Understanding Culture, Society and Politics
WEEK - 3 JAIME J. GILBUENA
Culture and Society : The Perspectives of Anthropology and Sociology
Learning Competencies :
- Describe the construction of society through the hidden rules of society
- Analyze the different forms of interaction present in society
- Interpret the key sociological theories regarding the possibility of society
SCOCIETY AS A CONCEPT
The word society was coined by social scientists to facilitate their exploration of social
phenomena. It is a tool to grasp the complexity of the phenomenon it represents and a means to
explore its many other dimensions hidden by its normative use. As a concept, society represents an
ideal type, which more or less depicts the form, process, and dynamics of the social reality it embodies.
Concepts, of course may change through their changing meanings and interpretations or disappear from
their non-use altogether. But for a concept master like society, the plausibility of alteration and
disappearance is very unlikely to happen its durability as a concept is made possible by its currency not
only in its durability as a concept is made possible by its currency not only in sociology and other social
sciences but also in the natural sciences such as agriculture, biology, engineering, environmental
science, and computer science, to mention just a few.
Society is a group of individuals sharing a common culture, geographical location and
government. It is characterized by the presence of the following elements:
1. Social solidarity – members of society live together for mutual benefit
2. Shared Identity and Culture – members that serve as basis for their patterns action and
behaviour.
3. Common language
4. Large population and the ability to sustain succeeding generations of members
5. Definite geographical area
6. Political, economic and social organization
Five Major Societies according to how they changed and develop overtime:
1. Hunting and gathering Societies
2. Horticultural and pastoral societies
3. Agricultural societies
4. Industrial Societies
5. Post Industrial Societies
SOCIETY AS A FACTICITY
Society is formally defined as constituting a fairly large number of people who are living in the
same territory, are relatively independent if people outside their area, and participate in a common
culture. This textbook definition of society is limited and limiting for several reasons. It is limited
because it belittles the most important component of this phenomenon – interactions. It is limiting
because the interpretative tradition of sociology may provide a more coherent definition of society. In
this perspective is seen as an outcome of multiple interactions of people upon which succeeding
interactions are made meaningful and possible. The definition simply mean means that society only
exists if there are people interacting and their interactions constitute the process that defines society.
We can liken society as a deity. As a deity or God is supposed to possess the tripartite (i.e.,
three-fold) powers reserved for Him alone – omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence (all powerful, all
knowing, and everywhere). The analogy of society to a God suggests the immense power of society to
make or unmake lives of people. Society is all powerful because it “agents” control and runs the
machinery of social control. It is all knowing because its “library” keeps all possible knowledge and
collects the memories of the people who form it. It is everywhere because its “spies” sre scattered in
the four corners of the land.
WHAT MAKES SOCIETY POSSIBLE : THREE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
The formation of society and its continuous development has been a subject of dramatic
debates among social scientists, sociologists in particular. The issues do not exclusively involve
historical questions as this concern has already been explored by political science. However, the latter
version of the origin of society appears to be one sided as it only focuses on power relations and
governmental issues.
The three classical theories of the origin of society are :
1. The Structural Functional and Social order
The structural functional school of thoughts looks at the social “order.” It argues that society is
made possible by cooperation and interdependence. This view sees society as a system with
parts and these parts have their respective functions to perform. The health and condition of
the entire system is dependent on these two processes of functions and interdependence.
2. The Conflict Theory and Conflict
The Marxist inspired perspective on the questions of society looks at the other side of
the issue. Instead of putting importance on social order, the conflict perspective sees society as
an arena. Social actors are gladiators fighting for their very lives. The winner takes the rewards
and is assured of freedom. Resources and their scarcity make up the bone of contention in
every conflict situation. This view sees conflict as something psotive and advantageous.
3. Symbolic Interactionism and Meaning Making
Unlike the two theories, the symbolic interactionism does not deal with either order or
conflict. Instead, it explores the issues of meaning-making and why this is crucial in
understanding order and conflict as processes that brought about society.
Humans as social beings have the capacity to generate meaning from their
surroundings, be it social or otherwise. Meaning is important because it is the basis of actions
towards or against specific elements of the environment. Meaning cannot be derived easily as it
is lodged on something. Symbols, like meaning are interpreted inter-subjectively by social
actors. The constellations of meaning assigned to an object, event, or person become the basis
of social interactions, and they are constitutive of events and social phenomena. The latter
statement means that interpretations of symbols may have reality-making effect on people
implicated in an interaction situation.
RULES : INVINCIBLE HAND IN SOCIETY
Rules are guide in the performance of roles and in everyday actions and interactions. They
provide order in a system characterized by the presence of many actors with different businesses and
agenda to pursue. What orchestrate the simultaneous yet orderly transactions and interactions are the
rules.
