure childlike wonder. Pocahontas speaks in seeming riddles such as the voices of the mountain and the colors of the wind. But in reality, the voice of the mountain is silence and the color of the wind is nothing. She thus beckons John Smith to enter her lifeworld in order to understand what she is saying. If they could only share lifeworlds, John Smith could sing with all the voices of the mountain. If they could have mutual understanding or verstehen, John Smith could be able to paint with all the colors of the wind. Cultural bonding is an invisible proficiency which cannot be calculated by sense perception alone is as true as the wind. Though unseen, the colors are felt so clearly by one’s heart. Though the voices of mountain are silence, it is heard by the soul. Social Science 6 Page 3 of 5  The earth is simply soil, a thing to be owned, sold, and used. Yet until one finally understands the sacredness of the land, you will simply exploit it and disrespect it. You will never know how the land sustains your life in a relationship which is so loving yet so precarious. Such is true also in human relationships that will spell either love or lust as the case may be. You will not be able to paint with all the colors of the wind. In other words, you can either bond in intersubjective mutuality or objectivate another by treating it as an object, a commodity to be owned and used. Thus Pocahontas sings, “You can own the earth and still all you own is earth until…you can paint with all the colors of the wind.” In the same vein, we may understand the mind and culture as not automatically seen or felt by the sense perception, though they are just as true and valid. Thus, the mind and the brain are analogous to culture and society.(Atmosfera et al., 2018) Knot Intersubjectivity means we share a subjective experience. Once 2 shared, it is not just “me” who watched a good movie but “WE”. mins. If we don’t have versthen or mutuality, we will not resonate with each other and we cannot communicate and build society. We will just be strangers who cannot work together in society. If we share a culture, then we can understand others’ interiority as well. Thus, we can have unity of heart and mind and accomplish collective learning. Collective learning is a key aspect of human evolution, history, dynamics and change. Language makes communication and interaction possible. Our values make it possible to work together for a common goal. Culture assigns to us the latest trends in fashion, the most requested song, the latest craze in Korea nobela, the memes, the hashtags, the likes, the most viewed YouTube, the political issues, the latest tsismis, in a sea of meanings and interpretations. a TA – time allocation suggested by the teacher b ATA- actual time allocation spent by the student (for information purposes only) Social Science 6 Page 4 of 5 Enrichment Activity Ponder on the following quotes and be ready to discuss next meeting: Susan Wright (1998) contra-poses an understanding of culture as “a contested process of meaning- making,” a process where accumulated meanings are re-worked and stretched in new directions by differently positioned actors with unpredictable inventiveness. Culture, she argues, “is a dynamic concept, always negotiable and in process of endorsement, contestation and transformation”(Wright, 1998). A pdf copy of Susan Wright’s article in Anthropology Today, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Feb. 1998) is available through the link below. The title is “The Politicization of 'Culture'”: https://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/22927858/615014219/name/wright+1998.pdf “So here's the cute and useful metaphor that comes out of all of this: when I refer to "cooking," I am referring to the process of socialization or culture-making. So I'm not saying all cultures eat the same things; I'm saying all cultures transform raw materials into cultural matter(Levi-Strauss, 1983).” References: Atmosfera, B., Zabate, K., & Veridiano, F. (2018). Civic Engagement and Leadership (p. 30-31). Philippine Science High School. Durkheim, E. (1912). The Elementary Forms of the religious life (translated by J. Swain (ed.)). George Allen & Unwin Ltd. Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books Inc. Macionis, J. (1989). Sociology (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall. Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, Self, and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Mills, C. W. (1959). Sociological Imagination. Oxford University Press. Parsons, T. (1951). The Social System. Free Press. Tylor, E. (1871). Primitive Culture. Cambridge University Press. Wright, S. (1998). The Politicization of Culture. Anthropology Today, Vol. 14(No. 1), 5. Prepared by: Ferdinand V. Veridiano Reviewed by: Czesar Ian R. Saul Position: Special Science Teacher IV Position: Special Science Teacher II Campus: PSHS-CARC Campus: PSHS-SRC Social Science 6 Page 5 of 5