CULTURE AND SOCIETY:

THE PERSPECTIVES OF ANTHROPOLOGY

AND SOCIOLOGY
GROUP 1

BAUCAN ROJAS CAL ORINE

MALUAG BATION BERNARDO
 DEFINITION OF TERMS
SOCIETY (sociology)
– Constitution of social actors in constant
interaction.
CULTURE (anthropologic)
- a set of practices and traditions that
define a specific society.
The ‘inclusive’ approach to understand the
utility of culture and society as explanatory
tools is hoped to provide an appreciation of their
usefulness that transgresses the traditional
barriers known as disciplinal boundaries.
 SOCIETY AS A CONCEPT
■ ‘SOCIETY’ was coined by
social scientists to
facilitate their
exploration of social
phenomena.
■ Society represents an
ideal type, which more or
less depicts the form,
process, and dynamics of
the social reality it
embodies.
■ It is a tool to grasp the
 SOCIETY AS A FACTILITY
SOCIETY is formally defined as constituting
a fairly large number of people who are
living in the same territory, are relatively
independent of people outside their area,
and participate in a common culture.

SOCIETY is seen as an outcome of multiple

interactions of people upon which succeeding
interactions are made meaningful and
possible.
WHAT MAKES SOCIETY POSSIBLE:
THREE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

1. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL
2. CONFLICT THEORY
3. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

Q: What makes Society

Possible?
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM AND SOCIAL
ORDER
■ Argues that society is made possible by
cooperation and independence

■ This view sees society as a system with

parts, and these parts have their
respective function to perform.

■ The health and condition of the entire

system is dependent on these two process
of fucntions and interdependence
 CONFLICT THEORY AND CONFLICT

■ Instead of putting importance to social

order, the conflict perspective sees society
as an arena. ( Social actors are gladiators
fighting for their very lives. The winner
takes the rewards and is assured of
freedom.)

■ Conflict approach do not take the usual

assumptions about nature and ethos of
conflict. Rather than emphasizing
competition, this view sees conflict as
 CONFLICT THEORY AND CONFLICT
■ Conflict makes change and
dynamism – features of society
that have not been clearly
conceived by the structural
functional theory.

Conflict brings a new set of

relations and interactions, which
produces new dynamism in society.

A: The Conflict theory

invokes the social processes rather
than functions and Interdependence.
 SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM AND
MEANING MAKING
■ Unlike the previous two theories, symbolic
interactionism does not deal with either
order or conflict. Instead, it explores
the issue of meaning - making and why this
is crucial in understanding order or
conflict as processes that brought about
society.

A: The symbolic interactionist

perspective would say symbols and meanings
 THE COMPLEXITY OF CULTURE
■ CULTURE is people’s way of life.
■ (E.B. TAYLOR) “THAT COMPLES WHOLE, WHICH
ENCOMPASSES BELIEFS, PRECTICES, VALUES,
ATTITUDES, LAWS, NORMS, ARTIFACTS, SYMBOLS,
KNOWLEDGE, AND EVERYTHING THAT A PERSON LEARNS
AND SHARES AS A MEMBER OF SOCIETY”
■ The “COMPLEX WHOLE” in the above paragraph
suggests that culture cannot be simply broken
down into a set of attributes.
■ It means that an understanding of a part can
only be achieved (or is only possible) in
relation to the other parts of the system.
 THE WHAT, HOW, AND WHY OF
CULTURE
■ WHAT – Actions, artifacts, language
and behavior that characterize a given
culture.
■ HOW – identifies the processes that
guarantee the transmission and
dissemination of the contents
■ WHY - Pinpoints the reasons why
individuals comply and the mechanisms
that facilitate the performance of
expected behaviour.
 ENCULTURATION AND THIRD
CULTURE SHOCK
■ ENCULTURATION
– refers to the gradual
acquisition of the characteristics
and norms of a culture or group by
a person, another culture, etc.
- Starts with actual exposure
to another culture and the
duration and extent of exposure
account for the quality of the
resulting enculturation. (Ex. THIRD
CULTURE SHOCK)
 ASPECTS OF CULTURE
■ E.B. TAYLOR
– English Anthropologist
– Was the first to coin
the term ‘CULTURE’ in
the eighteenth century
– The study of society is
incomplete w/o proper
understanding of the
culture of the society
because culture and
society go together.
 DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE

■ B. Malinowski
– “The handwork of man
and the medium through
which he achieves his
ends”
 ■ V. de Robert
– “the body of thought and knowledge, both
theoretical and practical, which only man
an posses”
– R. Redfield
■ “an organized body of conventional
understandings manifest in art which persisting
through tradition, characterizes a human group”
 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
■ “way of life” “design for living”
■ Kluckhorhn & Kelly
– “ A culture is a historically derived system
of explicit and implicit designs for living,
which tends to be shared by all or specially
designed members of a group”
Explicit Culture
- refers to similarities in words and actions
which can be directly observed.
Implicit Culture
-exists in abstract forms which are not quite
obvious
 ESSENCES OF CULTURE AS A
SYSTEM
1.Super-Organic – the same physical
objects may constitute a variety of
quite different cultural objects and
cultural characteristics
2.Integrated – its various parts are
integrated with each other and any
new element introduced is also
integrated
3.Pervasive – it spreads throughout
different social activities and
institutions
 7 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

