WHAT IS CULTURE?

o Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, law, custom, and any other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as member of the society. – Edward Tylor (English Anthropologist)

o Culture refers to man’s social and material inventions, man’s artificial or man-made environment including the
learned ways of doing things.

o Culture refers to the artificial or man-made environment as well as the behavioral aspects of man’s way of life. It
provides prescriptions and proscriptions for group life – the values, customs, norms, rules, laws, and sanctions
for the deviance.

o Culture comprises all the objects, ideas, beliefs, norms of a group of people, and the meanings that the group
applies to each culture element. (Clark, 1988).

◦ Culture is the social heritage of a society. It refers to the customary ways in which groups organize their ways of
behaving, thinking and feeling and which they transmit from one generation to another.

◦ In sum, culture is that 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.

◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

1. Culture is learned – Culture is acquired through education, training and experience.

◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

2. Culture is socially transmitted through language – It is transmitted from one generation to another through the
medium of language, verbal or nonverbal through gestures or signs, orally or in writing.

◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

3. Culture is a social product – Many persons interacting with one another develop culture.

◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

4. Culture is a source of gratification – It provides satisfaction of man’s varied physiological, psychological, social,
emotional and spiritual needs.

◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

5. Culture is adaptive – Through inventions and discoveries man has been able to overcome his limitations to outdo all
other animals.

◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

6. Culture is the distinctive way of life of a group of people – The members of the society have developed their unique
way of life that suits their needs and particular situation.

◦ ESKIMOS

◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

7. Culture is material and non-material – material culture, such as buildings, and machines, are the products or outputs
of the application of man’s knowledge and skills, which are basically non-material.
 ◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

8. Culture has sanctions and controls – These sanctions could be formal or informal.

◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

9. Culture is stable yet dynamic – It is preserved and accumulated, highly stable and continuous. Culture is also
changing. Culture grows and accumulates with the passing of time.

◦ CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

10. Culture is an established pattern of behavior – Members of a certain society act in a fairly uniform, manner because
they share mutual beliefs, customs, and ways of doing things.

◦ COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

NORMS- These are guidelines people are supposed to following their relation to one another;

o They are shared rules that specify what is right or wrong and the appropriate and inappropriate behavior.

◦ COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

They indicate the standards of:

 Propriety

 Morality

 Legality

 Ethics

◦ COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

SOCIAL NORMS:

 Folkways- everyday habits, customs, traditions, conventions of people obey without giving much thought to the
matter

SOCIAL NORMS:

 Mores- norms people consider vital to their wellbeing and most cherished values;

 Special customs with moral and ethical significance

 They are society’s code of ethics, moral commandments and standards of morality

Two kinds of MORES

1. POSITIVE MORES/DUTY/THOU SHALL BEHAVIOR- Duty refers to the behavior, which must and ought to be done
because they are ethically and morally good.

Example: Giving assistance to the poor and the needy; “Thou shall love God above all”

2. NEGATIVE MORES OR TABOO/THOU SHALL NOT BEHAVIOR- societal prohibitions on certain acts which must not be
done because they are not only illegal, but unethical and immoral.

Example: Prohibition against incest, cannibalism and murder

◦ COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

SOCIAL NORMS:
  Laws- formalized norms enacted by people vested with legitimate authority.

- sanctions, rewards and punishments that compel people to obey the norms

Example: Revised Penal Code, Republic Acts, statutes, Batas Pambansa

◦ COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

IDEAS, BELIEFS, VALUES-

IDEAS- are non-material aspects of culture and embody man’s conception of his physical, social and cultural world

Example: idea of model community, idea of an educated person, idea of alternative marriage

◦ COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

BELIEFS- refer to a person’s conviction about a certain idea; perception about reality and includes the primitive ideas of
the universe as well as the scientist’s empirical view of the world.

example: belief in spirits, belief in gravity, belief in life after death

◦ COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

VALUES- are abstract concepts of what is important and worthwhile

-general ideas that individuals share about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable and undesirable.

◦ COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

MATERIAL CULTURE- concrete and tangible objects produced and used by man to satisfy his varied needs and wants.

Example: prehistoric stone tools and weapons, modern spaceships and weapons of mass destruction, burial ground,
factory site, football field

◦ COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

SYMBOLS- object, gesture, sound, color or design that represents something “other than itself”

Example: Cross for Christianity, dove for peace

◦ OTHER SUB-CONCEPTS RELATED TO CULTURE

CULTURAL RELATIVISM- culture differ, so that a cultural trait, act or idea has no meaning or function by itself but has a
meaning only within its cultural setting.

◦ OTHER SUB-CONCEPTS RELATED TO CULTURE

CULTURE SHOCK- the feeling of disbelief, disorganization and frustration one experiences when he encounters cultural
patterns or practices which are different from his.

◦ OTHER SUB-CONCEPTS RELATED TO CULTURE

ETHNOCENTRISM- feeling of superiority for one’s own culture and to consider other culture as inferior, wrong, strange
or queer.

Example: belief of superiority of white race, extreme Japanese nationalism

◦ OTHER SUB-CONCEPTS RELATED TO CULTURE

XENOCENTRISM- idea that foreign is best and that one’s lifestyle, products or ideas are inferior to those of others

Example: mania for imported goods, foreign lifestyles, colonial mentality

NOBLE SAVAGE MENTALITY- the evaluation of one’s culture and that of others based on the romantic notion that the
culture and way of life of the primitives or other simple cultures is better, more acceptable and more orderly.

