1. The Nature and
Meaning of Culture

3. Learning Objectives:
 State operational definition of culture
 Discuss the characteristics
 Enumerate the components of culture and give
examples of each components
 Explain the different views on culture;
 Identify the categories of culture in the
Philippines society
 Give the causes of culture change
 Show the similarities and differences in culture
 Identify the factors or causes that bring about
similarities and difference in culture.

4. The Culture
 It shapes as well as guides people’s
perception of reality since it provides rules of
proper conduct for living in society.
 It includes the values, norms, language,
tools, and other shared products of society
that provide a plan for social life and are
passed on from generation to generation.
 The complex whole which includes
knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, morals,
customs and other capabilities and habits
acquired by people as members of society.
 It prescribes what one can and cannot do and
how one should do things in various
situations.
 Culture is a way of life.

5. Characteristics of Culture
 Culture is learned
 Culture is socially transmitted through
language
 Culture is a social product
 Cultures is a source of gratification
 Cultures is adaptive
 Culture is the distinctive way of life of a
group of people
 Culture is material and non-material
 Culture has sanctions and control
 Culture is stable yet dynamic
 Culture is an established pattern of behavior

6. Components
of Culture
COMMUNICATION
Language
Symbols
Ideas
Knowledge
Beliefs
Values
Accounts
Norms
Mores
Laws
Folkways
Rituals
MATERIAL
Tools
Books
Transportaion
Technologies
Medicine
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL

7. Communication
 Ispokening Inglis
 Slang

8. Communication
 Comes from the Latin word
communicare, “to share, impart
that which is common”
 the major transmitter of culture
 not limited to spoken language

9. Language
 Ano ang punto mo
 Epic Fail
 Attack of the Jejemon

10.  Language
 systematize usage of speech and
hearing to convey, communicate or
express feelings.
 written and spoken words that represent
objects or ideas
 the core of all culture

11. Symbols
 anything that carries a particular meaning
recognized by people who share culture.
 represent something concrete or
something abstract (a concept or idea)
 that which represents something else

12. Cognitive
 Knowledge
 The total range of what has been
learned or perceived as true.
 The storehouse where we accumulate
representations, information, facts,
assumptions, etc.
 Body of information accumulated
through experiences, study or
investigation.

13. Types of Knowledge
 Natural knowledge – accumulated facts
about the natural worlds.
 Supernatural knowledge – perception
about actions of gods, goddesses,
demons angels or spirit.
 Technological knowledge – knowledge
which in nature is useful in dealing with
practical problems.
 Magical knowledge – perceptions
about methods influencing supernatural
events.

14.  Ideas
 Mental representations (concepts,
categories, metaphors) used to
organize stimulus.
 Basic units out of which knowledge is
constructed and a world emerges.
 Beliefs.
 Ideas that people hold about the
universe or any part of the total reality
surrounding them.
 Convictions as to what “is” or “is not”.

15. Superstitious Beliefs
 Mga Pamahiing Pinoy

16. Values
 Person’s ideas about worth and
desirability.
 Values are concerned with
standards of worthiness of what
is good” or bad, what “should be”
or “should not be”.
 Serve as broad guidelines for
social living

17. FILIPINO VALUES
 Magalang na Filipino
 Utang na Loob
 Hate Late

18. Accounts
 Are how people use the common
language to explain, justify,
rationalize, excuse, or legitimize our
behavior to themselves and others.

19. Behavioral Components
 Norms.
 Standards or rules of behavior
expected to follow.
 Societal prescription on how one
is to act on a given situation.
 Specific guidelines for action

20. NORMS
 Social Networking Etiquette

21. Types of norms:
 Mores.
 Standards of conduct that are highly respected and
valued by the group and their fulfillment is felt to be
necessary and vital to group welfare.
 Special type of folkways and represent obligatory
behavior
 Folkways.
The customary rules of conduct that are seen as
appropriate for given situations.
 Laws
Body of rules, made by the government,
interpreted by the courts and backed by the power of
the state.
The function is social engineering
 Rituals
Highly scripted ceremonies or strips of
interaction that follow a specific sequence of actions.
Occur at predetermined times or triggered by
specific cues.

