LECTURES

UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS

THE DISCIPLINES OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

1. Sociology
– the social science that studies human society and social behavior. Sociologists for the most part are interested in social interaction– how people
relate to one another and influence each other’s behavior. Consequently, sociologists tend to focus on the group rather than on the individual. They
do this by examining social phenomena – observable facts or events that involve human society.
2. Anthropology
– study of various aspects of humans within past and present societies
3. Psychology
– Studies behavior and mental processes. Areas of interest include personality, perception, motivation and learning
Social Psychology – the study of how the social environment affects an individual’s behaviour and personality
4. Economics
– analyzing the choices people make in an effort to satisfy their needs and wants
– study the processes by which goods and services are produced, distributed and consumed. In addition, they examine the effects of government
policies on economic growth and stability
5. Political Science
– the examination of the principles, organization, and operation of government. Areas of interests include voting patterns, the concentration of
political power and the formation of politically-based groups.
6. History
– Studies the people and events of the past in an effort to explain current social behaviors and attitudes
Theoretical Perspectives
- 3 broad theoretical perspectives form the basis of modern sociology
- Each one is a lens that presents a slightly different image of society or focuses on different aspects of social life.
1. Functionalist Perspective/ Structural Functionalism
– according to functionalists, society is held together through consensus. Most people agree on what is best for society and work together to ensure that
social systems run smoothly
Assumptions of Structural Functionalism
a. A society is a relatively integrated whole
b. A society tends to seek relative stability
c. Most aspects of a society contribute to the society’s well – being and survival
d. A society rests on the consensus of its members

2. Conflict Perspective – focus on the force in society that emphasizes conflict, competition, change and constraint within a society. Following in the tradition
of Karl Marx, conflict theories are interested in how those who possess more power in society exercise control over those with less power one
Assumptions of the Conflict Perspective
a. A society experiences inconsistency and conflict everywhere.
b. A society is continually subjected to change
c. A society involves the constraint and coercion of some members of society

3. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective – focus on how people use symbols when interacting. This involves imagining how other see things
Assumptions in Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
a. People’s interpretations of symbols are based on the meanings they learn from others
b. People base their interaction on their interpretation of symbols
c. Symbols permit people to have internal conversations

CULTURE AND SOCIAL STRUCTURES

Culture – refers to the knowledge, language, values, customs and physical objects that are passed from generation to generation among members of a group. It helps
explain human social behavior.
material culture – the physical objects that people create and use
Examples: automobiles, books, buildings, clothing, computers, and cooking utensils
nonmaterial culture – abstract human creations
Examples: beliefs, family patterns, ideas, language, political and economic systems, rules, skills and work practices

Culture and Society are tightly interwoven. One cannot exist without the other, but they are not identical.
A society is a group of people who live in a defined territory and participate in a common culture.
Culture is the society’s total way of life

COMPONENTS OF CULTURE
1. Tradition – general term which refers to the customs, rituals, belief, folklore, habits in a given ethnic group
2. Beliefs – ideas, viewpoints and attitudes of the particular group of society
o means by which people make sense of their experiences or ideas that people hold to be true, factual and real
o Examples: usog, sukob, bati, kulam and barang
3. Technology – combinations of objects and rules. Using items of material culture, particularly tools, requires various skills, which are part of the nonmaterial
culture
4. Symbols – range from physical objects to sound, smells, and tastes. It is anything that represents something else. A symbol has a shared meaning attached
to it.
o Illustrations used to represent a particular meaning of something
Examples: kissing the hand of an elderly is a symbol of respect, rings of a married couple denotes commitment, flag
5. Language – one of the most obvious aspects of any culture. It is the organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized system
o form of communication that represents the spoken and written words to convey information to an individual or group of people
o considered one of the greatest invention of man
6. Values – shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable.
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 o Common ethical standards in a civilized society
Examples: saying po and opo
7. Norms – All groups create norms to enforce their cultural values. It is a shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations. These are
expectations for behaviour.
Types:
a. Folkways – are norms that describe socially acceptable behaviour but do not have great moral significance attached to them. It outlines the
common customs of everyday life
Examples: courtship and dating, talking loudly in quiet places, wearing different – colored socks on each foot
Pagkakamay or eating with bare hands
b. Mores – have great moral significance attached to them. These exist because the violation of such rules endangers society’s well-being and
stability
 Long established customs and traditions that have bearing in moral and ethical values of the society
Examples: dishonesty, fraud, and murder all greatly threaten society. These are deviances from cultural mores
Societies have established punishments for violating mores in order to protect the social well-being. These serious mores are formalized as laws
– written rules of conduct enacted and enforced by the government; include rules, regulation and guiding policies of societal institutions