1.Culture is social because it is the product

of behavior.
– Culture does not exist in isolation, but
it is a product of society, and develops
through social interaction
– Culture learnings are the product of
behavior
 7 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
2.Culture varies from society to society.
– Every society has a culture of its own
that differs from other societies
– Cultures and cultural elements like
customs, traditions, morals, values and
beliefs are not uniform
– Culture varies from time to time as well
– Culture is a human product; it is not
independently endowed with life
 7 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
3.Culture is shared.
– Culture is not something that an
individual alone can possess
– Customs, traditions, beliefs, ideas,
values, morals, etc. are all shared by
people of a group or society
– Persons may share some part of a culture
unequally
– Sometimes people share different aspects
of a culture
 7 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
4.Culture is learned.
– Culture is often called “learned ways of
behaviour”
– However, not all behaviour is learned,
but most of it is learned
– Sometimes the terms “conscious learning”
and “unconscious learning” are used to
distinguish the learning
– Obvious behaviours are called “overt”
behaviors while less visible ones are
called “covert” behaviors
 7 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

5.Culture is transmitted among members of

society.
– The cultural ways are learned by persons
from persons
– Culture is transmitted from one
generation to another
– Transmission of culture is made possible
by the main vehicle of culture: Language
– Transmission of culture may take place by
imitation as well as by instruction
 7 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
6.Culture is continuous and cumulative.
– Culture exists as a continuous process,
and in its historical growth, it tends to
become cumulative
– There are subcultures within a culture
■ Subcultures – clusters of patterns which are
both related to the general culture and yet
are distinguishable from it
– There is one fundamental and inescapable
attribute of culture: the fact of unending
change
 7 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
7.Culture is gratifying and idealistic.
– Culture provides proper opportunities for
the satisfaction of our needs and desires
– Culture determines and guides various
activities of man
– It is the sum-total of the ideal patterns
and norms of behavior of a group
– Culture consists of intellectual, artistic
and social ideals and institutions which the
members of the society profess and to which
they strive to confirm
 4 FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
1.Culture defines situations.
– Each culture has many subtle cues which
define each situation
– One does not know what to do in a situation
until he has defined the situation
2.Culture defines attitudes, values, and
goals.
– Each person learns from his/her culture what
is good, true, and beautiful
– Attitude, values and goals are defined by
the culture
 4 FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
3.Culture defines myths, legends, and the
supernatural
– Myths and legends are important parts of
every culture
– Culture also provides the individual with a
ready-made view of the universe
– The nature of the divine power and the
important moral issues are defined by the
culture
 4 FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
3.Culture provides behaviour patterns.
– Culture lets people find a ready-made set of
patterns awaiting them which they need only
to learn and follow
– If people use culture to advance their
purposes, it is clear that a culture imposes
limits on human and their activities
 ETHNOCENTRISM
■ “ethno” comes from the Greeks and it refers to
people, nation, or cultural grouping; while
“centric” comes from Latin and refers to the
center
■ Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency of each
society to place its own culture patterns at
the center of things
■ It is the practice of comparing other cultural
practices with those of one’s own and
automatically finding those other cultural
practices to be inferior
 ETHNOCENTRISM
■ Ethnocentrism is a term coined by William
Graham Sumner
■ It is the belief that your native culture is
the most natural and superior way of
understanding the world
■ This is a typical situation due to lack of
information about other cultures
■ Ethnocentrism is a universal human reaction
found in all known societies, in all groups,
and in practically all individuals
 FUNCTIONS OF ETHNOCENTRISM

1. Ethnocentrism encourages the solidarity

of a group
2. Ethnocentrism hinders the understanding
or the cooperation between groups
3. Ethnocentrism becomes a vehicle for the
promotion of social change
 WHEN DO WE BECOME ETHNOCENTRIC
AND WHAT IS OUR WAY OUT

1. When you judge the behavior and beliefs of

people who are different from you
– Way out: you must stop judging others who are
different from you
2. When you believe that there are primitive
cultures, especially if their way of life is
different from yours
– Way out: Ethnocentrism is taught. You have to
unlearn that your culture is superior and all
other cultures are inferior
 WHEN DO WE BECOME ETHNOCENTRIC
AND WHAT IS OUR WAY OUT

3. When you believe that some cultures are

backward if they lack the technology and
consumerism of your own culture
– Way out: Remember that there are no primitive
or backward cultures. All cultures provide
their members with the means for meeting all
human needs
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM
■ Cultural relativism is the idea that all
norms, beliefs, and values are dependent on
their cultural context and should be treated
as such
■ Cultural relativism promotes greater
appreciation of the cultures one encountered
along the way
■ It is a good way to rehearse the norms and
values of society – a requirement that one
must subscribe to regardless of his/her
cultural origin
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM
■ The concept of cultural relativism does not
mean that all customs are equally valuable,
nor does it imply that no customs are harmful
■ The central point in cultural relativism is
that in a particular cultural setting certain
traits are right because they work well in
that setting while other traits are wrong
because they would clash painfully with parts
of that culture
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM

■ Appreciation of other cultures may be

for two complementary reasons:
1. Acquisition of sufficient knowledge
about the culture in question
2. Direct exposure to other cultures
 XENOCENTRISM AND XENOPHOBIA

■ Xenocentrism refers to a preference

for the foreign
■ It is characterized by a strong
belief that one’s own products,
styles, or ideas are inferior to
those which originate elsewhere
■ Xenophobia is the fear of what is
perceived as foreign or strange
■ It may include fear of losing
identity, suspicion of the other
group’s activities, aggression, and
the desire to eliminate the
presence of the other group’s
activities
 CULTURE AS HERITAGE
■ Culture have tangible and intangible components
■ Tangible ones are those that are produced and
created based on specific and practical purposes
and aesthetic value
■ Intangible heritage may be associated with
events, our national anthem, and literary
creations such as music, dances, and others
■ Preservation of heritage is tantamount to
protecting them from external threats such as
destruction, mutilation, and desecration through
frivolous use/representation
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!