Rules are essential in the everyday conduct of the members of society. In cases where there are
conflicts, rules become the arbiter of disagreements and peoples respect for rules gives them this
organizing power over human actions over time.
However, not all rules are visible, that is, written and understood by all. The written ones are
easily seen and hence, are easily observed and obeyed. A lot of difficult situations are made simpler by
written and visible rules. The situation is different, however, in cases where rules are invisible and
unwritten. You may surmise that invisible rules create more disorder than order, which they are meant
to establish in the first place. This assumption proves to be incorrect as our lives are made more
meaningful by unwritten rules. Our mundane and daily actions are guided by these unseen rules – when
riding public transportation like jeepney, when queuing at a McDonalds or Jollibee order counter, when
reciting in class, when using the toilet, when crossing the street, etc.
Unwritten rules are exciting to study because they give invaluable insights into the nature of
social behaviour and almost 90% of our day to day actions are governed and shaped by these invisible
rules.
CULTURE AS A CONCEPT
Culture according to E. B. Taylor “is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, laws, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
The Cambridge English Dictionary states that culture is “the way of life, especially the general customs
and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time.”
As a defining concept of what it means to be human, culture is a central concept in
anthropology, encompassing the range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in
human societies. The word is used in a general sense as the evolved ability to categorize and represent
experiences with symbols and to act imaginatively and creatively. This capacity is often thought to be
unique in humans, although some other species have demonstrated similar, though much less complex,
abilities for social learning.
Some aspects of human behavior such as language; social practices such as kinship, gender, and
marriage; expressive forms such as art, music, dances, ritual, and religion; technologies such as cooking,
shelter, and clothing are said to be cultural universals, found in all human societies.
In the humanities, one sense of culture, as an attribute of the individual, has been the degree to
which it has cultivated a particular level of sophistication in the arts, sciences, education or manners.
The level of cultural sophistication has also sometimes been set to distinguish civilizations from less
complex societies.
In common parlance, culture is often used to refer specifically to the symbolic markers use by
ethnic groups to distinguish themselves visibly from each other, such as body modification, clothing , or
jewelry. Mass culture refers to the mass-produced and mass-mediated forms of consumer culture that
emerged in the twentieth century.
Culture is one of the most important bases that define and influence a society. It refers to the
set of beliefs, ideas, values, practices, knowledge, history and shared experiences , attitudes as well as
material objects and possessions accumulated overtime and shared by the members of the society.
Primary Categories
1. Material Culture – physical or tangible objects produced, shared, utilized within society such
as tools or implements, paintings and other works of art, architectural styles, weaponry and
toys.
2. Non-material culture – intangible properties and elements of society that influence the
patterns of actions and behaviours of its members.
Though individual societies have varying histories, experiences , identities and organizations, all
of them have four vital cultural components :
1. Symbols refers to things that convey meaning or represents and idea, essential in
communication, shaping thoughts and ideas and defining a society’s culture.
2. Language is set of symbols that enables members of society to communicate verbally (spoken)
and non-verbally (written gestures).
3. Values are shared ideas, norms and principles that provides members of society the standards
that pertain to what is right or wrong, good or bad, desirable and non-desirable.
4. Norms are shared rules of conduct that determine specific behaviour among society members.
Categories of norms according to their social importance :
a. Folkways norms that may be violated without serious consequences
b. Mores are norms with normal connotations.
c. Laws are norms that are legally enacted and enforced.
CULTURE AND SOCIETY
The relationship between society, culture and personality is stressed by Ralph Linton : “A
society is an organized group of individuals. A culture is an organized group of learned responses. The
individual is a living organism capable of independent thought, feeling, and action, but his independence
is limited and all his resources are profoundly modified by contract with the society and culture in which
he develops.”
A society cannot exists apart from culture. A society is always made of persons and their
groupings. People carry and transmit culture but they are not culture. No culture can exist except as it
is embodied in a human society; no society can operate without cultural directives. Like matter and
energy, like mind and body, culture and society are interdependent and interactive yet they express
different aspects of the human situation. One must always keep in mind the interdependence and the
reciprocal relationship of culture and society.
Please answer the following questions in the answer sheet provided below. Only the answer
sheet will be returned.
1. How does society shape the lives of people inside it?
2. Why are rules important in society?
Reference :
Understanding Culture, Society & Politics :
Copyright. 2016 by Phoenix Publishing House, Inc.
and Antonio P. Contreras, Arleigh Ross D. Dela Cruz, Dennis S. Erasga
and Cecille C. Fadrigon
JAIME J. GILBUENA ERALLA B. MANALILI
Subject Teacher School Principal
ANSWER SHEET
JAIME J. GILBUENA ERALLA B. MANALILI
Subject Teacher School Principal
