UCSP

Understanding Culture,
Society and Politics

UCSP 101 Bardagulan

Ser
withAYBAN
 EXPLAIN
What is the difference
between culture and
society?
 EXPLAIN
Can society prevails
without culture? How
about vice versa?
CULTURE AND
SOCIETY
 SOCIETY

In simple terms, society refers to a

group of people sharing a
common culture. It may also be
defined as an organized group or
groups of people who generally
share a common territory,
language and culture, and who act
together for collective survival and
well-being.
 SOCIETY

The ways in which these people

depend upon one another can be
seen in such features as their
economic, communication, and
defense systems. They are also
bound together by a sense of
common identity. Since culture
and society are closely related
concepts, Anthropology and
Sociology study both.
 SOCIETY

Despite their interrelatedness,

however, these concepts are not
exactly the same. A society has a
more comprehensive sets of
culture in the sense that the group
is culturally self sufficient. A
society, for instance, may engage
on trade with other societies and
yet the cultural patterns involved
in this trade relation are integral
part of a culture of the society
itself.
 A human
society is
characterized
by:

(a) territorially
localized
population
 A human
society is
characterized
by:

(b) the members of

which inter-act in a
network of
relationship
 A human
society is
characterized
by:

(c) which are

distinctive,
culturally defined
and limited
 A human
society is
characterized
by:
(d) affectively
bonded by the
common linguistic
and other forms of
symbolic
 EXPLAIN
Give a scenario that
show a specific
characterization of
society and explain
how.
 SOCIETY

Society arises only when the

individuals are knit together in
a network of mutual stimulus and
response. In other words, society
exists where social beings behave
toward each other in ways
determined by their recognition of
one another.
CULTURE
 CULTURE
The most important characteristic
that distinguishes human from
non-human societies lies in the
specific ways in which humans
strive to meet their basic needs.
They meet these needs for social
survival primarily through
learned behavior, which is
invented, generally agreed upon
and transmitted through various
mediums of communication, the
most prominent of which is the use
of language.
 CULTURE
In general, culture develops as a
response to the society's
conditions and immediate solutions
to the problems of individual and
groups. Culture is "that complex
whole which encompasses beliefs,
practices, values, attitudes, laws,
norms, artifacts, symbols,
knowledge, and everything that a
person learns and shares as a
member of society".
 CULTURE
This set of behavior and the fact
that humans are characterized by
them by virtue of being born as
"human beings" apart from other
creatures in the animal kingdom
suggests the universal nature of
the concept. They are behaviors
that humans possess which
other primates do not. As John
Honigmann has pointed (1959),
three components go together
which made up culture: ideas,
activities and artifacts.
 CULTURE
Ideas are thoughts, beliefs,
feelings, and rules. For example,
aversion to incest, the Holy Spirit
and food-sharing desires among
relatives. This may be directly a
part of some behavior, the
underlying cause or even by-
products of it.
 CULTURE
Activities, on the one hand, are
the dynamic components of
culture. It is what people do as
opposed to what they believe
or feel. Such may include the act
of punishing incestuous behavior,
sacrifice in religion, and the
celebration of Christmas and other
religious holidays.
 CULTURE
Finally, artifacts are man-made
products of the ideas and
activities: the knife that kills the
incestuous pair, the altar for
sacrifice, the pot that contains the
meat for the feast,and even the
meat if taken from domestic animal
.
INSTRUCTION

Describe yourself as a Filipino with

the use of your culture and society.
INSTRUCTION
I’m a Filipino because my cultures
are _____________________

I’m a Filipino because our society is

________________________
 EXPLAIN
1. Give a Filipino culture and explain how it
was uniquely Filipino.
2. What is the most common culture that
was practiced among your group? Why do
you think so?
3. Describe a Filipino society.
4. Will our society be any different if we are
not colonized by other countries? In what
way?
 EXPLAIN

Give a Filipino culture

and explain how it was
uniquely Filipino.
 EXPLAIN

What is the most

common culture that
was practiced among
your group? Why do
you think so?
 EXPLAIN

Describe a Filipino
society.
 EXPLAIN

Will our society be any

different if we are not
colonized by other
countries? In what way?
 INSTRUCTION
Collage Making: Create a collage
that shows how society
encompasses culture in our daily
lives. You can use old magazines,
news papers, product packaging
and etc. Use oslo paper for the
canvass and do not forget to write
your name at the back on the
upper left corner.
 Thank You
F o r Yo u r A t t e n t i o n

