Notes on Culture, Society, Norms, and Perspectives

Culture and Society

• Culture is a way of life of a group of people — the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.

• Includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

• Examples of culture mentioned: Music, Dances, Religious Activities.

• Society: The people who interact in such a way as to share a common culture.

• Geographic sense: The term society can refer to people who share a common culture in a particular location.

• Culture and Society are intricately related. A culture consists of the "objects" of a society, whereas a society consists of the "people" who share a common culture.

• Historical note: When culture and society first acquired their current meanings, most people in the world lived in small groups in the same locale.

Elements of Culture

• Two broad categories:

  • Material

  • Non-Material

• Material Culture includes tangible objects produced by a culture: Weapons, Machines, Jewelry, Art, Hair styles, Clothing, etc.

• Non-Material Culture refers to abstract human creations: Language, Gestures, Values, Beliefs, Rules (norms), Philosophies, Customs, Governments, Institutions.

Material Culture

• Material culture is easily divided from non-material concepts.

• Examples listed: Weapons, Machines, Jewelry, Art, Hairstyles, Clothing.

Non-Material Culture

• Abstract human creations: Language, Gestures, Values, Beliefs, Rules (norms), Philosophies, Customs, Governments, Institutions.

Types of Non-Material Cultures

• The material covers non-material cultures as a category; specific types are not enumerated beyond Belief, Values, Norms, etc.

Belief

• Perception of reality; convictions that people hold to be true.

• Individuals in a society have specific beliefs, but they also share collective values.

Values

• Shared ideas about what is right or wrong.

• Are a culture's standard for discerning what is good and just in society.

• Deeply embedded and critical for transmitting and teaching a culture's beliefs.

Norms

• Rules that govern our lives and guide behavior.

• Norms are the expectations or rules of behavior that develop out of values; they serve as guidelines for conduct.

• Norms may be informal or formalized into laws.

• They are often in the form of rules, standards, or prescriptions that are strictly followed by people who adhere to conventions and perform specific roles.

• Norms indicate society's standards of property, morality, ethics, and legality.

• Example given: Pagmamano (a respectful gesture in Filipino culture).

Types of Norms

• Folkways

  • Norms that ordinary people follow in everyday life.

  • Conformity is expected but not absolutely insisted upon; not strictly enforced.

  • Described as norms of little strength and may be easily broken within broad limits.

  • Examples: manners of eating and dressing, food preferences, use of terms like po and opo, etc.

  • Examples listed: Correct manners; Appropriate dress; Proper eating behavior.

• Mores

  • Norms taken more seriously and strictly enforced.

  • Considered essential to core values; there is insistence on conformity.

  • Some mores are enacted as laws (e.g., rules against cheating in exams, extramarital affairs).

  • Examples include flag burning and murder.

• Taboos

  • Norms deeply held; violation upsets people.

  • Incest taboos are universal.

  • Prohibition of actions based on sacredness or danger.

  • Approximate super-mores; violations elicit strong disapproval, disgust, or hate.

  • Examples: Abortion, Addiction to drugs or alcohol, Adultery, Bestiality, Cannibalism.

Law

• Legal cultures are described as temporary outcomes of interactions and occur pursuant to a challenge-and-response paradigm.

• Analyses of core legal paradigms shape the characteristics of individual and societal legal cultures.

Ideal vs. Real Culture

• Ideal Culture: norms and values that a society professes to hold; models to emulate and aspire to.

• Real Culture: norms and values that are actually followed in practice.

Characteristics of Culture

• CULTURE IS LEARNED

  • Learned through families, friends, institutions, and media.

  • Most behavior is learned in society; learning can be conscious or unconscious.

  • Enculturation is the process of learning about culture (e.g., wearing clothes, dancing).

  • Culture is not something natural to the person.

• CULTURE IS SHARED

  • Groups share similar behavior patterns that develop over time.

  • Shared culture does not imply homogeneity; there is diversity within shared culture.

  • Example: In the Philippines, many share Filipino language, dress, foods, and holidays.

• CULTURE IS INTEGRATED

  • Cultural exchange where one group adopts beliefs and practices of another without losing its own characteristics.

  • Integrating cultures combine to form a multicultural society, with each culture maintaining its character.

  • Example: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (regional cultural integration).

• CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE AND DYNAMIC

  • Adapts to environmental and geographical conditions; responsive to internal and external changes.

  • Not static; must be flexible to adjust to changing circumstances.

  • From hunter-gatherer to a globalized world.

  • Slogan: Culture is not static, it’s dynamic — every day you are creating your culture by what you think, say, and do.

• CULTURE IS ABSTRACT

  • No single tangible manifestation of culture itself.

  • Exists in the minds of individuals interacting within and across societies.

  • Manifests through behavior, habits, mannerisms, and activities.

• CULTURE IS SYMBOLIC

  • Societies manifest concepts through symbols, which carry different meanings across cultures.

  • Example: White symbolizes purity and peace in Western countries, but in some Eastern/Asian cultures it can signify death, mourning, or misfortune.

Different Perspectives on Culture

• Ethnocentrism

  • From Greek roots meaning center; judging other cultures as inferior; using one’s own culture as the standard.

  • Can foster solidarity within a society but may justify prejudice and discrimination.

• Cultural Relativism

  • The belief that people and their ways can only be understood within their own cultural context.

  • Not saying all cultures are good or acceptable; aims to understand behavior in its context.

  • Promotes appreciation of cultures encountered; norms, beliefs, and values depend on context; no universal standard for judging.

• Xenocentrism

  • Preference for foreign cultures; tendency to value other cultures more highly than one’s own.

  • Opposite of ethnocentrism; can hinder social solidarity.

  • Example: Filipinos preferring imported goods, assuming anything abroad is better.

• Xenophobia

  • Fear of what is perceived as foreign or strange; tension between in-group and out-group.

• Temporocentrism

  • Emphasis on one time culture as more important than another (e.g., prioritizing perspectives of old people).