FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

1. UNDERSTANDING
CULTURE,
SOCIETY, AND
POLITICS
STARTING POINT
FOR THE
UNDERSTANDING
OF CULTURE,
SOCIETY, AND
POLITICS

2. SCENARIO:
You decided to stay in
your uncle’s vacation
house for a month to
get away from the stress
of living in the city.
Question: If you isolate
yourself from everyone
else, are you still a part
of the society?

3. What is
Society?
REFERS TO A
GROUP OF
PEOPLE WHO
LIVE
TOGETHER,
USUALLY IN A
SPECIFIC
GEOGRAPHICAL
LOCATION.

4. Characteristics:
1. Likeness: (May be in the beginning
assumed or real common lineage, tribal
affinity, family benefit)
2. Reciprocal Awareness:
(belongingness)
3. Differences (Diversity or variation)
4. Interdependence
5. Cooperation
6. Conflict (enables change)

5. SOCIOLOGY
1. The scientific study of SOCIETY and HUMAN
BEHAVIOR in relation to its environment.
2. From Greek words socius (companion) and
logos (the study of)
3. At the personal level, sociology investigates
the social causes and consequences of such
things as romantic love, racial and gender
identity, family conflict, deviant behavior, aging,
and religious faith. (sociology.unc.edu)
4. At the societal level, sociology examines and
explains matters like crime and law, poverty and
wealth, prejudice and discrimination, schools
and education, business firms, urban
community, and social movements.
(sociology.unc.edu)
5. At the global level, sociology studies such
phenomena as population growth and
migration, war and peace, and economic
development. (sociology.unc.edu)

6. Question:
How useful is SOCIOLOGY?
It interprets raw facts using
sociological perspectives by:
a. Seeing the general in the
particular. (ex. Decline in
marriage)
b. Seeing the strange in the
familiar. (Justifying what
common sense really
means)

7. Social
Location
A way of classifying one’s self
from other members of a society. It
also determines which CULTURE one
belongs to.
This may refer to:
-Race
-Social class
-Gender
-Sexual orientation
-Religion
-Language

8. Based on social location, one can
infer that:
•Most Malayan students identify as heterosexual (male and
female).
•Most Malayan students belong in the middle class, with
some in the upper class, and a few in the middle class.
•Most Malayan students are Bisaya (while others belong to
different minority groups).
•Most Malayan students grew up with Bisaya as a mother
tongue, and learned Tagalog and English
•Most Malayan students grew up as Roman Catholics.

9. Culture
Refers to the way
of life shared by a
group of people.
Refers to the
shared knowledge
that bind a society
together.

10. Elements of
Culture
Language (verbal/nonverbal):
influences how we understand the
world around us.
Norms: standards and expectations
for behaving.
◦ Formal (mores/ laws): refer to the
standards of behavior considered the
most important in any society.
◦ Informal (folkways/customs): refer to
standards of behavior that are
considered less important but still
influence how we behave.

11. Rituals:
◦established procedures and
ceremonies that often mark
transitions in the life course.
◦both reflect and transmit a
culture’s norms and other
elements from one generation
to the next.
Ex. Rite of Passage
Courtship
Marriage
Burial
Graduations

12. Values: involve judgments of what
is good or bad and desirable or
undesirable.
Artifacts: material objects, that
constitute a society’s material
culture.
In the most simple societies,
artifacts are largely limited to a
few tools, the huts people live in,
and the clothing they wear.

13. How is
Society
related to
Culture?
SOCIETY IS
THE
STRUCTURE,
WHILE
CULTURE
GUIDES THE
WAY PEOPLE
LIVE.

14. How about
Politics?
“Man is, by nature, a political
animal.”
- Aristotle
“Politics is in its broadest sense, is
the activity through which people
make, preserve and amend the
general rules under which they
live.” (Macmillan, 2017)

15. Three
Branches of
Government
1. The Legislative branch is authorized
to make laws, alter, and repeal them
through the power vested in the
Philippine Congress. This institution is
divided into the Senate and the
House of Representatives.
2. The Executive branch carries out
laws. It is composed of the President
and the Vice President who are
elected by direct popular vote and
serve a term of six years. The
Constitution grants the President
authority to appoint his Cabinet.
These departments form a large
portion of the country’s bureaucracy.

16. 3. The Judicial branch evaluates
laws. It holds the power to settle
controversies involving rights
that are legally demandable and
enforceable. This branch
determines whether or not there
has been a grave abuse of
discretion amounting to lack or
excess of jurisdiction on the part
and instrumentality of the
government. It is made up of a
Supreme Court and lower courts.

18. Each branch
of
government
can change
acts of the
other
branches as
follows:
The President can veto laws
passed by Congress.
Congress confirms or rejects the
President's appointments and can
remove the President from office in
exceptional circumstances.
The Justices of the Supreme Court,
who can overturn unconstitutional
laws, are appointed by the President
and confirmed by the Senate.

19. Question:
WHY DO WE
NEED TO CARE
ABOUT
POLITICS?

20. How is
Politics
connected to
Society and
Culture
If society is the structure,
and culture is the way of
living, politics, in principle
uses power to protect, to
impose and/or change
either the structure or the
way of living.