UCSP 101 Bardagulan

Ser
withAYBAN
ANTHROPOLOGY
THIS IS ME!
INSTRUCTION
You are the one who knows yourself
very well. Fill up every important
feature given on each figure to
understand yourself better.
PROCESING QUESTIONS
How do the following features
(race, gender,class, etc.) affect
you in pursuing your present and
future plans? Do they provide
opportunities or serve as
constraints?
PROCESING QUESTIONS
How does the government
respond to the needs of
those people who belong to
the same social location
where you are located right
now?
ANTHROPOLOGY
CLAY-A MO
TO?
 CLAY-A MO TO?
Choose a representative per
round from each group. Create
the following images given by the
teacher under 2 minutes. The
group that has the most numbers
of correct models will win.
DINOSAUR
FLOWERS
HOUSE
HUMAN
PROCESING QUESTIONS
What characteristics does the
clay have that has something to
do with our culture and why?
CHARACTERISTICS
OF CULTURE
 CULTURE

Cultural behaviors
permit humans to fit into
and adapt, to their
respective environments;
for instance, through the
use of clothing to secure
one's body from harsh
climate or the search for
food for nourishment and
survival.
 CULTURE

In contemporary societies,
culture has even developed
allowing people to fit the
environment to their daily needs,
for example, to air- condition the
desert or heat the Arctic. The
cumulative and social nature of
human ideas, activities and
artifacts gives a tremendous
potential source of variability
in adaptation, permitting
people to specialize for the short
run as well as maintain
generalization.
 CULTURE