ASPECTS OF CULTURE
a. Dynamic, flexible and adaptive – there is continuous change of culture as new ways of life evolved by the changing conditions of the societal life. There
are cultural practices that are no longer useful today
cultural adaptation – evolutionary process that modifies the social life of the people in the given natural environment
The social evolutionary process is created by the condition of the natural environment that human being constantly adapting on any changes
The biological modifications and adjustments are always flexible to adapt even in the harsh conditions of the environment
The human adaptations use innovative way to create new cultural dimension on its way of life from the cultural transformation of clothing, food,
shelter, music, arts including beliefs, traditions and history
b. Shared and contested (given a reality of social differentiation) – the common notion that “man is a social being” and “no man is an island” defines the
nature of a group
o the culture is shared by the social interaction which may take in many forms to transmit the beliefs, values and expectation of the human society
o the culture works by social dynamism using language, communication technologies and commercial trade
c. learned through socialization and enculturation
cultural transmission or enculturation – best way to describe that culture is learned
- the people acquire information about the culture in many ways. This is done by learning the language and other form of educational information
of the society
o members of the group learn to understand apply certain ideals, values, expectations, beliefs and traditions to the society
o the younger generations readily accept the norms of the society as a part of their education to sustain the societal system within their
family or tribe
o culture is also learned by the language, literature, arts, music and local history that are passed across generation
- usually it is through formal and informal education that the culture is transmitted across generation
- parents provide the early education of their children from the way they live in the family and society
- social influence taken from friends and relatives; advent of modern technology through mass media and internet
d. patterned social interactions – the culture is patterned by specific dimension of social life such as the economic and political activities. These are the
norms of conformity for the human beings to follow in order to meet the psychological and social needs
e. integrated and at times unstable – the culture is different from each other as we must consider the social experiences, traditions, norms, mores and other
cultural ways in the community
- the social interaction of man follows the collective activities with common goals including specific norms, traditions and beliefs which is followed
as a blueprint of its distinct cultural existence in the society
f. transmitted through socialization/enculturation
- the cumulative culture may be passed from one generation to the next
- the culture and tradition are passed on to the succeeding generation by educating the children from all the social life activities
- the transmission of culture is done by giving informal and formal education
g. requires language and other forms of communication
- the communication process uses symbols to identify the given actions, attitudes and behaviors of the people
Cultural Change
- all cultures around the world are constantly changing. Change can occur in both material and nonmaterial culture
Reasons for Change
1. discovery – process of finding something that already exists
2. invention – creation of something new
3. diffusion – spreading of ideas and objects to other societies; borrowing aspects of culture from other cultures. This would involve trading, migration and
mass communication

ORIENTATIONS IN VIEWING OTHER CULTURE

1. Ethnocentrism – viewing one’s own culture and group as superior
- Pertains to the belief that one’s native culture is superior to or the most natural among other cultures
- An ethnocentric person sees and weighs another culture based upon the values and standards of his/her own
Examples: Filipinos are accustomed to honoring and respecting their parents by calling them nanay, tatay; mama or papa and by using po and
opo when talking to them. In this regard, many Filipinos tend to be ethnocentric toward the Western culture
2. Xenocentrism – belief that one’s culture is inferior to another. A xenocentric person usually has a high regard for other culture but disdains his/her own or
is embarrassed by it.
Examples: Many Filipinos prefer imported products rather than locally-made ones thinking that the quality is better if the product is made abroad;
penchant of many Filipinos especially teens for east Asian culture such as Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese; wider popularity of J-pop-,
K-pop
3. Cultural relativism – to avoid highlighting personal biases and assumptions in studying culture, sociologists have endeavored to view other cultures as
neither inferior nor superior;
- practice of viewing another culture by its own context rather than assessing it based on the standards of one’s own culture
- the belief that cultures should be judged by their own standards rather than by applying the standards of another culture
- associated with the value of respect
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HUMAN BIOCULTURAL AND SOCIOPOLITICAL EVOLUTION
- culture and societies exist because of evolution
Evolution – process by which beings develop from earlier beings
Hominization – evolutionary development of human characteristics that made hominids distinct from their primate ancestors
– stage that people have found the first signs of human achievement
1. Homo rudolfensis – first hominid
2. Homo habilis – “handy man”; tool using and making
- Revolution of tool usage
3. Homo erectus – “upright man” ; best represented by the Java man discovered in Indonesia
- had the capacity to manipulate his environment in order to survive
- hunting – this collective activity turned hominids form being herbivores to omnivores
- discovered the fire
- the revolution of fire and hunting
4. Homo neanderthalensis – similar to Homo erectus who walked erect and had big crania
- Wear animal skin and furs to protect them from changing weather conditions
- First to bury their dead
5. Homo sapiens – “wise man”
- Believed to be the first species to alter their environment and utilize their resources
- Bigger and complex brains led them to gain more knowledge about their surroundings
- First to control the growth and breeding of some plants and animals
- Learned how to communicate; symbols and languages were born
- Revolution of language
6. Homo sapiens sapiens – “modern man
- Revolution of technology
Humanization – the long process of improving the human’s everyday living through innovation, discovery, enhancing routines and creating mechanisms with the
intention of harmonizing and harnessing the full potentials of fellow human beings

