Notes on Society and Culture with Family Planning

Course Description:
This course is primarily intended to provide students with an overview on Sociology as a
scientific study. This course will emphasize the nature, scope, basic concepts, theoretical
formulations and method of sociology. Focus will be given on to analysis of current sociological
phenomena in the Philippines today.

Course Outline:
1. Sociological Foundations
1.1 Role and Scope of Sociology
1.2 Nature and Role of Group Behavior
1.3 Culture and Behavior
1.4 Socialization, Conformity and Deviance
1.5 Social Processes
1.6 Philippine Values
1.7 Communication, Social Movements and Collective Behavior
2. Social Stratification
2.1 Social Class
2.2 Age, Sex, Gender, and Ethnicity
3. Institutional Behavior
3.1 Institutions
3.2 The Family and Responsible Parenthood
3.3 Religion and Society
4. Communities and Population Growth
4.1 The Rural and Urban Community
4.2 Population Growth and Distribution
4.3 Family Planning
4.3.1 Social, Economic, Health and Human Rights Rationale for Family Planning
4.3.2 Identifying and Measuring Populations in Need of Family Planning Services
4.3.3 Social, Cultural, Political, Religious and Ethical Barriers
4.3.4 Contraceptive Methods and their Programmatic Requirements
4.3.5 Information, Education and Communication Strategies

5. Social Change and Globalization

5.1 Social Change as a Multi-Causal Process
5.2 Theoretical Perspectives, Key Sources, Factors, Causal Patterns and Consequences of
Social Change
5.3 Formations of Modernity: Social Processes, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural
5.4 Emergent Social Forces Radically Re-Shaping Modern Society
5.5 Globalization
5.5.1 What is Globalization?
5.5.2 Advocates and Critics of Globalization
5.5.3 Geographic Perspectives
5.5.4 Human-Environment Interaction
5.5.5 Environment
5.5.6 Population and Settlement
5.5.7 Cultural Coherence and Diversity
5.5.8 Geographical Fragmentation and Unity
6. Synthesis

1. SOCIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS
The Role and Scope of Sociology
Sociology is the study of the science of society, social institutions, and social
relationships; the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective
behavior of organized groups of human beings.
-

Websters Collegiate Dictionary.

10th ed., Springfield, Massachusetts;
Merriam-Webster Inc., 1995.

Most young people want to find out how to make this a better world. Some would like to
become engineers and design machinery to increase production of goods and services. Others
wish to heal physical ills through modern medicine. Still others see a legal career as a way to
fight injustice. All these careers, and many others, offer valuable and necessary ways to help
humans achieve a better life.
Some years ago, Fei Hsiao Tung, a young student in China, looking for ways to help
people, came up with an answer relevant to the purpose of this study.
He said:
It has been over sixty years since I took up the study of Chinese society. In the
summer of 1930 when I was twenty, I decided to switch from medicine to social science. I
left Dongwu (Soochow) University in Peiping. My reasoning was that, as a medical
doctor. I might cure the afflictions of a few; but not those of hundreds of millions
engendered by an irrational society. What ailed society must be cure first.
He writes of the study of Chinese society and describes sociology fairly well, since the
study of any or all societies is the task of sociology was important we others thought that
techniques of government, medical care, or business were all that we needed to have prosperous
and happy nations? Before we try to answer that question, let us look again at what is meant by
sociology.
Suppose that when you go home next weekend your Lola asks, Sociology? What is
sociology? If you reply, Sociology is the scientific study of human social relationships with
special emphasis upon groups and institutions, she may say Oh? and you will guess that she
is confused as you are. If you tell her Sociology is the scientific study of social problems like
ace relations, crime, divorce and such things, this will give her some idea of what sociology is
all about and may be a pretty good answer to give someone not familiar with the subject. This
answer, however, will not be entirely correct, for sociology is much more that the study of social
problems. As a student of sociology, you need a better understanding of just what it involves.

