Culture can be defined as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, customs, and habits that are acquired by people as members of a society. It includes both material and non-material aspects that are inherited and created through living together. Culture is learned, transmitted between generations, shared among members of a society, and patterned in an integrated way. It helps societies adapt but can also be maladaptive. Key elements of culture include beliefs, values, norms and sanctions, material culture, and technology.

1. CULTURE
Culture: that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, customs and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by a person as a member of a society. (Edward Taylor, 1871)
- Functionalists define culture as the totality of meanings, values, customs, norms and symbols
relative to a society. It includes all creations, material and non-material achievements, the
inherited expectations, the past and present gains as a result of living together.
- A mental map which guides us in our relations to our surroundings and to other people. (Downs,
1971)
- Everything people have, think and do as members of a society.
Characteristics of Culture
1. Culture is learned
2. Culture is transmitted
3. Culture is shared
4. Culture is patterned and integrated
5. Culture is adaptive and maladaptive
6. Culture is compulsory
7. Culture is essential for social life
Elements of Culture
- Beliefs: represent people’s convictions about the reality of things and are shared ideas about
how the world operates. They are the means by which people make sense of their experiences,
both personal and social. They are reflective of highly valued feelings about the world by which
people live.
- Values: indicate the moral imperatives and social conscience or social control internalized by
people of the society. They direct people on what should and should not be done, what is good
or bad, and what, why and how to choose.
- Norms and Sanctions:
o Norms: are shared rules or patterns of behavior in a particular culture that informs its
members what they should or should not do, in a given situation. They are considered
as “oughts” or “should” of the society.
o Sanctions: are socially imposed rewards and punishments. Rewards for those who
behave properly and punishment for those who behave otherwise.
o Folkways: are the habits, customs and repetitive patterns of expected behavior and tend
to be self-perpetuating. Some evolved into the present form out of slow but continuous
process of trial and experimentations. Some are rational, others are irrational. Folkways
include rules of eating, sleeping, dressing, cooking, studying, working and modes of
greetings and farewell.
o Mores: are strongly held norms, which are essential to the welfare of the people and
their cherished values. They have moral or ethical values, and thus going against them

2. is offensive to the standards of righteousness and right behavior. They consist in large
part of taboos, acts that are prohibited or forbidden. Incest, child abuse, battering
wives, and prostitution are examples.
o Laws: are formalized norms formulated by a governing body. Some mores are enacted
into laws and enforced by political and legal authorities.
- Material Culture: refers to the physical, tangible, and concrete objects produced by people.
Behind the artifacts or material objects is the pattern of culture that came from the ideas of the
artifact, its use and function and the techniques of using or applying it. Material culture
determines the physical options and opportunities of the society like the kind of foods eaten,
the kind of clothes worn, the kind of houses lived, or the settling of the community in which one
lives.
- Technology; refers to the techniques and knowledge in utilizing raw materials to produce food,
tools, clothing, shelter and means of transportation and weapons.
-