UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS

By: JASMINE P. POVERBIO / 11 BARBARA

Social science as a discipline studies the society and the manner in which people behave and
influence the world around us. (Arcinas, 2016). In the broadest sense, it originated all the way
back to the ancient Greeks and their rationalist inquiries into human nature, the state, and
morality. However, in the development of human knowledge, social sciences were the last to
develop. The utmost goal of social science is to answer different questions and find solutions to
problems of society to improve human condition despite cultural, social, and political differences.

Defining anthropology, sociology, political science, and the significance of studying it

Anthropology – the holistic science of man, a science of the totality of human existence. It has
two broad fields—physical anthropology and cultural anthropology

• Physical anthropology is concerned about how humans emerged and evolved through time
(under paleontology), as well as how they differ biologicall

• Cultural anthropology deals with the differences of cultures from time to time. It has three
main branches:
a) Archaeology deals with past cultures using tangible remains.
b) Anthropological linguistics deals with languages and the differences of languages by
culture and how it is constructed.
c) Ethnology deals with recent or present cultures.

Sociology – the study of relationships among people. It is concerned with the society and the
behavior of people in the society.

• Macrosociology – examines social structures, social institutions, social organizations, social

groups.
• Microsociology – mainly concerned with the role of individuals in society.

Major Theoretical Approaches in Sociology

1. Structural Functionalism – a perspective that states that society is made up of various
institutions that work together in cooperation to promote solidarity and stability.

2. Conflict Theory – states that society is in a state of perpetual conflict because of competition
for limited resources,

Symbolic Interaction – describes how societies are created and maintained through shared
understanding created from repeated actions of individuals. In short, we make meanings and
interpret the world through constant interactions.

Political Science – deals with systems of government and the analysis of political activity and
political behavior.
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS
By: JASMINE P. POVERBIO / 11 BARBARA
Manifestations of human variations through Cultural Diversity, Social Differences, and Political
Identities The creation of global society made everything interlinked—meaning a change in
aspect will affect the other. Despite these, there remains visible human variations in society.

Human variation is loosely defined as the range of possible values for any characteristic,
physical or mental, of human beings.

1. Social Differences are manifested based on unique social characteristics such as social
class, age, gender, educational attainment, occupation etc

2. Cultural Diversity refers to the complex whole encompassing beliefs, practices, values,
attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything that a person shares as a
member of the society

• This influences a person’s views, values, humor, hopes, loyalties, worries, and fears.

• While culture has the capacity to bond the members of the society, it is also a source of
differences due to diversity in language, traditions, food preferences, etc

Ethnocentrism – coined by William Summer, it is the tendency to evaluate other cultures in

terms of one’s own race, nation, or culture

Cultural relativism – it is the idea that all norms, beliefs, and values are dependent on their
cultural context and should be treated as such.

Xenocentrism – refers to the preference for the foreign and is characterized by a strong belief
that own’s own product, style, or ideas are inferior to those which originated elsewhere while
xenophobia is the fear of what is perceived as foreign or strang

3. Political Differences are manifested based on political systems that govern a state or
community

• Government – a system by which a state or community is controlled so as to put order.

Society and Culture Defined

1. Society describes a group of people who share a common territory and culture.

• By territory, sociologists meant a definable region—as small as a neighborhood, a community,

a city, a country, to as large as the global regional context.
• Culture refers to that complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes,
laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge,
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS
By: JASMINE P. POVERBIO / 11 BARBARA
Culture = beliefs, practices, artifacts of a group while,
Society = social structures and organizations of the people who share those beliefs and
practices

2. Society as a concept – represents an ideal type, which depicts the form, process, and
dynamics of the social reality it embodies.

3. Society as a facticity – society is an outcome of multiple interactions of people upon which

succeeding interactions are made meaningful and possible.

4. Society as God – omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent.

a) Omnipotent (all-powerful) because it ‘agents’ control and runs the machinery of social
control.

b) Omniscient (all-knowing) because its ‘library’ keeps all possible knowledge and collects
memories of the people who form it.

c) Omnipresent (everywhere) because its ‘spies’ are present in the four corners of its territory.

The Complexity of Culture

1. Definitions of Culture
• According to E.B Tylor, culture is complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices,
values, attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and everything that a person
shares as a member of the society

2. Classification of Culture
• Material culture – cultural components that are tangible and visible.
• Non-material culture – non-tangible cultural components and can be categorized into

cognitive culture – include ideas, concepts, philosophies, designs, etc. that are products of
mental or intellectual functioning of the human mind.

normative culture – includes all the expectations, standards, and rules for human behavior.