1. Paleolithic age – derived from two Greek words “palaeo” which means old and “lithic” which means stone, thus it pertains to OLD Stone Period
a. The rough stone tools were used as main weapons and tools such as chisels, knifes, spears and others
b. They lived in hunting, fishing and gathering any fruits available in the forests
c. They were able to use fire which was used to cook their food and to protect them from colds
d. They lived in cave and later learned to build primitive shelter
e. They learned to develop primitive arts, personal ornaments and other art forms
2. Neolithic period – coined with two Greek words “neo” which means new and “lithic” meaning stone
- It is the cultural era where people employed polished stone tools as replacement for rough stons
a. The development of refined stone tools and weapons
b. They made their own house
c. They learned to domesticate animals
d. They learned to use wove clothes as the protection of their skin
e. They began to cut trees which was used as boat and as a means of transportation and fishing in the rivers
3. Age of metals
a. Copper age
- Many of the great civilizations were found to have grown
- Sumerians – Fertile Crescent
- Farming communities emerged bringing in new roles and distinct social divisions
- Since farming is a tedious task it was the male who has the usual responsibility of tilling the lands and woman wielded authority in household
matters
b. Bronze Age
- Sumerians learned how to smelt metal and make bronze
- Discovered sailing, plow for farming
- Sumerians were the first to devise system of counting, calendar and the wheel for pot making and carts
- First recorded form of wring – cuneiform
- Dynasty of kingdoms
- Establishment of city states or sovereign cities
- Cities were ruled by elders
c. Iron age
- Cultural developments led to the discovery of iron in Europe
- Hittites refined iron ore to create weapons, pots
- Greeks began using shadow clocks, holding Olympic games, and breeding philosophy and science
- Glass vessels were used in Egypt and city –states of Mesopotamia, Phoenician developed the alphabet, purple dye
- Growth of military empires

BECOMING A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY

Socialization – primarily consists of processes and techniques observed by members of the society towards an “acceptable, proper and desirable way of living” and
occurs through social interaction and transmission of culture in a particular group
- Helps shape and develop an individual’s personality allowing the person to learn and adopt the culture of the society where he/she belongs
Personality – individual’s way of carrying and presenting his/her attitudes, values and ideas that make up the entirety of the being that the people around him/her see
or perceive
- It is the collective characteristics of a person that distinguish him/her from others
Determinants of Personality Formation
1. Biological inheritance (Nature) – Whatever characteristics a child inherits from his/her parents may shape his/her personality and how he/she reacts to
situations happening around him/he
Example: For example, if a person who has both parents as engineers displays a high aptitude in Math-related disciplines, chances are that he/she enjoys
activities that involve numbers or calculation. He she may also be engaged in related professions such as engineering, accountancy finance and the like
2. Environment (Nurture)
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 a. Geographic environment - The location, climate, topography, and natural resources in one’s society is responsible for the varying experiences
in response to the stimuli posed by the physical world
For instance, Bicol region is frequently visited by typhoons because it is beside the Pacific Ocean. The natural occurrence of typhoons has been
acknowledged as one of the reasons why many Bicolanos are religious. Since this nature’s phenomenon is beyond human control, many
Bicolanos have turned to their faith as a source of “certainty, stability, and assurance of living.”
b. Cultural environment -. It refers to the learned ways of living – the norms, values, and beliefs one gets accustomed to in a society. Early in life
a person incorporates the patterns, values and attitude of the group (whether primary or secondary) he she belongs to into his/her personality
Example: Early in life a person incorporates the patterns, values and attitude of the group (whether primary or secondary) he she belongs to into
his/her personality
c. Social environment - Interactions happening in a particular group are all parts of a person’s environment. One’s role is also a contributing factor
in developing one’s personality
For example, the oldest child in a family may have experiences different from his/her younger siblings- thus the difference in personalities. The
oldest child maybe more responsible than his/her siblings as a response to the call of his/her nature to lead and guide their small group.

