Understanding Culture, Society and Politics

Reviewer

Lesson 1: Understanding Culture, Society and Politics

Anthropology is the study of what makes us human. Anthropologists take a broad approach to understanding the
many different aspects of the human experience, which we call holism. Anthropology is the comprehensive study of
human development, culture, and change throughout the world, past and present.

Anthropology is also defined as the study of people and their culture.

Important factor of Anthropology

1. to discover what makes people different from one another to understand and preserve diversity.

2. to obtain possible theories and principles about society as well as various aspects of social life.

3. to look one owns culture more objectively like an outsider

Cultural variation refers to the differences in social behaviors that different cultures exhibit around the world.

4 Fields of Anthropology

1. Biological (or physical) anthropologists carry out systematic studies of the non-cultural aspects of humans and
near-humans. Non-cultural refers to all of those biological characteristics that are genetically inherited in contrast to
learned.

2. Cultural (or socio-cultural) anthropologists are interested in learning about the cultural aspects of human
societies all over the world. They usually focus their research on such things as the social and political organizations,
marriage patterns and kinship systems, subsistence and economic patterns, and religious beliefs of different
societies.

3. Linguistic anthropologists study the human communication process. They focus their research on understanding
such phenomena as the physiology of speech, the structure and function of languages, social and cultural influences
on speech and writing, nonverbal communication, how languages developed over time, and how they differ from
each other.

4. Archaeologists are interested in recovering the prehistory and early history of societies and their cultures. They
systematically uncover the evidence by excavating, dating, and analyzing the material remains left by people in the
past.

Archeology - the scientific study of the material remains of past human life and activities.

Social differences are the complex differences, and they include class, race, culture, age, ability, sex etc. Social
differences can create discrimination among the individuals on the basis of their social characteristics.

Sociology is the systematic study of social behavior and human groups. It focuses primarily on the influence of social
relationships upon people’s attitudes and behavior and on how societies are established and change.

Sociology is also defined as the study of society, patterns of social interactions, and culture of everyday life.

Characteristic of society

1. Society embodies certain characteristics to be what it is.

2. society consist of groups of people who share some likeness such as being rational and free

3. Society does not only consist of groups who share a likeness with everyone but also need to exhibit some
differences.
Political science is that branch of the social sciences that studies the state, politics, and government. Political Science
deals extensively with the analysis of political systems, the theoretical and practical applications to politics, and the
examination of political behavior.

Political ideology is a set of ideas, beliefs, values, and opinions, exhibiting a recurring pattern, that competes
deliberately as well as unintentionally over providing plans of action for public policy making to justify, explain,
contest, or change the social and political arrangements and processes of a political community.

Types of Political ideologies and styles of Government

1. Absolutism- System where the rulers have unlimited control.

2. Anarchism- Society without government, laws, police or other authority. A system of self-control.

3. Aristocracy- The privilege of social class whose members possess a disproportionately large percentage of
society's wealth, prestige and political influence.

4. Autocracy- Supreme political power is in the hands of one person whose decisions are unregulated.

5. Communism- Extreme left-wing ideology based on the revolutionary socialist teachings of Marx. Collective
ownership and a planned economy. Each should work to their capability and receive according to their needs.

6. Conservatism- Governmental system where the existing institutions are maintained, emphasising free-enterprise
and minimal governmental intervention.

7. Democracy- Government by the people, usually through elected representatives.

8. Dictatorship- Government by a single person with absolute control over the resources of the state.

The quotation “Man by nature is a political animal” implies that Action of man is guided by laws and politics.

Balanced scales in the justice systems means the guilty is always punished.

Latin word “Legitimare” means legitimacy.

Lesson 2: Changes in Culture and Society

Culture is a term that refers to a large and diverse set of mostly intangible aspects of social life. According to
sociologists, culture consists of the values, beliefs, systems of language, communication, and practices that people
share and that can be used to define them as a collective.

Culture is also referring the “way of life” of people in the community.

Culture is transmitted to younger education through language. Language is also the main vehicle of passing culture
from one generation to another generation.

Deculturation is a process where culture has been lost of forgotten.

Culture shock is a feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to others way of life
or set of attitudes.

Ethnocentric the person who tends to be biased and judgmental towards another culture or belief.

Definitions of Cultural Change

1. Horton & Hunt: “changes in the culture of society is called cultural change.”

2. Kingsley Davis: “cultural changes embarrasses Occurring in any branch of culture including, art, science,
technology, philosophy etc. as well as changes in the forms and rules of social organization.”

