LESSON 4: SOCIETY AND CULTURE

CHAPTER 1: SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND POLITICS

LESSON 4: SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Cultural Universals

                 All cultures share patterns or traits that are quite common to all societies across the globe.

George Murdock

                 Cultural universals often revolve around basic human survival or around shared human experiences

                 565 Cultures – World Ethnographic Sample, 1957

ORIENTATIONS IN VIEWING OTHER CULTURES

Ethnocentrism

                 The belief that one’s native culture is superior to or the most natural among other cultures. The term was first coined by William Summer using two words: Ethno – Ethnicity

Centrism – Center of all cultures. There are two possible things to happen: Cultural Imperialism - deliberate imposition of one’s own cultural belief on another culture, and; Culture Shock - The difficulty to adapt to the new cultures and may feel severe confusion and disturbance.

Xenocentrism

                 The belief that one’s culture is inferior to another.

Cultural Relativism

                 The practice of viewing another culture in its own context rather than assessing it based on the standards of one’s own culture. It reminds everyone of the importance of cultural tolerance, especially in a globalized age where interaction is considered most important.

REFERENCE:

Abuencia, A., Padernal, R., 2016, Social Dynamics A Worktext on Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics, Brilliant Creations Publishing, Inc.

LESSON 3: CULTURE

CHAPTER 1: SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND POLITICS

LESSON 3: CULTURE

Anthropology

                 The etymology of the word Anthropology came from two Greek words Anthropos meaning “Human Being” or “Humankind” and Logos which means study. It is the study of what makes us human or the scientific study of humankind. It is all about the culture, origin, race, and beliefs that affect the daily lives of early people. There are four subfields of Anthropology: Archeology, Biological Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, and Linguistic Anthropology.

Culture as defined by famous people:

                 Culture is the complex whole that encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, and knowledge that a person learns and shares as a member of society. – Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, 1871

                 Culture refers to an organization of phenomena that is dependent upon symbols and includes acts, objects, ideas, and sentiments. It transcends among different groups, regardless of age, gender economic status, and affiliations. – Leslie A. White, 1995

                 Culture is a system of ideas, feelings, and survival strategies shared in a particular group. It is the structure that unifies a human group and gives it an identity as a society. – Richley Crapo, 2001

                 The differences in the perceptions of things define the reality of people, and often that which governs our actions is not what we actually see but what we believe.  - Chester Hunt, Sociology in the Philippine Setting, 1954

Aspects of Culture

·         Culture is dynamic, flexible, and adaptive.

·         Culture is shared and contested

·         Culture is learned and transmitted through socialization or enculturation

·         Culture is a set of patterned social interactions

·         Culture is integrated and at times unstable

·         Culture requires language and other forms of communication

Material Culture

                 Material inventions and innovations such as tools, weapons, instruments, and the like. It reveals insights into society’s conditions and its adaptation to challenges and threats to maintain stability and order.

Nonmaterial Culture

                 Refers to intangible ideas that form within a society, including beliefs, perceptions, and traditions.

Subculture

                 Defined as a modified culture within a larger culture practiced by society.

                 Ex. Beliefs, Lifestyles

Counterculture

                 It is a type of subculture that rejects some of the larger culture’s norms and values.

                 Ex. Feminism, Protests, Cold War

Ideal Culture

                 Ways which people describe their way of life.

Real Culture

                 Refers to the actual behavior of people in society.

Elements of Culture

·       NORMS – Society’s standards of acceptable behavior

o   Folkways - Accept as the proper way of dealing with their everyday living and social interaction

o   Mores - Valued folkways that involve moral or ethical values

o   Laws - Formalized mores that are legislated, approved, and implemented in a society

·        BELIEFS – Make sense of experience, ideas holds to be true, factual, and real

·        SYMBOLS - Illustrations used to represent a particular meaning of something.

·    LANGUAGE – System of symbols utilize to communicate, interact, and share their views, creating understanding among individuals

·    VALUES – Help shape a society by suggesting what is good and bad, beautiful and ugly, sought or avoided

·      SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS – Organized system of social relationships which embodies certain common values and procedures

REFERENCE

 Abuencia, A., Padernal, R., 2016, Social Dynamics A Worktext on Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics, Brilliant Creations Publishing, Inc.

LESSON 2: SOCIETY

CHAPTER 1: SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND POLITICS

LESSON 2: SOCIETY

What is Society?

            It is defined as a group of people living together in organized communities, following common laws, values, values customs, and traditions. The term was first used in the mid-16^th century, originating from the Latin words socius and societas, which mean “companion” and from the French term Societe, meaning “companionship.”

Society and Individualism

            In an interview with Douglas Keay of Woman’s Own Magazine in 1987, Great Britain’s former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher gave this popular statement:

“There is no such thing as society; there are individual men and women, and there are families.”

            Thatcher’s assumption that society did not exist had caused antipathy and debates among many scholars. They believed that Thatcher promoted individualism, which states that all values, rights, and duties come from each individual. In this belief, an individual must be politically and individually independent, with little or no influence from the society the person is in.

            From a Sociological perspective, Individualism is an illusion.

            Indeed, Thatcher’s statement rings of individualism. However, many scholars also supported her statement, saying that people only misquoted its full context. Her interview also included the following remarks.

“And no government can do anything, except through people, and people must look to themselves first. We must look after ourselves and then, also look after our neighbors. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There’s no such thing as an entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation.”

Social Institutions

            American Sociologists Paul Horton and Chester Hunt (1964), INSTITUTIONS as an organized system of social relationships that represent a society’s common values and procedures.

6 Generally recognized institutions in every society

Family - the foundation of society

Education - preserve, and transfer culture and identity.

Economy - production and allocation of scarce resources and services

Government - states policy and law to enforce

Media - Circulation of vital information

Religion - beliefs that explain the meaning, origin, and purpose of life

REFERENCE:

Abuencia, A., Padernal, R., 2016, Social Dynamics A Worktext on Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics, Brilliant Creations Publishing, Inc.

LESSON 1: DEFINING ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

CHAPTER 1: SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND POLITICS

LESSON 1: DEFINING ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIETY, AND POLITICS

Anthropology

              Dubbed the “Science of Humanity”, anthropology is the study of human beings, their origin, their societies, and their cultures. It rooms its observations to the origin of humans to understand fully the societies and cultures of human organisms through time. It branches into two subdivisions: Social Anthropology which studies humans about societies; and Cultural Anthropology, or the study of human cultures.

Sociology

              Sociology is the scientific study of a society – its origin, development networks, and functions. Its primary purpose is to explain how different elements in the environment affect and influence the growth and life of a person. The term was first coined by French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes in 1780 and was later defined by French philosopher and “Father of Sociology” Auguste Comte in 1838.

Political Science

              The study of politics, its institutions, and processes, is called political science. It covers matters relating to the allocation of power, the roles and systems of governance, political behavior, and public policies.

REFERENCE:

Abuencia, A., Padernal, R., 2016, Social Dynamics A Worktext on Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics, Brilliant Creations Publishing, Inc.