UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS

Lesson 1. Discuss the nature, goals and perspective in/of Anthropology, Sociology and
Political Science.

What is it?
Anthropology as Discipline
Anthropology is the study, analysis, and description of humanity’s past and present.
Questions about the past include prehistoric origins and human evolution. The study of contemporary
humanity focuses on biological and cultural diversity, including language.
All in all Anthropology, "the study of humankind," which examines people in viewpoints going
from the science and transformative history of Homo sapiens to the provisions of society and culture
that unequivocally recognize people from other creature species.
Contrasted with different disciplines that address humankind like history, social science, or
brain research, human studies is more extensive two ways. As far as mankind's past, human sciences
think about a more noteworthy profundity of time.
As far as contemporary people, human sciences covers a more extensive variety of points than
different disciplines, from sub-atomic DNA to intellectual turn of events and religious beliefs.
Anthropologists might direct examinations in a research facility concentrating how tooth
enamel uncovers a person's eating diet, or they might work in an exhibition hall, looking at plans on
ancient earthenware.
Research Method in anthropology range from logical to humanistic. They plan a speculation, or
examination question, and afterward mention objective facts to check whether the theory is right. This
methodology creates both quantitative (numeric) information and subjective (elucidating) information.
In the humanistic methodology, anthropologists continue inductively, seeking after an abstract
strategy for understanding humankind through the investigation of individuals' specialty, music, verse,
language, and other forms of symbolic expression.
 Nature of Anthropology
The nature of anthropology can be view from its historical perspective because is a global discipline
involving humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Its foundations return to the scholarly
Enlightenment of the eighteenth and mid nineteenth hundreds of years in Europe and North America.
As European countries created states in far off pieces of the world and Americans extended west and
south into the regions of Indians, it became evident to them that humankind was amazingly changed.
Anthropology started, partially, as an endeavor by individuals from logical social orders to unbiasedly
record and grasp this variety. Curiosity in bizarre individuals and customs in distant pieces of the world
is the thing that principally roused these early beginner anthropologists.
By profession, they frequently were naturalists, medical doctors, Christian ministers, or educated
adventurers. They posed such essential inquiries as regardless of whether the contrasts between
human societies are the after effect of genetic inheritance and in case there is a connection between
the size of a human brain and intelligence.
It was late nineteenth century that anthropology at last turned into a different scholastic discipline in
American and Western European colleges.
In North America anthropology is characterized as a discipline containing four fields that emphasis on
separated yet interrelated subjects. The subjects are archaeology, biological anthropology (or actual
human sciences), linguistic anthropology and cultural anthropology (or social human studies).

Goals of Anthropology
is to comprehend the fossil record of early people and their precursors just as the archeological
record of later ancient social orders.
t o understand how we adapt to different environmental conditions and how we vary as a species.

to comprehend the conduct of monkeys and gorillas in their regular settings.