They can also borrow

such potential from other
groups if their cultural
behaviors are found to
have survival value: sort
of a hyper-developed
gene flow but with
tremendously magnified
results.
 CULTURE
Culture for humans is rather like
water for fish, so omnipresent
and important that they could
hardly fathom its significance. Yet
conscious or not, humans more
and more have adapted to their
environments and cultural ways
rather than evolve biologically or
naturally and, in so doing, have
gained a prowess and
momentum in maneuverability
and flexibility in the process of
environmental adaptation,
simply unchallenged by other
forms of life.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF CULTURE
Shared and Contested
This means that the ideas,
activities and artifacts are
shared in common by the
members of a society or
group. They have become
socially and conventionally
standardized in form and
manner. If such behaviors
become useful and gratifying,
and if they are helpful to humans
in gaining ends and satisfying
needs, then it becomes obvious
that at least in general they must
be parties to the same cultural
ways.
Shared and Contested
It should also be pointed out
from a sociological perspective,
that humans come not only to
share his culture in common but
also to validate it as he
behaves it. Since culture is
extragenetic, its transmission is
not simply automatic but largely
depends on the willingness of
humans to give and receive it.
Humans, at least potentially,
alter ideas, activities, and
artifacts if they no longer give
them satisfaction. They can
'mutate' them prior to their
transmission and can even
reject them afterwards.
 Learned Through
Socialization or Enculturation
The behavior patterns that constitute a
specific culture are not genetically or
biologically determined. Every normal
infant has the potential to learn
culture any as he grows and
survives the various stages of life.
Most often, the one that he comes to
share is a matter of chance or simply
accidental of his place of birth. Through
the process of socialization, or
enculturation, the child eventually
acquires the prevailing attitudes and
beliefs, the forms of behavior
appropriate to the social roles he
occupies, and the behavior patterns and
values of the society into which be is
 Patterned Social
Interactions
Social interaction, as commonly
viewed, implies theories of
reciprocity, complementarity,
and mutuality of response. For
example: A question implies an
answer. A statement implies
acknowledgement of the
communication. A hostile act is
countered or allayed. These
samples simply illustrate
primary patterns of social
integration
 Patterned Social
Interactions
The patterns of social interaction
may be viewed (a) as inherent
characteristics of the
participants merely given the
opportunity to be exposed, or (b)
as 'emergent' in the sense that
they arise in the interaction as a
product. There is barely a shade
of difference in these two views,
one suggesting primarily a
notion of crystallization of
individual patterns, the other an
unfolding in group process.
 Integrated and at
Times Unstable
For any society or group, the
various ideas, activities and
artifacts are not only shared,
but the arrangements of
them more or less fit
together and interlock to
form a consistent whole: for
example, the technology with
social and political patterns.
Certainly, the various behaviors
we observe are different kinds of
cultural expressions and are
behaved for different reasons
and purposes. Nonetheless,
they can be viewed as rather
patterned general response
to the problem of existence.
 Transmitted Through
Socialization/Enculturation
Being acquired by learning, cultural
ideas, activities and artifacts are
handed down from generation to
generation as a super-organic
inheritance. Some of this is
accomplished by social learning, by
imitating the acts of others, though
most often is transmitted more
directly by human language, which
in itself a part of culture and considered
the most important part, the "soul" of
every culture.
 Transmitted Through
Socialization/Enculturation
Because humans possess language,
we can be told on what to do and
when and where, words becoming for
us gene-like in producing behavior. Not
only we are given social heritage
through transmission, this is also
bestowed to us in a cumulative fashion.
There are more ideas, activities, and
artifacts added to culture behavior in
each generation (although varies from
one society to the other). The sum total
of such behaviors, then, tends to
increase over time. This, at least
potentially increases the cultural
behavioral repertoire of a human
group.
 Requires Language and
Other Forms of
Communication
Language is a shared set of spoken
(often written) symbols and rules
for combining those symbols in
meaningful ways. Language has been
called 'the storehouse of culture'. It is
the primary means of capturing,
communicating, discussing,
changing, and passing shared
understandings to new generations
(and new citizens). Language is the
most important means of cultural
transmission, the process by which one
generation passes culture to the next.
Through the unique power of language,
man gain access to centuries of
accumulated wisdom.
 Requires Language and
Other Forms of
Communication
Without language, one could not
inform others about events,
emotions, and other experiences to
which they are not a part of. Aside
from language, much of human
behavior involves symbols or non-
verbal forms such as signs, sounds,
emblems, and other things that are
linked to something or someone else
and represented in meaningful ways.
These symbols ranging from national
flags to wedding rings to money enter
into every aspect of culture, from
social life and religion to politics
and economics.
 ARTICLE ANALYSIS
Look for an article with date not exceeding 2015
and below. Make sure that the article is related
with at least 5 of the characteristics or aspects of
culture that we discussed, answer the following
questions with an essay consisting of 3
paragraphs with at least 5 sentences each
paragraph
 PROCESING QUESTIONS
• In what way language was utilized as an
element of transmission of culture?
• How was different cultural behavior
integrated with each other in the article?
• What are the following patterned behaviors
and social interactions shown in the article
and how was it important in terms of our
culture?
 PROCESING QUESTIONS
• How do cultural behaviors evolve to meet
changing environmental challenges?

• How can a deeper understanding of cultural

behaviors enhance our ability to adapt to
different environments?
 INFORMATIVE ESSAY
Show the importance and function of our own
culture by identifying its different aspects
through an informative essay about the society
you belong to. Answer the following questions
with an essay consisting of 3 paragraphs with at
least 5 sentences each paragraph.
 GUIDE QUESTIONS
• How do cultural behaviors influence
clothing choices for environmental
adaptation?

• How does the search for food align

with cultural behaviors related to
nourishment and survival?

• Why is it important to understand the

role of cultural behaviors in fitting into
different environments?
 GUIDE QUESTIONS
• How can an understanding of the
omnipresence and importance of culture
enhance our awareness of its
significance in our daily lives?

• How has the shift towards cultural

adaptation influenced the traditional
notions of biological or natural evolution
in human development?
 TRANSFER
The TASK
students will be able to
make a vlog and produce a
documentary video (for finals)
showcasing multimedia and
communicative skills while
reflecting relative social issues.
 GOAL
To promote social
awareness on timely issues
using multimedia and
communicative skills.
 SITUATION
You are an active member of NGO’s and your recent
project is to give awareness regarding on the
different world issue regarding on the dynamics
interconnections of culture, society and political
identities in a particular phenomenon/issue that could
help others to have an open and critical attitude
toward different social, political, and cultural
phenomena as a reflection to the influence of religion
in certain issue. You must provide a documentary
vlog to be used in the campaign.
 GUIDE
• QUESTIONS
What makes our society in Samal
unique?
• Explain the following cultures that are
distinct in the town of Samal.
• What are the following aspects of
society can you observe in Samal?
Give each an example and briefly
explain.
 GUIDE
• How QUESTIONS
was the following tradition,
customs and languages were passed
down from generation to generation?
Provide an interview and explain why.
• Give an example for each
characteristics of culture and explain
why you think that it was the best
example.
PAG NASA KATWIRAN,
IPAGLABAN MO!

