MODULE 2 DEFINING CULTURE AND SOCIETY

The learners are able to:

1. Explain anthropological and sociological perspectives on culture and society (UCSPC11DCS-Ic-6)

2. describe society and culture as a complex whole (UCSPC11/12DCSIc-7)

LESSON 1 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ABOUT CULTURE AND SOCIETY

 
 Culture is a controversial concept among social scientist especially anthropologists. Many scholars
differ in their respective definitions of culture relative to the school of thought they belong.

Here are some definitions of culture given by scholars:

 Raymond Williams, a British literary scholar define culture as ordinary. (This means that all
societies have a definite way of life, a common way of doing and understanding things.)
Culture is like soup and air that people breathe. It is impossible to stand outside culture. (That
culture is something we breathe and live with and not something we can choose to wear
outside our bodies and skin.) Culture is both given and created new by each individual and
generation.
 Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, a British anthropologist, define culture as “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”.( Tylor attempted to demonstrate that culture evolved
from simple to complex.)
1. FUNCTIONALIST THEORY defines culture as a whole that provides an overarching system of
meanings to what people do. This viewpoint believe that culture meets human needs, from basic needs
for food and shelter to the higher needs for psychological security, social harmony and spiritual
fulfillment. Culture ensures social order and stability because it helps explain perplexing cultural
practices. This theory believe that culture bind the people that cause peace, harmony and stability.

(This view believes that culture is needed by the people in order to create society. Culture has
role/functions for human. It does not exist naturally it exist because it has a purpose for every
individual. For example: Hindus tradition of wearing nose piercing and bindi or bindu which is a small
red dot in the forehead. In some regions it means that the woman is married while in some areas it
means that they are in marriageable age and marks her as ready for husband. While in other countries
nose piercing is viewed as a sign of rebellion mostly with the teenagers)

2. CONFLICT THEORY
This theory discusses that culture dominates the poor and powerless through manipulation and
support of the status qou of social inequality. It argues that culture generate enormous inequality
through giving benefits to some groups at the expense of others.
(This theory view social structure as inherently unequal based on power differentials related to issues
like class, gender, race, and age. This view contrasts with the perspective of functionalism. For a
conflict theorist, culture is seen as reinforcing issues of “privilege” for certain groups based upon race,
sex, class, and so on. For example: Women strive for equality in a male-dominated society. . People
who have less power also have less ability to adapt to cultural change.)

3. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
Symbolic interactionism is a sociological perspective that is most concerned with the face-to-face
interactions between members of society. Integrationists see culture as being created and maintained
by the ways people interact and in how individuals interpret each other's actions.( In this theory human
interactions is a continuous process of deriving meaning from both objects in the environment and the
actions of others. This is where the term symbolic comes into play. Every object and action has a
symbolic meaning, and language serves as a means for people to represent and communicate their
interpretations of these meanings to others. )

The product of human interactions as humans subscribe to the rules of their culture is called society. In
general information of society, quote as organization that caters to a human’s need for belongingness
in a group.

The table below presents the varying understanding of society as prescribe by sociologist.
Sociologists use three theoretical approaches: the structural-functional approach, the social-conflict
approach, and the symbolic-interaction approach. A theoretical approach is a basic image of society that
guides thinking and research (Macionis 2012: 12)

Structural-Functional Approach

Structural-functionalists view society as a “complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity
and stability” (Macionis 2012: 12). It involves an analysis of social structure, “any relatively stable pattern of
social behavior. Social structure gives our lives shape—in families, the workplace, the classroom, the
community.” The approach seeks to identify a structure’s social functions, or “the consequences of any
social pattern for the operation of society as a whole” (Ibid). It is an approach that is influenced by the ideas
of Auguste Comte (1798–1857) who coined the term sociology in 1838, and Emile Durkheim (1858-1917).
Robert K. Merton (1910–2003) also made significant contributions by distinguishing between “manifest
functions, the recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern, and latent functions, the
unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social pattern. He also recognized social dysfunction,
any social pattern that may disrupt the operation of society” (Macionis 2012:13).
Social-Conflict Approach

The social-conflict approach sees society as an “arena of inequality that generates conflict and change”
(Macionis 2012: 13). It therefore highlights inequality and change. In contrast to the structural-functionalist
approach, it does not see the social structure as promoting the smooth operation of society. Instead, it
focuses on how social patterns benefit the dominant groups in society. Typically, “people on top try to
protect their privileges while the disadvantaged try to gain more for themselves”

Symbolic-Interaction Approach

The symbolic-interaction approach views sees society as the “product of the everyday interactions of
individuals”(Macionis 2012: 16). Human beings live in a world of symbols. In the process of social
interaction, they attach meaning to everything.