is to find out about both the natural and social parts of humankind all throughout the
planet and all through time.
to apply anthropological information to help forestall or take care of issues of living
people groups, including destitution, substance addiction, and HIV/AIDS.
 Perspective of Anthropology
Anthropologists across the subfields utilize exceptional points of view to direct
their exploration. These viewpoints make humanities unmistakable from related
disciplines — like history, social science, and brain research — that pose
comparative inquiries about the past, social orders, and human instinct. The key
anthropological viewpoints are comprehensive quality, relativism, correlation,
and hands on work. There are likewise both logical and humanistic propensities
inside the discipline that, now and again, struggle with each other.
Holism Cultural Relativism Comparison Fieldwork
Anthropologists are The possibility that we In cultural In Cultural
keen all in all of should try to anthropology, we Anthropology, field
mankind, in how comprehend someone compare ideas, work is alluded to as
different parts of life else's convictions and morals, practices, and ethnography, which is
connect. One can't practices according to systems within or both the interaction
completely see the the viewpoint of their between cultures. We and aftereffect of
value in being human way of life as opposed might compare the social anthropological
by contemplating a to our own. roles of men and examination. The
solitary part of our Anthropologists don't women in different Greek expression
mindboggling pass judgment on societies, or contrast "ethno" alludes to
narratives, dialects, different societies how different religious individuals, and
bodies, or social dependent on their groups conflict within "graphy" alludes to
orders. By utilizing a qualities nor do they a given society composing. The
comprehensive see alternate methods ethnographic
methodology, of getting things done interaction includes the
anthropologists as second rate. All exploration technique
request how various things being equal, for member perception
angles from human anthropologists try to hands on work: you
existence impact each comprehend partake in individuals'
other individuals' convictions lives, while noticing
inside the framework them and taking field
they have for clarifying takes note of that,
things. alongside interviews
and reviews, establish
the examination
information
 Sociology as Discipline
Sociology is the scientific investigation of human culture and social behavior. Sociology is a discipline in
social sciences concerned about human society and human social activities.
Generally acknowledged meanings of social science concur that it is the logical or efficient investigation
of human culture. The attention is on comprehension and clarifying, and goes from the person in
friendly collaboration to gatherings to social orders and worldwide social process.
Exceptional to social science is its accentuation upon the complementary connection among people and
social orders as they impact and shape one another.
Auguste Comte, a French social scholar, is generally known as the "Father of Sociology" as he instituted
the term 'Humanism' in 1839.

Nature of Sociology
As a discipline, sociology arose early in the nineteenth century in response to rapid social change.
Major transformations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, such as rapid industrialization
resulting in a large, anonymous workforce. With laborers investing the greater part of their energy
away from families and customs; huge scope urbanization all through Europe and the industrializing
scene; and a political upset of novel thoughts (singular rights and majority rule government),
coordinated a focus on the idea of social orders and social change.
The French social thinker Auguste Comte (1798– 1857) first coined the term sociology to describe a
new way of thinking about societies as systems governed by principles of organization and change.
Most agree that Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), the French humanist, made the biggest commitment to
the development of social science as a social scientific discipline Sociology has created as a worth free
discipline. It is concerned with is, not with what should be.
Sociology is an empirical discipline like Physics, Chemistry, or Mathematics, and not as an applied
science like Engineering or Computer Science.
A Sociologist examinations society from various points and obtains information about society and
examples of social associations.
 Goals of Sociology
To understand how membership in one’s social group affects individual be.
To understand how membership in one’s social group affects individual be.
To understand the meaning and consequences of modernity, postmodernity and the
new globalization.
Understand the causes and consequences of social change in terms of general causes and
effects as well as unique historical circumstances.
Understand the causes and consequences of population composition and pressures and
how population affects the environment and development of societies.
To provide information that reflects upon different policy initiatives l

Perspective of Sociology
The fundamental knowledge of sociology is that human conduct is molded by the gatherings to which
individuals have a place and by the social communication that happens inside those gatherings. We are
what our identity is and we act the manner in which we do in light of the fact that we end up living in a
specific culture at a specific point in reality. Individuals will in general acknowledge their social world
unquestioningly, as something "regular." But the sociological perspective empowers us to consider
society to be a brief social item, made by people and fit for being changed by them also.
The sociological perspective welcomes us to take a look at our recognizable environmental factors in a
new manner. It urges us to investigate the world we have consistently underestimated, to analyze our
social climate with the very interest that we may bring to an extraordinary unfamiliar culture.
The study of Sociology drives us into spaces of society that we may somehow have disregarded or
misunderstood. Since our perspective is formed by our own experience and since individuals with
various social encounters have various meanings of social reality, sociology assists us with liking
perspectives other than our own and to see how these perspectives appeared.
Sociology likewise assists us with understanding ourselves better. Without the sociological perspective
(which has been known as the "sociological imagination"), individuals see the world through their
restricted insight of a little circle of family, companions, colleague. The sociological imagination permits
us to stand separated intellectually from our restricted insight and see the connection between private
concerns and social issues. It grants us to follow the connection between the patterns and events of
our own and the patterns and events of our society.
 Political Science as Discipline
Political Science is the study of the nature, causes, and consequences of collective decisions and
actions taken by groups of people embedded in cultures and institutions that structure power and
authority. In other words, Political Science is a social science discipline that deals with systems of
governance, and the analysis of political activities, political thoughts, associated constitutions and
political behavior.

