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HANDOUT No. 3
in Understanding Culture, Society and
Politics
Handouts paired
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MELC: Explain th
(UCSP11/12DCS-Ic-6)
Semester: ist Week No. 3 Day: 1-4
LESSON: The Importance of Cultural Relativism
portance of cultural relativism in attaining cultural understanding
The study of society is incomplete without proper understanding of the culture of that
society because culture and society go together. Culture is a unique possession of man. Man is
bom and brought up in a cultural environment. Culture is a unique quality of man which separates
him from the lower animals. Culture includes all that man acquires in his social life.
DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE
* The hard work of man and the medium through which he achieves his ends.
* Its organized body of conventional understandings manifest in art which persisting
through tradition, characterizes a human group.
* The body of thought and knowledge, both theoretical and practical, which only man
can possess
* Itis that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morale, laws, custom
and any other capabilities and habits as acquired by man as a member of society.
Culture exists in the minds or habits of the members of society. Culture is a people's shared
ways of doing and thinking. These are degrees of visibility of cultural behavior, ranging from the
regularized activities of persons to their internal reasons for so doing. In other words, we cannot
see culture as such, we can only see human behavior. This behavior occurs in a regular, patterned
fashion, and this fashion is called culture.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
Culture means simply the way of life of a people or their design of living. 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.
For example, the adolescent cultural behavior can be _ https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_sociology-
generalized by looking at the way teens dress, their understanding-and-changing-the-social-world
mannerisms and conversations. Implicit Culture on the {2h veestion08 0820s! meson a
other hand exists in abstract forms which are not quite
obvious.1. Culture is social because it is the product of
behavior. r 6
Culture does not exist in isolation. It is a product j
of society. It develops through social interaction. No
man can acquire culture without association with
others. Humans become humans only among
themselves. Culture learning's are the products of
behavior. As the people behave, there occur changes
in them- They acquire the ability to swim, to feel hatred ~~
toward someone, or to sympathize with someone. They grow out of their previous behaviors. In
both ways, then, human behavior is the result of behavior. The experiences of other people are
impressed on a person as he or she grows up. Also many of people's traits and abilities have
grown out of their own past behaviors.
2. Culture varies from society to society.
Every society has a culture of its own that differs
from other societies. The culture of every society is
unique to itself. Culture is not uniform. Cultural
elements like customs, traditions, morals, values, and
beliefs are not uniform. These variations in cultural
manifestations are explained by the fact that culture is
a human product. Culture is not a force operating by
itself and independent of human actors. Culture is a
creation of society in interaction and depends for its
hiiov/videotrn.oh/22estivalsthatyoa —_@xistence upon the continuance of society.
3. Culture is shared.
Culture is not something that an individual alone can possess. Culture, in a sociological
sense, is shared. For example, customs, traditions, beliefs, ideas, values, morals, etc. are all
shared by people of a group or society. The patterns of learned behavior and the results of
behavior are possessed not by one or a few persons, but usually by a large group. Thus, millions
of persons share Catholic behavior patterns, use cellphones, or speak the English language.
Sometimes people share different aspects of a culture. For example, among Christians, there are
Catholics and Protestants, liberals and conservatives, and clergymen and laymen. The point of
our discussion is not that culture or any part of it is shared identically, but that it is shared by the
members of society to a sufficient extent. The sharing of culture is made possible by attitudes,
values, and knowledge.
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/exam 1
4, Culture is learned.Culture is not inborn. It is learned. Culture is often
called "learned ways of behavior." Unlearned behavior is
not culture. But shaking hands, saying thanks, etc. are
cultural behavior. It must be noted however that not all
behavior is learned, but most of it is leamed. Sometimes
mj the terms:
‘conscious
learning’ and
‘unconscious
learning’ are
used to distinguish the learning. For example, the ways
in which a small child learns to handle a tyrannical father
or a rejecting mother often affect the ways in which that
child, 10 or 15 years later, handle his relationships with
other people. Some behavior is obvious. People can be
nttp:/flipknow.net/philippinedcons- 1 seen going to football games, eating with forks, or
driving automobiles. Such behavior is called ‘overt’
behaviors. Other behaviors are less visible. Such activities as planning tomorrow's work or feeling
hatred for an enemy are behaviors, too. This sort of behavior, which is not openly visible to other
people, is called "covert behavior. Both may be, of course, learned. The definition of culture
indicates that the learned behavior of people is patterned. Each person's behavior often depends
upon some particular behavior of someone else. The point is that, as a general rule, behavior is
somewhat integrated or organized with the related behavior of other persons.
