Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics

Lesson 1: The Concept, Aspects and Changes in/of Culture, Society and
Politics
Culture, society and politics are major terms of Social Sciences. These
terminologies are used to explain the other disciplines such as political science,
history, psychology, and economics to mention a few. In this module, the topics are
broadly conceptualized as a skeleton of sociological, anthropological, political
perspective.
As exploring the lessons, culture, society and politics are emphasized as
“intertextual concepts”, indicating the interrelationship between fundamental ideas
of their origins, researched and explained by sociologist and anthropologist.
Whereas, political views are being presented in terms of standardized culture in
which transformed as time changes. Illustrated by political changes, happen when
national leader has been replaced by opposition or invaded by other nation.
Therefore, acquisition of knowledge needs a thorough understanding and this
explains that culture and society is complex.

Activity 1: The Impact of Culture

Directions: Aside from our province of Bohol, select any provinces in the Philippines
and give its Culture, Belief, Tradition, and Custom.
Write this activity in a Short-Bond-paper.

Province of: ________________________________________________

Culture/s Belief/s Tradition/s Custom/s
1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2
3 3 3 3

Concept of Culture
Cultural anthropologists study all aspects of culture, but what exactly is
“culture”? When ask students about introductory to cultural anthropology, what
culture means to them, students typically say that culture is food, clothing, religion,
language, traditions, art, music, and so forth. Indeed, culture includes many of
these observable characteristics, but culture is also something deeper. Culture is a
powerful defining characteristic of human groups that shapes our perceptions,
behaviors, and relationships.
The English word 'Culture' is gotten from the Latin expression 'clique or
cultus' significance plowing, or developing or refining and love. In total it implies
developing and refining.
Culture is a lifestyle. The food you eat, the garments you wear, the language
you talk in what's more, the God you love all are parts of culture. In extremely
straightforward terms, we can say that culture is the epitome of the manner by
which we think and get things done. It is likewise the things that we have acquired
as citizenry. Every one of the accomplishments of individuals as individuals from
gatherings of people can be called culture. Workmanship, music, writing,
engineering, design, reasoning, religion and science can be viewed as parts of
culture. Notwithstanding, culture likewise incorporates the traditions, customs,
celebrations, methods of living and one's attitude toward different issues of life.
Culture thus refers to a human-made environment which includes all the
material and nonmaterial products of group life that are transmitted from one
generation to the next. There is a general agreement among social scientists that
culture consists of explicit and implicit patterns of behavior acquired by human
beings. These may be transmitted through symbols, constituting the distinctive
achievements of human groups, including their embodiment as artefacts. The
essential core of culture thus lies in those finer ideas which are transmitted within a
group-both historically derived as well as selected with their attached value. More
recently, culture denotes historically transmitted patterns of meanings embodied in
symbols, by means of which people communicate, perpetuate and develop their
knowledge about and express their attitudes toward life.
Moreover, Culture is the declaration of our temperament in our methods of
living and thinking. It could be seen in our writing, in strict practices, in amusement
and happiness. Culture has two unmistakable segments, specifically, material and
non-material. Material culture comprises of articles that are identified with the
material part of our life like our dress, food, and family products. Non-material
culture alludes to thoughts, standards, musings and conviction.
Additionally, culture changes from one spot to another and country to
country. Its advancement depends on the authentic cycle working in a nearby,
provincial or public setting. For instance, we vary in our methods of hello others, our
apparel, food propensities, social and strict traditions and practices from the West.
All in all, individuals of any nation are portrayed by their particular social customs.
Types of Culture

MATERIAL CULTURE NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

EXAMPLES: EXAMPLES:
schools, materials, churches, temples, symbols, language, values and norms
factories, homes

Aspects of Culture
Culture is diverse because of its aspects that develop man’s social interaction.
These aspects are essential to its concept of complexity.

Actions Validity Space Identity

e.g. regime, justice e.g. values, e.g. spatial e.g. self -
, opinions, laws, experience, consciousness,self -
organization, work, metaphors,meaning functional spaces, esteem
religion, s, living
 techniques,science space
, art

History Experience Language

e.g. time experience e.g. rituals, e.g. mother tongue,
milestone, myths customs,practices lingo, dialect

ANTHROPOLOGIST PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES

Anthropologists have diverse views about culture, they contributed thorough
understanding and analysis that these positions may be designated as realist ic
since culture is regarded as an attribute of actual or real individuals and societies
which exist independent of the observe
These anthropologists share their philosophical insights/point of views about
culture.
Edward Burnett Tylor "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society."
Robert Ranulp Marrett tend to define culture in terms of “communicable
intelligence,” “conventional understandings” or “communicated ideas.”
Radcliffe Brown culture as cultivation the process of transmitting and acquiring
traditions
as a result of which society is perpetuated
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

