CULTURE

“Bayad ho, makikisuyo’’.

“Para!’’
Have you ever heard of these phrases in public places? If yes, then you might have experienced or
are continually experiencing riding a jeepney.
Riding a jeepney is an everyday experience for most Filipino commuters. This is the cheapest and
most accessible public transportation available in the country. Multiple and spontaneous interactions
happen in a jeepney ride. For instance, when a commuter does the “para’’ signal (slightly raising a hand
toward the road’s direction), it automatically heralds the driver of an approaching jeepney to stop and let
the passenger get in.

Anthropology
The American Anthropological Association describes anthropology as a science seeking to
“uncover principles of behavior that apply to all human communities’’. To an anthropologist, diversity
itself- seen in body shapes and sizes, customs, clothing, speech, religion, and world view- provides a
frame of reference for understanding any single aspect of life in any given community. Instead of looking
for a “universal culture’’- cultural artifacts that appear the same or similar everywhere they are found.
Anthropology focuses on human diversity around the world. Anthropologist look at cross-cultural
differences in social institutions, cultural beliefs, and community styles.
WHAT IS CULTURE?
Edward Burnett Taylor (1871), an English anthropologist, was the first to coin the term “culture’
’in the eighteenth century. Taylor said culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge,
belief, art, moral, laws, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member
of society.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
According to Kluckhohn and Kelly define it in this sense: “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.
 Implicit culture- exists in abstract forms which are not quite obvious.
 FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE

 Culture is social because it is the product of behavior.

- Culture does not exist in isolation. It is a product of society. It develops through
social interaction. No man can acquire culture without association with others.
Human become human only among themselves. Culture learnings re the products of
behavior.

 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 its self. Cultures are not uniform.

 Cultured 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.
Example: the styles of dressing, political views, and the use of recent labor-saving
devices.

 Culture is learned
- The aspects of culture are not found in an individual right from his birth. He learns
those from others in the society as he follows, observes, and interacts with them.
Since experiences vary among people of different societies, they learn different
things resulting in differences among culture.

 Culture is idealistic
- Culture embodies the ideals 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 that the member of society profess and
strive to confirm.

 Culture defines myths, legends and 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. 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 the ready-made view of the universe. The nature of divine power
and the important moral issues are defined by the culture.

 Culture is shared
- There is a widespread error in the thinking of many people who tend to regard the
ideas, attitudes and notions they have as “their own’’. It easy to overestimate the
uniqueness of one’s own attitudes and ideas. When there is an agreement with other
people, it is largely unnoticed, but when there is disagreement or difference , one is
usually conscious of it.