SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

in Understanding Culture, Society and Politics

Most Essential Topic: Culture and Society as Anthropological

and Sociological Concepts

The focal point in the study of society is a man’s social behavior since his behavior is greatly
shaped by the society and culture where he belongs. Society is a group of people living together in a
definite territory, having a sense of belongingness, mutually interdependent of each other, and follows a
certain way of life. It is a group of people sharing a common culture. In this lesson you will be able to
define culture and society, and its characteristics.

Lesson 2: Culture and Society as Anthropological and Sociological Concepts

There are different ways of defining culture and society. Each definition is always associated with man’s
relationship to his environment. Hence, man’s social interaction serves as an avenue for creating patterns of
behavior that will guide the members of society to live in an organized and orderly manner.
Society refers to a group of people sharing a common culture within defined territorial boundaries.
Likewise, every human society is organized in such a way that there are rules of conduct, customs, traditions,
folkways, mores, and expectations that ensure appropriate behavior among members. Thus every society is
unique in terms of culture.

Chunk 1

WHAT IS CULTURE?

“Culture is the process by which a person becomes all that they were created capable of being”
-Thomas Carlyle-
Culture is a composite areas that comprise beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts,
symbols, knowledge and everything that a person learns and shares as a member of society. Therefore culture
is:
 A product of human interaction
 A social heritage that is complex and socially transmitted
 Provides socially acceptable patterns for meeting biological and social needs.
 A distinguishing factor
 An established pattern of behavior
 Cumulative
 Meaningful to human beings

TYPES OF CULTURE

NON- MATERIAL CULTURE

- It consists of intangible things

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GRADE 11 – Second SEMESTER NAME: __________________________________________________________
Understanding Culture, Society GRADE & SECTION: _____________________________
and Politics
  Ideas
 Behavior, Gesture and Habits

 Language and symbols

 Religion

MATERIAL CULTURE
- It consists of tangible things

 Technological Tools
 Food
 Architectural Structures
 Fashion and Accessories

ELEMENTS OF CULTURE

KNOWLEDGE
- It refers to any information received and perceived to be true.

BELIEFS
- The perception of accepted reality
- REALITY refers to the existence of things whether material or nonmaterial.
SOCIAL NORMS
- These are established expectations of society as to how a person is supposed to act depending on
the requirements of the time, place and situation.

Chunk 2

WHAT ARE THE FORMS OF SOCIAL NORMS?

The social norm, or simply "norm," is arguably the most important concept in sociology.

Sociologists believe that norms govern our lives by giving us implicit and explicit guidance on what to
think and believe, how to behave, and how to interact with others.

We learn norms in a variety of settings and from various people, including our family, our teachers and
peers at school, and members of the media.
FOLKWAYS
- The patterns of repetitive behavior which becomes habitual and conventional part of living.
- These are norms that stem from and organize casual interactions, and emerge out of repetition and
routines. We engage in them to satisfy our daily needs, and they are most often unconscious in
operation, though they are quite useful for the ordered functioning of society.
- Other examples of folkways include the concept of appropriate dress, the practice of raising one's
hand to take turns speaking in a group, and the practice of "civil inattention"—when we politely
ignore others around us in public settings.

- Folkways mark the distinction between rude and polite behavior, so they exert a form of social
pressure that encourages us to act and interact in certain ways. However, they do not have moral
significance, and there are rarely serious consequences or sanctions for violating them.

MORES
- The set of ethical standards and moral obligations as dictates of reason that distinguishes human
acts as right or wrong or good from bad.
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GRADE 11 – Second SEMESTER NAME: __________________________________________________________
Understanding Culture, Society GRADE & SECTION: _____________________________
and Politics
 - Mores are stricter than folkways, as they determine what is considered moral and ethical behavior;
they structure the difference between right and wrong.

- People feel strongly about mores, and violating them typically results in disapproval or ostracizing.
As such, mores exact a greater coercive force in shaping our values, beliefs, behavior, and
interactions than do folkways.

- Religious doctrines are an example of mores that govern social behavior.

- For example, many religions have prohibitions on cohabitation with a romantic partner before
marriage. If a young adult from a strict religious family moves in with her boyfriend then her family,
friends, and congregation are likely to view her behavior as immoral.

- They might punish her behavior by scolding her, threatening judgment in the afterlife, or shunning
her from their homes and the church. These actions are meant to indicate that her behavior is
immoral and unacceptable, and are designed to make her change her behavior to align with the
violated more.

- The belief that forms of discrimination and oppression, like racism and sexism, are unethical is
another example of an important more in many societies.

VALUES
- Anything held to be relatively worthy, important, desirable, or valuable.

