Culture
Chapter5
CIRILO GAZZINGAN, III
SAINT PAUL UNIVERSITY PHILIPPINES

Culture is that complex
whole which includes
knowedge, beliefs, art,
law, custom, and any
other capabilities and
habits acquired by man
as a member of the
society (Edward Taylor)
What is Culture?

Culture compromises all
the objects, ideas,
beliefs, norms of a
group of people and the
meanings that the group
applies to each culture
element (Clark 1998)
What is Culture?

I
Characteristics
of Culture

Culture is Learned1.

Culture is Learned1.
Culture is acquired through
education, training and experience.
It is not genetically transmitted.

Culture is socially transmitted
through language
2.

Culture is socially transmitted
through language
2.
It is transmitted from one generation
to another through the medium of
language, verbal or nonverbal
through gestures or signs, orally or
in writing.

Culture is a social product3.

Culture is a social product3.
Culture is a product of social
interaction, through the mutual
interstimulation and response of
people with one another

Culture is a source of gratification4.

Culture is a source of gratification4.
It provides satisfaction of man’s
varied physiological, social,
emotional and spiritual needs.

Culture is adaptive5.

Culture is adaptive5.
Through inventions and
discoveries man has been able to
overcome his limitations to outdo all
other animals

Culture is the distinctive way of
life of a group of people
6.

Culture is the distinctive way of
life of a group of people
6.
Members of the society have
developed a unique way of life to suit
their needs in a particular situation.
Such culture differs from one
society to another

Culture is material and non-
material
7.

Culture is material and non-
material
7.
Material culture are the outputs of
the application of non-material
culture.

Culture has sanctions and
controls
8.

Culture has sanctions and
controls
8.
These are rewards for conformity to
culture but there are also
punishments for deviation from or
violation of the culture.

Culture is stable yet dynamic
9.

Culture is stable yet dynamic
9.
Culture grows and accumulates and
changes with the passing of time.

Culture is an established pattern
of behavior
10.

Culture is an established pattern
of behavior
10.
Members of a certain society act in a
fairly uniform manner because they
share mutual beliefs, customs and
ways of doing things.

I
Components of
Culture

NormsI.
• These are guidelines people are
supposed to follow in their relation
to one another
• They are shared rules that specify
what is right or wrong in a specific
situation and the appropriated and
inappropriate behavior.

Ideas, Beliefs, ValuesII.
• Ideas are non material aspects of
culture and embody man’s
conception of his physical, social
and cultural world

Ideas, Beliefs, ValuesII.
• Beliefs refer to a person’s
conviction about a certain idea.

Ideas, Beliefs, ValuesII.
• Values are abstract concepts of
what is important and worthwhile.
They are the general ideas that
individuals share about what is
good or bad, wright or wrong,
desirable and undesirable

Material CultureIII.
• Refers to concrete and tangible
objects produced and used by
man to satisfy his varied needs
and wants.

Symbol
s
IV.
• It refers to an object, gesture,
sound, color or design that
represents something other than
itself.

II
Other Sub-
Concepts
Related to
Culture

Cultural Relativism1.
• Cultures differ so that a cultural
trait, act, or idea has no meaning
or function by itself but has a
meaning only within its cultural
setting.

Culture Shock2.
• It refers to the feeling of disbelief,
disorganization, and frustration
one experiences when he
encounters cultural patterns or
practices which are different from
his.

Ethnocentrism3.
• Evaluation of other cultures
according to preconceptions
originating in the standards and
customs of one's own culture.

Xenocentrism4.
• Reverse ethnocentrism.

Noble savage mentality5.
• It refers to the evaluation of one’s
culture and that of others based
on the romantic notion that the
culture and way of life of the
primitives or other simple cultures
is better, more acceptable, and
more orderly.

Subculture6.
• A cultural group within a larger
culture, often having beliefs or
interests at variance with those of
the larger culture.

Counter/Contra
Culture
7.
• Refers to subgroups whose
standards come in conflict with the
oppose the conventional
standards of the dominant culture

Culture Lag8.
• Refers to the gap between the
material and non-material culture

Universal Patterns
of Culture
9.
• Refers to broad areas of social
living found in all societies.

II
Common Elements
in Universal
Patterns of Culture

• Murdock (1945) listed about eighty-eightof these