3. David Dressler and Donald Caens: “It is the modification or discontinuance of existing ‘tried’ and ‘tested’
procedures transmitted to us from the culture of the past, as well as the introduction of new procedures.”
Sources of Cultural Change

1. Discovery- It is a new perception of an aspect of reality that already exists.

2. Invention- It is the combination or new use of existing knowledge to produce something that did not exist before.
3. Diffusion- It is the spreading of cultural traits from group to another group.

4. Acculturation. It is cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from
another culture.

5. Assimilation. It is the process of combination of two cultures in to one culture with comprising cultural traits.

Viewing culture in terms of patterns and configurations

1. Cultural traits The concept of culture embraces the culture of mankind. An understanding of human culture is
facilitated, however, by analysing "the complex whole" into component parts or categories.

2. Cultural areas The relationship between an actual culture and its habitat is always an intimate one, and therefore
one finds a close correlation between kind of habitat and type of culture.

3. Cultural types Appreciation of the relationship between culture and topographic area suggests the concept of
culture type, such as hunting and gathering or a special way of hunting

Viewing culture in terms of institutional structure and functions

1. Social organization A sociocultural system presents itself under two aspects: structure and function. As culture
evolves, sociocultural systems (like biologic systems) become more differentiated structurally and more specialized
functionally, proceeding from the simple to the complex.

2. Economic systems Division of labour along occupational lines is rare, although not wholly lacking, in preliterate
societies--despite a widespread notion that one member of a tribe specializes in making arrows, which he exchanges
for moccasins made by another specialist.

3. Education In the human species individuals are equipped with fewer instincts than is the case in many nonhuman
species. And, as already noted, they are born cultureless.

4. Religion and belief Man's oldest philosophy is animism, the doctrine that everything is alive and possesses mental
faculties like those possessed by man: desire, will, purpose, anger, love, and the like.

5. Custom and law Sociocultural systems, like other kinds of systems, must have means of self regulation and control
to persist and function. In human society these means are numerous and varied.

Lesson 3: Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativism refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right or wrong, strange or normal.
Instead, we should try to understand cultural practices of other groups in its own cultural context.

For example, in the Philippines, instead of thinking, “Fried grasshoppers (tipaklong) are disgusting!” one should
instead ask, “Why do some cultures eat fried insects?” You may learn that fried grasshoppers are full of protein.

Examples of Cultural Relativism

1. Here in the Philippines, premarital sex is morally unacceptable. If go to another country, teenagers want to lose
their virginity at a young age.

2. Here in the Philippines, we do not cease to debate on the moral acceptability of contraceptives. In another
country, abortion is perfectly normal, more so the use of artificial contraceptives.

3. One society makes any prohibitions on women; while another society allows women to have equal opportunities
and obligations as men.
Importance of cultural relativism

1. Cultural Relativism does not mean anything a culture or group of people believe is true

2. Cultural Relativism does not mean that anything a culture does is good or moral.

3. Cultural Relativism doesn’t mean that cultures can’t be compared

Lesson 4: Socio Cultural Evolution

Sociocultural evolution are theories of cultural and social evolution that describe how cultures and societies change
over time. Sociocultural evolution is "the process by which structural reorganization is affected through time,
eventually producing a form or structure which is qualitatively different from the ancestral form.

1. Hunting and gathering societies are the earliest form of society. The members survive primarily by hunting,
trapping, fishing, and gathering edible plants. Most of the members' time is spent looking for and gathering food.

2. Pastoral societies rely on the domestication of animals as a resource for survival.

3. Horticultural societies formed in areas where rainfall and other conditions allowed them to grow stable crops.

Horticultural they also like hunter-gatherers who largely depended on the environment for survival and start
permanent settlements.

4. Agricultural societies relied on permanent tools for survival. Farmers learned to rotate the types of crops grown
on their fields and to reuse waste products such as fertilizer, which led to better harvests and bigger surpluses of
food.

5. Feudal These societies contained a strict hierarchical system of power based around land ownership and
protection

6. Post-Industrial Society Information societies, sometimes known as postindustrial or digital societies, are a recent
development. Information societies are based on the production of information and services.

- In this society, social classes are divided by access to education, since without technical since without technical
skills, people in an information society lack the means for success

7. Industrial Society In the eighteenth century, Europe experienced a dramatic rise in technological invention,
ushering in an era known as the Industrial Revolution.

