SSE 113

1. CULTURE
By Group 2

2. The Nature of
Culture

3. 1. Describe the nature and characteristics of
culture.
2. Illustrate the components of culture.
3. Give examples of the levels of culture.
4. Discuss the cultural processes.
Learning objectives:

4. The Concept of
Culture

5. A. The Concept of
Culture
Culture is defined as the set of learned behaviors, beliefs,
attitudes, values, and ideals
• that are characteristics of a particular society or
population ( Ember, 1999).
• Culture, as defined by Calhoun, et al.,(1994) is the
learned norms, values, knowledge, artifacts,
language, and symbols that are constantly
communicated among people who share a common
way of life.

6. A. The Concept of
Culture
Allan Johnson (1996) said that culture is the sum total of
symbols, ideas, forms of eaxpressions, and material products
associated with a collective way of life reflected in such things as
beliefs, values, music, literature, art, dance, science, religious
ritual and
• technology.
• An eminent English scholar, E.B. Taylor, defines culture as that
complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals,
law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired
by man as a member of society (Panopio, 1992).

7. A. The Concept of
Culture
• Leslie A. White refers to culture as an organization of
phenomena that is dependent upon symbols,
phenomena which includes acts (patterns of
behaviors); 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).

8. A. The Concept of
Culture
• Hofstede (1997) 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 the cumulative deposit of knowledge,
experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies,
religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of
the universe and materials objects and possessions acquired
by a group of people in the course of generations through

9. A. The Concept of
Culture
• The functionalists define culture as the totality of
meanings, values, customs, norms, ideas and symbols
relative to a society (Waters 1994:173).
• Culture is a way of life which is a product of, as well as
guide for social interaction.

10. Categories of
Culture

11. Categories of
Culture
(any physical object to which we give social
meaning) includes the objects associated with a
cultural group, such as tools, machines, utensils,
buildings, and artwork.
• Material culture

12. Material
Culture

13. Categories of
Culture
(the ideas associated with a cultural group).
includes ways of thinking (beliefs, values, and
assumptions) and ways of behaving (norms,
interactions, and communication).
• Symbolic culture

14. ymbolic culture

15. Characteristics of
Culture

16. Characteristics of
Culture
The first essential characteristic of culture is
that it is learned.
• Culture is
learned.

17. Characteristics of
Culture
For a thought or action to be considered cultural,
it must be commonly shared by some population
or group of individuals. Even if some behavior is
not commonly appropriate, it is cultural if most
people think it is appropriate.
• Culture is shared by a group
of people.

18. Characteristics of
Culture
Knowledge is stored and passed on from one
generation to the next, and new knowledge is
being added to what is existing. Each culture has
worked out solutions to the basic problems of life,
which it then passes on to its children.
• Culture is
cumulative.

19. Characteristics of
Culture
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.
• Culture is
change.

20. Characteristics of
Culture
Culture is an ideal pattern of behavior which the members are
expected to follow. Man assigns meanings to his environment
and experience by symbolizing them. These are internalized by
the individual and he sees or approaches his world from the
standpoint of this culture (Panopio, 1994).
David B. Brinkerhoff and Lynn K. White (1988) said that, “The
whole idea of culture is that it provides a blueprint for living, a
• Culture is
ideational.

21. Characteristics of
Culture
Culture is important for a people’s very existence. Culture is the
mechanism for solving the problems of life as it is through it that
people establish families and form communities. We come into the
world without language, norms, ideas and we acquire these things in
the society to which we belong. We learn and share ways of believing
and doing things and become part of our basic orientation. Culture is
the lens or looking glass through which we see the world and our
basis for constructing reality (Henslin 1991:79). ( Vega,V.et. al.
(2009).Social Dimensions of Education. Quezon City: LORIMAR
• Culture is essential for
social life.

22. Characteristics of
Culture
This is a characteristic of culture that stems from its
cumulative quality. No culture is ever in a permanent state. It
is constantly changing because new ideas and new
techniques are added and old ways are constantly modified
and discarded. This is because of the rapid changes that
occur which may be introduced from within or without. It
also grows by the spread of traits from the individual and
• Culture is
dynamic.

23. Levels of Culture

24. Levels of Culture
In complex, diverse societies in which people have
come from many different parts of the world, they often
retain much of their original cultural traditions. As a
result, they are likely to be part of an identifiable
subculture in their new society. The shared cultural
traits of subcultures set them apart from the rest of
their society.
1.Subcult
ure

25. These Cuban
American
women in Miami,
Florida
have a shared
subculture
identity that is
reinforced

26. Levels of Culture
These are learned behavior patterns that are shared by
all of humanity collectively. No matter where people live
in the world, they share these universal traits.
2. Cultural
Universals

27. Human Cultural
Traits
1. communicating with a verbal language consisting of a
limited set of
sounds and grammatical rules for constructing sentences
2. using age and gender to classify people (e.g., teenager,
senior citizen,
woman, man)
3. classifying people based on marriage and descent
relationships and
having kinship terms to refer to
them (e.g., wife, mother, uncle, cousin)

28. Human Cultural
Traits
6. having a concept of privacy
7. having rules to regulate sexual behavior
8. distinguishing between good and bad behavior
9. having some sort of body ornamentation
10. making jokes and playing games
11. having art
12. having some sort of leadership roles for the
implementation of community decisions

29. Components/
Elements of
Culture

30. 1. Communication
Components
• Language
-Through having a language, a group of people
interact with one another, socially sharing their thoughts,
feelings or ideas to the people with same language.
Language forms the core of all cultures throughout
society.
*The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which is the idea
that language structures thought, and that ways of
looking at the world are embedded in language, supports

31. 1. Communication
Components
• Symbols
-Symbols are considered as the backbone of symbolic
interactions. A symbol might be considered as anything
that holds a particular meaning and are recognized by the
people that share the same culture. Different cultures
have different symbols, it is cross-culturally and it might be
change over a period of time.

