Semi-detailed Lesson Plan

Understanding Culture, Society and Politics

Senior High School (Grade 12)
Month of September 2022

Learning Competences

 MELC(s): Discuss the nature, goals and perspectives in/of anthropology, sociology and political science.
 MELC(s): Analyze the concept, aspects and changes in/of culture and society.
 MELC(s): Explain the importance of cultural relativism in attaining cultural understanding
 MELC(s): Analyze the significance of cultural, social, political and economic symbols and practices.

I.Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the students are able to:

acknowledge human cultural

Week 1

variation, social differences,

social change, and political
identities
2. adopt an open and
critical attitude toward
different social, political,
and cultural phenomena
through
observation and reflection
3. appreciates the value of
 disciplines of Anthropology,
Sociology, and Political Science
as social sciences
Articulate through illustration their understanding of culture, society and politics.
Analyze the interconnectedness of studying anthropology, sociology and politics in understanding
thyself.
Explain culture and society using anthropological and sociological perspective
Identify and differentiate the key points about anthropology and sociology.
Analyze the significance of studying culture, society and politics.
Identify aspects of culture and society.
Demonstrate curiosity in exploring the origins of political identities.
Week 2 Determine the concepts, aspects and changes in/of culture and society; and
Describe the approaches to the study of culture society
Week 3 Describe cultural relativism.
Cite actions that depict ethnocentric attitudes.
Explain how cultural relativism mitigates ethnocentrism.
Identify forms of tangible and intangible heritage and threats to these.
Appreciate cultural heritages and express pride without being ethnocentric.
Week 4 Explain the significance of cultural, social, political and economic symbols and practices.
II: SUBJECT MATTER
LESSON :
WEEK 1. Nature, Goals and Perspective of Anthropology, Sociology and Political Science- (starting points
to
understanding culture, society and politics)
WEEK 2: Understanding the Concepts of Culture Society and Politics

WEEK 3: Cultural relativism in attaining cultural understanding

WEEK 4: CONCEPTS OF CULTURAL, SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYMBOLS AND PRACTICES
MATERIALS: LAPTOP, and POWERPOINT
REFERENCE: Rex Bookstore: Understanding culture, society, and Politics

III: PROCEDURE
PRELIMINARY ACTIVITIES
 PRAYER
 GREETINGS
 CLASSR OOM MANAGEMENT
MOTIVATION

4 pics 1 word
MOTIVATION
WEEK 3: Picture Analysis

The teacher will give a picture, then students will guess what the picture trying to portray.
MOTIVATION
WEEK 4: 4 pics 1 word

S C Y
S L

IV.LESSON PROPER

WEEK 1

1. ACTIVITY
You are a typical teenager. With a single description, how do you define yourself and how do you design your
successful “YOU” someday. You are about to create your narrative based on your social, cultural, and political
perspective. Make our journey creative by designing your own detailed journal. (Provide a big notebook to record your
answers).

Personal background
1. What is your age? Gender?
2. How do you describe yourself?( the color of your hair, skin, eyes: height and built, languages spoken, beliefs, and
religious faith, provide)
3. Parents (province and tribe)
4. Where do you live? Is your house big or small, owned or rented?)
5. Where do you go to school? Is it public or private school?
6. Do you wish to study and finish college? What course do you prefer?
Environment
1. What kind of neighborhood do you desire? Do you want to socialize with them? How many friends do you have?
2. Are you in a relationship? Describe it.
3. Do you live with extended family? How many friends do you have?
Success
1. Are you a smart leader or a humble follower?
2. What do you think is your future job? Greatest achievement?
3. What do you think is your greatest contribution to society? How do you help government officials? Is a political
dynasty present in your community/barangay?