Example: urbanites say that rural lifestyle is better because they have simple needs, fresher air, food and sunshine

◦ OTHER SUB-CONCEPTS RELATED TO CULTURE

SUBCULTURE- smaller groups which develop norms, values, beliefs and special languages which make them distinct from
the broader society.

Example: Tagalogs, Ilokanos, Mangyans, Dumagats, Catholics, Protestants, teen-agers, senior citizens, urban dweller,
elite of executive village

◦ OTHER SUB-CONCEPTS RELATED TO CULTURE

COUNTERCULTURE OR CONTRA CULTURE- subgroups whose standards come in conflict with and oppose the
conventional standards of the dominant culture.

Example: criminals, drug addicts, prostitutes, gunrunners and terrorists

◦ OTHER SUB-CONCEPTS RELATED TO CULTURE

CULTURE LAG- refers to the gap between the material and non-material culture

Example: Muslims readily accepts modern means of transportation and communication but remain steadfast in the
religious faith;

◦ OTHER SUB-CONCEPTS RELATED TO CULTURE

UNIVERSAL PATTERNS OF CULTUTRE- broad areas of social living found in societies.

- Common to all culture

example: language, religious practice, family, social systems, property, government, mythology

◦ COMMON ELEMENTS IN UNIVERSAL PATTERNS OF CULTURE

◦ dancing, education, food, games, cooking, cooperative labor, sports, ethics, medicine, music

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE

HUMAN BIOLOGICAL NEEDS AND DRIVES

NEED- is a bodily lack deprivation without which the human body stands to perish.

Ex: food, water, air, sunlight, locomotion, rest and sleep, elimination of body waste and sex

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE

DRIVE- is that inner force or internal tension which impels a person to do something to satisfy the need and restore
internal balance or equilibrium

Ex: hunger, thirst and sex drive (natural biological processes)

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE

SOCIETY AND CULTURE DICTATE

 Kind of food to be eaten

 kind of clothing to be worn

 kind of sports and recreation to be engaged in

 kind of person to be taken in as mate

 social conditions for mating

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES- the totality and integration of an individual’s mental and thought processes such as
cognition, perception, memory, emotions and other thinking processes.

- They are conditioned and affected by environment, the society and culture in the place he lives

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE

MAN’S HIGHLY DEVELOPED NERVOUS SYSTEM- clinical and genetic studies have shown that man’s nervous system is
much more developed and complex as compared to that of animals. The biological difference enables man to emerge
with superior intelligence necessary for effective adaptation to his environment and the resolution of the problems of
existence.

◦ He develops learned ways of doing things and fashioned materials from his environment to come up with useful
products of man-made objects.

◦ He develops culture

◦ Culture differentiates man from animals and places him on top of the hierarchy of the animal kingdom

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE

◦ MAN’S HIGHLY DEVELOP VOCAL APPARATUS- man is endowed with a highly complex vocal apparatus for
effective speech or language.

◦ MAN’S UPRIGHT POSTURE- man differs from other animals on account of his upright posture or vertical
position.

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE

◦ PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT- the physical or natural environment greatly affects man’s economic
activities for the satisfaction of his needs and wants.

◦ IT CAN CONDITION MAN TO LIMIT IS CHOICES ON THE AVAILABLE RESOURCES FOUND IN HIS IMMEDIATE
ENVIRONMENT.

◦ OTHER SUB-CONCEPTS RELATED TO CULTURE

◦ CULTURAL DIVERSITY- it refers to differences and variety of beliefs practices, values and meanings to each
culture universal by the members of a society or by different cultural groups.

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR DIVERSITIES OR DIFFERENCES IN CULTURE

◦ CULTURAL VARIABILITY

◦ CULTURAL RELATIVITY

◦ ENVIRONMENTAL DIFFERENCES
◦ HUMAN INGENUITY AND ABILITY TO ABSORB AND EXPAND NEW CULTURE

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR DIVERSITIES OR DIFFERENCES IN CULTURE

◦ CULTURAL VARIABILITY- there are differences in culture because people devise different solutions to problems
of existence. People make choices to satisfy their varied needs.

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR DIVERSITIES OR DIFFERENCES IN CULTURE

◦ CULTURAL RELATIVITY- differences in culture also arise due to differences in beliefs, values, norms and
standards that societies use for interpreting the same or similar cultural trait. Standards of behavior must be
understood within a society’s cultural context.

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR DIVERSITIES OR DIFFERENCES IN CULTURE

◦ ENVIRONMENTAL DIFFERENCES- among the factors that give rise to cultural differences are the kind of one’s
environment, the available human and natural resources, the extent of exposure to other people from whom
they can borrow ideas and their cultural heritage.

◦ FACTORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR DIVERSITIES OR DIFFERENCES IN CULTURE

◦ HUMAN INGENUITY AND ABILITY TO ABSORB AND EXPAND NEW CULTURE- Although human beings are
similarly endowed with the same biological make-up, some people appear to be more adaptive, integrative,
creative and responsive to their natural and social environments. Some people are more inventive: they are risk-
takers and trailblazers, adventurers and innovators with pioneering spirits.