Understanding

Culture, Society
and Politics
What is culture?

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What is culture?
- a complex of a whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and
any other capabilities and habits acquired by
man as member of society.
- A way of life , general customs and beliefs.

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What is Society?

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What is Society?
- An organized group or groups of interdependent
people who share common territory, language and
culture and who act together for collective survival and
well being.
- derived from a Latin word 'socious' that means
association or companionship. Thus society means 'A
larger group of individuals, who are associative with
each other.
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What is Society?

- Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau dubbed the set of

rules that a society lives by "the social contract." In
other words, people must play a part in agreeing to
certain laws and in choosing a given leader.

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#What Politics?

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What Politics?
- “theory , art and practice of
government’’
- It involves making decisions that apply
to members of a group.

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Social , Political and
Cultural Behavior
Phenomena
Norms
- Served as guides or models of
behavior which tells us what is proper
or improper.
- They are usually form in rules,
standard or prescription that are
strictly followed by people.
Deviance
- action or behavior that violates social norms,
including a formally enacted rule, as well as
informal violations of social norms. Deviance is
a behavioral disposition that is not in
conformity with an institutionalized set-up or
code of conduct.
Deviance
- Form of power
struggle.
 Formal deviance
• includes criminal violation of
formally-enacted laws.
Examples of formal deviance
include robbery, theft, rape,
murder, and assault.
 Informal deviance
• refers to violations of informal social
norms, which are norms that have
not been codified into law.
Examples of informal deviance include
picking one’s nose, belching loudly, or
standing unnecessarily close to
 Taboo
- forbidden or sacred based on religious
beliefs or morals. Breaking a taboo is
extremely objectionable in society as a
whole. Around the world, an act may
be taboo in one culture and not in
another
 Taboo Example
- Abortion - terminating a pregnancy
- Addiction - addiction to legal or illegal
drugs, including alcoholism
- Adultery - sexual intercourse with
someone other than your spouse
 Dietary Taboos
• Chewing gum - Singapore had banned chewing
gum because people dispose of it improperly
• Cold foods - Chinese woman will avoid certain
foods a month before giving birth
• Religious vegetarianism - some religions prohibit
the eating of meat and fish.
• Smoking - this is banned for Sikhs
 Social Change
• Three causes of social change:

Invention
Discovery
Diffusion
 Political Change
• Youth awareness and active participation during
election process.
• Change in direction of open, participatory and
accountable politics.
• Impeachment
 Cultural Change
• Physical environment
• Population movement
• War
• Random events or acts of man can lead
also to change.
• Technology- computer, facebook.
The Human
society
 Foundations of Society
1. Status
• Position in the society. People behave in
accordance with their status.
Two types of status
A. Ascribed Status- Gender, race, age
B. Achieved Status- Attained through our own
actions.
 Foundations of
Society
2. Roles – dynamic , shaped by specific
situations and person.
• The expectation of what the individuals
should do in accordance with their
particular status.
 Kinds of Culture
1. Material Culture- It is a physical object that
people create.
2. Non-Material Culture- it is the abstract
human creations.
 Different Aspects of Culture
1. Symbols- anything that stands for
something else.
- any word, gesture, image, sound, symbol has
shared meaning to it.
2. Language- the organization of written or
spoken symbols in to standardized system.
3. Values- shared beliefs about what is good and
bad, right and wrong.
 Different Aspects of Culture
4. Norms- Shared rules of conduct that tell
people how to act in specific situation.

5. Folkways- It is norm that does not great

moral significance attached to them.

6. Mores- great moral significance attached to

them.
 Characteristic of Culture

1. Culture is learned- we learned culture

from the families, peers, institution and
media. It is not biological ; we do not
inherit it.
Enculturation – the process of learning
culture.
 Characteristic of Culture

2. Culture is dynamic – most culture

interact and change over a period of
time because most culture are in
contact with other different culture.
 Characteristic of Culture
3. Culture is integrated- all aspects of
culture are related to one another.
4. Culture is shared- we are able to act in
socially appropriate ways.
5. Culture is based on symbols- they
only have meaning if when people in a
culture agree on their uses.
Concepts of
culture
 Culture traits
• the smallest unit of culture.
• An individual tools, act or belief that is related
to a particular situation or need.
 Culture Complexes
• is a cluster of interrelated traits.
Football
 Culture Patterns
• a combination of a number of culture
complexes into an interrelated whole.
Basketball
Boxing
 Cultural
Universal
4. that human beings everywhere are the
product of the same evolutionary process and
all of us have the same needs that must be
met if we are to survive.
 Concepts of culture
5. Culture clash- reflects the general means by
which all societies meet their common need,
the specific content of these means varies
from culture to culture.
-Religion
- Language
 Ethnocentrism
• The attitude that one’s own culture is
superior to those other peoples.
 Cultural
• The belief Relativism
that a culture must be understood
on its own terms.
Thank you!
Anthropology
Political Science
Sociology
 Anthropology
• Physical environment
• Population movement
• War
• Random events or acts of man can lead
also to change.
• Technology- computer, facebook.
 Society
- An organized group or groups of interdependent
people who share common territory, language and
culture and who act together for collective survival and
well being.
- derived from a Latin word 'socious' that means
association or companionship. Thus society means 'A
larger group of individuals, who are associative with
each other.
 Society
- Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau dubbed the set of
rules that a society lives by "the social contract." In
other words, people must play a part in agreeing to
certain laws and in choosing a given leader.
Politics
- “theory , art and practice of
government’’
- It involves making decisions that apply
to members of a group.