ASPECTS OF CULTURE

REFERENCE:
CONTRERAS, ANTONIO, ET.AL. UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY, & POLITICS. PHOENIX PUBLISHING HOUSE. 2016
 THE COMPLEXITY OF CULTURE
 Culture is a people’s a way of life.
 According to E.B. Tylor – culture is that complex whole, which
encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms,
artifacts, symbols, knowledge and everything that a person learns
and shares a member of society.
 The “complex whole” in the above paragraph suggests that culture
cannot be simply broken down into a set of attributes.
 THE WHAT, HOW AND WHY OF CULTURE

 The “what” contains the actions, artifacts, language and behavior

that characterize a given culture.
 The “how” column identifies the processes that guarantee the
transmission and dissemination of the contents.
 The “why” pinpoints the reasons why individuals comply and the
mechanisms that facilitate the performance of expected behavior.
THE ANATOMY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
ANTHROPOLOGY SOCIOLOGY
THE WHY
THE HOW
THE WHAT Refers to the reasons for compliance
Refers to the processes that guarantee
Refers to the contents of culture and the mechanisms that facilitate
the transmission of the contents
performance
Learned Through socialization/ enculturation:
Individuals are exposed to and
Actions experience lessons in everyday
interactions. The lessons are practical
Shared and address their basic social needs.

Language Through conformity:

Actions of individuals are routinized
and institutionalized in contexts like
family, church, schools, and
government. In time, they become part
of their habits.

Through social control:

Communicated Conformity, or its absence thereof, is
meted out through the system of giving
rewards and imposing of punishments.
Attitude
 ENCULTURATION AND THIRD CULTURE
SHOCK

 A counterpart of socialization, “enculturation” refers to the gradual acquisition

of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group by a person, another
culture, etc. It is not as pervasive as socialization, which is a lifelong or “womb
to womb” journey. Enculturation starts with actual exposure to another culture
and the duration and extent of exposure account for the quality of the
resulting enculturation.
 Third culture shock is a good example of enculturation. Individuals who stayed
for quite a good portion of their lives in a foreign culture may be shocked by
their birth culture once exposed to it again.
 ASPECTS OF CULTURE

 E. B. Taylor, and English anthropologist, was the first to coin the term “culture”
in the 18th century. The study of society is incomplete without proper
understanding of the culture of that society because culture and society go
together.
 Culture us a unique possession of man.
 Culture is the unique quality of man which separates him from the lower
animals. Culture includes all that man acquires in his social life.
 DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE
 There are several definitions of culture in the circulation.
 B. Malinowski defined it as “the hard work of man and the medium through which he achieve
his ends.”
 R. Redfield, defined culture as “an organized body of conventional understandings manifest
in art which persisting through tradition, characterizes a human group”
 V. de Robert described culture as “the body of thought and knowledge, both theoretical and
practical, which on man can possess”.
 E.B. Tylor – culture is that complex whole, which encompasses beliefs, practices, values,
attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge and everything that a person learns and
shares a member of society.

 Culture exists in the minds or habits of the members of society.