Nature of Political Science

Politics is not only a mere institution of governance but also a mechanism for achieving societal goals.
Nature of Political Science is a social science concerned with the theory and practice of politics and the
description and analysis of political systems and political behavior.
It incorporates matters concerning the portion and move of power in making decision, the jobs and
frameworks of administration including governments and worldwide associations, political behavior
and public policies.
Political Science is in this way an investigation of the state in the past, present and future of the
political organization, political cycles and political functions of political establishments and political
theories. Political Science has a few subfields, including political hypothesis, public policy, public
legislative issues, worldwide relations, human rights, natural governmental issues and near legislative
issues.
The forerunners of Western legislative issues can follow their underlying foundations back to Greek
scholars Socrates, Plato (427–347 BC) and Aristotle (384–322 BC). The investigations were theory
arranged. Plato composed The Republic and Aristotle composed the Politics. Aristotle is known as the
Father of Political Science. He is well known for his assertion "Man is a political animal.

Goals of Political Science

Is the concern with the process of growth, industrialization and change and
the impact on government forms and policies.

Is to describe how various political systems function, and to find more

effective political systems.
 Is to measure the success of governance and specific policies by examining
many factors, including stability, justice, material wealth.
Perspective of Political Science
Is methodologically diverse and appropriates many methods
originating in psychology, social research, and cognitive neuroscience.

Approaches include positivism, interpretivism, rational choice theory,

behaviouralism, structuralism, post-structuralism, realism,
institutionalism, and pluralism

As one of the social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate
to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources, such as historical
documents and official records, secondary sources, such as scholarly
journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis, case studies,
experimental research, and model building..

 Sociology is the scientific study of society patterns of social relationships, social interactions,
and culture.
 Anthropology is the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development.
 Political Science deals with the study of politics, power and government.
 Augusto Comte was the first to develop the concept of sociology.
 Franz Boas began the study of Anthropology together with Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and
Karl Marx.
 Aristotle a Greek philosopher started the science of politics which makes him known as the
father of political science.
 Lesson 2. Analyze the concept, aspects and changes in/of culture
and society
A. Concepts of Culture
Meaning and Nature of Culture

It was E.B. Taylor who conceptualized the definition of culture in 1860s. According to him, culture is a complex
whole which consist of knowledge, beliefs, ideas, habits, attitudes, skills, abilities, values, norms, art, law,
morals, customs, traditions, feelings and other capabilities of man which are acquired, learned and socially
transmitted by man from one generation to another through language and living together as members of the
society (Arcinas, 2016).

Below are other definitions of culture as mentioned in the book of David and Macaraeg (2010) entitled“
Socioloy: Exploring Society and Culture”:

 Culture is a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited

conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their
knowledge about and attitudes towards life. – Clifford Geertz

 Culture consists of learned systems of meaning, communicated by means of natural language and other
symbol systems, having representational, directive, and affective functions, and capable of creating cultural
entities and particular senses of reality. – Roy D’Andrade

 Culture is an extrasomatic (nongenetic,nonbodily), temporal continuum of things and events dependent upon
symbols. Culture consists of tools, implements, utensils, clothing, ornaments, customs, institutions, beliefs,
rituals, games, works of art, language, etc. – Leslie White

 Culture consists in the shared patterns of behavior and associated meanings that people learn and participate
in within the groups to which they belong. – Whitten and Hunter

 A society’s culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner
acceptable to its members. – Ward Goodenough

 Culture is an instrumental reality, and apparatus for the satisfaction of the biological and derived need”. It is
the integral whole consisting of implements in consumers’ goods, of constitutional characters for the various
social groupings, of human ideas and crafts, beliefs and custom. – Malinowski

 Culture in general as a descriptive concept means the accumulated treasury of human creation: books,
paintings, buildings, and the like; the knowledge of ways of adjusting to our surroundings, both human and
physical; language, customs, and systems of etiquette, ethics, religion and morals that have been built up
through the ages. – Kluckhohn and Kelly

