CHAPTER 2

Defining culture
and society
Our Culture and Society in
the 21 Century
st
Defining Culture and Society
 The term culture was first used by the
English anthropologist Edward B. Tylor
in his book, Primitive Culture.
According to Tylor, (1920), culture is
“that complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, law, morals,
customs, and any other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as a
member of society.”
 belief

morals law

CULTURE
acquired by man
as a member of
society

knowledge art

customs
From sociological standpoint:
 Culturedenotes acquired behaviors and habits
that are shared by and transmitted among
groups of people as a result of their interaction
with one another.

Acquired Shared by
behaviors and CULTURE
and habits transmitted
 SOCIETY
 Viewed as a complex web of relationships
existing out of man’s interaction with one
another.

relationship interaction
Several definitions of society:
 August Comte, the Father of Sociology, saw society as a social
organism possessing harmony of structure and function.
 Talcott Parsons, an American sociologist, conceives as system
comprised of the interactions of many individuals within a
situation through commonly understood cultural norms of
generalized symbols and associated meanings.
 G.D.H. Cole, an English political theorist and economist, views
the society as a complex of organized associations and
institutions with a community.
 Robert Maclver and Charles Page, social scientists, a system of
usages and procedures of authority and mutual aid of many
groupings and divisions, of controls of human behavior and
liberties.
Society is viewed as group
of people with a shared
culture interacting within
groups and institutions.
Relationship between
Culture and Society
Relationship between Culture and
Society
 Interrelated concepts
 Merton (1938), sociologists distinguish society
and culture primarily analytical purposes: it
allows sociologist to think about societal
development independent and cultural change
even though societal change and development
are contingent upon culture
 Require the interaction of people with one
another
Relationship between Culture and
Society
 Culture is distinct from society in that it adds
value, merit, and meanings to created
relationship
 For instance, manifestations of culture include
language, arts, music, festivals, literature etc.
Meanwhile, examples of society include
villages, cities, districts, municipalities,
religious groups, professional organizations,
educational institutions and the like.
 Culture refers to how
people behave and
interact with one
another within social
institutions
∗With the advent of globalization and increasing virtual
interaction, society and culture is becoming even more
interrelated than ever.
Characteristics
of Culture
Characteristics of Culture
Learned
Shared
Integrated
Adaptive and Dynamic
Abstract
Symbolic
Culture is Learned
 Culture is not innate in person. It is also not biological in
nature which means that it is not something that is
physically or genetically inherited.
 Infants are predisposed to acquire specific cultural traits
such as language.
 It takes a while for culture to be acquired and developed
 Example: a child may grow up eating with bare hands
because that is customary to his region. On one hand,
another child may grow up eating with spoon and fork
because that is what his parents do.
Culture is Shared
 Culture is not possessed by a single person
alone.
 Largegroups of people would usually share
similar behavior patterns over time.
 Example: within the Filipino society,
different religious beliefs are practiced
such as Roman Catholic, Islam,
Protestantism
Culture is Integrated
 Different cultural practices may exist within a single
society but ultimately culture remains to be holistic in
nature.
 Different cultural manifestations in a given country create
a specific society that distinguishes it from all others.
 Culture possesses a systematic order that allows the
various parts and elements to be integrated into a single
whole.
 Example: people across different regions of the
Philippines may have varied food preferences and religious
practices but taken together to make up the entire
Filipino nation
Culture is Adaptive and Dynamic
 Culture adapts to various environmental and
geographical conditions as witnessed throughout
the context of the history of the world.
 Ancient people survived on hunting skills which
eventually evolved into agriculture, trade, and
now globalization.
 All cultures are bound to change at some point
otherwise problems adapting to a changing
environment would occur.
Culture is Abstract
 There is no single tangible manifestation that can
take the form of culture itself.
 It embodies the ideals, norms, and behavioral
patterns existing within a society.
 Culture in its purest, most abstract form is
learned and inherited from generation to
generation through enculturation.
Culture is Symbolic
 All cultures in the world are driven by symbols
that stand for something.
 Symbols in the society are only validated when
people in a specific society agree on what the
symbols stand for.
 One way of expressing symbolic meanings of
culture is through language.
 It allows people to understand and transmit
abstract concepts and ideals to the next
generation.
Ethnocentrism and
Cultural Relativism

Ethnocentrism
 Leads people to believe
the inherent superiority of
one’s culture over the
other.
 Making false assumptions
about the ways of others
based on our own limited
experience (Barger 2014)
 People tend to judge
other people based on
standards set by their own
cultural associations.
Cultural
Relativism
 Promotes the idea that no
culture is superior to other.
 Views all culture as worthy
in their own right and are
equal value.
 Neutral perspective
 Commonly define as a
concept that widely accepts
that cultural values and
norms derive their meaning
from a specific context.
Cultural Heritage
Cultural Heritage
 According to the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), cultural heritage is
a legacy of physical artefacts and
intangible attributes of a group or society
that are inherited from past generations,
maintained in the present and bestowed for
the benefit of future generations.
 Culture and society are intricately
woven together. Knowing that individual
acquire customs, habits, and practices
in the larger context of relationships
created out of human interactions is
crucial in developing an understanding
of how culture and society are related
to one another.
 Most Bizarre
Cultural Beauty
Practices in the
World
By: Khyati Mehta
About the author:
Khyati Mehta is an adventurous travel
freak who is always on the lookout for unique
experiences and doesn’t mind taking the
road less travelled.
Kayan Tribe, Burma
Bodi Tribe, Africa
Mauritanians, Africa
Maori Tribe, New Zealand
Masai Tribe, Africa
Apatani Tribe, India
Ancient Wealthy Community in
China
Modern Women in Iran
Mursi and Surma Tribes,
Africa
 The story of what I’ve
learned
Make a story about what have you learned from the
lesson. The story should have a minimum of thirty
(30) sentences and forty (40) sentences maximum.

Today, I’ve learned_____________________