SOSC 1 Report Guide

Lesson IV. Culture

Definition of Culture

Culture - It is that complex whole which includes knowledge belief, art, law, morals
custom and other capabilities and habit acquired by man as a member of society.

Edward B. Taylor
- He coined the use of the term Culture (18th Century)
He defined culture as:
-A COMPLEX WHOLE - which includes beliefs, art, morals, laws, customs, and any other
capabilities & habits acquired by men as a member of society.
-SOCIAL HERITAGE - That is transmitted through the course of INTERACTION.
.

Leslie A. White
He defined culture as:
-An organization of phenomena that is dependent upon symbols which include a phenomena,
includes acts (patterns of behavior; objects) tools & things made by whose; ideas (beliefs &
knowledge; & sentiments) attitudes, values.
-with this definition we made the entire way of life followed by a people & everything learned &
shared by people in society.
-It includes all socially standardized ways of seeing & thinking about the world, establishing
preferences & goals, and also consisting of the rules which generate & guide behavior
-More specifically, culture is everything that one must to behave in the ways that are
recognizable, predictable, and understandable, to those people in any society.
-Culture also includes means materials interventions and accomplishments such as tools,
weapons, instruments, etc.
 *Difference between Culture and Society

A.) Sometimes culture and society are interchangeably. While these two concepts are
interdependent and interrelated in that no society can exist without a culture and not culture can
develop without a society, they are not the same.

A society is a group of people bound together in a more or less permanent association

organized for collective activity. A society is made up of individuals who are interacting with
each other in a shared pattern of customs, beliefs, values and traditions. The common pattern to
which they are reacting is the culture of the society.
Culture is a system of behavior shared by members of a society while society is a group of people
who share a common culture.

Classification and Characteristics of Culture

CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
1. Culture is learned.
2. Culture is transmitted.
3. Culture is social and collective.
4. Culture is ideational.
5. Culture is gratifying.
6. Culture is adaptive.
7. Culture is an integrated whole.
8. Culture is shared.

b. Characteristics of Culture (Palispis 1996)

Culture is a product of human behavior.

It is always transmitted through learning.
 It always gratifies human needs.
It always tends toward integrating a society.

1. Learned: Pwedeng matutunan kahit kanino.

2. Adopted: Pwedeng iaccept or ireject.
3. Transmitted: Pwedeng ituro.
4. Shared: Can be shared to others
5. Dynamic / Diversity: Iba-iba and malawak yet we can still understand each other

QUALITIES/ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

1. It is learned.
2. It is transmitted either orally or by writing as well as consciously or unconsciously from
one generation to another or the generation of itself through CONDITION, IMITATION,
and SUGGESTION as well as identification, formal instruction, mass communication;
AND PUNISHMENT & REWARD.
3. It is social- It is a group product, it is shared.
4. It is gratifying, fulfilling
5. It is adaptive because culture is dynamic. No culture is completely static nor permanent
state. Culture is constantly changing.

The first essential characteristic of culture is that it is learned. If a child born in the
Philippines of Filipino parents were moved shortly after birth to Japan and brought up by
Japanese parents, he would develop one of the traits of Filipino culture. Instead he would
manifest all the behavior patterns of the Japanese, including language and dietary practices.

Among the many sources of learning, the most important is usually the family or parents.
Playmates, working companions, schools, churches, books, television, radio, and the like are
additional sources. Although humans, like animals, learn much by simple imitation, many
important parts of culture are taught largely by precepts. One can imagine the number of children
who would fail to survive childhood if they had to learn the danger of poisons by experience
rather than by being warned and scolded.
 The poet, T.S. Eliot argues that not only does the family transmit culture, but that upper-
class families have a unique obligation in that respect. He argues that one of the functions of the
upper-class family is to serve as a model of the essence of the culture of the group. Upper-class
culture is merely an aspect of the culture of the total society. However, the greater leisure,
wealth, and prestige of the upper-class family gives it an advantage both in acquiring a complex
culture and in transmitting it to the young. Eliot feels that without a fairly stable upper-class,
culture will revert to simpler, cruder forms.