Presently let us talk about some broad qualities, which are normal to
various societies all through the world.
1. CULTURE is learned and acquired : Culture is gained as in there are sure
practices which are obtained through heredity. People acquire certain characteristics
from their folks yet socio -social examples are not acquired. These are gained from
relatives, from the gathering and the general public wherein they live. It is in this
manner clear that the way of life of individuals is impacted by the physical and
social climate through
which they work.
2. CULTURE is shared by a group of people : An idea or activity might be called
culture in case it is shared and accepted or rehearsed by a gathering of individuals.
3. CULTURE is cumulative: Different information exemplified in culture can be
passed starting with one age then onto the next age. Increasingly more information
is added in the specific culture as the time elapses by. Each might work out answer
for issues in life that passes starting with one age then onto the next. This cycle
stays as the specific culture goes with time.
4. CULTURE changes : There is information, musings or customs that are lost as
new social qualities are added. There are potential outcomes of social changes
inside the specific culture over the long haul.
5. CULTURE is dynamic : No culture stays on the perpetual state. Culture is
changing continually as novel thoughts and new procedures are added over the
long haul altering or changing the old ways. This is the attributes of culture that
stems from the way of life's total quality.
6. CULTURE gives us a scope of passable standards of conduct : It includes how a
movement ought to be directed, how an individual should act properly.
7. CULTURE is diverse : It is a framework that has a few commonly reliant parts.
Albeit these parts are isolated, they are related with each other framing culture as
entirety.
8. CULTURE is ideational : Often it sets out an optimal example of conduct that are
expected to be trailed by people in order to acquire social acknowledgment from
individuals with a similar culture.
Concept of Society
The general public in which we live decides everything from the food we eat
to the decisions we make. The word society comes from the latin root socius,
signifying "buddy" or "being with others." A general public comprises of individuals
who share a region, who communicate with one another, and who share a culture. A
few social orders are, indeed, gatherings of individuals joined by fellowship or
normal interests. Our particular social orders show us how to act, what to accept,
and how we'll be rebuffed in the event that we don't keep the laws or customs set
up.
Furthermore, a Society is a gathering of individuals whose individuals
associate, dwell in a quantifiable region, and offer a culture. What's more, a society
is a social framework that shares a topographical domain, a typical culture, and a
lifestyle (Johnson 1996).". As per Auguste Comte (1798-1857), it came from the
Latin word 'socius' which means buddy, partner, accomplice or mate (or social being
with others) and the Greek word 'logos' or 'logus' which intends to contemplate
(Kendall, 1998). Likewise, the humanist Dorothy Smith (1926) characterizes society
as the "continuous concerting and organizing of people's exercises" (Smith 1999).
How Sociologists view Society
 Sociologists utilize this term from a particular perspective and in an exact
manner. In sociologies since nineteenth century there is a long discussion about the
utilization of the idea 'society'. It was interpreted as meaning as tissues of habits
and customs that hold a gathering of individuals together. In some sense, 'society
addressed something more suffering and more profound than the 'state', less
manipulative and absolutely subtler
Sociologists have characterized society with two points :
1. In conceptual terms, as an organization of connections between individuals or
between gatherings.
2. In substantial terms, as an assortment of individuals or an association of people.

A previous social researcher, L.T. Hobhouse (1908) characterized society as

"tissues of connections". R.M. Maclver (1937) likewise characterized it in pretty
much simil ar terms as "web of social relations which is continually evolving".
Refining this definition, MacIver, alongside his co -essayist Charles Page, later
on characterized it in his new book Society: An Introductory Analysis (1949)
subsequently: "It (society) is an arrangement of uses and techniques, of power and
shared guide, o f numerous groupings and divisions, of controls of human conduct
and of freedoms. This steadily changing, complex framework we call society."
For Maclver and Page, society is a theoretical element as they state, "We
might see individuals yet can't see soc iety or social construction however just its
outer angles … society is unmistakable from actual reality".
SOCIOLOGIST PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES
Auguste Comte (1798 - 1857)
“I am the Founder of Sociology; I coined the word sociology from the Latin word
‘Socius’ and the Greek word ‘logos’ to describe the science of social life Society is
something other than the sum of individual” actions.”
Karl Marx (1818 -1883)
“I developed a complex theory of history and society which has great influenced the
modern sociology. Three of my contributions to social theories are: (1) the organic
totality of society, (2) the relative importance of the economic sector, and (3) the
historical process of change.”
George Simmel (1858 - 1916)
“For me, society was the patterned interactions among members of a group, the
sum of responses to ordinary life events.”
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIETY
SOCIETY is ABSTRACT:
 In case society is seen as web of social relationships, it is particular from
actual element which we can see and see through faculties. As composed before,
Maclver contended, "we might see individuals yet can't see society or social design,
yet just its solitary outside perspectives". Social connections are imperceptible and
theoretical. We can simply acknowledge them yet can't see or contact them.
Accordingly, society is conceptual. Reuter stated: "Similarly as life isn't a thing yet
an interaction of living, so society isn't a thing yet a cycle of partner".
LIKENESS AND DIFFERENCE IN SOCIETY:
Society involves both likeness and difference. If people are all exactly alike,
merely alike, their relationships would be limited. There would be little give-and-
take and little reciprocity. If all men thought alike, felt alike, and acted alike, if they
had the same standards and same interests, if they all accepted the same customs
and echoed the same opinions without questioning and without variation,
civilization could never have advanced and culture would have remained
rudimentary. Thus, society needs difference also for its existence and continuance.
We can illustrate this point through the most familiar example of family. The family
rests upon the biological differences between the sexes. There are natural
differences of aptitude, of capacity, of interest. For they all involve relationships in
which differences complement one another, in which exchange take place.
COOPERATION & CONFLICT IN SOCIETY:
Collaboration and struggle are general components in human existence.
Society depends on cooperation but since of interior contrasts, there is struggle
likewise among its individuals. This is the reason, Maclver and Page saw that
"society is cooperation crossed by conflict". We know from our own experience that
an individual would be impaired, displayed down, and feels baffled in case he is
required to do everything alone, without the guide of others. "Participation is most
rudimentary interaction of public
SOCIETY IS A PROCESS NOT A PRODUCT:
"Society exists just as a period arrangement. It is becoming, not a being; an
interaction and not an item" (Maclver and Page, 1956). At the end of the day, when
the interaction stops, the item vanishes. The result of a machine suffers after the
machine has been rejected. Somewhat the equivalent is valid not just of material
relics of man's past culture however even of his unimportant social
accomplishments. ✓ SOCIETY IS A SYSTEM OF STRATIFICATION: Society gives an
arrangement of definition of situations with classes that every individual has a
moderately steady and unmistakable situation in the social construction.

