Understanding Culture, Society and Politics

Module II: Defining Culture and Society from the perspectives of anthropology and sociology
 Society as a group of people sharing a common culture
 Culture as a “‘that complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes,
laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything that a person learns and
shares as a member of society.” (E.B. Tylor 1920 [1871])
 Aspects of Culture
o Dynamic, Flexible, & Adaptive
o Shared & Contested (given the reality of social differentiation)
o Learned through socialization or enculturation
o Patterned social interactions
o Integrated and at times unstable
o Transmitted through socialization/enculturation
o Requires language and other forms of communication
 Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism as orientations in viewing other cultures

Objectives: The learner must be:

 Appreciate the nature of culture and society from the perspectives of anthropology and
sociology
 Demonstrate a holistic understanding of culture and society
 Values cultural heritage and express pride of place without being ethnocentric
 Identify aspects of culture and society

Lesson 5: Defining Culture and Society from the perspectives of anthropology and sociology

Culture – refers to the complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms,
artifacts, symbols, knowledge and everything that a person learns and shares as a member of society.
Classification of Culture
 Material Culture – cultural components that are visible and tangible.
 Nonmaterial Culture – components of culture that are intangible or without representations.
2 Categories of Nonmaterial Culture:
Cognitive – include the ideas, concepts, philosophies, design etc. that are products of the
mental or intellectual functioning of the human mind.
Normative – includes all expectations, standards and rules for human behavior.

Elements of Culture
 Beliefs
 Values
 Symbols
o Verbal
o Nonverbal
 Language
 Technology
 Norms
2 Types of Norms
a. Proscriptive – (or injunctive norms) refer to moral values and societal standards about behaviors.
The question is ''what is right or wrong'' or ''what people ought to do'' or ''what behaviors are
socially acceptable and.
b. Descriptive – refer to the frequency with which given behaviors occur.
Forms of Norms
 Folkways
 Mores
 Taboos
 Laws
Characteristics of Culture:
 Dynamic, flexible and adaptive
 Shared and maybe challenged
 Learned through socialization or enculturation
 Pattered social interactions
 Integrated
 Transmitted through socialization/enculturation
 Requires language and other forms of communication
 Society – describes a group of people who share a common territory and a culture.

Types Of Society
 Hunting and gathering societies
 Pastoral societies
 Horticultural Societies
 Agricultural Societies
 Industrial Societies
 Post-industrial Societies

Ethnocentrism

 Is the tendency to see and evaluate other culture in terms of one’s own race, nation or culture.
Xenocentrism
  One’s exposure to cultural practices of others may make one to give preferences to the ideas,
lifestyle and products of other cultures.
Cultural Relativism

 Is the principle that an individual human’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in
terms of that individual’s own culture.

3 Ideas of Cultural Relativism

o Moral Relativism
o Situational Relativism
o Cognitive Relativism