2. Culture – refers to the attitudes, values, customs,
and behavior patterns that characterize
a social group
- the ways in
which a particular
group of people
lives, including
their shared
knowledge,
values, customs
and physical
objects
3. Culture is that complex whole which include knowledge, belief,
morals, law, custom and any other capability and habits acquired
by man as a member of society (Edward Burnett Taylor 1958)
…learned norms, values, knowledge, artifacts, language and
symbols that are constantly communicated among people who
share a common way of life (Craig Calhoun 1994)
Culture is the sum total of symbols, ideas, forms of expressions and
material products associated with a system. It is a dynamic medium
through which societies create a collective way of life reflected in
such things as beliefs, values, music, literature, art, dance, science,
religious ritual and technology (Allan Johnson 1996)
Culture is defined as the set of learned behaviors, beliefs, attitude,
values and ideals that are characteristics of a particular society or
population (Ember 1994)
4. Characteristics of Culture
Leslie A. White refers culture as an organization
of phenomena that is dependent upon symbols,
phenomena which include:
> acts (patterns of behavior)
> objects (tools and things made by tools)
> ideas (beliefs, knowledge) and
> sentiments (attitudes, values)
In this sense, culture means the
entire way of life of people and
everything learned and shared by
people in society (Hunt et al, 1998)
5. Gerard Hendrik (Geert) Hofstede
states that culture consists of patterns,
explicit and implicit, of and for behavior
acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting
the distinctive achievement of human groups,
including their embodiments in artifacts.
It also refers to cumulative deposit of
knowledge, experience, beliefs, values,
attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion,
notions of time, roles, spatial relations,
concepts of universe, and materials objects
and possessions acquired by a group of
people in the course of generation through
individual and group striving
6. UNESCO (2002)
-The set of distinctive
spiritual, material,
intellectual, and emotional
features of society or a social
group, and that it
encompasses, in addition to a
literature, lifestyles, ways of
living together, value
systems, traditions and
beliefs”
7. If you ask 100 anthropologists to
define culture, you’ll get 100
different definitions. However,
most of these definitions would
emphasize roughly the same
things: that culture is shared,
transmitted through learning and
helps shape behavior and beliefs
8. 1. Culture is Learned
the first essential characteristics of
culture
can be learned indirectly through
observation and imitation
through experience
through watching (documentaries) and
reading books
taught by parents/family ( generation
to generation)
A PERSON FEELS LIKE AN OUTSIDER UNTIL
THEY’VE LEARNED THE WAYS OF THE CULTURE
9. DISCUSSION QUESTION:
Think of a time when you went to a new
environment (such as off to college) and you
didn’t know how you were expected to act or
what you should do. How did you figure out
what you should do to fit into the group.
10. 2. Culture is shared by group of people
people of the same
community share
the same values,
beliefs, and
traditions
their literature and
history is the same
their language and
mannerisms, and
the way they
communicate is
similar
11. built by their belief system,
their personalities share
certain traits
their roles in the family and
society are defined by their
culture
their occupations and
lifestyles may be influenced
by their culture
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/characteristics-of-
culture.html
12. 3. Culture is cumulative
cumulative - increasing or increased in quantity,
degree, or force by successive additions
Knowledge is stored and passed on
from one generation to the next and
new knowledge is being added to
what is existing
the achievement of the present and
past and make provision for the
future achievement of man
culture elements are added up as
the needs arise.
13. 4. Cultures change
All cultural knowledge does not perpetually accumulate. At the
same time that new cultural traits are added, some old ones
are lost because they are no longer useful
certain traditions or rituals are eliminated
language and mannerisms of people change
migration and globalization lead to
a mixing of cultures
Due to education and increase
awareness, newer generation become
flexible to change and look at concepts
like religion and culture with a
broader perspective and have a liberal
view about them.
14. Due to exposure to various cultures across the globe, people
adopt some aspects of other cultures. This affects what they
teach their children, thus influencing the culture of their
future generations and in a small way, leading to a cultural
change.
Gender roles change
15. 5. Culture is dynamic
Character of culture that stems from its cumulative
quality
No culture is ever in a permanent state
New ideas and new techniques are added and old ways are
constantly modified and discarded
Spread of traits from individual and from one group to
another which is termed as diffusion
One form of diffusion is growth of language. Filipino
vocabulary has grown because of borrowing words from other
languages like Spanish, Chinese and English
16. 6. Culture is ideational
Culture is an ideal pattern of behavior
which the members are expected to
follow.
Assign meanings to environment and experiences by
symbolizing them
A symbol is something that stands for something else.
Symbols vary cross-culturally and are arbitrary. They
only have meaning when people in a culture agree on
their use. Language, money and are symbols.
Language is the most important symbolic
component of culture
17. 7. Culture is diverse
The sum total of human culture
consists of a great many separate
cultures, each of them different
a system that has several
mutually interdependent parts.
Although these parts are separate,
they are interdependent with one
another forming culture as a
whole
For example, the choice of a marriage partner involves
many different parts of culture as religion, economic
class, education, etc.
18. Culture tells us how different
activities should be conducted
such as
> as a husband
> as a wife
> as a parent
> as a child, etc.
These rules of permissible behavior
are usually flexible to a degree –
there are some alternatives rather
than hard rules
8. Culture gives us a range of
permissible behavior pattern
19. Culture, for an instance , tells us how we
should dress based on our gender, but it
allows us to dress in different ways in
different situations in order to communicate
varied messages and statuses
The clothing can be intentionally business-
like, recreational, as well as sexually
attractive, ambiguous, neutral, or even
repulsive
(http://anthro.Palomar.edu/culture/_htm)
20. Culture is learned from the people surrounding us. The
distinct set of beliefs, values, traditions and behavior is
passed down through generations. It is a collective
phenomenon, and cannot exist in isolation in a single
individual. It is shared at various levels, but is also rich in
diversity. Culture implies the overall way of life for a group
of individuals. It is the glue that binds people together, and
enables them to adapt, survive, and live together in
harmony.
21.
22.
23. > Roberta Edwards Lenkeit: Introducing Cultural Anthropology (4th
Edition);
> chapter 2: CULTURE: What makes us strangers when we are away
from hom
> Conrad Philip Kottak: Cultural Anthropology 6th Edition
> http://home.earthlink.net/~youngturck/Chapter8.htm
>https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-
sociology-textbook/culture-3/the-symbolic-nature-of-culture-30/the-
symbolic-nature-of-culture-189-8968/
> https://popculture.knoji.com/the-different-characteristics-of-
culture/
> http://www.buzzle.com/articles/characteristics-of-culture.html
> http://www.buzzle.com/articles/importance-of-culture.html
> http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-is-culture.html
> Social Dimensions of Education ( Vega, Prieto, Carreion)