32. 2. Cognitive
Components
❖ Ideas/Knowledge/Beliefs
- are basic units of knowledge
construction.
Ideas are considered as mental representation
and are used to organize stimulus. When Ideas are link
together it will organize into larger systems of information
which will become knowledge.

33. 2. Cognitive
Components
Knowledge is considered as storage of information, fact
or assumption, and these knowledge can be passed down
from one generation to another.
Belief assumes that propositions, statement,
description of fact are true in nature. These acceptances
were influenced by the external authorities such as
government, religion, or science rather than proven true
from the individual's direct experiences.

34. 2. Cognitive
Components
❖ Values serve as guidelines for social living.
Culturally, it can be defined as the standards of
desirability, goodness and beauty.
❖ Accounts are considered to be a way on how
people use the language for their explanation,
justification, or to rationalize, excuse, or legitimize a
behavior towards themselves or to the others.

35. 3. Behavioral
Component
Norms are considered as rules and
expectations eventually set by a particular society that
serves as guides to the behavior of its members. It
varies in the terms of the degrees of importance and
might be change over a period of time. It is reinforced
by sanctions in the forms or rewards and punishments.
These are standards accepted by society culturally and
serve as obligatory and expected behaviors of the
people in different situations in life.

36. 3. Behavioral
Component
A taboo is a norm engrained so deeply that even
thinking about violating it evokes strong feelings of
disgust, horror, or revulsion for most people.
Mores are kinds of norms that are considered to
be as a customary behavior patterns which have taken
from a moralistic value.
Laws serve as the formal and important norms that
translated into legal formalizations.

37. 3. Behavioral
Component
Folkways are considered as behavioral patterns
of a particular society that is repetitive and organize.
Rituals are those highly scripted ceremonies of
interactions which follows a sequence of actions.
Examples are baptism, holidays and more.

38. 4. Material
Component
This includes materials or objects created by
humans for practical use or for artistic reasons. These
objects are called as “material culture”. Material
components serve as an expression of an individual
culture.
Ex. Machines, equipment, tools, books, clothing,
medicines, etc.

39. E. Culture and
Processes

40. 1. Culture Adaptation - is the evolutionary
process by which an individual
modifies his personal habits and customs to fit in
to a particular culture.
•Significance
Adaptation refers to accommodation, change and
evolution. Culture embraces the areas of
language, history, dress, food, holidays,
traditions, religion, music and other forms of art.
Culture

41. •Types
Languages can undergo cultural adaptation. The
phenomenon of Spanglish combines words from
one language with another to create new words
that do not officially belong to either language.
-Religions can undergo cultural adaptation by
blending traditional beliefs with values of the
surrounding society. Foods can undergo cultural

42. •Effects
Cultural adaptation can enrich a culture by
adding to its traditions and practices from
outside
sources.
•Considerations

43. Jean-Francois Revel, writing in New Criterion, states,
"...in the
domain of languages too, globalization leads to
variety, not uniformity." Cultural protectionism is
• counterproductive to cultural diversity and
enrichment
• Warning
According to Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of
the United Nations, "Tolerance, intercultural dialogue
and respect for diversity are more essential than ever
in a world where peoples

44. 2. Functions of Culture
• Provides one of the most important
bases for social solidarity
•Social Solidarity
inspires loyalty and devotion.
•When the nation has common feelings,
common
objectives it results to common national

45. • The culture of any society is the
dominant factor in establishing and
molding the social personality.
• Culture of a society provides
behavioral pattern. It also provides
norm to follow.
• Culture provides individual with the
meaning and direction of his

46. Culture and Change
All cultures are inherently predisposed
to change and, at the same time, to
resist
change. There are dynamic processes
operating that encourage the
acceptance of new ideas
and things while there are others that
encourage changeless stability

47. There are three general sources of influence or
pressure thatare responsible for both change
and resistance to it:
1. forces at work within a society
2. contact between societies
3. changes in the natural environment

48. Culture and society are different
concepts. Cultures consist of learned
behaviors and views, whereas
societies are groups of interacting
organisms. Not only humans have
societies; animals like fish, birds, and
bees do too. Human societies involve
people who communicate directly or
indirectly and often see their society

49. Human societies and cultures are
linked but not the same; culture is
made and shared within a society.
Cultures arise from many people
interacting, not from individuals
alone. Cultural elements like language
and politics only exist because of this
interaction. If you were the only
person on Earth, there would be no

50. Thank You