1. ANALYSIS
What makes us human? How do our society, culture and politics shape our identities?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
B. As a Senior High School learner, and already part of the governance in your own community and school, it is
expected that you own a different understanding of your environment. In your big notebook, draw or illustrate your
perspective of what Culture, Society, and Politics are. (You can use cut-out pictures and letters or simply
draw and color with label your illustration)

C. Write your reflection from the activity Designing yourself

2. ABSTRACTION
The teacher will discuss the following :
1. Why study Anthropology, Sociology and Political Science?
2. Culture and society
3. Political ideology
3. APPLICATION
Directions: Try to check your community. And list all the characteristics of the community you belong. Match from
Column A and B.
Column A Column B
1. Cultural parts and aspects are interconnected A. Culture is Integrated
when taken together, a way of life is manifested
2. Interaction of individuals in societies also leads B. Culture is shared
to sharing of beliefs, customs, ideals and practices. C. Ethnocentrism
3. The process of learning your own culture D. Culture is learned
4. Culture is manifested through behavior, habits, E. Culture is symbolic
mannerisms and activities.
5. Culture adapts to various environmental and F. Cultural Relativism
geographical conditions
6. Culture is not innate. It is acquired. G. Culture is abstract
7. A belief that your culture is above and superior H. Enculturation
over other culture.
8. Filipinos wear Barong Tagalog and Filipinyana I. Culture is dynamic
during special occasions.
9. It promotes the idea that no culture is superior over J. Acculturation
any other.
10. It is the process of adapting and modifying culture
WEEK 2

1. ACTIVITY 2
Draw Me A Culture!
Directions: What is your idea about culture and society? On a short-sized bond paper, draw a picture to
demonstrate your culture and how it affects society.

2.ANALYSIS
1. On your own idea, what is culture?
2. How its connect to society?

3.ABSTRACTION
The teacher will discuss the following to the class;
1. Culture and Cultural Change
As defined by the Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition (2017), the word "culture" derives
from a French term, derived from the Latin "colere," which means to tend to the earth and grow, or
cultivation and nurture. It shares its etymology with several other words related to actively fostering growth.
 Culture is a term that refers to a large and diverse set of mostly intangible aspects of social life. According to
sociologists, culture consists of the values, beliefs, systems of language, communication, and practices that
people share and that can be used to define them as a collective. Culture also includes the material objects
that are common to that group or society. On the other hand, cultural change is the modification or
discontinuance of existing ‘tried’ and ‘tested’ procedures transmitted to us from the culture of the past, as
well as the introduction of new procedures (Dressler and Carns, 1973).

Culture changes through developments in technology, political belief and religious ideas. External encounters
with diverse societies and environmental factors also change cultural beliefs. It sometimes causes a backlash
from those with more traditional social views. Cultural change occurs due to the diffusion of ideas from one
society to another.

2. Sources of Cultural Change

A. Discovery. It is a new perception of an aspect of reality that already exists.
B. Invention. It is the combination or new use of existing knowledge to produce something that did not exist
before.
C. Diffusion. It is the spreading of cultural traits from group to another group.
D. Acculturation. It is cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits
from another culture.
E. Assimilation. It is the process of combination of two cultures in to one culture with comprising cultural
traits.
Approaches to the Study of Culture and Society
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (1994-2000), enumerated the different approaches in the study of culture and
society. These are cultural traits, cultural areas, cultural types, social organization, economic systems, education,
religion and belief, and custom and law.

Cultural traits
The concept of culture embraces the culture of mankind. An understanding of human culture is facilitated, however,
by analysing "the complex whole" into component parts or categories. A trait may be an object (knife), a way of doing
something (weaving), a belief (in spirits), or an attitude (the so-called horror of incest). But, within the category of
culture, each trait is related to other traits. A distinguishable and relatively self-contained cluster of traits is
conventionally called a culture complex.

Cultural Areas
The relationship between an actual culture and its habitat is always an intimate one, and therefore one finds a close
correlation between kind of habitat and type of culture. This results in the concept of culture area. This conception
goes back at least as far as the early 19th century, but it was first brought into prominence by the U.S. anthropologist
Clark Wissler in The American Indian (1917) and Man and Culture (1923). He divided the Indian cultures (as they were
in the latter half of the 19th century) into geographic cultural regions.