 Culture refers to that part of the total setting [of human existence] which includes the material objects of
human manufacture, techniques, social orientations, points of view, and sanctioned ends that are the
conditioning factors underlying behavior or in simple terms it is the “man-made part of the environment. –
Herskovits

 A culture is the total socially acquired life-way or life-style of a group of people. It consists of the patterned,
repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are characteristic of the members of a particular society or
segment of a society. – Harris

 The concept of culture as everything that people have, thinks, and does as members of a society. This
definition can be instructive because the three verbs correspond to the three major components of culture. That
is, everything that people have refers to material possessions; everything that people think refers to those
things they carry around in their heads, such as ideas, values, and attitudes; and everything that people do refers
to behavior patterns. Thus all cultures comprise (a) material objects, (b) ideas, values, and attitudes, and (c)
patterned ways of behaving. – Gary Ferraro

In general, culture is a term used by social scientists, like anthropologists and sociologists, to encompass all the
facets of human experience that extend beyond our physical fact. It simply refers to the way we understand
ourselves both as individuals and as members of society, and includes stories, religion, media, rituals, and even
language itself. Irrespective of the various definitions, conceptions and approaches to the understanding of the
concept of culture, it is however agreed that culture is a way of life and morality is a part of culture. Practically
all modern definitions share key features.

Characteristics of Culture

From the Perspective of Sociologist From the Perspective of Anthropologist

1.Dynamic, flexible and adaptive 1. Learned
- Culture necessarily changes, and ischanged by, - Culture is learned, as each person must learn
a variety of interactions, how to “be” a member of that culture
with individuals, media, and technology, just to - Culture is acquired by being born
name a few. intoa particular society in the process of encultura
- Cultures interact and change. Most tion. Through language, thecultural traits of
societies interact with other societies, society are passed on
and as a consequence their culturesinteract tha to younger members in the process of growing up
t lead to exchanges of material (ex: tools and fur and through teaching.
niture) andnon-material (ex: ideas and symbols) - Every human generation potentially can discover
components of culture. new things and invent better technologies.
- All cultures change, or else, they would have p The new cultural
roblems adjusting and adapting to changing skills and knowledge are added ontowhat was lear
environments. ned in previousgenerations
- Culture is adaptive and dynamic,
once we recognize problems, culturecan adapt
again, in a more positive way, to find solutions.
- We need our cultural skills to stay alive.
2. Shared and maybe 2. Symbolic- Culture is symbolic, as it based on
challenged- (Given the reality of socialdifferenti the manipulation of
ation), as we share culturewith others, we are a symbols- Culture renders meaning to whatpeople
ble to act in aappropriate ways as well as predic do. Beliefs, religion, rituals,myths, dances, perfor
thow others will act. Despite theshared nature mances, music,artworks, sense of taste, education
of culture, that doesn’t mean that culture is ,innovations, identity, ethnicity, and soon are
homogenous (the same). meaningful human expressions of what people do
- It may be challenged by the and how they act.
presenceof other cultures and other socialforce
s in society like modernization, industrialization,
and globalization.
3.Learned through socialization or 3. Systemic and
enculturation- Culture is not integrated- Culture is systemic and integrated as
biological, people do not inherit it but learned the parts of culture work together in an
as interact in integrated whole.
society. Much of learning culture is - The systems of meanings and many other facets
unconscious. People learn, absorb (sides) of culture such as
andacquire culture from families, friends, kindred, religion, economic activities,
institutions, and the media. Theprocess of learni inheritance, and political process,
ng culture isenculturation. Do not function in isolation but an
integrated whole
that makes society work.
- These varying systems of meanings,
relations. And processes are sharedwithin a group
of people renderingculture bounded to those who
seek asense of belonging to the same society