Culture and Personality

- Several sociologists argued that among the determinants that affects one’s personality, cultural environment is the main factor that determines
the human behavior
Socialization Process
Family - first environment of socialization
Mother – acts as the first determiner of the child by providing him/her with emotional satisfaction
One goes beyond boundaries of his/her family to create new relationships

SOCIAL PROCESSES
- Repetitive patterns of interaction commonly found in a social life
1. ENCULTURATION
- The manner by which a person learns or adopts the culture followed by his/her co-members in a society
- Example: When parents teach their children about values, norms, traditions and other aspects of their culture
2. ACCULTURATION
- The process in which a person adapts to the influence of another culture by borrowing many of its aspects
- Psychological changes stimulated by cross-cultural imitation
- Immersion in another culture while maintaining one’s mother culture
- Example: OFW in a foreign country; Feng shui philosophy
3. ASSIMILATION
- Similar to acculturation but differ in terms of the person’s adaptation level
- Complete or almost total adaptation of the minor culture to thee major one
- an individual learns a new culture tending to lose entirely his/her previously held cultural identity
- Example: when a Filipino migrates to Canada
4. COOPERATION
- a form of social interaction wherein two or more persons work together for a common end or purpose
- teamwork in a class, bonding among peers, helping family members or relatives, sharing expertise with fellow workers to maintaining peace between
nations through diplomatic negotiations
- In local context it is manifested through bayanihan; Suki relationship between a consumer and a seller
5. DIFFERENTIATION
- ways through which major social spheres become disconnected in order to focus on specialized roles and create a stronger organizational framework
- Process of designating each member of a society with particular functions and roles intended for the society to achieve stability and order, thus the
increase number of social units
- The evidence is the growing intensity of specializations in academes, industries and even in governance
- may be seen in the community of medical practitioners and government agencies
- Experts, technocrats and think-tanks from various fields that provide specific services for the varying needs of the people
6. AMALGAMATION
- happens when two families or groups become one through a formal union
- promotes acculturation and assimilation and is the opposite of differentiation since it reduces the number of social units
- marriage, unions of businesses, political groups and even nations
- ASEAN
7. STRATIFICATION
- the hierarchical arrangement and establishment of social categories that may evolve into social groups
- Division of society into social categories that in turn develop social groups
- mainly based in wealth and income differences
- Involves dividing the members of a society into different strata
- Stratum/social class is made of individuals who possess similar economic, political and cultural interest
- members from different strata have varied privileges, responsibilities, ideas, dispositions, and attitudes toward the society
- In the Philippines, the upper classes residing in subdivisions or exclusive villages are often dubbed as people in “gated communities” or “gated enclaves”;
those who are living in public places
8. CONFLICT & COMPETITION
- Two social processes that are interchangeably used since both suggests vying for a particular resource
CONFLICT – struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power and resource
- Manifests in different forms and levels
- Intrapersonal
- Interpersonal
- Intragroup
- Intergroup
COMPETITION – suggests the struggle between two or more persons or groups that can be translated to innovation in the long run
Example: competition in the Philippine telecommunication companies
“Competition breeds innovation”

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Statuses and Roles
Status – defined as the person’s position in a social system
1. Ascribed – predetermined status which means that an individual with this type of status has no choice to choose his/her potion in the society since this is
what is given to him/her at his/her birth
Examples: race, gender, family membership
2. Achieved – obtained by choice such as club membership educational degree, basketball player, actor
3. Status pairs
a. Complementary – pairs are expected to behave in different but compatible ways
Example: veterinarian requires the existence of a pet owner and his/her pet
b. Symmetrical – two or more holders of the same status are expected to react to one another in similar ways
Examples: friends, enemies, neighbors
Role strain – happens when multiple expectations are required from a single role