The second characteristic is that culture is shared by a group of people. Each person
probably has a few idiosyncrasies, things not done by anyone else within the group. These
individuals habits are not part of the culture because they are not shared, but they could become
so if they were learned by others and became the customary actions of a group.

Third, culture is cumulative. Knowledge is stored and passed on from one generation to
the next, and new knowledge is constantly being added to the existing stock. Each culture has
worked out solutions to the basic problems of life, which it then passes on to its children.

Consequently, the child gains free time to devote to making changes or improvements or
facing the new situations he may encounter. The jeepneys and pedicabs in the Philippines are
good examples of the cumulative quality of culture. Their invention involved the use of materials
which are invented in different place of the world.

Fourth, culture is dynamic. No culture is ever in a permanent state. It is constantly

changing. The changes may be imperceptible, but they are changes nonetheless. The practices of
today will never be the same tomorrow. The dynamic character of culture stems from its
cumulative quality.

A culture is always changing because new ideas and new techniques are added and old
ways are constantly being modified or discarded. This is as true for the most isolated and simple
complex society. The degree of change and the rate of change may vary enormously. Change is
slow in a primitive, isolated society and rapid, but nowhere does the culture of a group remain
static.
 In our age the rapid changes that occur from one generation to the next are brought about
by new cultural ideas being introduced either from within or from without. Those changes that
occur within the society are the result of discoveries or inventions, while those from outside are
brought about through the medium of culture borrowing.

Culture also grows by the spread of traits from individual to individual and from one
group to another. The spread of a cultural trait is called diffusion. Diffusion taking place within
the group is sometimes called primary diffusion. Intergroup or intersociety diffusion is the
passing of traits from one society to another. The term borrowing is used for the group that
receives the new element.

Fifth, culture is diverse. The sum-total of human culture consists of a great many separate
cultures, each of them different. Even in such a basic problem as providing someone to care for
children during the years of infancy and youth, there are a great number of workable alternatives.
People must be careful then to avoid assuming that their way of doing things is the only
practical or right way.

Finally, each culture is a whole, a system with many mutually interdependent parts. For
example, the choice of a marriage partner involves many different parts of culture. Religion,
economic class, education, and ideas of beauty and romance all play a role.

Functions of Culture
c. Functions of Culture (Zulueta 1998)

Culture provides behavioral patterns.

Culture maintains the biologic functioning of the group.
Culture gives meaning and direction to ones existence.
Culture offers ready-made solutions to mans materials and nonmaterial problems.
Culture develops a persons attitude and values and gives conscience.

FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
 Culture defines situations.
Culture is the treasury of knowledge.
Culture provides behaviour patterns.
Culture defines attitudes, values and goals.
Culture models personality.
Culture decides our careers.

Concepts related to Culture

1. Related Concepts

a. Culture Shock--Culture shock is personal disorientation when experiencing an

unfamiliar way of life. It is inability to read meaning in new surroundings
which leaves a person feeling lost and isolated, unsure of how to act, and
sometimes frightened.

b. Cultural Universals--Cultural universals are similarities in the broad areas of

culture. These are norms, values, beliefs, and conditioned emotional responses
shared among members of the society. Examples of cultural universals are:
calendar, cleanliness, training, courtship, dancing, gift giving, hospitality, incest
taboos, and marriage. Factors that contribute to the existence of cultural
universals are biological similarities, necessary prerequisites for social living
psychic unit of mankind and geographic environment.

c. Cultural Diversity (Panopio and Rolda 1988)--Cultural diversity is the wide

range of differences in the various aspects of culture and social organization.
Each culture adapts to its environment in its distinctive way. Factors that give
rise to cultural differences are king of environment with which the society lives;
human and natural resources available within this environment; extent and
intensity of exposure the society has to other from which they can borrow ideas;
and cultural heritage.
d. Ethnocentrism and Xenocentrism--Ethnocentrism is the practice of judging
another culture by the standards of ones own culture. It considers ones ways
as the right, appropriate, and moral way. Ethnocentrism increases ones
appreciation and commitment to ones own culture thereby strengthening group
morale and enhancing group solidarity and individual self esteem. It leads to
nationalism and love of country. Extreme ethnocentrism increases resistance to
change, encourages the exclusion of outsiders who may have something good to
contribute, encourages racism, discourages integration efforts, increases
intergroup hostility and conflict resulting to ingroup-outgroup feeling, and
prevents change that would be beneficial to all (Salcedo et.al. 2001).
Xenocentrism believes that what is foreign is best, and that ones own
lifestyle, products, or ideas are inferior to those of all others. Strong feelings of
xenocentrism cause people to reject their own group.