4. Patterned social interactions- Culture as 4. Shared- Culture is shared, as it offers all people
a normative system has
ideas about behavior
the capacity to define and control human
- Since culture is shared withinexclusive domains
behaviors. of social relations,
- Norms (for example) are cultural expectations
societies operate differently from eachother leadi
in terms of how one will
ng for cultural variations.
think, feel, or behave as set by one’s Even culture is bounded, it does not mean that
culture. It sets the patterns in terms
there are no variations in how
of what is appropriate or inappropriate in a people act and relate with each other within a
given setting. given system of their
- Human interactions are guided by some forms respectivesocieties. On the contrary, the samesoci
of standards andexpectations which in the endrety can be broadly diverse whereinpeople, for
egularize it. example, profess connections
to each other yet practice different religion,
values, or gender relations.
- Societies do not always exist independently from
each other.
5.Transmitted through socialization or 5.Encompassing- Culture covers every feature of
enculturation humanity. Around the world, people asmembers
- As we share our culture with others, we are of their own societies
able to pass it on to the new establishconnections with each other and formrel
 members of society or the younger generation ationship guided by their respective cultural
in different ways. practices and values.
- In the process of socialization/enculturation, - Edward Tylor defines culture as acomplex whole
we were able to which encompasses
teachthem about many things in life andequip t beliefs, practices, traits, values,
hem with the culturally acceptable ways of survi attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols,
ving, competing, and making meaningful knowledge, and everything that a person learns
interaction with others in society. and shares as a member of society (David and
Macaraeg, 2010
6. Requires language and other forms of
communication- In the process of learning andt
ransmitting culture, symbols andlanguage are n
eeded to communicatewith others in society
(Arcinas, 2016)

Importance/Functions of Culture
Sociologists recognize and regard culture as one of the most importantconcepts within sociology becau
se it plays a vital role in our social lives. It isessential for shaping social relationships, maintaining and
challenging social order,
determining how we make sense of the world and our place in it, and in shaping our everyday actions
and experiences in society. Moreover, culture is important to sociologists because it plays a significant
and important role in the production of social order. The social order refers to the stability of society
based on the collective agreement to rules and norms that allow us to cooperate, function as a society,
and live together (ideally) in peace and harmony (Cole, 2019).
In the book of (David and Macaraeg, 2010), the following functions of culture were given emphasis:
(1) it serves as the “trademark” of the people in the society;
(2)it gives meaning and direction to one’s existence;
(3) it promotes meaning to individual’s existence;
(4) it predicts social behavior;
(5) it unifies diverse behavior;
(6) it provides social solidarity;
(7) it establishes social personality;
(8) it provides systematic behavioral pattern;
(9) it provides social structure category;
(10) it maintains the biologic functioning of the group;
(11) it offers ready-made solutions to man’s material and immaterial problems; and
(12) it develops man’s attitude and values and gives him a conscience

Elements of Culture

Symbols Refers to anything that is used to stand for something else. It is

anything that gives meaning to the culture.

Language Is known as the storehouse of culture ( Arcinas, 2016). It system of

words and symbols used to communicate with other people
Technology refers to the application of knowledge and equipment to ease the
task of living and maintaining the environment; it includes artifacts,
methods and devices created and used by people (Arcinas, 2016)
Values Are culturally defined standards for what is good or desirable. Values
determine how individuals will probably respond in any given
circumstances. Majority of Philippine population is bonded together
by common values and traits that are first taught at home and being
applied in our day to day lives. Filipinos are known for the following
values: (a) compassionate; (b) spirit of kinship and camaraderie; (c)
hardwork and industry; (d) ability to survive; (e) faith and religiosity;
(f) flexibility, adaptability and creativity; (g) joy and humor; (h) family
orientation; (i) hospitality; and (j) pakikipagkapwa-tao.
Beliefs refers to the faith of an individual ( David and Macaraeg, 2010). They
are conceptions or ideas of people have about what is true in the
environment around them like what is life, how to value it and how
one’s belied on the value of life relate with his or her interaction with
others and the world. These maybe based on common sense, folk
wisdom, religion, science or a combination of all of these (Arcinas,
2016)
Norms are specific rules/standards to guide for appropriate behavior
(Arcinas, 2016). These are societal expectations that mandate specific
behaviors in specific situations (David and Macaraeg 2010).