5. Culture is transmitted among members of society.
The cultural ways are learned by persons from
persons. Many of them are "handed down" by elders,
parents, teachers, and others (of a somewhat older
generation), while other cultural behaviors are "handed up"
to elders. Some of the transmission of culture is among
contemporaries, for example, the styles of dressing-
Political views, and the use of recent labor-saving devices.
Culture is transmitted from one generation to another.
Transmission of culture is made possible by language.
Language is the main vehicle of culture. Language in different forms makes it possible for the
present generation to understand the achievement of earlier generations. Transmission of culture
may take place by imitation as well as by instruction. Language is the chief vehicle of Culture.
People live not only in the present but also in the past and future. A specialized language pattern
serves as a common bond to the members or a particular group or subculture. Although culture
is transmitted in a variety of ways, language is one of the most important vehicles for perpetuating
cultural patterns. Culture is everything that is socially leamed and shared by the members of a
society. It is culture that, in the wide focus of the world, distinguishes an individual from another
individual or a group from another group.
6. Culture is continuous and cumul:Culture Bip//srivayaguragabiliy Biogspotcom/1
exists is as a continuous process. In its historical
growth, it tends to become cumulative. Sociologist
Linton ‘called culture the social ‘heritage of man. It
becomes difficult for us to imagine what society would
like without culture. Culture varies from society to
society. Furthermore, culture varies from group to
group within the same society. There are subcultures
within a culture. Clusters of patterns which are both
related to the general culture of the society and yet are
hetps://munw.marketingSt.com/subulture/ 2 distinguishable from it are called subcultures. There is
one fundamental and inescapable attribute (special
quality) of culture: the fact of unending change. Some societies sometimes change slowly, and
hence in comparison to other societies seem not to be changing at all. But they are changing,
even though not obviously so. No culture ever remains constant or changeless. It is subject to
slow but constant change. Culture is responsive to the changing conditions of the physical world;
hence it is dynamic.
7. Culture is gratifying and idealistic.
Culture provides proper opportunities for the satisfaction of our needs and desires. Our needs
both biological and social are fulfilled in cultural ways. Culture determines and guides various
activities of man. Thus, Culture is defined as the process through which human beings satisfy
their wants. Culture embodies the ideas and norms of a group. It is the sum total of the ideal
patterns and norms of behavior of a group. Culture consists of the intellectual, artistic, and social
ideals and institutions which the members of society profess and to which they strive to conform.
FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
‘Among all groups of people, we find widely shared beliefs, norms, values, and preferences.
Since culture seems to be a universal human phenomenon, it occurs naturally to wonder whether
culture corresponds to any universal human need. This curiosity raises the question of the
functions of culture. According to social scientists, culture has certain functions for both the
individual and society.
1. Culture defines situations.
Each culture has many subtle cues which define each situation. It reveals whether one should
prepare to fight, run, laugh, or make love. For example, suppose someone approaches you with
his right hand. Outstretched at waist level. What does this mean? That he wishes to shake hands
in friendly greeting is perfectly obvious-obvious, that is, to anyone familiar with our culture. But in
another place or time the outstretched hand might mean hostility or warning. One does not know
what to do in a situation until he has defined the situation. Each society has its insults and fighting
words. The cues (hints) which define situations appear in infinite variety. A person who moves
from one society to another will spend many years misreading the cues (for example, laughing at
the wrong places).
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 defined by the culture, and the individual normally learns them as unconsciously as
he or she leams the language. Attitudes are tendencies to feel and act in certain ways. Values
are measures of goodness or desirability. For example, we value private property, (representative)government, and many other things and experience. Goals are those attainments which our
values define as worthy, e.g., winning the race, gaining the affections of a particular girl, or
becoming president of the firm. By approving certain goals and ridiculing others, the culture
channels individual ambitions. In these ways culture determines the goals of life.
3. Culture defines myths, legends, and the supernatural.
Myths and legends are important parts of every
culture. They may inspire or reinforce effort and
sacrifice and bring comfort in bereavement. Whether
they are true is sociologically unimportant. Ghosts are
real to people who believe in them and who act upon
this belief. We cannot understand the behavior of any
group without knowing something of the myths,
legends, and supernatural beliefs they hold. Myths
and legends are powerful forces in a group's behavior.
Culture also provides the individual with a ready-made
view of the universe. The nature of divine power and
the important moral issues are defined by the culture. '*»//philnews.0h/2020/33/26/eramples- 3
The individual does not have to select as he or she is
trained in a Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, or some other religious tradition. This tradition
gives answers to the major questions of life and prepares the individual to meet life's crises.