Cultural Types
Appreciation of the relationship between culture and topographic area suggests the concept of culture type, such as
hunting and gathering or a special way of hunting.

Social Organization
A sociocultural system presents itself under two aspects: structure and function. As culture evolves, sociocultural
systems (like biologic systems) become more differentiated structurally and more specialized functionally, proceeding
from the simple to the complex. Systems on the lowest stage of development have only two significant kinds of parts:
the local territorial group and the family.

Economic Systems
One of the most important, as well as characteristic, features of the economic life of preliterate societies, as
contrasted with modern civilizations, is this: no individual and no class or group in tribal society was denied access to
the resources of nature; all were free to exploit them.

Education
In the human species individuals are equipped with fewer instincts than is the case in many nonhuman species. And,
as already noted, they are born cultureless. Therefore, an infant Homo sapiens must learn a very great deal and
acquire a vast number of conditioned reflexes and habit patterns in order to live effectively, not only in society but in
a particular kind of sociocultural system, be it Tibetan, Eskimo, or French. This process, taken as a whole, is called
socialization (occasionally, enculturation) --the making of a social being out of one that was at birth wholly
individualistic and egoistic.

Religion and Belief

"A belief in spirits is," according to Edward Burnett Tylor, "the minimum definition of religion." These two elements
of religion are virtually worldwide and undoubtedly representing a very early stage in the development of religion. In
some cultures, spirits are virtually innumerable, but, in the course of time, the more important spirits become gods.
Thus, there has been a tendency toward monotheism in the history of religion. Custom and Law Codes of ethics
govern the relationship of the individual to the well-being of society. Codes of etiquette regulate class structure by
requiring individuals to conform to their respective classes. Custom is a general term that embraces all these
mechanisms of regulation and control and even more. Custom is the name given to uniformities in sociocultural
systems.

4.APPLICATION

Directions List at least 5 Filipino customs, beliefs, practices and traditions that you are practicing at home in the first
column. In the next column, identify where does you get the customs, beliefs and traditions you practiced at home.
Write if said practices is Discovered, Invented, Diffused, Acculturated or Assimilated. Each number is worth 2 points.
5 Filipino customs, beliefs, practices and tradition Sources of cultural change

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Questions:
1. How did you acquire your customs, beliefs and traditions that you are practicing at home?
2. Having learned the concepts of culture? How do you explain the current fascination of Filipinos to K Pop and Korean
telenovelas?

WEEK 3

1. ACTIVITY
Ponder and try to imagine yourself on the situation below.
WHAT: At meals with his host family here in the Philippines, John decides to eat with western utensils he bought when
he went into town.
WHY: “ I actually grew up to like the fufu and stew we ate each night, but eating it with my bare hands was just messy,
and sort of primitive”

IMPACT: Though it seem insignificant to John, his purchase of a fork and knife can be seen as condescending,
intolerant, and even insulting to his hosts. Westerners should be wary of coming off as though they think their ways are
better. By disregarding local customs and norms, John is belittling the locals who were generously accommodating him.