 Culture is people’s shared ways of doing and thinking.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
 Culture means simply the “way of life” of a people or their “Design for living”.
 Kluckhohn and Kelly define it in this sense: “A culture is a historically derived
system of explicit and implicit designs for living, which tents to be shared by
all or specially designed members of a group.
 Explicit culture refers to similarities in words and actions which can be
directly observed.
 Implicit culture on the other hand, exists in abstract forms which are not
quite obvious.
 The following characterization of culture revolves around the three essences
of culture as a system: super-organic, integrated, pervasive.
 Being super-organic, culture is seen as something superior to nature because nature serves
as the ingredient of any cultural productions. The word super-organic is useful when it implies
what may be quite a different phenomenon from cultural point of view.
 Secondly, culture possesses an order and system. Its various parts are integrated with each
other and any new element which is introduced is also integrated. This integrity of the culture
system makes it pervasive, that is, it touches every aspect of life and is manifested in two
ways.
 One, culture provides an unquestioned context within which individual action and response
take place. Not only emotional action but relational actions as well are governed by cultural
norms.
 Two, culture pervades social activities and institutions.
 According to Ruth Benedict, “ a culture, like an individual is a more or less consistent pattern
of thought and action”.
1. Culture is social because it is the product of behavior.
2. Culture varies from society to society.
3. Culture is shared.
4. Culture is learned.
5. Culture is transmitted among members of society.
6. Culture is continuous and cumulative.
7. Culture is gratifying and idealistic.
 FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
Culture defines situations.
Culture defines attitudes, values and
goals.
Culture defines myths, legends, and the
supernatural.
Culture provides behavior patterns.
 ETHNOCENTRISM
 The word ethno comes from the Greeks and it refers to a people, nation or cultural
grouping.
 Centric comes from the Latin and refers to the “center”.
 The term ethnocentrism then refers to the tendency of each society to place its own culture
patterns at the center of things. Ethnocentrism is the practice of comparing other cultural
practices with those of one’s own and automatically finding those other cultural practices to
be inferior.
 Ethnocentrism a term coined by William Graham Sumner. It is belief that your native culture
is the most natural or superior way of understanding the world. This leads to making
incorrect assumptions about the others’ behavior based on your own norms, values, and
beliefs.
 Hence, being ethnocentric means, using our culture into a yardstick with which to measure
all other cultures as good or bad, high or low, right or queer in proportion as they resemble
ours.
 FUNCTIONS OF ETHNOCENTRISM
 The functions of ethnocentrism in maintaining order are more apparent than those which promote social change.
 First, ethnocentrism encourages the solidarity of a group.
 Second, ethnocentrism hinders the understanding or the cooperation between groups.
 Thirds, conflict of course often leads to social change. In that sense, ethnocentrism becomes a vehicle for the
promotion of social change. It does so, however, through encouragement of its peaceful evolution.
 When do we become ethnocentric and what is our way out? Take note of the following:

1) When you judge the behavior and beliefs of people who are different from you.
Way out: To stop ethnocentric behavior, you must stop judging others who are different from you.
2) When you believe that there are primitive cultures, especially if their way of life is different from yours.
Way out: Ethnocentrism is taught. You have to unlearn that your culture is superior and all other cultures are
inferior.
3) When you believe that some cultures are backward if they lack the technology and consumerism of your own culture.
Way out: Remember that there are no primitive or backward cultures. All cultures provide their members with the
means for meeting all human needs.
 CULTURE
RELATIVISM
 Culture relativism is the idea that all norms, beliefs and values are dependent on their context
and should be treated as such. A key component of cultural relativism is the concept that
nobody, not even researchers, comes from a neutral position. The way to deal with our own
assumptions is not to pretend that they don’t exist, but rather to acknowledge them and then
use the awareness that we are not neutral to inform our conclusions.
 Culture relativity is a belief that maintains it does not matter whether cultures are ether equal
or different because equality and similarity do not necessarily translate to real or imagined
inferiority/superiority of cultures out there.
 As an attitude, cultural relativism promotes greater appreciation of the cultures one
encountered along the way.
 As a behavior, cultural relativism is a good way to rehearse the norms and values of society –
a requirement that one must subscribe to regardless of his/her cultural origin.
 XENOCENTRISM AND XENOPHOBIA

 Xenocentrism refers to a preference for the foreign. In this sense, it is the

exact opposite of ethnocentrism. It is characterized by a strong belief that
one’s own products, styles, or ideas are inferior to those which originate
elsewhere.
 Xenophobia is the fear of what is perceived as foreign or strange. Xenophobia
can be seen in the relations and perceptions of an in-group toward an out-
group, It may include fear of losing identity, suspicion of the other group’s
activities, aggression, and the desire to eliminate the presence of the other
group to secure a presumed purity,
 CULTURE AS HERITAGE
 Cultures have tangible (visible) and intangible (nonmaterial)
components.
 The tangible ones are those that are produced and created based
on specific and practical purposes and aesthetic values.
 Cultural artifacts both tangible and intangible may become
“heritage objects” by their sheer age and association with
momentous historical events and noteworthy personalities.
END