LESSON 2 CONNECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY TO CULTURE

The relationship of anthropology and culture is an important factor in order to achieve a great result. The
branch of anthropology that obsessed in the study of culture is cultural anthropology.

Cultural anthropology (as you might expect) deals with culture in all of its myriad and delightful forms. It
attempts to define what culture is, to work out how it interacts with both people and the other cultures
around it, and how it changes over time.

Cultural anthropologists will tell you that pretty much everything to do with humans is culture. There are
precious few non-biological things that are true human universals. Armed out-group conflict is one. Another
is the maternal incest taboo (note that incest itself is not a universal taboo).

Aside from these scarce universals, literally everything about humanity is mutable, and you can find
examples of these differences all around the world. For lack of a better explanation, these differences are
culture.

“Culture” is the sum of learned, non-instinctual behaviors and beliefs that humans pass on from generation
to generation. It’s not one, unified, thing, but something groups of people create. Groups of people overlap
in various ways, and each group creates its own “culture” — so those cultures overlap, too. How we know
about it, is because of the study of anthropology.

Anthropology is “the study of humankind.” One of the things having to do with humans, is their culture — its
wide variety, as well as the underlying universals. The branch of anthropology that focuses on the study of
culture is “cultural anthropology.”

So, anthropology and culture are interrelated to each other. Anthropology study human actualization and
culture is the factor of that actualization.
LESSON 3 CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Culture is that complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms,
artefacts, symbols, knowledge and everything that a person learns and shares as a member of a
society. (Based on E.B. Tylor’s definition). It is all that is learned by an individual in his society.

Types of Culture

 
1. Material culture includes all the tangible and visible parts of culture which includes clothes, foods,
and even buildings. The concrete and tangible objects created and used by man to satisfy his varied
needs and wants.( These are cultures that can be touched.)

Material culture consists of tangible things. It refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that
people use to define their culture. These include homes, neighborhoods, cities, schools, churches,
synagogues, temples, mosques, offices, factories and plants, tools, means of production, goods and
products, stores, and so forth. All of these physical aspects of a culture help to define its members'
behaviors and perceptions. Everything that is created, produced, changed and utilized by men is
included in the material culture

2. Nonmaterial culture includes all the intangible parts of culture which consist of values, ideas, norms
and knowledge. (These are cultures that cannot be touched)

Non-material culture consists of intangible things. Non‐material culture refers to the nonphysical ideas
that people have about their culture, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language,
organizations, and institutions. For instance, the non‐material cultural concept of religion consists of a
set of ideas and beliefs about God, worship, morals, and ethics. These beliefs, then, determine how the
culture responds to its religious topics, issues, and events. When considering non ‐material culture,
sociologists refer to several processes that a culture uses to shape its members' thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors. Four of the most important of these are symbols, language, values, and norms. Non-
material culture can be categorized into cognitive and normative culture. The former includes ideas,
concepts, philosophies, designs etc. that are product of mental or intellectual functioning and reasoning
of the human mind. Whereas, the latter includes all expectations, standards and rules for human
behavior.

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. Attitudes, values and goals
are defied by the culture.
3. Culture defines myths, legends and the supernatural
Since 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. Culture provides behavior patterns
Culture lets people find a ready-made set of pattern awaiting them which need only to learn and follow.
If people use culture to advance their purpose, it is clear that a culture imposes limits on humans and
 their activities.

Society is a group of individuals sharing a common culture, geographical location and government.
Human beings are considered to be naturally inclined to establish societies since it is in interacting that
they are able to ensure their survival.

Although humans have established many types of societies throughout history, sociologist and
anthropologist (experts who study early tribal cultures) usually refer to six basic types of societies, each
defined by its level of technology.
1. Hunting and gathering (more than 16, 000 years ago)
The people survived from day to day through hunting larger animals, collecting shellfish and vegetable
gathering. Their tools were made of stones, wood and bones.
2. Pastoral societies
Most of the people are nomadic who follow their herds in quest of animals for food and clothing to satisfy
their needs. They raised animals to provide milk, fur and blood for protein. These societies typically are
relatively small, wandering communities organized along male-centered kinship groups.
3. Horticultural societies (12, 000 to 15, 000 years ago)
The people planted seeds as a means of production for subsistence. People use hoes and other simple
hand tools to raise crops.

