Prepared by:
Camille Solidon

WHAT IS
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 should be regarded as “the set of
distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual, and
emotional features of society or a social group,
and that it encompasses, in addition to art and
literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value
systems, traditions and beliefs.” (UNESCO, 2002)

• Culture is learned
• Culture is shared by a group of people
• Culture is cumulative
• Cultures change
• Culture is dynamic
• Culture is ideational
• Culture is diverse
• Culture gives us a range of permissible
behavior patterns

COMMUNICATION COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL MATERIAL
Language
Symbols
Ideas
Knowledge
Beliefs
Values
Accounts
Norms
• Mores
• Laws
• Folkways
• Rituals
Tools,
Medicines
Books
Transportation
Technologies

1. Ideas/Knowledge/Beliefs- Ideas are
mental representations used to organize
stimulus. Knowledge is the storehouse
where we accumulate representations,
information, facts, assumptions, etc.
Beliefs accept a proposition, statement,
description of fact as true.
2. Values- they support beliefs, or specific
statements that people hold to be true.

3. Accounts- are how people use that
common language to explain, justify,
rationalize, excuse, or legitimize our
behavior to themselves and others.

1. Norms- are rules and expectations by which a
society guides the behavior of its members.
• Mores: customary behavior patterns or
folkways which have been taken on a
moralistic value.
• Laws: the most formal and important norms.
• Folkways: behavior patterns of society which
are organize and repetitive.
• Rituals: highly scripted ceremonies or strips of
interaction that follow a specific sequence of
actions.

THE ORGANIZATION OF
CULTURE TRAITS
Is either a material or non-material
culture, represents a single element or
a combination of elements related to a
specific situation.
Example.
Kissing the hands of the
elders after Sunday mass and
at Angelus.

How is Culture
Transmitted
1. Enculturation
2. Acculturation
3. Assimilation

Enculturation
• It is the process of learning culture of
one’s own group
Ex.
learning the language, folkways and
social traditions.

Acculturation
• It is the process of learning some new
traits from another culture
Ex.
Migrating from a rural area to urban
area and learning the custom of the new
place

Assimilation
• It is the process in which an individual
entirely loses its awareness of his/her
previous group identity and takes on
the culture and attitudes of another
group.
Ex. An American speaks only Waray-waray
and assumes the folkways, etc. of the local
group.

Importance and
Functions of Culture
1. Culture helps the individual fulfill his
potential as a human being.
2. Through the development of culture
man can overcome his physical
disadvantages and allows us to
provide ourselves with fire, clothing,
food and shelter.

3. Culture provides rules of
proper conduct for living in a
society.
4. Culture also provides the
individual concepts of family,
nation, and class.

“Culture is necessary for
a healthy society.”

Indian’s Cultural
Dance

African Cultural
Ceremony

Scottish Cultural Pipe
Band

Dragon Dance of the Chinese
Culture

Bayanihan: Filipino
Culture

Irish Culture: Leprechaun and a
shamrock

Korean Cultural New Year’s

Spanish Culture: Dia de los
Muertos

Chinese Culture: Yin
Yang

Muslim Culture: Eid’l
Fitr

Japanese Culture: Kimono dress

Thailand’s Cultural Dance

Hippie Culture: Peace symbol