Agents of Socialization
Family – prime agent of socialization
Peer group (friends and/or classmates, barkada
School – plays a vital role in one’s socialization, an average person spends most of his/her life in studies
Membership in socio-civic groups such as in church and interest group; workplace
Mass media – television, newspapers radio and the internet
SOCIAL CONTROL AND CONFORMITY
Social Control – mechanisms by which the social behavior of people is controlled to maintain order or to re-establish order once rules have been broken
When a person violates the behavioral norms of his or her society, he/she will be subjected to corresponding social sanctions. These sanctions can be either:
a. Informal sanctions – disapproval, ridicule, gossip or deprivation
b. Formal sanctions – fine, imprisonment or death
Rules must be obeyed for multiple reasons
1. Social rules may be self- enforcing because of their practical utility. Time tested rules can make society work efficiently and harmoniously.
2. Violating social rules has corresponding punishments.
People who violate norms often experience ostracism – one’s exclusion from the other members of society. In the Philippines, gossip or chismis is a form
of ostracism
3. Following social rules bring more rewarding interactions with others. An individual who follows the social standards has more opportunities of establishing
connections, networks and/or influences.
4. Social rules (especially faith-based ones) are believed to be sacred, thus violating it may induce supernatural punishment.
5. Rules are matters of law enforced by the machinery of society.
DEVIANCE – nonconforming behavior; violation of established social norms, whether folkways, mores or laws
Deviants have paved the way for social change. Mathematician, astronomer and Catholic cleric Nicolaus Copernicus deviated from the geocentric belief of the
conservatives during his time, paving the way to the birth of heliocentrism and eventually of the principle of relativity mastermind by another deviant genius – Albert
Einstein.
Forms:
1. Innovation – refers to the use of unadvised or sometimes illegal methods to achieve social goals; individuals acquire the social goals but fail to internalize
the social standards in achieving the said goals
Example: tampering of votes by a politician to win an election and the use of illegal practices by a business executive to gain profit, mArk Zuckerberg hacked
into protected areas of Harvard’s computer’s network to copy private ID images for facebook ancestral site, Facemash. He was expelled from Harvard for
what he had done. However, his act of deviance somehow eventually led to what Facebook is now.
2. Ritualism – rituals strictly observe the norms set by the society. However, in trying to conform generally to the social rules, ritualists tend to forget the
primary reason why they are conforming to it – to achieve the social goals. Ritualism involves the rejection of cultural goals but the routinized acceptance of
the means for achieving the goals.
- rejects goals and accepts or adheres to institutionalized means of obtaining them
- Ritualism is when someone rejects traditional cultural goals, but still adheres to the usual steps to obtaining those goals. Deron is not preoccupied
with the idea of wealth because he does not believe that he could ever become rich with his current occupation. However, he still continues to
work hard and get promoted.
Example: a worker maybe following every rule the company sets but still not able to achieve any goal of the company. In trying hard to implement the
means, he/she loses the goals.
3. Retreatism – happens when individuals try to escape from achieving social goals because they cannot fulfill them.
- Complete rejection of norms
- Drug abusers, alcoholics and criminally insane individuals
4. Rebellion – usually observed in minorities promoting change and introducing alternative values and institutions
- Occurs because of the frustration of people over the norms
- Andres Bonifacio and Jose Rizal were rebels, though they differ in exhibiting their deviance to the Spanish norms.
- terrorist grous like Islamic state (IS) and Abu Sayaff are examples of rebels

HUMAN DIGNITY, RIGHTS AND THE COMMON GOOD

- the primary purpose of creating social institutions is to serve the common good.
- In the Philippines alone, this value has been set in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It is particularly articulated in its Preamble.

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society
and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve
and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and
democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and peace, do ordain and
promulgate this Constitution.
- As a democratic nation, Philippines strongly emphasizes human dignity as its foremost priority to achieve a just and humane society.
- This is most evident in the creation of Bill of Rights, a separate article to ensure the protection of rights and liberties of every Filipino
RIGHTS – privileges and entitlements a person must enjoy in the attainment and protection of his/her human dignity

Article III, Bill of Rights of the 1987 Philippine Constitution - enumerates every Filipino’s rights. This article is designed to protect the individuals against
violations from the government, fellow individuals and institutions. It is a charter of liberties for the individual and it limits the power of the state
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