TECHNOLOGY
- The practical application of knowledge in converting raw materials into finished products.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
Culture is everything that a person learns as a member of a society.
Culture is everything it is what a person has, does, and thinks as part of society. This implies all of a
person’s belief system, set of behaviors, and material possessions. As such, it can be said that culture is
a powerful agent in shaping the decisions and actions of humans, given a situation. It consists of
nonmaterial and material culture.
- Material culture includes all tangible and visible parts of culture, which include clothes, food and
even buildings. The types of material culture present in societies differ, as each society is
configured by its environment and history.
- Example, the culinary culture of the Philippines is different from even that of its neighbors in Asia,
such as Japan; the difference lies in the availability of the ingredients in these areas.
- Non material culture includes all the intangible parts of culture, which consists of values, ideas, and
knowledge. Just like material culture, the belief and values system of societies differ from one
another based on their environment and history. Values are concepts that are culturally
determined; it separates what is acceptable from which is taboo.
- Taboo is a very strong negative norm; it is a prohibition of certain behavior that is so strict that
violating it results in extreme disgust and even expulsion from the group or society.
- Often the violator of the taboo is considered unfit to live in that society. For instance, in some
Muslim cultures, eating pork is taboo because the pig is considered unclean. At the more extreme
end, incest and cannibalism are both considered taboos in most places.
- On the other hand, beliefs are culturally approved truths that deal with the specific parts of human
life. For example, the belief in the phrase bahala na, which was derived from the older phrase
bathala na, supports the religious values system that is present in the society.
Culture is learned. Culture is set of beliefs, attitudes, and practices that an individual learns through his
or her family, school, church, and other social institutions. The symbolic character of culture provides
the people ideas or knowledge which is a mental representation of all the realities that surround them

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GRADE 11 – Second SEMESTER NAME: __________________________________________________________
Understanding Culture, Society GRADE & SECTION: _____________________________
and Politics
 as well as their meanings corresponding to them. Because culture is learned, it includes as well how
people think and express themselves.
As a result, the people have learned to utilize them according to the people’s accepted meanings or
references. Culture constitutes a system of symbols and meanings used by society to organize their
ideas, interpret their experiences, pass judgment or make decisions and guide their behavior.
- Enculturation is the process of learning your own culture. As you interact with your immediate
family and peers, you learn the values and accepted behaviors in your society.

- Acculturation is the process where culture can be modified to accommodate desirable traits from
other culture due to constant interaction between societies.
- Deculturation is when the culture of the older generation comes into conflict with the needs and
realities of the younger generation. It happens where the reason for the culture has been lost and
even the cultural trait itself is in the process of being forgotten.
Culture is shared the set of behaviors, attitudes and beliefs that a person possesses is part of a greater
collection of values and ideas that is communally owned and practiced by members of a society. This
implies that a particular behavior cannot be considered as a culture if there is only one person
practicing it. Culture is shared intergenerational. Hence, to share a culture, it must be taught to
members of contemporary society who will, in turn, teach the younger generation.

Culture of Culture of Culture of DIAGRAM IN CULTURE

parent’s individual interacting FORMATION
society society

Culture affects biology Humans are into born into cultures that have values on beauty and body. As
such they alter their bodies to fit into the psychological norms that are dictated by culture. The
interaction between human physiology and culture is not unilateral. As culture affects the physical
traits of a person, culture can also be defined by the normative physical characteristics of humans. This
can easily be seen in the material culture of the society. The designs of the machines and other forms
of material culture are based on the physical traits of a given population.
Culture is adaptive Culture is a tool for survival that humans use in response to the pressures of their
environment. Both the material and the nonmaterial parts of culture are influence by the goal of
humans to address their needs as dictated by their environment and their biology.
As a being-in-the-world, a person lives in a given time and place. He lives in a geographical
setting. This geographical setting includes all that are found in the world such as land, seas, mountains,
forests, weather and the like. Culture adapts itself to and around its geographical setting. How culture
is formed and assimilated by the people largely depends on the environment where it is situated.
Another adaptive mechanism that is practiced in most cultures is the creation of food taboos.
These are socially constructed and accepted prohibitions on the consumption of several food items.
(Muslims, consumption of pork is not allowed)
Culture is maladaptive. Culture can also cause problems for the people who subscribe to it. These
problems arise when the environment has changed and culture has remained the same.
Culture changes Culture’s final characteristics that are not static. This dynamism of culture is due to
the changing needs of humans as they interpret and survive in the environment. As such, culture is
continuously reinvented by people. From the clothes that we wear to the food that we eat, culture can
be seen as ever changing.

4
GRADE 11 – Second SEMESTER NAME: __________________________________________________________
Understanding Culture, Society GRADE & SECTION: _____________________________
and Politics
 SYNTHESIS:
In this lesson you have known the concepts of culture, society and their characteristics.

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GRADE 11 – Second SEMESTER NAME: __________________________________________________________
Understanding Culture, Society GRADE & SECTION: _____________________________
and Politics