Week 3 Social Cultural & Political Change & Cultural Relativism PDF

Social, Cultural and Political Change Activity 1 Direction: Using the table, describe yourself during your elementary, Junior High School and now in Senior High School. Compare the descriptions that you have written. Are they similar? Why? Why not? Activity 2 Briefly describe the changes that had...

Social, Cultural and Political Change Activity 1 Direction: Using the table, describe yourself during your elementary, Junior High School and now in Senior High School. Compare the descriptions that you have written. Are they similar? Why? Why not? Activity 2 Briefly describe the changes that had taken place based on the pictures. What is it? What is social and cultural change? What is political change? Can you give examples of these changes?  Social and Cultural Changes Social change is the transformation of social institutions over time. Cultural change, on the other hand, is the transformation of culture or the way people live. Communication is a vital human process. Through communication, people exchange information and thoughts. Nowadays, communication is made easier, people can share information in just a click. New media−social networking, text messaging, e-mail, and the like−have defied time and distance. While it makes the world seem borderless, this form of communication may produce individuals who lack the basic understanding of direct and personal connections.  Political Changes Political change happens when the rulers of a country lose power or when the type of governance in the country changes. Governance is the kind of system or ideology used to express authority in a country. It may be a democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, and others. Difference Between Social and Cultural Change There is a great confusion about social and cultural change. Some early textbook writers have made distinction between social change and cultural change, while others have considered these two terms as one and the same thing. Such writers have used these two terms synonymously. For the writers like Gillin and Gillin (1954) and Dawson and Gettys (1948) there is no difference between social and cultural change.  Difference Between Social and Cultural Change According to Dawson and Gettys, “cultural change is social change, since all culture is social in its origin, meaning and usage”. Similarly, Gillin and Gillin wrote: “Social changes as variations from the accepted modes of life, whether due to alterations in geographic conditions, in cultural equipment, composition of population, or ideologies.” For these writers, social change is a part of cultural change. Cultural change is broader than social change which envelops social change also in its fold. For them, society is the product of culture. “Culture tends to give direction and momentum to social change and to set limits beyond which social change may not go” (Dawson and Gettys, 1048).  Difference Between Social and Cultural Change Really speaking, both types of changes have as much difference as it exists between society and culture. Sociologists use these terms (society and culture) to convey different meaning and sense. Clarifying the difference MacIver and Page (1959) writes: “Social change is a distinct thing from cultural or civilization change…. cultural change includes change in ideology, administrative system, technology etc.” Cultural change indicates changes in the accepted mode of life, habit patterns, and the life-style.  Difference Between Social and Cultural Change These changes may include such things as the invention of the automobile, TV, changing concepts of property and morality, new forms of music, art, or dance or the trends of sex equality. For Davis (1949), “social change is only a part of a broader category of change called ‘cultural change’ cultural change refers to all changes occurring in any branch of culture including art, science, technology, philosophy etc., as well as changes in the forms and rules of social organizations”. In a nutshell, it may be said that social change refers specifically to alterations in social relationships among people in groups, whereas cultural change refers to change in material and non-material cultural elements both.  Mechanism of Change There are different mechanisms or tools involved in social and cultural changes. 1. Diffusion - is the process through which the cultural traits of one society are borrowed, transmitted, and adopted by another and considered as its own. Examples: Migration Globalization  Mechanism of Change 2. Invention - is the process where new cultural elements are created to solve social and cultural problems. Example: Internet  Mechanism of Change 3. Discovery - is the process where people recognize or gain a better understanding of already existing elements present in the environment. Example: Scientific research Some of the foreign bloggers and other foreigners choose to stay in the Philippines because they learned our culture and found out that we have nice culture.  Activity In a whole yellow paper, identity what mechanism of change is involved in the following. Explain your answer. 1. Globalization 4. Mobile phones 2. Internet 5. Social media 3. Research The Importance of Cultural Relativism In Attaining Cultural Understanding  What is Culture? the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. Activity 1. Picture Analysis Observe the picture. What problem is being emphasized in the following pictures? Analyze this given line… “One has to abide by the ethical norms of the culture where one is located.” 1. Have you experienced being judged or discriminated? 2. How will you show respect to persons who have different culture from you? Analyze this given line… “One has to abide by the ethical norms of the culture where one is located.” 1. Have you experienced being judged or discriminated? 2. How will you show respect to persons who have different culture from you?  