They are of different types and forms According to Palispis (2007), as mention by Baleña (2016), in the
social interaction process, each member possesses certain expectations about the responses of
another member. Therefore, it is very important to determine the different forms of societal norms.
Types: a. Proscriptive norm defines and tells us things not to do
b. Prescriptive norm defines and tells us things to do
 Forms:
a. Folkways are also known as customs (customary/repetitive ways of doing things); theyare
forms of norms for everyday behavior that people follow for the sake of tradition or convenience.
Breaking them does not usually have consequences. We have certain customs that were passed on by
our forebears that make up a large part of our day to day existence and we do not question their
practicality. Since they are being practiced, it is expected that we do them also. For example, we
Filipinos eat with our bear hands.
b. Mores are strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior; they are based on definitions
of right and wrong (Arcinas, 2016). They are norms also but with moral understones (David and
Macaraeg, 2010). For example, since our country Philippines is a Christian nation, we are expected to
practice monogamous marriage. So if a person who has two or more partners is looked upon as
immoral. Polygamy is considered taboo in Philippine society.
c. Laws are controlled ethics and they are morally agreed, written down and enforced by an
official law enforcement agency (Arcinas, 2016). They are institutionalized norms and mores that were
enacted by the state to ensure stricter punishment in order for the people to adhere to the standards
set by society (David and Macaraeg, 2010).

Two Components of Culture

Sociologists describe two interrelated aspects of human culture: the physical objects of the culture
(material culture) and the ideas associated with these objects (non-material culture).
1. Material culture consists of tangible things (Banaag, 2012). It refers to the physical objects,
resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture. These include homes, neighborhoods,
cities, schools, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, offices, factories and plants, tools, means of
production, goods and products, stores, and so forth. All of these physical aspects of a culture help to
define its members' behaviors and perceptions. Everything that is created, produced, changed and
utilized by men is included in the material culture (Arcinas, 2016).
2. Non-material culture consists of intangible things (Banaag, 2012). Non ‐material culture refers to the
nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals,
language, organizations, and institutions. For instance, the non ‐material cultural concept of religion
consists of a set of ideas and beliefs about God, worship, morals, and ethics. These beliefs, then,
determine how the culture responds to its religious topics, issues, and events. When considering non‐
material culture, sociologists refer to several processes that a culture uses to shape its members'
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Four of the most important of these are symbols, language, values,
and norms. Non-material culture can be categorized into cognitive and normative culture. The former
includes ideas, concepts, and philosophies, designs etc. that are product of mental or intellectual
functioning and reasoning of the human mind. Whereas, the latter includes all expectations, standards
and rules for human behavior (Arcinas, 2016).
Modes of Acquiring Culture
1. Imitation - Children and adults alike have the tendency to imitate the values, attitudes, language and
all other things in their social environment. Some of those things imitated are internalized in their
personality and become a part of their attitude, character and other behavioral patterns.
2. Indoctrination or Suggestion - This may take the form of formal training or informal teaching.
Formally, the person learns from school. Informally, he may acquire those behaviors from listening or
watching, reading, attending training activities or through interaction.
3. Conditioning - The values, beliefs, and attitudes of other people are acquired through conditioning.
This conditioning can be reinforced through reward and punishment.

Adaptation of Culture
1. Parallelism means that the same culture may take place in two or more different places. Example:
The domestication of dogs, cats, pigs and other animals may have semblance in other places
2. Diffusion refers to those behavioral patterns that pass back and forth from one culture to another.
This is the transfer or spread of culture traits from one another brought about by change agents such
as people or media Examples: food and eating practices, marriage and wedding ceremonies, burial
rituals, feast celebrations.
3. Convergence takes place when two or more cultures are fused or merged into one culture making it
different from the original culture.
4. Fission takes place when people break away from their original culture and start developing a
different culture of their own.
5. Acculturation refers to the process wherein individuals incorporate the behavioral patterns of other
cultures into their own either voluntarily or by force. Voluntary acculturation occurs through imitation,
borrowing, or personal contact with other people.
6. Assimilation occurs when the culture of a larger society is adopted by a smaller society, that smaller
society assumes some of the culture of the larger society or cost society.
7. Accommodation occurs when the larger society and smaller society are able to respect and tolerate
each other’s culture even if there is already a prolonged contact of each other’s cult.

