Understanding Culture,

Society, and Politics

 ACTIVITY 1
Directions:
1. Get one whole sheet of paper.
2. Write your name inside the circle.
3. Draw figure 1 on the sheet of paper
4. Write the following information of yourself in the
5 spaces: a. gender b. socio-economic class c.
ethnicity d. religion e. nationality
FIGURE 1
1. What are the similarities and
differences of every individual?
2. Do these similarities and
differences affect the life of the
whole community? Why?
HUMANS AS SOCIAL BEINGS
 The way we live our lives—or should we say, the
way we are being steered to live our lives
presupposes omnipotent forces shaping the very
fabric of our existence. The categories that we
posses as individuals—labels that are ascribed or
given to us individually and collectively—are
testament to the operation of these forces which
leave us unsuspecting of their intrusive and
punitive implications in our lives. Our categories as
male/female, rich/poor, or tall/short and even the
problematic effect of the color of our skin are
evidences of the operation of these social forces.
 Our sociality is defined by the very
categories that we possess, the
categories assigned to us by the society
at large. These labels so to speak,
function, as tags with which our society
read our worth and value. These
categories that we posses are not
natural; rather they are socially
constructed.
IDENTITY
 Identity is the distinctive
characteristic that defines an
individual or is shared by those
belonging to a particular group.
People may have multiple identities
depending on the groups to which
they belong.
 ACTIVITY 2: PINPOINT!
Directions:
Using the picture, identify the concepts that you
can associate with culture, society, and politics.
Write your answers in the graphic organizer.
ASSIGNMENT:

Google about the definitions of culture,

society, and politics.
 ACTIVITY 3
Directions:
Identify the cultural elements of the Philippines
and the USA and then select a partner and share
your answers with each other.
Culture, Society,
and Politics
 A group of people living together
interdependently is called a
society where they share things in
common such as tradition and
belief (culture) with a machinery
that imposes obedience and order
(politics).
CULTURE
 ‘Culture ... is that complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by
man as a member of society.’
Tyler (British anthropologist) 1870:
1; cited by Avruch 1998: 6
 ‘[Culture] is the collective
programming of the mind which
distinguishes the members of one
group or category of people from
another.’
Hofstede 1994: 5
 ‘... the set of attitudes, values, beliefs,
and behaviors shared by a group of
people, but different for each
individual, communicated from one
generation to the next.’
Matsumoto 1996: 16
SOCIETY
 According to Talcott Parsons
Society is a total complex of human
relationships in so far as they grow
out of the action in terms of means-
end relationship intrinsic or symbolic.
 Morris Ginsberg defines society as a
collection of individuals united by
certain relations or mode of behavior
which mark them off from others who
do not enter into these relations or
who differ from them in behavior.
 According to Maclver and Page
society is a system of usages and
procedures of authority and mutual
aid of many groupings and divisions,
of controls of human behavior and
liberties. This ever changing complex
system which is called society is a web
of social relationship.
POLITICS
 Aristotle ( 384-322 BC ) can be
regarded as the first to introduce the
word through his observations about
human politics that he called zoon
politikon.
Interactions that occur within an
institution that is designed to solve social
conflicts and establish state goals.
 Joyce Mitchell in his book Political
Analysis and Public Policy : ” Politics is
the collective decision-making or
policy-making common to the whole
society . ” ( Politics is a collective
decision making or the making of
public policies for an entire society) .
 Karl W. Duetch in the book Politics
and Government : How People Decide
Their Fate : ” Politics is a decision-
making through public facilities . ”
( Politics is the making of a decision by
public means ) .
 Culture, Society
and Politics as
Conceptual Tools
 Culture, society and politics are
concepts. They exist in the realm
of ideas and thoughts. As such,
cannot be seen or touched and yet
the influence the way we see and
experience our individual and
collective social beings.
 Concepts are created and have been
used to have firm grasp of a
phenomenon. Just like any other
words, concepts are initially invented
as icons to capture phenomena and in
the process assist the users/inventors
to describe facets of social experience
in relation to the phenomena
concerned.
 What is interesting about
concepts is that as conceptual
tools, they allow us to form other
concepts, or relate concepts to
each other or even deconstruct
old ones and replace them with
something new.