CULTURE AND

CULTURAL
ELEMENTS OF
COMMUNITIES
DR. ERWIN S. RAMOS
Concepcion Holy Cross College, Inc.
5 October 2019
OBJECTIVES:
 Understand the relationship
between culture and education.
 Clarify the concept and meaning of
culture.
 Explain the role of school in
preserving and transmitting culture.
WHAT IS
CULTURE?
WHAT IS CULTURE?
 Latin word – “cultura” means ‘to
cultivate’ or ‘cultivating the mind’
 It is collective term for socially
transmitted behaviour patterns.
 In ordinary language culture means
good manners and good taste.
WHAT IS CULTURE?
 According to Taylor “Culture is complex
whole which includes knowledge, belief,
art, morals, law, custom and any other
capabilities and habits, acquired by man
as a member of society.“
 According to Ellwood “Culture includes
man’s entire material civilization, tools,
weapons, clothing, shelter, machines and
even system of industry.”
 KINDS
CULTURE
KINDS CULTURE
According to subjects
 Individual culture
 Communal culture
 National culture
 World culture
KINDS CULTURE
According to content
 Material
culture
 Non-material culture
MATERIAL CULTURE
 Includes all those man-made things
and objects which human society has
created for its physical welfare.
 The whole of man's material
civilization, tools, weapons, clothing,
machines and industry.
 These are can change rapidly.
NON-MATERIAL CULTURE
 Includes those ideals, attitudes and
values which modify the behavior of
an individual
 These are language, art, religion,
morality, law and government.
 Can change slowly.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF CULTURE
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
 Acquired Traits
 Culture is sum total of acquired traits.
Example, a new born baby acquires
traits in the process of growing up. As
the baby grows older he/she acquires
different ideals, attitudes and values by
imitation and social contacts. These
experiences contribute to the formation
of his personal culture.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
 Distinct Entity
 Different societies of the world have
different cultural patterns establishing
the different identities of different
nations.
 Transmission
 Cultural traits and patterns are
transmitted from generation to
generation
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
 Utility
 Culture is good if it has utility to the
individual and to the society. If it does
not fulfill this purpose then it decays
and dies out in the long run.
 Dynamism
 Culture is not static but is dynamic. It
changes and grows with the change of
time.
EDUCATION AND
CULTURE
EDUCATION AND CULTURE
 Education as a part of culture has the
twin functions of conservation and
modification or renewal of the culture.
 Education is conceived as a systematic
effort to maintain a culture.
 In technical sense education is the process
by which society, through schools,
colleges, universities and other
institutions, deliberately transmit its
cultural heritage, its accumulated
knowledge, values and skills from one
generation to another.
EDUCATION AND CULTURE
 Education is an instrument of cultural
change.
 Education can impart knowledge, training
and skills as well as inculcate new ideas
and attitudes among the young. It is
culture in which education germinates
and flowers.
 The intimate relationship between culture
and education is evident from the fact the
one of the major aim of education is to
impart to the child cultural heritage and
social heritage.
ELEMENTS OF
CULTURE
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
 Adaptation to the natural environment
 Everywhere man lives in a definite natural
environment to which they adapt
themselves.
 Adaptation to the social environment
 Culture includes customs, traditions, beliefs
etc. All of these help the individual to adapt
to his social environment. It must be kept in
mind that all these elements undergo
gradual changes as the social environment
changes.
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
 Development of personality
 The personality of the individual is
manifested through his pattern of behaviour.
The behaviour is always influenced by the
culture
 Socialization as a process of acculturation
 According to Martin and Stendlar, "Culture
refers to the total way of life of a people that
complex whole which includes knowledge,
belief, art, morals, law, customs and any
other capabilities and habits, acquired by
man as a member of society."
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
 Society and Need for Schooling:
 As the society has become more complex and
knowledge is piling up it feels the need for
formal education and thus society starts
schools to educate its members. The purpose
is two fold:
 To transmit cultural heritage.

 To improve the society.

ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
 Transmission of culture heritage
 To perpetuate present progress we should
transmit the cultural heritage. We should
exploit the innate tendencies, needs and
interests of the children for the purpose of
education.
 Improvement of the Society
 Without improvement the society will
stagnate. Education is not only to reflect the
social conditions but also to improve them.
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
 Role of the School
 The starting point of educational reform
must be the relinking of the school to life
and restoring the intimate relationship
between them which has broken down with
the development of the formal tradition of
education," Secondary Education
Commission
 Branford writes “The school should be an
idealized epitome or model of the world, not
merely the world of ordinary affairs, but the
whole of humanity, body and soul, past present
and future.”
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
 Role of the School
 T.M. Greene states, "The good school
programme stems from community needs as
an integral part of the life of the people. It is
made by, for, and of those it would serve."
 In the words Kandel "The schools exist to
accelerate the impact of the essential aspects
of culture which prevails in the society."
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
 School as a Community in Miniature
 School is a social institution which has been
established by the society for the purpose of
transmitting among its members, those
ideas, beliefs, attitudes and dispositions that
will make them worthy members of the
society. The school is to be looked at not as a
place where traditional knowledge is
inculcated as authoritative but as a place
where experiments in life are carried on and
where other experiments in life be read
about.