Causes of Cultural Change

1. Discovery is the process of finding a new place or an object, artefact or anything that previously
existed. For example, the discovery of fire led to the art of cooking; discovery of oil, of organisms and
substances; of diseases; of atoms and sources of energy.
2. Invention implies a creative mental process of devising, creating and producing something new,
novel or original; and also the utilization and combination of previously known elements to produce
that an original or novel product. It could be either social or material or it could also be invention of
new methods or techniques. Example of social invention: invention of number system, government,
language, democracy, religion, and alphabet Example of Material Invention: invention of the wheel,
machines
3. Diffusion is the spread of cultural traits or social practices from a society or group to another
belonging to the same society or to another through direct contact with each other and exposure to
new forms. It involves the following social processes:
a. Acculturation – cultural borrowing and cultural imitation Example: The Filipinos are said to be
the best English- speaking people of Asia.
b. Assimilation – the blending or fusion of two distinct cultures through long periods of
interaction Example: Americanization of Filipino immigrants to the US
c. Amalgamation – the biological or hereditary fusion of members of different societies
Example: Marriage between a Filipino and an American
d. Enculturation – the deliberate infusion of a new culture to another. Example: The teaching of
American history and culture to the Filipinos during the early American Regime
4. Colonization refers to the political, social, and political policy of establishing a colony which would be
subject to the rule or governance of the colonizing state. For example, the Hispanization of Filipino
culture when the Spaniards came and conquered the Philippines.
5. Rebellon and revolutionary movements aim to change the whole social order and replace the
leadership. The challenge the existing folkways and mores, and propose a new scheme of norms,
values and organization.

The Concept of Society

Meaning and Nature of Society
According to sociologist, a society is a group of people with common territory, interaction, and culture.
Arcinas (2016) in his book, Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics, defined society as group of
people who share a common territory snd culture. It is a group of people living together in a definite
territory, having a sense of belongingness, mutually interdependent of each other, and follow a certain
way of life. Society is derived from the Latin term “societas”, from socius, which means companion or
associate. Thus, it refers to all people, collectively regarded as constituting a community of related,
interdependent individuals living in a definite place, following a certain mode of life (Ariola, 2012).
Definition of society has two types - the functional definition and the structural definition. From the
functional point of view, society is defined as a complex of groups in reciprocal relationships,
interacting upon one another, enabling human organisms to carry on their life-activities and helping
each person to fulfill his wishes and accomplish his interests in association with his fellows. From the
structural point of view, society is the total social heritage of the following are reasons
people live together as a society (Ariola, 2012):
a. For survival – No man is an island. No man can live alone. From birth to death, man always
depends upon his parents and
fromothers. The care, support, and protection given by them areimportnt factors for survival.
b. Feeling of gregariousness – This is the desire of people to be
withother people, esecially of their own culture. People flock togetherfor emotional warmth an
d belongingness. The need for approval, sympathy and understanding to which the individual
belongs is apsychosocial need. Among Filipinos, the feeling of gregariousnessis found in all
levels of society, especially among the lower socio-
econmic classess. The more the person is needy, the more hecraves sympathy and
understanding from someone else.c.
c. Specialization – Teachers, businessmen, students, physicians,
nurses, lawyers, pharmacists, and other professional’s organizethemselves into societies or asso
ciations to promote and protect their own professions.