One of the best ways to understand sociology is to contrast it with psychology. The
psychologist looks at the factors that influence the behavior of specific individuals. Sometimes
these factors are general in nature, such as war, economic depression, or prosperity. At other
times they are unique, such as the presence or absence of loving parents, the support or rivalry of
brothers or sisters, or perhaps an extreme fear of the dark. Even general situations affects
individuals in different ways. One child maybe demoralized by economic hardship while another
is motivated to put forth extra effort. In any case, individuals vary enough so that understanding
their behavior requires that the psychologist understands both the general influences to which
these individuals have been exposed and the unique experiences which may cause them to differ
from others in behavior and attitudes.
Sociologists, by contrasts, are less interested in the individual than in the groups of which
they are a part. They know that even though individual reactions vary, all must adjust in some
way to social actions. A society in which crime is widespread affects us all; a society in which
there is no freedom of expression will limit the behavior which individuals may choose. A
society which discourages the accumulation of savings will have few individuals living in
comfort.
One could mention numerous other examples, but these may be enough to indicate that
the social influences do affect our individual lives. That is why the young Chinese student
decided to shift from a medical career concerned with the health of a few individuals to
sociology which might enable him to learn how the lives of millions may be hampered by an
irrational society in which human possibilities are frustrated.

The Sociological Perspective

The word sociology is derived from the Latin word socius, meaning associate and the
Greek word logus or science. Thus, sociology may be defined as the science of associates, or
more broadly, as the scientific study of human society. This means that sociologists (scientists
who specialize in the field of sociology) are interested in describing and explaining human
behavior, especially as it occurs within the social contexts. Sociologists study social groups,
social institutions or entire societies. Typically, they are interested in whether behavior that takes
place within these social contexts conforms to some systematic pattern. For example, a
sociologist might find that members of street gangs tend to come from poorer urban families or
that university students tend to act in certain predictable ways in the classroom.

Social Influence in Operation

Natural and social scientists agree that the relationship between nature (what you inherit)
and nurture (what you learn) is a complex one. Sociologists ask, Why does human behavior
follow regular patterns? the answer must lie in the many ways by which different social groups
and relationships affect our lives. If you pause to reflect upon your own life, this would be quite

clear. Your growth as a person has been uniquely affected by your social relationships. Think, for
example, of how your parents have influenced you, both by what they have taught you and by
the opportunities they have (or have not) been able to provide. Similarly, the teachers you have
had, your friends, your participation in various social activities, and your religious exposure have
all had a great deal to do with the type of person you are.
Sometimes. Social influences are more difficult to identify. For example, annual
decisions about how the federal budget of the Philippines is to be spent may have a great
influence upon all our lives, yet most of us are not aware of how these decisions are made nor
how the budget is apportioned among the various government agencies. Similarly, the rapid
population growth in farming. Community may result in a pattern where the average farm
becomes smaller every year. Even though these may be substantially reduce levels of living, the
changes may occur so slowly that most members of the community are unaware of them. The
intellectual challenge of sociology stems largely from the fact that it is up to the sociologist to
trace these important, sometimes hidden, interconnections.
Some sociologists use the term social forces to describe the social factors that may
influence the behavior of individuals or groups. Our thoughts and actions usually conform to
those which are seen as normal and proper by other group members. Our chances for success
in life will also be affected by the groups or social categories to which we belong. Thus, whether
someone is rich or poor, Muslim or Christian, male or female has a very important influence
upon the course of his or her life.
One of the best examples of sociological perspective is provided by Magdalenas study of
conflicts which occurred between Muslims and Christians in the Mindanao-Sulu region during
the early 1970s.For a sociologist, the occurrence of conflict is not, strictly, a random process.
That is it does not occur merely because of chance. Nor would sociologists simply assert that
conflict can happen anywhere because it is simply human nature; rather, a sociologist would
look for a certain social forces that set the stage for the occurrence of intergroup tensions and
violence. Since these conditions are not equally present in all communities, it follows that some
settings are more likely to be characterized by violent clashes than are others.
A good novelist or even a newspaper reporter might also try to explain why Muslims and
Christians were fighting with one another during this period, but they would be more likely to
concentrate on some single violent incident, perhaps one they witnessed personally or heard
about. They would also be unable to offer any real proof that what happened followed a more
general pattern.
A sociologist would try to overcome these limitation. He or she would collect information
on many cases of inter-group violence as on cases where the Muslim and Christians were able to
live together peacefully. Then, the sociologist would see if the communities characterized by
violent incidents were in any way different from those free from this problem. If such differences
could be found the sociologist would feel closer to understanding the social causes of intergroup
conflict.

