Culture

 Derived from the Latin word culture which means care or from cultus which means civilization
 It may be thought of as a design for living or a ‘road map” that guides behavior
 It is man’s social heritage
 It is the design or recipe for living

Types of Culture

 Material culture – includes physical objects or artifacts- concrete and tangible things that human
beings create
 Nonmaterial culture – consists of words people use, their habits, customs, ideas, beliefs, laws,
lifestyle, and knowledge

Components of Culture

1. Norms – guides or models of behavior which tells which is proper and which is not, right or wrong.
These exist in the forms of rules, standards or prescriptions. The following are forms of social norms:

 Folkways – customary patterns of everyday life, repetitive or typical habits, considered as the
right way but not rigidly enforce.
 Mores – considered as extremely important, defines what is morally right or morally wrong, have
ethical and moral significance and are strongly held and emphasized. Examples are standards on
sex behavior, family relations, attitudes towards authority , religion
 Laws - norms that are enforced formally by the police, courts, they are enacted by the people,
they regulate and control people’s behavior, results from conscious thoughts and deliberative
planning, more adaptable to changing conditions

2. Values – abstract concept of what is important and worthwhile. They are the basis of our judgment, of
what we consider as good, desirable and correct By analyzing the norms of society, one can determine
the basic values of that society. The following are the major value orientation of Filipinos:

a. Emotional closeness and security in the family b. Authority value c. Economic and social betterment d.
Patience, suffering and endurance

3. Language – refers to a system of symbols that have specific and arbitrary meaning in a given society.
Through this, we can transmit our leaning to others

4. Knowledge – total ranged of what has been learned or perceived as true. This is accumulated through
experience, study or investigation. What is considered to be true though may change. Knowledge can be
classified as: a. Natural – facts about biological and physical aspects of the natural world b. Supernatural
– actions of gods and goddesses, demons, angels c. Magical – influencing supernatural events by
manipulating certain laws of nature d. Technical

5. Beliefs – embodies peoples’ perception of reality resulting from one’s experiences about the physical,
biological and social world

6. Fashions’ Fads and crazes – short-lived social norms like style of clothing, bags, hairdo

Levels of cultural Participation

Men do not participate in all the contents of the culture. The levels of participation of the members of a
society vary depending on age, sex and occupation. Linton classified the levels of cultural participation:

1. Culture universals – culture traits and patterns shared by all members of society

2. Specialties – confined to certain subgroups which often requires special skills or trainings, not shared
by the total population

3. Alternatives – permits a certain range of choice in human behavior , shared by some individuals but
are not common to all members of society

Modes of Acquiring Culture

1. Imitation

2. Indoctrination

3. Conditioning

Cultural Variability

1. Relativism – an attempt to judge behavior according to cultural context, there is no universal standards
for what is right or wrong, standards are relative to the culture in which they appear

2. Ethnocentrism – tendency of members of society to judge their culture as the best and use their own
standards in judging other’s behavior

Other concepts of cultural significance

1. Culture shock people of one culture become upset when they encountered people of different culture
2. Cultural lag - inability of a given society to adopt a culture immediately 3. cultural dualism – existence
of a combination of two or more cultural influences