CULTURE

CULTURE VS. TRADITION?

Tradition
● Comes from the Latin word, ‘tradere’
or ‘traderer,’ which means ‘to transmit,
or to handover for safekeeping.’
● “A ritual, belief or object passed down
within a society, still maintained in the
present, with origins in the past.”
9/1/2018 jszmorales/1st sem2012-13
 CULTURE

● High Culture- a culture consumed

mainly by upper classes.

● Popular culture (or mass culture)-

culture consumed by all classes.
 CULTURE

● “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, Edward in
Primitive Culture 1924 [orig. 1871]:1).
 CULTURE

● ‘The sum of shared ideas, practices,

and material objects that people
create to adapt to, and thrive in, their
environments’ (Brym & Lie, 2007: 62)
 Characteristics of Culture
● Culture is…

• Learned
• Shared
•Based on symbols
•Integrated
•dynamic
•Relative
 Characteristics of Culture

• Culture is learned

● (but not all learned

behavior is cultural.
E.g. pigeon may learn
tricks)
● we learn our culture
by growing up with it.
 Characteristics of Culture

• Culture is learned

● ENCULTURATION
- ‘The process by which a society’s culture
is passed on from one generation to the next
and from which individuals become members
of society (Haviland, et al., 2010: 148)’
 Characteristics of Culture
• Culture is shared

● It makes actions of
individuals intelligible to
others.
● Through culture one can
predict the behavior of
others and it tells how to
react accordingly.
 Characteristics of Culture

•Culture is based on symbols

● Symbols are arbitrary,

they acquire specific
meanings when people agree
on their usage.
●LANGUAGE is the most
important symbolic aspect
of culture.
 Characteristics of Culture
• Culture is integrated

●Culture is a well-structured system

made up of distinctive parts that
function together as an organized
whole.
 Characteristics of Culture
•Culture is dynamic

● A culture must be
flexible enough to allow
Some adjustments in the
face of unstable or
changing circumstances.
 Characteristics of Culture
•Culture is relative

● Every society has its

unique cultural practices.
Culture is relative across
time and places.
 COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

● Material Culture- refers to tangible

objects, tools or technology used by human
beings to adapt to their environment.

● Non-Material Culture- refers to

symbols, norms, values and other intangible
elements of culture.
 NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

● Symbols- anything that carries a

particular meaning, such as language,
mathematical notation and signs.
Symbols allow us to classify experience
and generalize it.
 NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

● Norms-generally accepted ways of doing

things; standard or rules of expected
behavior.
●Types of Norm:
1. Folkways- ‘ways of the folks’; William
Graham Sumner called them weak type of
norms which are only mildly enforced.
 NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

● Types of Norm:
2. Mores- norms that are strongly held and
considered sacred. They are based on ethical
and moral values. Behavior is obligatory and
violation leads to severe punishment.

TABOO- Among the strongest norms. (e.g. Incest

taboo as nearly universal)
 NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

● Types of Norm:
3. Law- codified/formalized norms. Some
of the laws grew out of folkways and
mores.
● Sanctions
-Refer to rewards and punishment intended
to ensure conformity to cultural guidelines.

-The system of social control is the sum of

sanctions in society by means of which
conformity is ensured.
 NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

● Values
-are abstract concepts of what is
important and worthwhile. They are the
basis of our judgment of what is good,
desirable and correct.
 NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

● Belief
- embody people’s perception of reality.
They result from one’s experiences about
the physical, biological, and social world.
 LANGUAGE AS A FRAMEWORK
OF CULTURE
● LANGUAGE- is a system of symbols
strung together to communicate thought.

●Language allows culture to develop.

 THE SAPIR-WHORF THESIS

●In the 1930s, linguists Edward Sapir and

Benjamin Lee Whorf first proposed that
experience, language and thought interact.
This was known as the Sapir-Whorf Thesis.
 THE SAPIR-WHORF THESIS

● Holds that we experience certain things

in our environment, and form concepts about
them. We then develop language to express
our concepts. Finally, language itself
influences how we see the world.
 THE SAPIR-WHORF THESIS
Experience

3 2
Verbalization Conceptualization
(Language) (thought)
 THE SAPIR-WHORF THESIS

● The path 3-1 which explains how language

frame one’s experience became controversial.
In an experiment researchers proved that even
if people have different terms for basic colors,
everyone with normal vision is able to see the
full spectrum of colors.
 CULTURE VS. BIOLOGY

● Studies of biologist Edward Wilson

suggesting that behaviors and social practices
are biologically determined.
● Explanation of male promiscuity and female
fidelity
Assignments:
● Read: “Where fat is a mark of beauty” by A.
Simmons.
(http://www.anthroprof.org/documents/Docs10
2/102articles/fat26.pdf)
In a one-page essay, answer the ff. questions:
What characteristic of culture is depicted in the
article? Compare the tribe’s standard of beauty
to our Filipino concept of beauty? Why do you
think we think of beauty in such manner?