4. Agricultural societies
In the early agricultural societies, people used plow than hoe in food production. By the use of plow, it turns
the topsoil deeper allowing for better aerating and fertilizing thus improving better yield when harvested.
Irrigation farming was introduced which resulted to a larger yield of production that can even feed large
number of people who did not know how to produce food by themselves.
5. Industrial societies
These societies began in the 18th century during the Industrial Revolution and gained momentum by the
turn of the 19th century. This period is characterized by the use of machines as means of food production.
Mass production of guns, invention of steam locomotives and large production of steel, andwell-coordinated
labor force took place. Thus, the people began to be highly skilled and highly diversiifieed in their
occupation.
6. Post industrial societies or Information societies
Information and communication technology is the hallmark of these modern societies. These are
characterized by the spread of computer technology; advances in this technology are made by highly-
trained computer specialists who work to increase the capabilities of computers and internet. The use of
modern technology gave rise to several technological problems such as pollution, lung illness, skin
problems and other.

Characteristics of Society

Society comprises of a group of people who share a common culture, live in a particular area and feel
themselves to constitute a unified and distinct entity.

Society or human society is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations such as
kinship, marriage, social status, roles and social networks. By extension, society denotes the people of a
region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a whole.

Society has the following characteristics:

1. It is a social system. A social system consists of individuals interacting with each other. A system
consists of sub-parts whereby a change in one part affects the other parts. Thus, a change in one group of
individuals will affect the stability of the other parts of the system.
2. It is relatively large. The people must be socially integrated to be considered relatively large than if the
people are individually scattered. Thus, the people in a family, clan, tribe, neighborhood, community are
socially integrated to be relatively large in scope.
3. It socializes its members and from those from without. Since most of society’s members are born to it,
they are taught the basic norms and expectations. Those who come from other societies, before being
accepted as functioning members, are socialized and taught the basic norms and expectations of the
society.
4. It endures, produces and sustains its members for generations. For society to survive, it must have the
ability to produce, endure and sustain its new members for at least several generations. For instance, if a
society cannot assist its members during their extreme conditions of hunger and poverty, that society will
not survive long.
5. It holds its members through a common culture. The individuals in a society are held together because
that society has symbols, norms and values, patterns of interaction, vision and mission that are commonly
shared by the members of such society.
6. It has clearly-defined geographical territory. The members in a society must live in a certain specific
habitat or place and have a common belongingness and sense of purpose.

Major Functions of Society

A society is important because they have the following functions:

1. It provides a system of socialization. Knowledge and skills, dominant patterns of behavior, moral and
social values, and aspects of personality are transmitted to each member, especially to the young. the
family, the peer group, the school, the church and other government and nongovernment organizations
play a role in the individual’s development.

2. It provides the basic needs of its members. Food, clothing, shelter, medicine, education, transportations
and communication facilities, among others must be provided by society to satisfy the basic needs of its
members.

3. It regulates and controls people’s behavior. Conformity to the prevailing norms of conduct ensures social
control. The police, armed forces, law enforcement agencies and even the church and other government
and non-government organizations exist as means of social control. Peace and order are created through a
system of norms and formal organizations.

4. It provides the means of social participation. Through social participation, the individuals in a society
learn to interact with each other, present and discuss their concerns and solve their own problems or renew
their commitment and values, the people are given the opportunities to contribute to their knowledge and
skills for the betterment of their family, neighborhood and community, religious organizations, civic
organizations, people’s organizations (PO) and non-government organizations (NGOs) do their part in
community development.

5. It provides mutual support to the members. Mutual support is provided to the members of society in the
form of relief in any form and solution to problems met by them. This form of assistance may come from the
family, neighbors, clans, government and non-government agencies, civic and religious organizations.

REFERENCES:

Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics, Damilig, Angelita UCSP 2016. Hunt Publishing,
Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics,DIWA, ,

Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics, Santarita Madrid, Vibal)

Macionis, John (2012) Sociology, 14th Edition. Boston: Pearson.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/culture-and-development/the-future-we-want-the-role-of-
culture/the-two-sides-of-the-coin/. Accessed June 1,2020

https://www.livescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-definition-of-culture.html Accessed June 1, 2020.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118895078.ch20

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/alamo-sociology/chapter/reading-theoretical-perspectives-on-culture

https://brewminate.com/sociological-perspective-and-the-elements-of-culture

https://www.slideshare.net/danicalyra/defining-culture-and-society-from-the-perspectives-of-anthropology-
and-sociology

ACTIVITY Picture Analysis

Directions: Write your impression/s about the pictures/images below. Use separate sheet for your answer.
Directions: Complete the graphic organizers below by providing what is asked in each item. Write your
answer in a separate sheet of paper.