Lesson 5: Symbols

Symbol is an object, word, or action that stands for something else with no natural relationship that is culturally
defined. Everything one does throughout their life is based and organized through cultural symbolism. It also
conveys meaning or clues shared by society.

Symbolism is when something represents abstract ideas or concepts. Symbols mean different things to different
people, which is why it is impossible to hypothesize how a specific culture will symbolize something.

4 Types of Symbols

1. Cultural Symbols are a physical manifestation that signifies the ideology of a particular culture or that merely has
meaning within a culture. Cultural symbols don't have to be actual symbols or signs.

2. Social Symbols are relating to human society and its modes of organization: social classes; social problems or a
social issue.

3. Political Symbols are symbolism that is used to represent a political standpoint. The symbolism can occur in
various media including banners, acronyms, pictures, flags, mottos, and countless more.

4. Economic Symbols are symbols used in production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services like
currency, market, labor, demands and other economic activities.
The significance of Cultural, Social, Political and Economic Symbols and Practices

1. Cultural practices are the manifestation of a culture or sub-culture, especially concerning the traditional and
customary practices of a particular ethnic or other cultural group. It plays an important role for a civilization and
character of its citizens and society.

2. Social Practices refer to everyday practices and the way these are typically and habitually performed in a society.

3. Economic system or practices are the means by which societies distribute resources and trade goods and services.
They are used to control the five factors of production, including: labor, capital, entrepreneurs, physical and
information resources.

4. Political practices is a set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power
relations to individual such as the distributions of resources.

Lesson 6: Becoming a member of society.

The context of socialization is like the theatre or stage in which socialization occurs. Social context includes culture,
language, and social structures such as the class, ethnic, and gender hierarchies of a society.

3 Context of socialization

1. The Biological Context

Biological features are regularly suggested as sources of human behavior. Sociobiologists suggest that some human
capacities may be "wired into" our biological makeup. For example, even newborn babies seem to strive for
maximum social interaction.

2. The Psychological Context

Emotional States and the Unconscious The primary factor in the psychological context of socialization is the
psychological state of the person being socialized. Psychological states include feelings such as fear, anger, grief,
love, and happiness or a sense of emotional deprivation.

Cognitive Development Theories A number of psychologists emphasize the series of stages through which humans
progress. Although emotional concerns can be involved, these theorists focus on cognitive (intellectual)
development, which occurs in a systematic, universal sequence through a series of stages.

Social and Historical Events Major social and historical events can be a force in socializing an entire generation.
Those suffering greater deprivation depended less on formal education for their life achievements and more on
effort and accomplishment outside of education.

3. Social Position as Part of the Context

Your family's social class, economic position, and ethnic background--as well as your gender--can affect the ways in
which you will be socialized. People in more advantageous positions tend to develop higher self-evaluations.

Socialization is the lifelong social experience by which people develop their human potential and learn culture.
Unlike other living species, whose behavior is mostly or entirely set by biology, humans need social experience to
learn their culture 12 and to survive. Social experience is also the foundation of personality, a person’s fairly
consistent patterns of acting, thinking and feeling.

Socialization is a central process in social life. Its importance has been noted by sociologists for a long time, but their
image of it has shifted over the last hundred years.

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

Norms are the rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members.
Status refers a social position that a person holds. An ascribed status is a social position a person receives at birth or
takes on involuntarily later in life.

2 Types of Status

1. Achieved status refers to a social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal ability and effort.
Achieved statuses include honors student, athlete, nurse, software writer, and thief.

2. Ascribed statuses include being a daughter, a Filipino, a teenager, or a widower.

Concept of Socialization

Freud’s model of personality. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) combined basic needs and the influence of society into a
model of personality with three parts: id, ego, and superego.

3 models of personality

1. The id represents the human being’s basic drives, or biological and physical needs which are unconscious and
demand immediate satisfaction. In the human personality,

2. The superego refers to the cultural values and norms internalized by an individual. Society, through its values and
norms, opposes the self-centered id.

3. The ego is, thus, a person’s conscious efforts to balance innate pleasure-seeking drives (id) with the demands of
society (superego).

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. From his studies of human cognition, or how people think and
understand. Jean Piaget (1896–1980) identified four stages of cognitive development.

Stages of development

1. Stage one is the sensorimotor stage (first two years of life), the level of human development at which individuals
know the world only through the five senses.