Characteristics of Society
Society comprises of a group of people who share a common culture, live in
aparticular area and feel themselves to constitute a unified and distinct entity.Society or human society
is a group of people related to each other throughpersistent relations such as kinship, marriage, social s
tatus, roles and socialnetworks. By extension, society denotes the people of a region or country,
sometimes even the world, taken as a whole. Society has the following characteristics:
1. It is a social system.
A social system consists of individual’s interacting with each other. A system consists of sub-parts
whereby a change in one part affects the other parts. Thus, a change in one group of individuals
will affect the stability of the other parts of the system.2.
2. It is relatively large.
The people must be socialy integrated to beconsidered relatively large than if the people are
individually scattered. Thus, the people in a family, clan, tribe, neighborhood, community aresociall
y integrated to be relatively large in scope.3.
3. It socializes its members and from those from without.
Since most of society’s members are born to it, they are taught the basic norms and expectations.
Those who come from other societies, before being accepted as functioning members, are
socialized and taught the basic norms and expectations of the society.4.
4. It endures, produces and sustains its members for generations
 Forsociety to survive, it must have the ability to produce, endure and sustain its new members for
at least several generations. For instance,
if a society cannot assist its members during their extreme conditions of hunger and poverty, that
society will not survive long.
5. It holds its members through a common culture
The individuals in a society are held together because that society has symbols, norms, values,
patterns of interaction, vision and mission that are commonly shared by the members of such
society.6.
6. It has clearly-defined geographical territory
The members in a
society must live in a certain specific habitat or place and have a commonbelongingness and sense
of purpose.

Major Functions of Society

A society is important because they have the following functions:
1. It provides a system of socialization.
Knowledge and skills, dominant patterns of behavior, moral and social values, and aspects of
personality are transmitted to each members, especially to the young. The family,
thepeer group, the school, the church and other government and non-government
organizations play a role in the individual’s development.

2. It provides the basic needs of its members.

Food, clothing, shelter, medicine, education, transportations and communication facilities,
among others must be provided by society to satisfy the basic needs of its members.

3. It regulates and controls people’s behavior.

Conformity to theprevailing norms of conduct ensures social control. The police, armedforces, l
aw enforcement agencies and even the church and othergovernment and non-government
organizations exist as means of
socialcontrol. Peace and order are created through a system of norms and formal organizations.

4. It provides the means of social participation.

Through social participation, the individuals in a society learn to interact with each other,
present and discuss their concerns and solve their own problems orrenew their commitment
and values. The people are given the opportunities to contribute to their knowledge and skills
for the betterment of their family, neighborhood and community. Religious organizations, civic
organizations, people’s organizations (PO) and non-government organizations (NGOs) do their
part in community development.
 5. It provides mutual support to the members.
Mutual support is provided to the members of society in the form of relief in any form
andsolution to problems met by them. This form of assistance may comefrom the family, neigh
bors, clans, government and non-governmentagencies, civic and religious organizations.

Aspects of Culture and Society

Through culture, people and groups define themselves, conform to society's shared values, and
contribute to society. Thus, culture includes many societal aspects: language, customs, values, norms,
mores, rules, tools, technologies, products, organizations, and institutions. Government &
International Relations. Resources & Economics. Religion & Spiritual Beliefs.
Aspects of cultural identity
1. Nationality - It is the country that the person is born in, and/or the country that the person
currently lives in.
2. Ethnicity - It is the culture of the person and is a very crucial aspect of cultural identity as the
person usually has the culture of his/her respective ethnicity.
3. Religion - this is your spiritual beliefs.
4. Education – could be formal and non-formal.

Changes in Culture and Society

A 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.
Culture can also change in certain situations. New philosophical ideas and technological advances can
lead to cultural change. Cultural change can also occur through diffusion, when contact with other
cultures and ideas are transferred

In addition to its intrinsic value, culture

provides important social and economic
benefits. With improved learning and health,
increased tolerance, and opportunities to
come together with others, culture enhances
our quality of life and increases overall well-
being for both individuals and communities.
  Culture is a way of life.
 Culture and society are concepts. They exist in the realm of ideas and thoughts.
 Culture consist of values, beliefs, systems of language, communications, and practices.
 Material culture consists of things that are created by humans.
 Nonmaterial culture refers to the abstract ideas and ways of thinking that make up a culture.
 New philosophical ideas and technological advances can lead to cultural change.
 Culture can also change in certain situations.
 Culture provides important social and economic benefits

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