Decide on whether the

following statements should be
respected or not and explain
why.
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Female genital cutting
in Africa
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Footbinding of women in China
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Filipinos eating fertilized duck egg that has a
prematurely developed embryo (a.k.a balut)
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Pagmamano in Filipino.
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
In the Satare Mawe tribe they showcase the
courage by placing hands in a basket filled with
angry bullet ants.
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Tomato craze in Spain: La Tomatina is the
biggest tomato fight that exists. It is a strange
culture among the Valencians in Bunol where
tomatoes are used as weapons.
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Muslim bride have tattooes before their
wedding for fertility and goodluck
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Japanese believed in traditional suicide wherein
they commit it rather than surrender to a
defeat.
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Guests are served a strange earthy cocktail
made from squeezing roots and served in a
wooden bowl or bucket in Fiji, Japan as a
welcome drink.
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
In China, brides to be cry for a month as part of
the wedding preparation.
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
When a person of the Tanomani tribe dies, his
or her body is burnt. The bone and ash powder
is mixed into a plantain soup that the people
attending will drink
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Hindus show their devotion to the Lord through
piercing their body parts including the tongue
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Mudras put on people some gestures or marks,
in the belief that they will help the individuals
control the flow of life.
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
Bayanihan in the Philippines where villagers
gather to help.
 TO RESPECT
OR NOT ?

STATEMENT:
During Nag Panchami in India, people dance to
the music carrying snakes in pots which are
placed on their head and join the procession
towards the temple.
Ethnocentrism and
Cultural Relativism
 ETHNOCENTRISM
AND CULTURAL
RELATIVISM

Cultural differences are

dominant than cultural
universal, despite how
much individuals have
similarity. Cultural Universals
are traits that are parts of
every known culture.
 ETHNOCENTRISM
AND CULTURAL
RELATIVISM

These include bodily

adornment, courtship,
dancing,
education, food taboos,
funeral rite, etc. Cultural
Universals give rise to
Ethnocentrism and
Cultural
Relativity/Relativism.
 CULTURAL
RELATIVISM

Explanation:
refers to the practice of
assessing a culture by its
own
standards rather than
viewing it through the lens of
one’s own culture.
 CULTURAL
RELATIVISM

Ruth Benedict (1887–

1948) anthropologist
argued that each culture
has an
internally consistent
pattern of thoughts and
actions, which alone could
be the basis for judging
the merits and morality of
the culture’s practices.
 CULTURAL
RELATIVISM

Cultural relativism
requires an open mind
and a willingness to
consider, and even adapt
to, new values and norms.
The logic of cultural
relativism is at the basis of
contemporary policies of
multiculturalism.
 CULTURAL
RELATIVISM