Cultural Relativism Cultural relativism is a principle that an individual person’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual’s own culture. It was established and accepted in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the 20th century and later popularized by his students.  Cultural Relativism It refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right or wrong, strange or normal. Instead, we should try to understand cultural practices of other groups in its own cultural context. In other words, right and wrong are culture-specific. What is considered moral in other society may be considered immoral in another, and since no universal standard of morality exist, no one has the right to judge another society’s customs to be correct or incorrect.  Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism, in contrast to cultural relativism, is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one’s own culture. According to William G. Sumner, ethnocentrism is defined as the “technical name for the view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it.” He further characterized it as often leading to pride, vanity, beliefs of one’s own group’s superiority and contempt of outsiders.  Ethnocentrism Ethnocentric individuals born into a particular culture that grow up absorbing the values and behaviour of the culture will develop a worldview that considers their culture to be the norm (standard). They judge other group or culture specially with concern to language, behaviour, custom religion etc.  Ethnocentrism For example, as you can see in the picture below, we have here an American woman dressed in a bikini and another woman dressed in Islamic way which is pretty much conservative than the other woman. They are viewing each other’s clothing in terms of their own cultural beliefs and practices. The American woman in the bikini walking down the street looks at the Muslim woman in her dress and says, “Everything covered but her eyes, what a cruel male- dominated culture!”. She is viewing that woman’s clothing choices in terms of her American culture which doesn’t fit to the culture that the Muslim woman is a part of. While the Muslim woman looks back at the American woman and says “Nothing covered but her eyes, what a cruel male-dominated culture!” She is also being ethnocentric and looking at American woman in terms of her own culture. As oppose to both of these women, instead say “Oh, the way that she is dressing is a product of her own cultural beliefs and views” is cultural relativism. To sum up, cultural relativism is the practice of viewing the beliefs, values and practices of a culture from its own viewpoint rather than being ethnocentric and viewing the beliefs, values and practices from your own viewpoint.  Ethnocentrism Another example is a racial discrimination of a black girl in school. She was judged by the color of her skin. During the exploration period the discrimination against black and white was a major controversial issue. They believed that the darker a person is, the dirtier and impure they are. That is what an ethnocentric person would say but a cultural relativist will not. How Cultural Relativism Mitigates Ethnocentrism It is widely believed in the field of sociology that ethnocentric behaviour may be mitigated through the recognition and application of cultural relativism. A person can practice cultural relativism by recognizing that our culture shapes what we consider to be beautiful, ugly, appealing, disgusting, virtuous, funny, and abhorrent and that this should not be the basis for evaluating other culture. Cultural relativism shapes our understanding of different issues in the society as to why certain religion believe in this and other not, or how come this group eat this type of dish, wear this weird clothing , sing and dance along with music while others prefer not to. What we need is an open heart and unbiased and critical mind, exposure, education, and involvement in activities, programs supporting and recognizing the uniqueness and beauty of every culture for us to truly grasp what cultural relativism means. How Cultural Relativism Mitigates Ethnocentrism It is widely believed in the field of sociology that ethnocentric behaviour may be mitigated through the recognition and application of cultural relativism. A person can practice cultural relativism by recognizing that our culture shapes what we consider to be beautiful, ugly, appealing, disgusting, virtuous, funny, and abhorrent and that this should not be the basis for evaluating other culture. Cultural relativism shapes our understanding of different issues in the society as to why certain religion believe in this and other not, or how come this group eat this type of dish, wear this weird clothing , sing and dance along with music while others prefer not to. What we need is an open heart and unbiased and critical mind, exposure, education, and involvement in activities, programs supporting and recognizing the uniqueness and beauty of every culture for us to truly grasp what cultural relativism means. How Cultural Relativism Mitigates Ethnocentrism Cultural relativism leads to the view that no culture is superior to another culture in terms of systems of morality, beliefs, values, law, politics, etc. We should not assume that all of our preferences are based on some objective moral standard. It’s a good idea to keep an open mind when we encounter practices different from our own. Is there such a thing as the best culture? Why?  Assignment Bring bond paper for poster making  Activity Direction: Make a poster that shows understanding and respect for other’s culture. Use short bond paper. Output is graded according to this criteria: Relevance to the topic - 30 points Originality - 50 points Attractiveness - 20 points 100 points Cultural relativism leads to the view that no culture is superior to another culture in terms of systems of morality, beliefs, values, law, politics, etc. We should not assume that all of our preferences are based on some objective moral standard. It’s a good idea to keep an open mind when we encounter practices different from our own.