A BETTER APPROACH: John should have simply told his hosts that he loves the food they cook for him, but he
doesn’t know how to eat it without making a mess. They would almost certainly take the time teach John how to use his
hands to eat local food. With a little patience, practice, and openness to learning, John would surely get the hang of it.
The inherent humor of the situation would also create a bonding experience with the host family.
2. ANALYSIS
1. If you were the host family, how will you react with the situation?
2. If you were John, what would you rather do? Would you understand why John behave that way? Or
if you were John, would you appreciate the authenticity of the culture of your host family?
3. ABSTRACTION
The teacher will discuss the following:
1. What are the functions of ethnocentrism?
The function of ethnocentrism (Contreras, 2016) are: 1. Ethnocentrism encourages the solidarity of the group.
Believing that one’s own ways are the best boosts a “we” feeling with companions and supports the idea that
loyalty to comrades and protection of the basis for superiority are significant values. POSITIVELY, it promotes
continuance of how things stand. NEGATIVELY, it discourages change. 2. Ethnocentrism hinders the
understanding of cooperation between groups. If the ways of one’s group are best, there is little incentive to
interact with “inferior groups”. Extreme ethnocentrism is likely to promote conflict, as the records of the past
wars and religious and racial conflicts reveal. 3. Ethnocentrism becomes a vehicle for promotion of social change
since conflict often leads to social change. It does so, however, through encouragement of its peaceful
evolution.
2. What is culture relativism?
Cultural relativism is the idea that all norms, beliefs, and values are dependent on their cultural context and
should be treated as such. This is also a belief that there are no moral standards to all people at all times
(Contreras, 2016). As an attitude, cultural relativism promotes greater appreciation of the culture 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 or her cultural origin. Cultural relativism is
also a research. This is a method whereby different n societies or cultures are analyzed objectively without using
the values of one culture to judge the worth of another. Appreciation of other cultures may come about two
complimentary reasons (Contreras, 2016): 1. Acquisition of sufficient knowledge about the culture in question.
This may happen in indirect ways such as reading about the practices and rituals of other cultures. 2. Direct
exposure to other cultures. This may take place because of travel or immigration. In both cases, individuals
personally come in contact with the people representing another culture and they see the performance of a
different set of practices. In cultural relativism, ethical structures are needed for stability and order. So, follow
the norms of the culture in which you live. Here’s an example: “When in Davao, do as the Davaoeňos do” It is
important also that we should not impose our standards on outsiders. Here’s an example: “Same sex marriage is
wrong in the Philippines, but not everywhere” Advantages of Cultural Relativism (Contreras, 2016) 1. Promotes
tolerance by practicing the “live and let live”. 2. Recognizes differences but does not allow to judge them. 3.
Avoids problems with moral realism
3. Culture as Heritage
(Tangible and Intangible Heritage) Cultural heritage is the inheritance of physical artifacts and intangible
elements of a group or people that is passed from generation top generation. Not all legacies are considered
"heritage", relatively heritage is a product of selection by society. Culture heritage have tangible (visible) and
intangible (non-material) components. The tangible ones are those that are produced and created based on
specific and practical purposes and aesthetic values like historical sites, archaeological sites, historical
monuments and historical artifacts. Intangible heritage may include our national anthem, traditional skills and
literary creations such as music, dances, and other literary genre unique to the Philippines.
 4. APPLICATION
Knowledge Check!
Directions: Describe cultural relativism by completing the sentence. Write your answer on the space provided.

1. Cultural relativism is the idea that all norms, beliefs, and values are
_________________________________________________________________________
2. One advantage of culture relativism is ________________________________________.
3. Cultural relativism mitigates ethnocentric behavior by____________________________.

WEEK 4

1. ACTIVITY
In My Own View
Instruction: Cite a family symbol or practice in your own home.

2. ANALYSIS
1. How this symbol or practice came about and why is it important?

3. ABSTRACTION
A symbol is an object, word or action that stands for something else and represents abstract ideas or concepts that
has meaning to people bound by common cultural, social and other organizational affiliation or ideology. The
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “an act, sound, or object having cultural significance and the capacity to
excite or objectify a response”. Language is one of the most common cultural symbols. The letters of the alphabet, for
example, symbolize the sounds of a specific spoken language.