4. Culture provides behavior patterns.
The individual need not go through painful trial and error to know what food can be eaten or
how to live among people without fear. People find a ready-made set of patterns awaiting them
which they need only to learn and follow. The culture maps out the path to matrimony. The
individual does not have to wonder how one secures a mate; he or she knows the procedure
defined by his or her culture. If people use culture to advance their purposes, it seems clear also
that a culture imposes limits on humans and their activities. The need for order calls forth another
function of culture-direct behavior-so that disorderly behavior is restricted and orderly behavior is
promoted. A society without rules or norms that define right and wrong behavior would be very
much like a busy street without traffic signs or any understood rules. Chaos would be the result in
this case. Social order cannot rest on the assumption that people will spontaneously behave in
ways conducive to social harmony.
Cultural relativism is the idea that norms, beliefs, and values are dependent on their cultural
context and should be treated as such. A key component of cultural relativism is the concept that
nobody, not even researchers, comes from a neutral position. The way to deal with our own
assumptions is not to pretend that they don't exist, but rather to acknowledge them and then use
the awareness that we are not neutral to inform our conclusions.
In a way, cultural relativity is a belief that maintains it does not matter whether cultures are either
equal or different because equality and similarity do not necessarily translate to real or imagined
Cultural relativism is also a research method. Social scientists strive to treat cultural differences as
neither inferior nor superior. That way, they can understand their research topics within the
appropriate cultural context and examine their own biases and assumptions at the same time.
This is a method whereby different societies or cultures are analyzed objectively Without using the
| values of one culture to judge the worth of anotherWe cannot possibly understand the actions of other groups if we analyze them in terms of our
motives and values. We must interpret their behaviour in the light of their motives, habits, and
values if we are to understand them. Cultural relativism means that the function and meaning of a
trait are relative to its cultural setting. A trait is neither good nor bad in itself. It is good or bad only
with reference to the culture in which itis to function. For instance, for clothing is good in the
Arctic but not in the tropics. in some hunting societies which occasionally face long periods of
hunger, to be fat is good; it has real survival value and fat people are admired. In our society, to
be fat is not only unnecessary but is known to be unhealthy and fat people are not admired.
Appreciation of other Cultures may come about for two complementary reasons: (1) acqui
sufficient knowledge about the culture in question, and (2) direct exposure to other cultures. The
first may happen in indirect ways such as reading about the practices and rituals of other cultures.
While the second may take place because of travel or immigration. In both cases, individuals
personally come in contact with the people representing another culture and they see the
performance of a different set of practices.
The concept of cultural relativism does not mean that all customs are equally valuable, nor
does it imply that no customs are harmful. Some pattems of behavior may be injurious
everywhere, but even such patterns serve some purpose in the culture and the society will suffer
unless a substitute is provided. The central point in cultural relativism is that in a particular cultural
setting certain trait are right because they work well in that setting while other traits are wrong
because they would clash painfully with parts of that culture.
Understanding Culture, Society and Politics (Antonio Contreras, Arleigh Ross D. De la
Cruz, Dennis Erasga, Cecile Fadrigon); Understanding Culture, Society and Politics
Teaching GuideCO QAH + MELC LW
LEARNING WORKSHEET No. 3
in UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY AND.
POLITICS
Nam Grade & Section:
Teacher: Date Submitted:
MELC: Explain the importance of cultural relativism in attaining cultural understanding
(UCSP11/12DCS-Ic-6)
Objectives/Subtasks:
Topic: The Importance of Cultural Relativism
‘Semester: 1st Quarter: 4 Week No. 3 Day:
4-4
Is it True or False!
Activity 1 Instructions: Assess whether the statements in Column A are True or False. In column
B, write True if the statement is true and False if the statement is false.
A B
1. Cultural relativism promotes greater appreciation of the
cultures one encountered along the way.
2. Cultural relativism is a research method as well
3. The nature of divine power and the important moral issues is
not defined by the culture.
4, Culture consists of the intellectual, artistic, and social ideals
and institutions which the members of society do not profess
and to which they strive to conform,
5. Culture is transmitted from one generation to another
generation.
6. The central point in cultural relativism is that in a particular
cultural setting certain trait are wrong because they work well
in that setting while other traits are right because they would
clash painfully with parts of that culture.
7. Cultural relativism means that the function and meaning of a
trait are relative to its cultural setting.
8. Culture determines and guides various activities of man.
9. Culture is inborn.
10. Culture is a creation of society in interaction and depends for
its existence upon the continuance of society.Topic: The importance of Cultura Relativism
‘Asses me and explain it to me!
Activity 2 Instructions: Evaluate our country in comparison to the culture of other countries. Rate
the following characteristics on a scale of one to five, 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest.
Encircle your rating on the box under the rating scale and explain.
Characteristics Rating Why?
5
4
Equality between the sexes 3
2
1
5
4
Friendliness to strangers 3
2
1
5
4
Artistic contributions 3
@
1
5
4
Religious tolerance 3
2
1
Style of dress
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