CONCEPT of POLITICS
The term 'politics‟, is gotten from the Greek word 'Polis‟, which implies the
city state According to Greek Rationalists, Politics was a subject which managed all
the exercises and undertakings of the city state. Their City States were known as
'Polis‟. City state was a comprehensive term, as the old Greeks saw no difference
amongst the state and the Government on one hand, and State and Society on the
other. They never separated between close to home life and public activity.
Consequently, concurring to them Politics was an all-out investigation of man,
culture, state, ethical quality etc.
To study politics is generally to contemplate government or all the more
extensively, to consider the exercise of power. Politics is the art of government, the
activity of control inside the society through the settling on and authorization of
aggregate choices. (Heywood 1997) The domain of legislative issues is limited to
state entertainers who are deliberately roused by philosophical convictions, and
who try to propel them through participation of a formal association like a political
association. This is the sense wherein politicians are depicted as "political" while
government employees are viewed as "non-political", the state as "public" and the
common society as "private". The organizations of the express (the mechanical
assembly of the public authority, the courts, the police, the military, the general
public security framework thus forward) can be viewed as "public" as in they are
answerable for the aggregate association of the local area life.
CHARACTERISTIC of POLITICS
Use or threat of use of legal force
it allows the legal authority to use force. If David Easton speaks of “authoritative
allocation of values”, Dahl of “Power, “rule” and authority”. All these definitions
imply that legal authority can use force to compel anybody to obey its orders
Interactions
“Political system is that system of interactions to be found in all independent
societies which perform the functions of integration and adaptation (both internally
and vis-a-vis other societies) by means of the employment or threat of employment
or more or less legitimate physical compulsion”. Thus, the political system not only
includes governmental institutions such as legislatures, executives, courts,
administrative agencies but all structures in their political aspect.
Interdependence of Parts
when the properties of one component in a system change, all the other
components and the system as a whole are affected. In political system the political
parties having a wider base and mass media (Television, radio and newspapers)
change the performance of all other structures of the system and affect the general
working of the system

Activity 2
Read each question thoroughly and identify what is being asked.
COPY and ANSWER. Write it in the same bond-paper with the first activity above.
1. Which concept refers to the common practices, beliefs, norms, and materials
shared by members of a society?
A. Experience B. Culture C. Ethnosphere D. Residents

2. What political concept is described by David Easton as the “authoritative

allocation of values”?
A. Interaction B. Power C. Use of legal force D. Interdependence

3. A group of individuals who live together in an identifiable area and interact while
sharing culture is known as:
A. Residents B. Culture C. Ethnosphere D. Society

4. Which characteristic of culture explains that “no culture remains unchanged”?

A. Culture is cumulative B. Culture changes
C. Culture is learned D. Culture is dynamic

5. When one political component changes, what is most likely to happen to the
other components?
A. Destroyed B. Created C. Steady D. Affected

6. Under the aspect of actions in cultural diversity, which should NOT be included?
A. Work B. Religion C. Justice D. Dialect

7. MacIver and Page described society as “_________ crossed by _________.”

A. Process & humanity B. Beliefs & time
C. Cooperation & conflict D. Society & experience

8. Culture is considered ideational when:

A. It sets an ideal example of conduct
B. No culture remains unchanged
C. New social qualities are incorporated
D. It contains only a few interconnected parts

9. Which best justifies the statement that culture is learned and acquired?
A. Books B. Language C. News D. Heredity

10. As a system of stratification, society provides:

A. Man’s past culture B. Arrangement of definition
C. Cooperation & conflict D. Collaboration & struggle