Magdalena collected information from a sample of 80 municipalities in the MindanaoSulu region. From this, he recorded the number of violent incidents reported in the national news
which occurred between Muslim and Christians between the 1970 and 1972. He then checked
the census to see if communities which had a higher level of such incidents were also
characterized by certain indicators of social strain. He found a strong evidence that this was
indeed the case. Towns with a large number of violent incidents were, moreover, found to have
high levels of relative deprivation (education levels high, but level of living still low). In
addition, these communities were characterized by populations which were largely Muslim, but
which had high levels of in-migration by Christian settlers. Apparently, this pattern of rapid inmigration had resulted in power struggles between the two religious groups which, eventually,
resulted in intergroup tensions and violence.
Although these examples of sociological perspective have focused on two important
social problems of Philippine society (rural poverty and intergroup violence), it should be noted
that sociologists are interested in all forms of human behavior, even those which do not have any
obvious problems. Thus sociologists have studied such varied topics as child rearing practices,
Philippine folk religious beliefs, relationships between market vendors and clients, and even the
spot of cockfighting.

Use of the Scientific Method in Sociology

Science is not only a collection of statistics or facts. It is also a means for collecting and
verifying information. This procedure is known as the scientific method.
Perhaps the most basic characteristic of the scientific method lies in the fact that the
scientist bases his conclusions on empirical observations. The scientist must also be objective as
possible and concerned about the validity and reliability of his measures. In general, scientific
research must be conducted in such a way that it may be replicated in further studies. But what
do all these terms mean?
For a sociological study, to be empirical, it must be based on observations of actual
human behavior and not on commonly accepted ideas, personal impressions, the writing of noted
philosophers, or images from the mass media. Sociologists also strive to be objective and not let
their personal values or beliefs influence their conclusions.
Ideally, scientific studies should be widely circulated among other members of the
scientific community, policy makers, and the public to provide opportunity for criticism and
improvement, and for other scientists replicate their analysis. If these replications provide
evidence different from the original study, the conclusions may have to be restudied.
In making their observations on human behavior, sociologists must also be as precise as
possible. This means they must always be concerned about the possibility of error in their
measurement of concepts (ideas that embody common or generalized elements found in a
number of specific cases) and variables (things which differ from person to person, group to

group, time to time, or place to place). For example, persons asked by interviewers to state their
income may not be able to estimate the figure exactly or may not want to reveal this information
to a stranger. Similarly, official records of crimes or of births and deaths may be incorrect
because certain cases are never reported to the proper authorities.

