UNIT II Humanistic – ensuring the freedom and creativity of the

human spirit
TRACING HUMAN EVOLUTION AND SOCIOCULTURAL
AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS. Cultural policies should be:

SOCIETY Pluralistic – fostering deep respect for cultural identity

of each locality as well as elements assimilated from
A group of people sharing a common culture.
other cultures through acculturation
CULTURE
Democratic – encouraging and supporting participation
refers to the complex whole which encompasses of the vast masses in its programs and projects
knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts,
Non-partisan – open to all institution
symbols and everything that a person learns or shares
as a member of the society (Tylor,1920). Liberative – having concern for the decolonization and
emancipation of the Filipino psyche in order to ensure
Etymology
full flowering of Filipino culture.
The term “culture” originally evoked the notion of
PHYSICAL OBJECTS OFTEN SYMBOLIZES CULTURAL
cultivatio, a Latin word which evokes inherently
IDEAS.
developmental notions such as growth, maturation and
progress. MATERIAL CULTURE

Hence, culture is understood and meant to be a short OBJECTS OR BELONGINGS OF A GROUP OF PEOPLE
step from the original , biological idea of cultivating
NON-MATERIAL CULTURE
crops…to the educational idea of developing or
cultivating a person’s mind or character. IDEAS, ATTITUDES, BELIEFS
RA No. 7356 “Law Creating the NCCA” PHILIPPINES
Culture – a manifestation of the freedom of belief and MATERIAL CULTURE
of expression and is human right to be accorded due
respect and allowed to flourish. Centuries-old roman catholic churches, mosques,
ancient porcelain or clay pottery, paintings, jeepneys,
Relates culture to “national identity” as it reflects and videoke, books, religious statues or secular monument
shapes values, beliefs, aspirations, thereby defining a
people’s national identity. NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

Filipino national culture shall be: Religious faith, fatalism, bayanihan, love for music and
singing, respect for the elderly
Independent – free of political and economic structures
which inhibit cultural sovereignty

Equitable – effectively creating and distributing cultural

opportunities and correcting imbalance that has long
prejudiced the poor and other marginalized sector who
have the least opportunities for cultural development
and educational growth

Dynamic – continuously developing in pace with

scientific, technological, social, economic, and political
changes in national and international levels