Multiculturalism refers to
both the fact of the
existence of a diversity
of cultures within one
territory and to a way of
conceptualizing and
managing cultural
diversity.
EXAMPLE:
Example: For instance, Pepay is a cultural relativist from the
Philippines; she prefers to look at other cultures in terms of what
their practices bring to them. She believes that if a tribe paints their
faces for religious ceremonies, there must be a good reason why
they do that. Is there a practical reason for it, or is it symbolic? If
symbolic, where do the symbols come from? These questions allow
a closer examination of the practices of others than ethnocentrism.
This doesn't imply that a relativist, like Pepay, doesn't have strong
beliefs of her own. Rather, other cultures are simply not judged
with reference to one's own culture.
 ETHNOCENTRISM
Ethnocentrism, as
sociologist William
Graham Sumner (1840-
1910) described the
term, involves a belief or
attitude that one’s own
culture is better than all
others
(1906). Ethnocentrism can
be so strong that when
confronted with all the
differences of a new
culture, one may
experience disorientation
and frustration. In
sociology, we call this
culture shock.
EXAMPLE:
Example: Example: For instance, Pedro is an
ethnocentric from the Philippines; he considers others'
beliefs and practices to be savage or corrupt, or he is
often confused by other people's cultures. Very often,
people that are ethnocentric don't know they are using
their culture to judge another's. The culture of an
ethnocentric person is considered the 'normal' way that
things are done, just as Pedro believes.
CONCLUSION
TRUE OR FALSE:
Instruction: Assess whether the statements are true or false. Write
TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if not.
1. Cultural relativism refers to giving value to a familiar cultural value
from one’s own perspective.
2. Ethnocentrism is confining one’s beliefs,
3. A group’s culture is the centre of everything and others are just
nothing in a perspective of ethnocentric individual.
4. Ethnocentric individuals appreciate other culture that they
encounter along their way.
5. In cultural relativism’s point of view, no culture is superior than
another culture when compared to systems of morality, law,
politics, etc.
TRUE OR FALSE:
6. In practicing the norms and values of society, behaving as a
cultural relativist individual is appropriate.
7. Cultural relativism and ethnocentrism is the same.
8. Cultural relativism discourage the understanding of cultural
practices that are unfamiliar to other cultures such as eating insects,
genocides or having multiple wives.
9. Ethnocentric behavior makes a culture strong and durable.
10. In a cultural relativist perspective, a trait is right or wrong
depends on the setting or culture that it is practice or use.
ANSWER KEY:
1. False
2. True
3. True
4. False
5. True
6. True
7. False
8. False
9. False
10. True
 ANSWER KEY:

1. cultural relativism 6. cultural relativism 11. ethnocentrism

2.ethnocentrism 7. cultural relativism 12. ethnocentrism
3.cultural relativism 8. ethnocentrism 13. ethnocentrism
4. ethnocentrism 9. cultural relativism 14. ethnocentrism
5. ethnocentrism 10. ethnocentrism 15. cultural
relativism
 What will it be?
Instruction: Read the statements carefully and identify if it implies
ethnocentrism or cultural relativism. Write the answers on the
space provided.
1. Gab believes that tribe paint their faces for religious
ceremonies, there must be a good reason why he do that.
2. Rosebelle uses her culture to judge other culture.
3. Carlo understands the culture of the others.
4. Filipinos believe that their culture is better than Thai.
5. Other countries express disgust at other culture cuisines and
think that it’s gross.
What will it be?
6. Philippine government does not ban any religious activities.
7. Mr. Henry Sy believes that men and women are equal in
workplace.
8. Some tribes isolate themselves from others because they are a
threat to them.
9. Aryana and Ashley have different religions. However, they
respect each other.
10. Pampangeños prefer to look at the other regional cultures
likely similar.
What will it be?
11. People from Visaya are often bullied by people in the metro
manila because of their cultural language.
12. People criticize the traditional alive foods of Chinese
13. Using spoon and fork at the same time in Canada is prohibited
14. Having multiple wives in Muslim is being judged by
monotonous religions.
15. Americans and other countries in Asia adopted the sushi food
of Japan and created their own sushi restaurants.
 Thank You
F o r Yo u r A t t e n t i o n

UCSP 101 Bardagulan

Ser
withAYBAN
 LUZON
Province Beliefs Tradition Customs Political Culture
Bataan Bataeños are deeply rooted Simbang Gabi or the 9 Crying Ladies of Morong Quite a peaceful election
in Christianity since 84.6 % evening mass before Bataan every Holy Week with some kind of vote-
of the population is reported Christmas buying as well as the
to be Catholics but beliefs in Garcia dynasty.
mythological creatures and
ghosts are sometimes
observed like the rumors of
the haunted basement of the
PUP in Mariveles.

Pampanga Kapampangans are deeply Lubenas or the annual Actual Crucifixion in The normal type of
religious because most of evening procession that Cutud, San Fernando government and election
their population are happens for the next 9 with some reports of vote
Christians. Folklore and nights before Christmas buying and an ambush
beliefs of the Philippine last 2022 election in
mythological creatures are Guagua and with the line
observed. of Pinedes in their
government.

VISAYAS
Province Beliefs Tradition Customs Political Culture

MINDANAO
Province Beliefs Tradition Customs Political Culture
 ASPECTS OF
CULTURE

Validity
e.g. values, opinions,
laws, metaphors,
meanings