2. Stage two is the preoperational stage (about age two to seven) at which individuals first use language and other
symbols.

3. Stage three is concrete operational stage (between the ages of seven and eleven) at which individuals first see
causal connections in their surroundings.

4. The last stage is the formal operational stage (about age twelve) at which individuals think abstractly and
critically.

Mead’s theory of the social self. George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) For Mead, the self is a part of our personality
and includes self-awareness and self-image. It is the product of social experience and is not guided by biological
drives (see Freud) or biological maturation (see Piaget). According to Mead, the key to developing the self is learning
to take the role of the other. Infants can do this only through imitation and, without understanding underlying
intentions, have no self. As children learn to use language and other symbols, the self emerges in the form of play.
Play involves assuming roles modeled on significant others, or people, such as parents, who have special importance
for socialization. Then, children learn to take the roles of several others at once and move from simple play with one
other to complex games involving many others. The final stage in the development of the self is when children are
able to not only take the role of specific people in just one situation, but that of many others in different situations.
Mead used the term generalized other to refer to widespread cultural norms and values we use as references in
evaluating ourselves.

Cooley’s Looking-glass Self. Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929) used the phrase looking-glass self to mean a self-
image based on how we think others see us. As we interact with others, the people around us become a mirror (an
object that people used to call a “looking glass”) in which we can see ourselves. What we think of ourselves, then,
depends on how we think others see us. For example, if we think others see us as clever, we will think of ourselves in
the same way. But if we feel they think of us as clumsy, then that is how we will see ourselves.

Gender role socialization

Sex refers to the biological characteristics distinguishing male and female (Macionis 2012: 169). Sex is based on
chromosomes, anatomy, hormones, reproductive systems, and other physiological components.

Gender refers to those social, cultural, and psychological traits linked to males and females through particular social
contexts. Sex makes us male or female; gender makes us masculine or feminine. All the major agents of socialization
—family, peer groups, schools, and the mass media—reinforce cultural definitions of what is feminine and
masculine.

Agents of Socialization

1. Schools The next important agent of childhood socialization is the school. Of course, the official purpose of school
is to transfer subject knowledge and teach life skills, such as following directions and meeting deadlines.

2. Peer Groups A peer group is made up of people who are similar in age and social status and who share interests.
Peer group socialization begins in the earliest years, such as when kids on a playground teach younger children the
norms about taking turns, the rules of a game, or how to shoot a basket. As children grow into teenagers, this
process continues.

3. Mass media distribute impersonal information to a wide audience, via television, newspapers, radio, and the
Internet. With the average person spending over four hours a day in front of the television (and children averaging
even more screen time), media greatly influences social norms (Roberts, Foehr, and Rideout 2005).

4. Social Media plays a vital role in our means of communication today with the help of technology.

Lesson 7: Forms and Functions of Social Organization

Concepts of Social Group and Social Organization

Group as collection of two or more persons who are in social interaction, who are guided by similar norms, values,
and expectations, and who maintain a stable pattern of relations over a period of time. Homans (1950)

Group as set of individuals who identify and interact with one another in a structured way based on shared values
and goals. Donald Light (1984)

Social group is a unit of interacting personalities with interdependence of roles and statuses existing between and
among themselves. It is a collection of people who interact with each other in accordance with the position they
occupy in the society.

Social organization refers to a type of collectivity established for the pursuit of the specific aims or goals,
characterized by a formal structure of rules, authority relations, a division of labor and limited membership or
admission.

Fundamentally, society with a group of individuals called a social group. A social group exists when at least two
people are in contact and commonly stimulating and reacting with each other through language both verbal and
non-verbal. This shared between inter-stimulation and reaction between at least two people and groups is referred
to as social interaction.

The 12 Most Important Characteristics of Social Group is listed below:

1. Given number of Individual A social group consists of a given number of individuals. Without a number of
individuals, no social group can be formed. Two or more than that individual is necessary to form a group.
2. Reciprocal Relations There exist reciprocal relations among the members of a social group. These reciprocal
relations among the members are the basis or foundation of social group without which social group cannot be
formed. The members must interact or interrelated with each other.

3. Common Goals It is another important characteristic of a social group. The aims, objectives and ideals of the
members are common. For the fulfilment of these common goals social groups are formed. Here individual interests
are sacrificed for group interests.

