Understanding Culture, Society & Politics

Unit 1: The Study of Culture, Society, and Politics

Name: Lorecelle P. Villaroya Section: HUMSS 12 A

Teacher: Mr. Michael Tarcis Salcedo Date submitted: January 20, 2022

Directions: Write TRUE if the statement is correct, and FALSE if the statement is incorrect. Write your answers inside the
parenthesis.

1. In Sociology, social change refers to the alteration of mechanisms in a social structure. TRUE
2. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one culture is superior or more dominant than others. TRUE
3. In India, the term for non-violent protest is called Visvesvaraya. FALSE
4. During assimilation, alien traits are usually adapted by less-powerful societies. TRUE
5. Transculturation operates at the macro-level. TRUE

A. Compare the Philippines with another ASEAN country of your choice. In the Venn diagram below, list five (5) similar
and different cultural, societal, and political changes that both countries encountered.

PHILIPPINES SINGAPORE

Has ancient
Divorce is not legal Abortion is legal
scripts
Same-sex marriage Divorce takes six months
Abortion is not legal
is not legal to a year to process

Christmas decorations are Taking off of shoes Women-women

up in as early as September when entering the relationship is legal
house
Eating with one’s hands Have multiple Eating with chopsticks
languages without putting them
Pagmamano as a form of upright
Colonized by
respect Japan Bow as a form of respect

B. If you will be given a chance to choose one Filipino cultural, social, or political practice to change, what would it
be? What new custom will you incorporate as a replacement?

One of the Filipino cultures rooted in one’s values that I strongly want to change is the idea that men are
only made for women and vice versa. We live in the time and age where resources are already widely available
to understand the emotions and psychological processes that goes through people’s minds and consequently,
lives. Men are not made for women; women are not made for men. Both sexes are not exclusively made for one
another. If anything, they are made for the world, not for anyone exclusive. I think that the concept of
heterosexuality has allowed us to be a little less human and I strongly think that it is not such a great way to live
this life. As a replacement, I would like to eradicate the concept of exclusivity between sexes because gender is
so fluid you can oft be confused. This is to ensure that everyone will feel valid, be treated right, and get basic
human privileges. Firstly, there are a lot of queer people inside the closet because of how people are not
welcoming of them. I even know some people who were forced to camouflage and be in a relationship with
people of the opposite sex just so they can cover the fact that they are gay. Doing so is not a noble way to live,
but it is the safer route for them than coming out. So to make sure that queer people will not feel like they are
any less than, because they are not and will never be, the concept of “men are made for women” should be
 Understanding Culture, Society & Politics

Unit 1: The Study of Culture, Society, and Politics

thrown down the bin. Secondly, basic human decency is barely given to those who are queer. For instance, they
are deprived of having work simply because of the way they express their sexuality and the way that they
conform in the gender spectrum. It should not be that way. Treating people differently just because they are the
way they are is simply a work of evil, most especially when we opt out of understanding them in the very least.
Queer people are humans too, just like cis people are. Other people just seem to forget this, or turn a blind eye
to this hard fact. The concept of homosexuality is not negative per se, but the way people use it as an excuse to
be rude is. So, I would like to eradicate that.

PROCESS QUESTIONS: (REQUIRED)

1. What specific natural environmental phenomenon drive culture change? Can you name at least three?
Why have you chosen these phenomena?

Three of the natural environmental phenomena that can drive culture change are typhoons,
earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. The reason as to why these phenomena influences change is that they help
in encouraging people to formulate preventive measures, build better foundations, and utilize necessary items
that can help in preparing ourselves for things to come. Firstly, the Philippines is situated in the Southeast Asian
region where Pacific Ocean is just nearby. It experiences various typhoons in a year and with this, people can
have an idea of what can be done to make sure that what happened then could no longer happen now. An
example would be when streets have clogged canals that were barely cleaned before. Because of that, water
can easily reach the surface we are walking at since there are items that hinders its natural flow. When this
happens during typhoons, authorities would hold regular clean up drives to prevent it from happening again,
more often than not. From here, they are doing preventive measures, hence a paradigm shift, because they do
not like the same things to ever happen again. Secondly, earthquakes can show the vulnerability of buildings. It
can also surface the under the table transactions of individuals who misused the funds that were supposedly
used to avail of good-quality materials. Thus, it shows not only the external factors but also the internal
processes that helps in making things worse, more than what the earthquakes caused. Because of this, people
can discern of their behavior and instead of putting money down their pockets, they can build better
foundations to help in saving human lives, property loss, and their mere reputation. Lastly, volcanic eruptions
drive culture change because it introduces us to new necessities we did not even think of stocking up before.
Case in point; face shields and face masks. Pre-pandemic, people from Luzon were already using face masks
because of what happened in Tagaytay. When the pandemic happened, there was scarcity of alcohol, face
masks, and face shields among others. They became necessities when before, they were very irrelevant to
people’s lives. It wasn’t a volcanic eruption that happened when people from Luzon started hoarding face masks
but it was a volcanic activity that made us realize we need items that are not regular for us to avail of. With all
these being said, natural environmental phenomena help drive change because they influence the way we take
care of ourselves better. And I chose these three phenomena because these three are present in the Philippines
the last two years only.

2. In your perspective, how does social change begin? What societal component facilitates the beginning of
social change?
In the tiniest thing, social change begins in ourselves. It begins when we need more things, and basically
require more than what we used to need. Hence, economic activities and all those that happens fluctuatingly in
the environment influence the occurrence of social change. Basically, changes everywhere happen in a ripple
effect. For instance, when natural calamities happen, the demand of people changes so the economy shifts, too.
Consequently, this pushes authorities to formulate regulations that can control people’s behavior so that others
can be given the same resources that they do. So when environmental changes happen, there will also be
societal and political change that follows. Thus, social change begins when some change happens before it.
Every change that ever occur is a product of a change that happened before it, and I think that it is just how
 Understanding Culture, Society & Politics

Unit 1: The Study of Culture, Society, and Politics

things work. For example, a change in the health sector happened when the World Health Organization declared
a pandemic by COVID-19. Because of this change, there was a social change that took place when people’s
behavior changes in the way they go outdoors, dress while outdoors, and frequency of going outdoors.
Consequently, this affects the economy in such a way that there is an increased demand, and society in such a
way that there is an increased inequality. Due to people’s hoarding, there are now others who are deprived of
the same resources they all collected just for themselves. Eventually, this leads the authority to get hold of the
people by doing what they do best; controlling. In toto, social change happens when something changes before
it because every change there is, is interconnected.