3. Elements of Culture
• Beliefs – conceptions or ideas that people have about what is true in the environment and
may be based on common sense, folk wisdom, religion, science, or a combination of these.

• Values – describes what is appropriate and what is inappropriate in a given society or what
ought to be.

• Language and symbols – basics in communicating and transmitting culture, also known as
the storehouse of culture.
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS
By: JASMINE P. POVERBIO / 11 BARBARA
• Technology – the application of knowledge and equipment to ease the task of living and
maintaining the environment.

• Norms – specific rules or standards to guide appropriate behavior.

4. Characteristics of Culture
• Dynamic, flexible, and adaptive – culture is social because it interacts and change and
cannot exist in isolation.

• Shared and may be challenged – sharing culture allows a person to act in appropriate ways
and predict how others will act as well

• Learned and transmitted through socialization or enculturation – culture is not biological,

but learned as people interact in society. Much of this learning is unconscious.
o We absorb culture from families, peers, institutions, media.
o Enculturation – refers to the gradual acquisition of characteristics and/or norms of a
culture or group by a person, another culture, etc.
o Culture shock is an example of enculturation.

• Patterned social interactions – cultural expectations such as norms dictate how a person will
think, feel, or behave—setting a pattern in terms of what is appropriate or not in a given setting.

• Integrated – also known as holism, meaning various parts of a culture being interconnected or
interlinked.
• Requires language or other forms of communication.

5. Functions of Culture (Contreras, 2018)

• Culture defines situations.
• Culture defines attitudes, values, and goals.
• Culture defines myths, legends, and the supernatural.
• Culture provides behavior patterns

Socialization – refers to a lifelong social experience by which people develop their human
potential and learn culture.

Enculturation In the broadest sense, it refers to the process which all individuals undergo
throughout their lives.

enculturation is the gradual acquisition of characteristics and/or norms of a culture or group by

a person, another culture, etc

Culture shock – an example of enculturation

A. Identity formation – refers to the development of an individual’s distinct personality.

UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS
By: JASMINE P. POVERBIO / 11 BARBARA
• Self-concept – sum of a person’s knowledge and understanding about themselves.

• Cultural identity – a person’s feeling of identity of affiliation with a group or culture.

• Ethnic identity – a person’s identification with a certain ethnicity.

• National identity – ethical and philosophical concept whereby all humans are divided into
groups called nation.

• Religious identity – set of beliefs and practices generally held by a person

B. Norms and Values

• Norms – rules that guide the behavior of members of a society.

o Proscriptive norms – states what people should not do

o Prescriptive norms – states what people should do
o Mores – norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance
o Folkways – norms for routines and casual interactions

• Values – culturally defined standards that people use to decide what is desirable, good,
beautiful, and that serves as broad guidelines for social living.

C. Statuses and Roles

• Status – refers to a position in a social system that a person hold

o Ascribed status – social position that a person receives at birth or takes on involuntarily
later in life.
o Achieved status – social position that a person takes on voluntarily e.g., honor student,
volleyball champ

• Role – the behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status

Conformity and Deviance Social Control – the process of creating and maintaining stability;
the power of society over individuals.

Robb Willer and Matthew Feinberg believed that gossiping and ostracism elicit positive effects,
as it reform bullies, encourage cooperation and thwart exploitation of nice people.

Ostracism – the act of banishing or excluding someone from the group

Gossiping – idle talk or rumor

Conformity – behavior which involve change to fit in
Deviance – behavior that violates social norms
• Forms of Deviance (Robert Merton’s Structural Strain Theory)
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS
By: JASMINE P. POVERBIO / 11 BARBARA
o Conformists – accepted goals, accepted means.
o Ritualists – reject goals, accept means.
o Innovators – accept goals, reject means.
o Retreatists – reject goals, reject means.
o Rebels – reject goals, reject means, create new goals and means
Human Dignity, Rights, and Common Good
Human dignity – an intangible idea of one’s self-respect, self-esteem, and self-regard. It is
immeasurable, personal, and invaluable.

Human rights – a concept that guarantees equality, freedom from degrading behavior,
discrimination, and prejudice views

How Society is Organized & Introduction to Cultural, Social, and Political Institutions
Social Groups
A group is where people have the chance to interact with each other and think of
themselves as belonging together.

1. Social aggregates – a simple collection of people who happened to be together in a

particular place but do not significantly interact or identify with one another.
2. Social categories – people who share a set of common categories but do not necessarily
interact of identify with one another.