e. Cultural Relativism--The logical alternative to ethnocentrism is cultural

relativism the practice of evaluating a culture by its own standards. Culture is
relative and no cultural practice is good or bad in itself. It is good if it integrates
smoothly with the rest of the culture. There is no single universal standard to
evaluate any culture. A cultural pattern or trait must be viewed in terms of its
meaning, function or significance in the culture of which it is a part. In such a
way, we develop understanding and tolerance for people in other cultures
(Panopio and Rolda 1988). Cultural relativism requires understanding
unfamiliar values and norms and it is important especially that people of the
world are coming into increasing contact with one another (Macionis 2003).

f. Subculture and Counterculture (Panopio and Rolda 1988--Subculture is the

way of life of a subgroup with a society that is formed on the basis of age, sex,
social class, occupation, religion, or ethnic groupings. The subgroup develops a
unique set of norms, attitudes, and values that give them a distinct identity from
the dominant culture. The norms and values of subcultures or small cultures
may not conform with the dominant or national culture.

g. Counterculture--A subculture that contradicts the norms and values of the

dominant culture.- Its members develop folkways and ideas that may come in
some conflict with the larger culture. Among these are the groups of juvenile
delinquents, drug addicts, criminals, smugglers, or prostitutes.
 .

Lesson V. Philippine Values

VALUES - from the Latin word VALERE. strong and vigorous
JOCANO (2000) - concepts which we use as points of reference or criteria for
recognizing, expressing and evaluating social realities in the environment in terms of:
desirability quality
importance merit
significance price
worth usefulness
STANDARD VALUE
we decide on things depending on some valid criteria that would provide credibility to
pursue such action.
one is guided with his/her own or commonly accepted norms in realizing a particular
end.
its function to direct our way of looking at things towards a desirable result.

Qualities of Values
PHILIPPINE VALUEs
VALUES INCONSISTENCY AND CONFLICT
A) Affective a persons choice is prized and cherished, and the person publicly affirms it.
(e.g. ones valuing his/her professions, but not saying teacher lang po ako)
 B) Behavioural if ones values something, he or she shows this in his or her actions, acts
positively about it, and does it habitually. (e.g. values honestly does not cheat because it is
he right thing to do not because someone is watching)
C) Cognitive something that ones values should be chosen freely from alternatives after
careful thought. (e.g. A woman who decides to marry must have a good reason in doing so.)
BASIC FILIPINO VALUES
1. Emotional closeness and security in a family, however it tends to make the Filipino a
nation of dependent people.
2. Approval from authority and of society.
3. Economic and social betterment. This can be considered a positive value, but negates
itself if one goes to the extent of selling oneself and sacrificing other values.
4. Patience, endurance and suffering.

Filipino Values
1. PHILIPPINE VALUEs.

Value is a word indicating worth. In business it denotes a products desirability in relation

to its price (e,g, carrots are of good value they are nutritious and inexpensive). In other realms,
values are indicated comparatively as in I value saving money more than having a good time.
In brief, value is the worth of something.

In the social sciences, values are deep-rooted motivators of behavior. They define what is
important to us and indicate the course of action we may take when confronted with choices.

TRADITIONAL PHILIPPINE VALUES: AIMS, ASPIRATIONS, AND GOALS

 In recent years, many social scientists have appraised Philippine values. This is not a new
endeavor, as we can glean from Dr. Jose Rizals reactions to the supposed indolence of the
Filipino, from textbooks written by Camilo Osias in the mid-twentieth century and even from the
works of writers during the early Spanish period.

Those values we have designated as Filipino are not unique to the Philippines; they are
found in different countries throughout the world. The justification for designating these values
as Filipino is that they seem to be more influential here than in most other countries.