Progressive – developing the vast potential of all

Filipinos as responsible change agents of society
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
1.Culture is learned - We acquire cultural understanding
through experience and observation through the
process of enculturation.
2. Culture is symbolic - It provides meaning to every
human expression be it in words or deeds, with both
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
verbal and nonverbal symbols whose meanings are
formed and accepted by societies.
It includes:
A. Language
4 MAJOR STEPS OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
B. Object with Meaning
C. Events with Significance
3.Culture is shared
 It is rooted in and is transmitted
in/by/through groups/societies.
 While culture is shared, it may also be
contested – subject to various
interpretation.
 Eg. being nationalistic/ Makabayan
4.Culture is dynamic, flexible, and adaptive - Any given
culture may borrow or adopt positive elements from
other cultures, and it can also change or transform to
adapt to changing times.
5.Culture is integrated
 It relies on social patterns or symbols that are
embedded in societies.
 Culture is also expressed in terms of core
values that most people accepts, appreciates,
and cultivates.
VALUES
 Joel Charon “Ten Questions: A Sociological
Perspective”
 “My papa is better than your papa…my religion
is better than yours…my school, my plans, my
goals, my friends.”
 Values are standard against which people judge
their own acts and the acts of others.
 We all have values and we make judgement of
others.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
 All perspectives are equally valid
 “Truth” relies on the individual’s or
one’s culture definition of what the
truth is.
 Lengthy process of change by which
people originated from ape-like
ancestors.
 EVOLVING TERRESTRIALITY – ability to
live in the ground in contrast to living
in trees or seas
 BIPEDALISM – moving from one place
to another using one’s feet or two
limbs
 A LARGE BRAIN – encephalization
 DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION
MAJOR STEPS (TUTTLE ET. AL., 2020)
1.Bipedalism and changing habitats
(through Pliocene)
2.Use of tools and hands and increasing
brain size (Pliocene and Pleistocene)
3.Developing language, culture, and
lifeways (Pleistocene)
HOMO HABILIS
 Earliest known species in the
human lineage.
 Eastern part of Africa
 Named by Richard Leakey in 1964,
the term habilis means ‘being
handy’.
 Associated with butchered animal
bones and simple stone tools
 First species that possessed a brain
which is enlarged and is being
closely associated to the ability of
using stones for tool-making.
 Lifestyle largely involved hunting
HOMO ERECTUS
 Possessed modern-human like body proportions
with relatively elongated legs and shorter arms
 Locomotive characteristics
 Lacked the forelimb adaptations for climbing
and considered ecologically flexible with the
cognitive capacity to adapt and thrive in vastly
different environments.
 Due to effective tools, larger body size, and
metabolic demands of the brain, it is postulated
that meat constituted an important part of the
human diet.
 Classic examples: Java Man(1890s); China’s
Peking Man (1920s); and Tabon Man (1965;
Robert Fox and Otley Beyer)
HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS
 Has an average height of 1.8m and possessed a
broad nose and face, a large cranial volume, as
well as some plesiomorphic dental features.
 Human alike in terms of body proportions,
dental adaptations, and cognitive ability
 An active big-game hunter, produced
sophisticated Levallois style tools.
 Had learned to control fire
HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS
 Cold-adapted hominins with stout physiques,
complex behaviors, and brains similar in size to
ours
 Found during the Middle paleolithic
 Possessed stone tools which included weapons
 Evidence of ceremonial burials (graves
containing bison and auroch bones, flowers
and tools were buried alongside the bodies)
were discovered – a presence of complex belief-
structure
 Appeared to live in a tribal setting
HOMO SAPIENS
 Increased behavior sophistication as indicated
by our large brains
 Archaeological evidence of a broader tool set
and clever hunting techniques
Two major hypotheses:
 Out of Africa Hypothesis
-Homo sapiens evolved from Africa, then left
the continent 50,000-100,000 years ago and
replaced native populations in other parts of
the world.
 Multiregional Hypothesis
- Homo sapiens evolved independently all over
the world from their respective native
populations, and that there was some gene
flow between these independent population
that prevented the speciation from occurring.
CULTURAL AND SOCIO-POLITICAL
EVOLUTION
 Hunting-and-gathering Societies
(12,000ya)
 Small and simple societies
 hunter-gatherers or foragers
 Nomadic
 Mutually dependent on each other
 Humans relied on nature for
sustenance, hence they have fewer
possessions
 Societies were egalitarian.
HORTICULTURAL AND PASTORAL SOCIETIES
Horticultural Societies
 Growing of crops using basic tools
 They are able to start permanent
settlements and are classified as
subsistence farming and surplus farming.
 Differs greatly from agriculture
- Digging stick vs. plow
- Garden vs. field
Pastoral Societies  Social classes are divided by access to
education
 Raising livestock or domesticated animals
raised for food and to produce useful
commodities such as fur and leather THREE CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH
 Mostly nomads POST-INDUSTRIIAL SOCIETY
 Allows specialization
 Focus on ideas instead of tangible
These societies experience more instances
goods as the driving force in economy
of inequalities and conflict due to disputes on  Need for higher education due to the
grazing lands and lands for crops. increased focus on information and
Agricultural societies technology
 Shift in workplace from cities to homes
 Growing crops in a larger number and using as technological advances have
more developed tools (i.e. plows, oxen.) allowed work to be conducted in
 A historical and civilizational milestone as it places other than offices
allowed our ancestors to settle down and
build civilizations.
 Crop rotation are practiced and irrigation
system enabled the farmers o produce
better harvest and bigger surpluses of food.
 Human settlements grow into towns and
cities and particularly bountiful regions
become center of trade and commerce.
 Social classes more divisive, resources are
plentiful.
Industrial societies

 Due to dramatic rise in technological

invention
 Manufacture products/commodities from
raw materials through machineries
 First emerged in UK in 1750s with machine-
driven factory production.
 Bureaucracy become the predominant form
of social and political organization.
Post-industrial societies

 Also known as information societies or

digital societies
 Based on the production of information and
services using digital technology
 Wealth is generated through services rather
products i.e. BPO, banks, malls, real estate,
software programmers, business
consultants