Culture

- a complex whole, that it contains the knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws, mores, and other capabilities acquired
by man as a member of society.”
- Culture is the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together form a people’s way of
life.

The word culture derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin colere, which means to tend to the
earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture.

Culture is the physical and abstract manifestation of what we have cultivated as a society. Humans have different
cultures according to their geography, social grouping, ethnicity, and many other factors. One of the things that makes
humans interesting is the diversity of cultural variation around the globe.

Characteristics:

- Culture is learnt
- Culture is social
- Culture is shared
- Culture is transmissive
- Culture is dynamic and Adaptive
- Culture varies from society to society

Universalities

- Cultural traits that span across all cultures

Example: every human society recognizes a family structure that regulates sexual reproduction and the care of children.

Generalities

- Cultural traits that occur in many societies but not many of them

Example: in many societies, the family unit includes more than just parents and children. In those cultures, the nuclear
family is embedded in a larger family unit such as extended families, lineages, or clans.

Particularities

- Cultural traits that are not prevalent but are instead confined in a single place or culture.

Example: a country may have a McDonald's Restaurant, but you may not find the traditional American Big Mac on the
menu.

Anthropology

- defined by the American Anthropological Society, or the scientific study of what makes us human. It delves into
human activities, behavior, and societies in the context of the past and present.

Archaeology

- The study of human culture through the analysis, procurement, and preservation of human remains and
artifacts such as tools, pottery, burial sites, etc.

Cultural Anthropology

- The study of the cultural variation among humans and how societies and their culture evolve over time.
Biological Anthropology

- The study of biological variation and how humans adapt to different stimulus such as diseases, climate and
environmental changes, diet, etc.

Linguistic Anthropology

- The study of how societies communicate through signs, gestures, symbols, and sounds.

Sociology - the study of the society.

Society - a group of people who live within some type of bounded territory and who share a common way of life.

Culture - common way of life shared by a society or a group

Micro-sociology: Analyzing small scale social phenomena

Macro-sociology: analyzing large-scale social phenomena

Meso-sociology: analysis of social phenomena in between the micro- and macro- levels.

The most important fields of sociology can be grouped into six areas:

- The Field of Social Organization and Theory of Social Order

The Structural-Functionalist Theory (Émile Durkheim)

- sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability; it states that
our social lives are guided by social structure, which are relatively stable patterns of social behavior

The Social Conflict Theory (Karl Marx)

- This theory sees society in a framework of class conflicts and focuses on the struggle for scarce resources by
different groups in a given society

Symbolic Interactionism (George Herbert Mead)

- Individuals attach meaning to symbols and people act in accordance with their subjective interpretation of those
symbols.

Political Science

- the study of how societies practice politics – the allocation, transfer, and utilization of power in decision making.

Government

- a system of people governing a nation.

Socialization

- The process of learning to behave in a way that isa acceptable to society.

- The process in which characteristics, behaviors, and values of a culture is learned and adapted by a person.

Goals of Socialization:

- Teaches impulse control and helps individuals develop a conscience.

Cultural Identity

- Is one’s feeling of identity or affiliation with a group or culture.

Ethnic Identity

- Identification with a certain ethnicity, usually presumed as common genealogy or ancestry.

National Identity

- An ethical and philosophical concept whereby all humans are divided into groups called nations.

Religious Identity

- the set of beliefs and practices generally held by an individual involving adherence to codified beliefs and rituals
and the study of ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as faith and mystic
experience

Prescriptive Norms - It tell us what to do.

Example: Please turn off the TV when no one is watching.

Proscriptive Norms - It tell us what not to do.

Example: Do not leave the TV on if no one is watching.

Ascribed

- a social position a person receives at birth or takes on involuntarily in life

Achieved

- a social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal identity and effort.

Role strain: tensions within one role. Competing demands within the same social role.

Role conflict: tension between two or more roles. Competing expectations between two roles held by same person

Ervin Goffman - He first articulated the idea of impression management.

Multiculturalism

- the way in which a society deals with cultural diversity

Sociograms

- A diagram representing a person’s or groups social network.

Social Aggregations

- A collection of people who are in the same place at the same time, but otherwise do not necessarily interact.
Social Category

- Collection of individuals who share common characteristic/s but do not necessarily interact with each other.

Social Groups

- Two or more people who regularly interact with similar characteristics and a shared common identity and a
sense of unity.

Types of Social Groups

PRIMARY - Small, characterized by long–lasting relationship which bind the members together more than the goal.

SECONDARY - Can be large or small common interest bind the members together more than their relationship.

REFERENCE - A group that a person considers as ‘ideal’ and uses the group as a standard to measure his/her actions.

Gemeinschaft

- refers to a group of individuals mainly characterized by a sense of common identity, close personal relationships,
and an attachment to traditional and sentimental concerns

Gesellschaft

- refers to a group of people mainly characterized by impersonal relations, formal organization, the absence of
generally held or binding norms, and a detachment from traditional and sentimental concerns