The Use of Research Techniques in Sociology

One of the most common techniques employed by sociologists is the survey.
Typically, a survey concentrates on asking a set of standardized questions to a portion, or
sample of the general population. If this sample has been chosen randomly (in such a way as to
ensure that all potential respondents have an equal chance of being selected), statistical
procedures may be used to estimate with some known probability or error the extent the
studys findings may be said to apply to the larger group or population from which the
respondents were chosen.
Surveys are a great help in determining the characteristics of a population, such as its
average level of education, or the attitudes toward various family planning techniques. As we
have noted, however, responses to interviews and questionnaires are not always accurate.
Respondents may not understand some questions or may wish to conceal their true opinion or
behavior more carefully, and may give superficial answers. Some of the problems may be
overcome by designing the questionnaire more carefully and by training the interviews to
encourage accurate and true responses.
Sociologists, who remain concerned about the limitations of survey research may employ
qualitative technique, such as participant observation, instead of quantitative techniques. In this
approach, the sociologist becomes friendly with the members of a group and joins them in their
daily activities. Instead of asking them a set of standardized questions, he/she simply talks with
them and observes their activities until the underlying patterns of their behavior become
apparent. For example, Santos used participant observation to study marijuana use among a
group of college students in Luzon. This technique was useful and appropriate because it was
doubtful if a survey could have gained truthful responses on this sensitive truthful (and illegal)
behavior. Maintaining scientific objectivity when using this method might be difficult too closely
with the group he/she joined to observe.
An offshoot of the participant observation technique which seems especially appropriate
for the Philippines is known as participatory action research. As described by Ledesma, this
technique is:
(1) participatory in that data-gathering, analysis, and reporting are done by and for the
local communities themselves;
(2) action-oriented in that research findings are utilized immediately by local
communities to help solve (their) problems)

(3) research in that a systematic manner adhering to the basic norms of social science
investigation is used
Participatory action research requires the existence of certain necessary preconditions,
such as a basic level of community organization.
These techniques are some of the methods most commonly used by Philippine
sociologists to collect data. Each has its limitations, so when sufficient time and funding are
available, the researcher might decide to employ more than one method so the strengths of one
can be used to offset the weaknesses of the other. For example, a researcher may initially employ
some form of participant observation to gain greater insight into the thoughts and actions of the
study population; at a later date, a survey would be conducted to see if statistical evidence can be
gained to confirm previous insights.

The Development of Sociology

In contrast to such discipline as biology or chemistry, sociology is a relative newcomer to
the field of scientific inquiry. Indeed, the word sociology was not even used until the
nineteenth century, when it was coined by the French social philosopher, August Comte.
The fact that sociology was first begun about a century and a half ago in Europe is due to
two main factors. First, this was a period of unprecedented social change, exemplified by the
Industrial Revolution, the rise of large urban centers, and increasing contact with non-European
societies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Socially-aware persons began to wonder about the
forces bringing about these massive changes, as well as how to alleviate some of the social
problems which seemed to result.
A second important factor was the intellectual climate of the times. During the so-called
enlightenment period, philosophers had increasingly concentrated on the ways by which
human reason could be used to improve the world. The natural science, too, were just beginning
to show how new knowledge and inventions would result once the scientific method was
systematically applied. Eventually, the connection was made why not apply the tools of science
to the study of our social surroundings?
Some of the major founding fathers of sociology include Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx,
and Max Weber. While these three thinkers differed on fundamental issues, they all had a burning
passion for uncovering the social forces at work in the societies in which they lived. Thus,
Durkheims major work, entitled Suicide, described some of the social conditions of his time
which he felt were operating to increase suicide rates. According to this early sociologist,
European societies were becoming increasingly fragmented and individualistic, so new social
groups were needed which could claim the whole-hearted allegiance of modern man while, at the
same time, imposing the social discipline that comes from following the basic rules (norms) of
society.

