Society and Culture by R. Leano and R. Corpuz

1. CULTURE
INSTRUCTIONAL MODULE

2. LEARNING OUTCOME
Students can:
1. Form a sound judgment on the effects of culture to individual and
societal development.
2. Distinguish the basic concepts, theories and perspective that are
vital in understanding societies and cultures.
3. Recognize cultural elements that are distinctly Filipino.
4. Enumerate some Filipino cultural practices and compare it to other
cultures.

3. CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
 Define culture
 Enumerate the different elements of culture
 Identify the major characteristics of culture
 Determine the functions of culture

4. OVERVIEW
The study of sociology is fundamentally concerned with the ultimate
questions of how and why people act the way they do.
To answer these questions, a sociologist has to examine an individual’s
inheritance from the past, his/her ideas, beliefs, knowledge, customs,
and traditions. Hence, his/her behavior can best be explained by
examining his/her culture.

5. WHAT IS CULTURE?
 Derived from the Latin word cultura or cultus which means care or cultivation
 It is that complex whole which includes knowledge belief, art, law, morals custom and
other capabilities and habit acquired by man as a member of society. (Edward Taylor)
 It is the complex whole that consists of all the ways we think and do and everything
we have as member of society. (Robert Bierstadt)
 The realm of styles of values of emotional attachments of intellectual adventures.
(MacIver and Page)
Therefore, culture define as the sum total of behavior traits which a person, comes to
acquire through instruction and learning

6. ORIGIN OF CULTURE
Anthropologist believe that culture is
 Product of human evolution
 Supplement to human evolution
 Human adaptation to the world
Hence person may transmit beliefs, values, norms, or way of life to
one another person even if they are not related by blood. People from
different places develop distinct culture.

7. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
As perceived by sociologists and anthropologists, culture is a complex concept. To
understand culture, one must examine its major elements:
 Material Culture
 Non-material Culture
1. Language
2. Beliefs
3. Values
4. Norms
a. Mores
b. Folkways
c. Laws

8. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
MATERIAL CULTURE
It includes the physical objects of society produces, things n people
create and use.
Example: tools, pieces of furniture, clothing, automobiles, and
computer systems, etc.
Awareness of this kinds of objects created and how people use to
bring about greater understanding to the culture of the society

9. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
NON-MATERIAL CULTURE
Considered as the carriers of culture that shared by the member of the
society.
a. Language-the sharing of meanings among the member of a society
through the use of highly complex systems of symbols like language.
It is the very foundation of culture and it influences people’s ways of
behaving, and feeling, and thus, tends to define and shape the world
around them. Without language, there swill be no culture.

10. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
b . Beliefs-ideas that people hold about the universe or any part of the
total reality surrounding them.
Example: spirits, life after death, superstitions
They show how people perceive reality and may be infinite and may
include ideas concerning the individual, other people, and any aspects
of biological, physical, social, and supernatural world.

11. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
c. Values-abstract concept of what is important and worthwhile.
Example: nationalism, heroism
Values are shared ideas about desirable goal and make up human
judgments of what is moral and immoral, good or bad, right or
wrong, beautiful or ugly, etc.

12. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
d. Norms-It pertains to society’s standards of propriety, morality,
ethics and legality. Some examples are: eating, talking, dressing,
cooking, courtship, child rearing, working, spending leisure time and
some special occasions.
In short, “specific rules of behavior”.
-It was divided into three: folkways, mores and laws.

13. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
i. Folkways – are commonly known as the customs, traditions, and
conventions of society.
Example: In the Tagalog areas, people eat three times a day with
merienda in the afternoon.
One of the essential features of folkways is that there is no strong
feeling of right or wrong attached to them. If one violates folkways,
there is no punishment attached to it.

14. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
ii. Mores - norms people consider vital to their well being and most cherished values; they are
special customs with moral and ethical significance, which are strongly held and emphasized.
It represent obligatory behavior because their infraction results in punishment, formal or
informal.
Kinds of Mores
1.Positive mores/Duty - it refers to the behavior, which must and ought to be done because they
are ethically and morally good.
E.g. Giving assistance to the poor and needy.
2.Negative mores/Taboo - it refers to societal prohibitions on certain acts which must not be
done because they are not only illegal, but amoral and unethical.
E.g. incest, rape, cannibalism, murder etc

15. ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
iii. Laws - these are formalized norms enacted by people vested with
legitimate authority. They are group expectations, which have formal
sanction by the state.
Examples: Republic Acts, Revised Penal Code of the Philippines,
statutes and Batas Pambansa.

16. CHARACTERISTICS OF
CULTURE
 Culture is learned. (through the process of interaction)
 Culture is transmitted. (through communication)
 Culture is shared. (no one knows the entire culture/through sharing of ideas)
 Culture is cumulative. (has a tendency to grow and expand/through
transmission)
 Culture is dynamic. (change is continuous/through diffusion)
 Culture is diverse. (different from one another)
 Culture is social and collective. (elements of culture collections)
 Culture is adaptive. (flexible)
 Culture is an integrated whole. (identifiable as one society)

17. FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
Culture defines situations.
Culture is the treasury of knowledge.
Culture provides behavior patterns.
Culture defines attitudes, values and goals.
Culture models personality.
Culture decides our careers

18. FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
Culture helps people to adapt to the demands of the surrounding
physical environment.
Culture compensates for many human physical limitations.
Culture provides ways and means to regulate human collective
existence.
Culture prescribes behavioral patterns.

19. QUIZ
Identification
Identify the major components of culture. Give examples of each.
Essay
Describe the changes in the folkways of your hometown during the
last ten years. Include the manner of dressing, relationships between
parents and children, the family customs and other traditions.

20. QUIZ
Multiple choice
1. The total of human creation.
a. Culture
b. Language
c. Beliefs
d. Values
2. Examples of material culture except.
a. Roads
b. Norms
c. Plates
d. Land
3. Ideas that people hold about their surroundings.
a. Values
b. Norms
c. Beliefs
d. Mores
4. Shared rules of conduct.
a. Mores
b. Folkways
c. Laws
d. Norms
5. Represents obligatory behaviors because their infraction
results in punishment, formal or informal.
a. Mores
b. Folkways
c. Laws
d. Norms

21. 6. Culture is cumulative because……
a. It is fixed or static
b. It is continuous
c. It varies from one culture to another
d. It has a tendency to grow and expand
7. Culture is created and developed by human being implies that
it is
a. Learned
b. Shared
c. Cumulative
d. Dynamic
8. Very foundation of culture.
a. Values
b. Language
c. Beliefs
d. Laws
9. They are simply the customary, normal, and habitual ways a
group does things.
a. Values
b. Mores
c. Folkways
d. Beliefs
10. These are shared ideas about desirable goals.
a. Language
b. Beliefs
c. Values
d. Norms