22. 2 Kinds of Mores:
1. Positive Mores or Duty
 “Thou shall behavior”
- Refers to the behavior, which
must and ought to be done
because the are ethically and
morally good.

23. Negative Mores “Taboo”
 “Thou shall not behavior”
 Taboo refers to societal
prohibitions on certain acts
which must not be done.
 Example: Cannabalism

24. Material Component
 Physical objects of culture
 The nature of the material culture
produced by a given society is a
function of the society’s level of
technology, available and needs
of the people.

25. The Organization of Culture
 Cultural Traits.
- Represents a single element or
a combination of elements related to
a specific situation.
- Either a material or non-
material
 Culture complexes
- Clusters of culture traits
 Culture patterns
- Group of clusters of culture
traits

26. Transmission of Culture
 Enculturation
 Process of learning culture of one’s
own group.
 Acculturation
Process of learning some new traits from
another culture.
 Assimilation
Process in which an individual entirely
loses any awareness of his/her previous
identity and takes on the culture and
attitudes of another group.

27. Importance and Functions of
Culture
 Culture helps people adapt to the
demands of the surrounding
physical environment.
 Culture compensate for many
human physical limitations.
 Culture provides ways and means
to regulate human collective
existence.
 Culture increased understanding,
prediction, and appreciation of the
varieties of human behavior found
within societies both past and
present.

28. Sub-Concepts related to
Culture

29. Cultural Relativism
 States that cultures, differ, so
that a cultural traits, act, or idea
has no meaning of function by
itself bus has a meaning only
within its cultural setting (Horton
and Hunt 1985)
 Notion that each culture should be evaluated from
the standpoint of its own setting rather than from the
standpoint of a different culture

30. Culture Shock
 Refers to a feeling of disbelief
 Disorganization
 Frustrations one experiences
when he encounters cultural
patterns

31. Enthnocentrism
 It refers to the tendency to see
behaviors, belief, values, and
norms of own group as the only
right way of living.
 Judging others standards
 Superiority of one’s culture
 Others cultures as inferior

32. Xenocentrism
 Referring to the idea that what is
foreign is best and that one’s
lifestyle, products, ideas are
inferior to the others.
 Westren culture
 Imported products are superior

33. Noble Savage Mentality
 Refers to the evaluation of one’s
culture and that of others based
on the romantic notion that the
culture:
 Primitive
 Simple is better
 More Acceptable
 More Orderly

34. Subculture
 This refers to a social group
which develop norms, values,
belief, and special languages
which can make the distinct
from broader society
 Examples: Tagalogs, Ilokanos, Teen-
agers, Senior citizens, exclusive villages

35. Counterculture or
Contra Culture
 Refers to a subgroups whose
standards come conflict with
and oppose the conventional
standards of the dominant
culture.
 Examples: Criminals, Drug Addicts,
Deviant, Prostitutes, and terrorist

36. Culture Lag
 Refers to a gap between the
material and non-material
culture.
 Examples: New inventions is introduced
before the skills to utilize it.

37. Universal Pattern of Culture
 Refers to a broad areas of social
living found in all societies.
 Refers to features and elements
common to all culture rather
than to the special culture traits
 Examples: Courtship, Dancing, Food,
Taboos, Games, Gestures, Languages,
Hair stylefs

38. Variations of Man’s Behavior
a. Crazes
b. Fads
c. Fashion

39.  Social Experiment

40. Factors that accounts for diversities
or differences in Culture
Factors that account for the
development of Culture

41. Factors account for the
development of culture:
 Human biological needs and
drives
 Psychological Processes
 Man’s highly developed nervous
system
 Man’s highly developed vocal
apparatus
 Man’s Upright posture
 Physical and Social environment

42. Factors that accounts for
diversities or differences in
Culture
 Cultural Variability
 Cultural Relativity
 Environmental Differences
 Human ingenuity and ability to
absorb and expand new culture

43. Are you born into a
Culture or with a
Culture?