Social group – a collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the basis of
shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity.

• Primary group – Charles Horton Cooley defined primary groups as a small social group
whose members share close, personal, and lasting relationships.

• Secondary group – large clusters of people who have a mutually shared purpose, often
aiming to complete tasks.

• Reference group – this is a group where a person compares themselves to.

In-group – a group wherein people feel that they are a part of or strongly identify with.

Out-group – group/s that an individual does not identify with or might feel a sense of
antagonism or contempt against.

Networks – set of formal or informal social ties that link people to each other.

Cultural, Social, and Political Institutions

1. Kinship – a social institution that refers to relations formed between members of the society.
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS
By: JASMINE P. POVERBIO / 11 BARBARA
• Kinship by blood – also known as consanguineal kinship is the most basic and general form
of relations,
o Descent – refers to biological relationship
o Lineage – the line where one’s descent is traced

• Kinship by marriage – also known as affinal kinship which refers to relations developed
because of marriage.
o Marriage – an important social institution wherein two partners enter into family life.
Marriage across culture
1. Endogamy – compulsory marriage
2. Exogamy – marriage custom where an individual is required by society’s norms and rules to
marry outside their own group
3. Monogamy – from the Greek word “monos” and “gamos” meaning one union.
4. Polygamy – a practice of having more than one partner, can be polygyny (man with multiple
female partners) or polyandry (woman with multiple male partners)

o Post-marital residency rules

1. Patrilocal – married couples stay in the house of husband’s relatives or near the husband’s
kin
2. Matrilocal - married couples stay in the house of wife’s relatives or near the wife’s kin
3. Biolocal – married couples live with their relatives alternately
o Referred marriage – marriage by referral
o Arranged marriage – marriage fixed by the parents of the groom or bride

• Kinship by ritual – a privileged social relationship established by rituals, such as that of

godparents or fraternal orders.
o Compadrazgo – meaning “godparenthood” or the forging of co-parenthood done through
the performance of Catholic rituals like baptism, confirmation, or marriage.

• Family – the basic unit of social organization and is made up of a group of individuals linked
together by marriage, blood relations, or adoption.
o George Peter Murdock – families share common residence, presence of economic
cooperation, reproduce offspring

o Kingsley Davis – families are based on blood relations and kinship

o Talcott Parsons – a family is a factory that develops and produces human personalities

o Bronislaw Malinoswki – family is an institution that passes down cultural traditions to the
next generation

Types of families
o Nuclear family – made up of people who are united by social ties
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS
By: JASMINE P. POVERBIO / 11 BARBARA
o Extended family – made up of members who go beyond nuclear family
o Blended family – families where the parents have a child/ren from previous marital
relationships but stays to form a new family unit

Political and Leadership Structures

• Political organizations – any entity that is involved in the political process Most societies are
classified into four (4) principal types:

1. Bands – societies composed of fairly small and nomadic groups of people, typically formed
by several families living together based on marriage ties, common descendants, etc

o Has informal leadership o Band fissioning – conflicts among band that lead to splitting
along family lines

o Social velocity – when people leave a band to form their own

o Pantribal association or sodalities – the manner which tribes are organized

2. Tribes – distinct people who are dependent on their land for their livelihood, largely
self-sufficient, and not integrated into national society/

3. Chiefdom – form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies

o Simple chiefdom – characterized by a central village ruled by a single family

o Complex chiefdom – composed of several simple chiefdoms ruled by a single paramount

chief

4. States – autonomous political unit encompassing many communities within its territory and
having a centralized government, it is the highest form of political organization

o Nation – groups that are conscious of their identity and their potential to become
autonomous and unified Some political theories of state function:

a) Anarchy – the state is inherently an instrument of domination and repression regardless

of who is controlling it
b) Classless society – every member of the society has equal access to everything
c) Pluralism – views society as a collection of individuals and groups competing for political
power

Authority and Legitimacy

• Authority – power to make binding decisions and issue commands Max Weber’s types of
authorities:
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS
By: JASMINE P. POVERBIO / 11 BARBARA
o Traditional authority – legitimacy derived from well-established customs, habits, and
social structures

o Charismatic authority – legitimacy emanates from the charisma of an individual

o Rational-legal or bureaucratic authority – legitimacy is derived from formal rules

promulgated by the state through its laws

• Legitimacy – pertains to moral and ethical concept that bestows one who possesses power
the right to exercise authority.