Cultural Symbols and Practices

- Cultural symbols are concrete manifestations that indicate the beliefs of a particular culture. These symbols may be
actual symbols or signs, or they can also be gestures such as handshakes and hand signals. The same symbol can mean
different things in different cultures. For example, the thumbs up, which symbolizes that everything is great in
American culture, is just like giving the middle finger in Greek culture (Cultural Symbol: Definition & Examples).
Religious symbols also fall under this category such as the Crescent Moon and a Star that represents Islam, the
Crossas symbol of Christianity or the Star of David representing Judaism. Cultural practices are the customary and
routine behavior of people based on shared beliefs and value systems. These are manifestations of a culture or
subculture, especially concerning the traditional practices of a particular ethnic or cultural group. Examples of cultural
practices are religious and spiritual practices such as the celebration of fiestas or festivals.
Social Symbols and Practices
These are relating to human society and its modes of organization: social classes, social problems or a social issue.
Social symbols may be indicative of the person’s social or economic status and may address issues and concerns in the
society. Examples of social symbols are the white dove as a sign of peace, red heart for love, the traffic signs, health
and medical signs and many more. Social practices refer to the day to day observances that are typically and
habitually performed in a society. It forms the everyday life of people and all members of the community are aware of
them, even if not everybody participates or performs them. An example of social practices in the Filipino culture is the
tradition of “pagmamano” as a sign of respect to the elders.
Political Symbols and Practices
Political symbols are representations that are used to signify a political perspective. Flags, logos, acronyms or banners
are among the most common emblems of political inclinations. Colors often represent the sentiments and ideologies
in political symbols. For example, black usually stands for anarchism and fascism, while red is used to indicate
socialism and communism. Political practices are activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or
other forms of power relations. These are the outward manifestations of political culture which, as defined by Lucian
Pye, refers to the “composite of basic values, feelings, and knowledge that underlie the political process”. In the
Philippines, one common political practice is having political alliance, also called political coalition or political bloc,
which refers to “an agreement for cooperation between different political parties on common political agenda”.
(Baleña, et. al., 2016, p. 85)
Economic Symbols and Practices
Economic symbols those relating to economic activities such as production, distribution, and consumption of goods
and services. Among the most common economic symbols are the currencies or money we are using, the value of
which varies depending on the economic status of the country. We also hear of the Stock Exchange,
Gold and Petroleum, Banking, Life Insurance and others. Economic system or practices are the process by which
resources are distributed, and goods and services are traded in societies. These practices control the different factors
of production such as labor, capital, entrepreneurs, physical and information resources.
There are many theories on how cultural, social, political and economic practices were established and changed over
time. One such theory is the sociocultural evolution, which was defined as the process by which structural.

TYPES OF SOCIETIES
1. Hunting and gathering societies
2. Pastoral societies
3. Horticultural societies a
4. Agricultural societies a
5. Feudal societies
6. Industrial Societies
7. Post-Industrial Societies

4. APPLICATION
V. EVALUATION

WEEK 1.
I have already designed it myself. Write your personal assessment with the following guide questions.
1. Who am I?
2. What culture I belong? (referring to your tribe, dialect, religion, beliefs and values)
3. How do I socialize? (referring to your community, neighborhood, type of family and house)
4. What kind of government I was born to? (who is your president, what is your experiences in the present condition
more so during pandemic period and your education condition)
5. Who do you vote in the coming elections? What are your qualifications of a good public servant?

WEEK 2
Directions:
1. Cultural differences are often expressed in the “generation gap”. List 10 the things that you and your parents
share and believe together (religion, education, and family values) as well as those you disagree with (music,
clothing, love and relationships). Each number is worth 2 points.

Cultural similarities between parents and children Cultural differences between parents and children

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Questions:
1. Why do you think that there are cultural similarities and differences between parents and children?
2. How will you explain these differences based on the lesson?

WEEK3 : Text Detective

Directions: Read and understand the text below. Cite two (2) Filipino ethnocentric behavior from the text and give
solution/s on how cultural relativism mitigates these behaviors. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper using
the template provided on the next page.
WEEK 4
Directions:

VI. ASSIGNMENT
 WEEK 1: Directions: Summarize what you have learned in this lesson in three to five sentences.

Week 2: Directions: Summarize what you have learned in this lesson in three to five sentences.

Week 3: Directions:

Week 4: Directions: Make a reflective journal on your learnings and insight about the topic discussed.

Prepared by: Alma Mae M. Asarce, LPT

Subject: Understanding Culture, Society and Politics