4. Sense of unity and solidarity Members of a social group are always tied by a sense of unity and bond of solidarity,
common goals and mutual relations strengthens this bond of unity and solidarity. This creates loyalty and sympathy
among the members of social group.

5. A strong sense of awe-feeling Members of a social group is characterized by a strong sense of awe-feeling. This
we- feeling fosters co-operation among members. Because of this we- feeling the members identify themselves with
the group and consider others as outsiders.

6. Group Norms Every social group has its own, regulations and norms which the members are supposed to follow.
With the help of these rules and norms the group exercises control over its members. These norms may be written
or unwritten. Any violation of group norms is followed by punishment. The group norms maintain unity and integrity
in the group.

7. Similar Behavior Members of a social group show similar behavior. As the interests, ideals and values of a group
are common hence its members behave in a similar manner. This similar behavior helps in the achievement of
common goals.

8. Awareness Members of a social group are aware about the membership which distinguishes them from others.
This is perhaps due to ‘the consciousness of kind’ as opined by Giddings.

9. Group Control: Social group exercises some sort of control over its members and over their activities. This control
may be direct or indirect. Of course, group exercises control only over non-conformists or deviants.

10. Social groups may be permanent or temporary in nature. There are permanent groups likes family and
temporary groups like crowd, mob etc.

11. Social groups are dynamic in nature. It is not static. It responds to different changes. The nature of change may
be slow or rapid but it is bound to occur.

12. Social groups have established patterns.

Types of Social Groups

1. According to Social Ties

a. Primary Group

• The most fundamental unit of human society

• A long and lasting group whose members have intimate, personal continuous face-to-face relationships.

• Characterized by strong ties of love and affection.

• The do’s and don’ts of behavior are learned here.

Examples: families, gangs, cliques, play groups, friendship groups

b. Secondary Groups

• Groups with which the individual comes in contact later in life.

• Characterized by impersonal, business-like, contractual, formal and casual relationship.

• Usually large in size, not very enduring and with limited relationships.
• People need other people for the satisfaction of their complex needs. Examples: industrial workers, business
associates, faculty staff, company employees

2. According to Self-identification

a. In-group

• A social unit in which individuals feel home and with which they identify.

b. Out-group

• A social unit to which individuals do not belong due to differences in certain social categories and with which they
do not identify.

c. Reference group or psychological group

• Groups to which we consciously or unconsciously refer when we try to evaluate our own life situations and
behavior, but to which we do not necessarily belong.

• It serves a comparison function.

• It has a normative function.

3. According to Purpose

a. Special interest groups

• Groups which are organized to meet the special interest of the member

b. Task Group

• Group assigned to accomplish jobs which cannot be done by one person.

c. Influence or pressure groups.

• Group organized to support or influence social actions

4. According to geographical location and degree or quality relationship

a. Gemeinschaft

• A social system in which most relationship is personal or traditional.

• It is a community of intimate, private and exclusive living and familism.

• Culture is homogenous and traditional.

b. Gesellschafts

• A social system in which most relationships are impersonal, formal, contractual or bargain-like.

• Relationship is individualistic, business-like, secondary and rationalized.

• Culture is heterogenous and more advanced.

5. According to form of organization

a. Formal groups

• Social organization

• Deliberately formed, and their purpose and objectives are explicitly defined.

• Their goals are clearly stated and the division of labor is based on member’s ability or merit.

• Have a certain type of administrative structure called “bureaucracy”.

• A hierarchical arrangement in large-scale formal organizations in which parts of the organization are ordered in the
manner of a pyramid based on a division of function and authority. (Weber, M. 1965)

• Formal, rationally organized social structure.

Weber (1965) identified the following characteristics in a bureaucracy:

1. Positions and offices are clearly defined.

2. The hierarchical arrangements of authority, rights and obligations are specifically drawn and clear-cut.

3. The personnel are selected on the basis of technical or professional qualification and expert training and
competence through competitive examination.

4. Definite rules govern official behavior.

5. Security of tenure and the pursuit of a career with promotion in the hierarchy are assured.

b. Informal groups.

• Arises spontaneously out of the interactions of two or more persons.

• It is unplanned

• Has no explicit rules for membership and does not have specific objectives to be attained.

• It has the characteristics of primary groups and members are bound by emotions and sentiments

Example: People gather to see a celebrity in public.

Anti-social group – they don’t want a group

Example: Protest done against the government.

Network Group- It is a group where individuals make a connection but do not have the sense of belongingness.