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UCSP - Aspects of Culture and Society II
UCSP - Aspects of Culture and Society II
Recall the very first person you interacted with. Do you think he or she affected the
development of your personality?
Aspects of Culture
There are different aspects of culture such as art, music, language, food, daily life,
clothing, and religion.
Socialization
Socialization is the process through which people learn to understand societal norms or
expectations and societal values as members of society.
Enculturation
Enculturation is the process by which an individual adopts the the behavior patterns of
the culture in which a person is immersed in.
Agents of Socialization
There are different agents of socialization the family, community, mass media, and
religion.
Family
The family is the first social group that we all have. It is considered as the most
important social group that a person has. It is also the principal agent of socialization.
We first start to learn things with the help of our parents and family. They are the main
source of our traits and behaviors, the values, norms, or rules that we follow, and the
ideas we initially believe in.
Mass Media
One of the biggest influences in our culture is mass media which come in the form of
television, movies, books, magazines, and social networking sites. Mass media plays a
major role in shaping the culture and behavior of an individual (Mondal, 2015).
Unfortunately, both good and bad behaviors can be learned through mass media. It is
important that the youth remain supervised whenever they are accessing all forms of
media.
Religion
Another social agent is religion. Through the family, one is immediately exposed to the
teachings of religion. It helps shape and equip individuals with the attitudes and
behaviors that are deemed appropriate.
Aspects of Culture
We have learned that culture is dynamic, flexible, and adaptive. It is also shared and
contested in various ways and situations.
Aside from these characteristics, there are also other aspects of culture as discussed below.
Try it!
Try observing a culture different from yours. Try exploring the culture of a classmate that comes
from a different province or has a different religion.
What do you think?
Do you think social media significantly affects and influences our culture nowadays?
Tips
The people or groups you socialize with will greatly affect your behavior because you
learn most of it from them.
Socialization begins during childhood, right after a person is born. The first group that
teaches about socialization is the family.
Throughout your life, you will get to interact with a lot of different people from different
cultures. You will learn different behaviors, norms, or values from them. It is up to you to
identify what you will keep or practice and what you will reject.
Not all acquired behaviors are helpful. Some learned behaviors can be destructive in the
long run.
Key points
Enculturation is the process of adopting the behavior patterns of the culture in which a
person is immersed in.
Socialization is an ongoing process of learning languages, behaviors, customs, values,
or norms to acquire a personal identity.
There are different agents of socialization that aid in acquiring and learning a specific
culture. These include the family, school, peer groups, mass media, and religion.
Culture is dynamic, flexible, and adaptive. It is also shared and contested in
various ways and situations.
Culture is learned and transmitted through socialization and enculturation.