RELATIONSHIP:

NORMS AND
ROLES
Norms
• Refer to appropriate behaviors and rules that
are accepted in society

Example:
• Speaking up to the elders in the United States
is appropriate while mumbling and turning
one’s back is disrespectful.
• To other cultures especially the Philippines,
talking back shows bad manners.
A smile and related attempts to be friendly are
interpreted in cultural contexts.

Example:
• An American student’s smile of greeting to a
non-Western student might be interpreted as
superficial, sexually suggestive, or even rude;
the American student, in turn, is likely to
interpret the other’s failure to return the smile
as unfriendly or even hostile.
Roles
• Are norms that are intended for a specific
group may vary from culture to culture

Example:
• In Muslim countries, the LGBT is considered a
taboo and discovering them is punishable by
death.
• In some cultures, women do not share the
same rights as men do.
Beliefs and Values
• Values determine what we think is right, good,
important, beautiful
• Beliefs are tenets or convictions that people
hold to be true
Example:
• Some cultures eat plants or animals that we
do not classify as food
• In the face of mass starvation in India, cattle
wander the street unrestrained, protected by
religious taboos.
Gender
• Refers to the socially constructed roles,
behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given
society considers appropriate for men and
women
Example:
Turning back time, during childhood years,
males are looked as more demanding,
aggressive, and competitive while females are
more cooperative and less aggressive.
 From preschool to early adolescence, boys
move their way by telling one another to do this
and that. Girls on the other hand query each
other what role they want.

Boys make demands without explaining

while girls provide reasons for their proposals
and actions.
Race
• In a social construct, it is a group of individuals
having the same physical features and
characteristics and who shares identical rituals,
customs, and beliefs.

Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior

or inferior to another.

Example of being othered or racism:

• The holocaust between Nazi Germans and the
Jewish people
• The name calling of “niggers” for African
Americans in the United States.
Class
• It is a group sharing the same economic or social
status and this can be clearly seen during the
mid-1800s where families stayed and worked
together in one environment.

Example:
Men, women, and children worked in the
farmlands. They planted, tended, harvested, and
stored crops as well as took care of farm animals.
Meanwhile, in the cities, families work businesses.

It is inferred that this preindustrial lifestyle knits

family bonding and develops cooperative
relationships.