21. Observations about Social, Political, and Cultural Behavior and
Phenomena
Situations Behavior and
Phenomena
Gary graduated a year ago. Despite being blessed with several job
offers; he chose to remain jobless and hang around with his
barkada. Together they love standing by in the town plaza especially
at night.
Istambay
As a businessman, Leo is used to give “padulas” (or lagay) to his
main suppliers in order to expedite his business transactions with
them.
Lagay
Members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church are strongly
prohibited from eating pork and any food with blood, as well as
from smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages.
Food Taboos
Darius is openly gay. He lives with his partner Garner. He and Garner
are both college professors in the local city college.
Same-sex Relationship
If grades were to be the basis of Rusty’s standing in his economics
class, he would surely fail the course. However, he was given a
passing grade by his economics teacher, who happened to be a
childhood friend of his mother
Padrino System

22. Observations about Social, Political, and
Cultural Behavior and Phenomena
◦The five situations reflect human behaviors
being propelled by powerful motivators.
Whether it’s religion, social traditions,
sexual preferences, or political motivation,
these actions represent an individual or a
collective’s values and beliefs.

23. Observations on Social, Political, and Cultural Change
Scenarios Phenomenon
Taking selfies is Alyssa’s hobby. It became a habit when her
parents gave her a phone on her birthday.
Selfies
Kap. Tim is the incumbent mayor of the City of Ilagan. His son,
Timmy Jr. is currently running for the congressional seat of the
district, a position occupied by his mother Cong. Valencia for
about three consecutive terms.
Political Dynasty
Amina, a college student, is living alone in Manila. Both of her
parents are OFWs working in the Middle East. She visits them
every summer break.
Transnational
Families
As a youth volunteer, Verna finds the rainy season a busy season
due to the frequency of typhoon-related disasters. Sometimes
she even spends her own money to buy relief goods for typhoon
victims.
Youth Volunteerism
Michael almost missed the chance to finish high school because
he had been absent most of the time playing Mobile Legends.
Mobile Gaming

24. Observations on Social,
Political, and Cultural Change
◦The following scenarios show how culture, society,
and politics can be subjected to change as time
passes. This represents the malleability of culture,
society, and politics.
◦These scenarios are manifestations of social,
cultural, and political changes. These are brought by
new technological platforms which facilitates
immediate self-expression and interactions or may
also be a form of devolving negative changes in the
power which certain group of people possess.

25. Intersections of
Anthropology, Sociology,
and Political Science

26. Anthropology
•A scientific study of humanity.
•A science that deals with the
study of human beings and
their humanity through the
examination of a people’s
biological and cultural past, and
comparing these with that of
another group or community.
•Aims to understand and
evaluate the progress of human
life.

27. Example
Early human fossil remains found in
Philippines cave may herald new species
— Homo luzonensis (abcnet.au)
Key points
New species found on Luzon island in the
Philippines dubbed Homo luzonensis
shows a curious mix of features
It could be a product of the same island
processes that led to evolution of the
"hobbit" on the Indonesian island of
Flores
Claims rely on analysis of several teeth,
along with hand, foot and leg bones, but
not all scientists are convinced it's a new
species

28. Relevance
Anthropology can be used
to understand the pattern
of living in terms of social
structure, cultural patterns
and political hierarchies,
which can be used to
justify of explain current
phenomena.

29. Sociology
•The scientific study of
the society which
necessarily entails the
study of all human
activities in the society.
•Sociology also seeks to
understand human
beings in groups, or in a
broader context.

30. What is the Implication of this Data?

31. Relevance
Thru Sociology, we can
identify patterns of
behavior, as well as explain
social phenomena. This will
enable our society to
address current or
anticipated social problems.
Furthermore, Sociology
looks beyond numbers
which means, it considers
motivations and behavior
not just as an individual but
also as a collective.

32. Political
Science
•Is the systematic study of
governance by the application
of empirical and generally
scientific methods of analysis.
•Seeks to understand human
behavior as political animal
rather it also try and advocate
the kind of political behavior
or conduct humans should
have for the betterment of
humanity along with other
species being.

33. Example
No coup plans, AFP, PNP reassure
Duterte (news.mb.com.ph)
By Martin Sadongdong
The Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) and the
Philippine National Police
reassured President Duterte
Wednesday that there are no
plans of overthrowing the
government having “learned our
lessons from the past.”

34. Relevance
Political Science can help us
understand political
hierarchies as well as
structures that enable the
oppression or promotion of
human rights. It evaluates the
laws a certain society follow
whether they are oppressive
or abusive towards its
subjects.
It also allows the
understanding of power
structures and its effects in
the societies ways of living.

35. SO WHAT?
By learning these three disciplines, one may
learn better about:
HUMANITY.

36. Links for references:
https://www.macmillanihe.com/resources/sample-chapters/9780230363373_sample.pdf
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/society-and-culture/culture/v/overview-of-culture
http://www.parliamentmag.com/how-are-culture-society-and-politics-connected/
http://people.tamu.edu/~i-choudhury/culture.html
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/sociology/culture-and-societies/culture-and-society-
defined
https://pia.gov.ph/branches-of-govt
https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/sociology-brief-edition-v1.1/s05-02-the-elements-of-
culture.html