For Educational Purposes Only

1. Culture
Lesson 1
SOCIOLOGY
HISTORY
PSYCHOLOGY

2.  Definition of Culture
 Importance of Culture
 Characteristics of Culture
 Components of Culture
 Major Theoretical Perspectives
 Ethnocentrism Vs. Xenocentrism

3. Objectives:
• Understand the different meanings of culture.
• Investigate how culture is perceived in different
areas.
• Define and explain concept of culture and its
significance
• Discuss the components of culture.
• Expound the theoretical perspectives of culture
• Differentiate the concept of Ethnocentrism and
Xenocentrism.

4. “A person may escape society for a
while, but he can never escape
culture”

5. Culture
 Originated from Latin word cultura meaning “to cultivate”.
 “A complex while which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by the people as members of society” (Edward Tylor, 1932-
1917)
 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
material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people. (http://people.tamu.edu/~i-choudhury/culture.html)
 culture is communication, communication is culture. . (http://people.tamu.edu/~i-choudhury/culture.html)

6. Importance of Culture
 Culture is a design for living or a blueprint
for social behavior.
 Culture also provides people with ready-
made solutions to common social problems.
 Culture ensures the survival of the heritage
of humankind.
 Culture develop one’s attitudes and values.
 Culture maintains the biological functions of
the group.

7. Characteristics of Culture
 Culture is shared
 Culture is learned
 Culture is cumulative
 Culture is diverse
 Culture is symbolic
 Culture is adaptive

8. Components of Culture
 Norms – are definite guidelines for behavior based on values.
 Prescriptive norm – what people should do, the expected actions and acceptable
values.
 Proscriptive norm – unwritten rules on what people should not do the inappropriate,
immoral and unlawful actions and behaviors.
 https://grrrltraveler.com/staying-at-an-indian-ashram/

9. Components of Culture
 Folkways – conventions of everyday life that
members of society are expected to follow but
whose violation is not considered serious.
 Fashions – folkways that endure for a short time
and enjoy widespread acceptance within
society. They usually reflect in style of clothing
or designs in home architecture.
 Fads – or craze, refers to fashion that becomes
popular relatively quickly, remains popular for a
brief period, then loses popularity.

10. Components of Culture
 Mores – reflects strongly-held
values and whose violation
involves a strong negative
societal reaction.
https://snarla.wordpress.com/category/hijab/

11. Components of Culture
 Laws – based on mores and enacted to protect people from bad effects or
outdated mores.
 Language – symbols with specific and arbitrary meanings in a given society
that allows people to communicate to each other.
 Values – refers to the standard of the desirability of things.

12. Major Theological Perspectives
 High Culture Theory
- postulated by Matthew Arnold (1822
– 1888)
- “Culture is the study of perfection” –
anything that does not fit into this category
is labeled as chaos or anarchy.
Three Immortal Notions
- Beauty - Intelligence
- Knowledge
- Those who do not possess the three
attributes belong to lower class of the
society.
http://careersignite.com/diploma-in-beauty-culture-college-courses-eligibility-jobs-salary-in-
india/

13. Major Theological
Perspectives
 Ordinary/Popular Culture Theory
- postulated by Raymond Williams (1921 – 1988)
- “Culture is ordinary as it is part of everyday life”.
- He rejected Arnold’s notion and further argued
that culture must have two aspects
- The known meaning and directions which its
members are trained to – and,
- The new observations and meanings which
are offered and tested.
https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/457185799655588127/

14. Ethnocentrism vs. Xenocentrism
 Ethnocentrism
- Refers to the belief in the
superiority of one’s race and a
marked preference for one’s own
culture and products.
 Xenocentrism
- Refers to the preference for the
products, styles or idead of
someone’s culture rather than of
one’s own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlyS4zrklww