In contrast, Karl Marx stressed the ways material and economic factors were changing
society. He argued that changes in the means of production (economic technology) were
affecting relations between social classes. For example, the rise of the factory system was soon
translated into increased political power for the capitalist class, paralleled by a decline in the
power held by the landed-agricultural nobility. Marx argued that the economic conditions of the
laboring classes were growing worse and felt that a political revolution was needed to restore
economic and social equality.
Like Marx, Max Weber believed that economic factors play a key role in bringing about
social change. Of additional importance, however, are the values imparted to men by their
society. Thus, the great religious changes which took place in Europe during the period of the
Protestant Reformation were seen by Weber as having some resulting effects, such as the growth
of the capitalistic economy. For this reason, Weber argued that sociologists must try to
understand how the people whom they study view the world as well as to measure more
objective factors, such as technology or economic relationships.
During the past half century, sociologists from the United States have played in an
increasing role in the discipline. American sociology has tended to emphasize empirical
observation and statistical methods. The sample survey technique and public opinion polls were
first developed in the United States and continue to be used regularly by American sociologists
this has led to a greater mathematical rigor than was possible in the early years of sociology, but
is not without drawbacks. Thus American sociologists have often been charged with being more
interested in methodological and statistical issues than in asking the big questions about the
changing nature of contemporary society.
Because Philippine sociology has been greatly influenced by contacts with American
social scientists, some of these same criticisms may be made of sociological research conducted
in the Philippines. As described by Abad and Eviota, however, Philippine sociologists have
recently been developing concepts and methodological strategies which account for the
uniqueness of Philippine culture. Recently more attention has been focused on such major
Philippine social problems as rural poverty, land reform, rapid population growth, economic
inequality, and changes in the traditional cultural outlook. In many cases as a critical stance has
been taken and Philippine sociologists have been influenced as much by concepts and theories
developed in other Third World setting as by those from the United States.
One of the dilemmas faced by contemporary Philippine sociologist is that they may feel
pressured, either by the sponsors of research or by their own value commitments, to slant
research reports. However, yielding to that temptation ends their usefulness. Unless research is
considered honest, it loses credibility and is of no value to anyone. It is difficult and perhaps
impossible, to be completely objective, but a rigorous adherence to scientific methods will
minimize individual bias.

The Use of Statistics in Sociology

While there are many techniques of sociological research, it is probably fair to say that
the principal activity of sociologists consists in the compilation, comparison, and interpretation
of statistical facts. For example, consider this question: Does the greater freedom and
independence of women in an industrial society cause them to avoid marriage? This may be
easily answered by reference to the Philippine Census reports showing that the proportion of
single women aged 30 to 34 dropped from 12.32% in 1948 to 11.61% in 1960. Statistics on
industrial employment show a steady increase in the proportion of women employed in factories
and offices during the same period. Since the proportion of women employed in industry
increased, one may conclude that the factory is not the enemy of matrimony.
There are many people who have no use for statistics. Often they do not like statistics
because they do not understand them. Statistics, like guns, are dangerous when handled by the
untrained and many be abused by the careless and the unscrupulous. These who know the uses
and abuses of statistics realize that they are nothing more or less than organized, measured facts.
They are as trustworthy or untrustworthy as the scientific competence of the person compiling
them. To reject statistics is but a way to reject facts.
While this is not a study or discussions on statistics, it may help every student to
understand the inevitable reference to statistics if we define a few terms mode, median, mean,
correlation, and causation. The mode is simply the number which appears with the greatest
frequency. The mean is another term for average and median is a number which has an equal
number of items both above and below, thus putting it in the midspot of the median. Correlation
is a different type of concept and refers to the relationship of two variables. If, for instance, there
was a correlation of zero point three (0.3) between grades in general and grades in English, we
might assume that competence in English had an important effect on academic ability in general
or vice-versa. By the way, 0.3 is considered a fairly high correlation and it is seldom that we find
a larger correlation than this when we study social relationships. Statisticians, however, like to
remind readers that correlation does not necessarily equal causation. In order for us to say good
grades in English cause good grades in general, two other conditions must be met. The first is
that we must eliminate the possibility that some other cause might be explaining both sets of
grades. The second is that we must be able to show that one of these is prior in time to the other.
Sociologist undertake a great many statistical studies. Regardless of its nature, almost any
research is likely to involve, at some point, statistical organization and comparison of facts. The
sociologist must be something of a statistician; the citizen who hopes to be intelligently aware of
the world he/she lives in must have some understanding of statistical interpretation. The census
and other sources of easily available data will provide the sociologist many of the statistics
he/she needs for an understanding of social life. In other cases, field studies would have to be
undertaken in order to get the factual information needed. Whether statistics are gathered by
someone else or gathered from personal survey, a knowledge of statistics is vital.
The first task of the sociologist is to gather the data required to begin an analysis of social
life. The gathering of data, however, is only a start, for the sociologist is really interested in the
relationships which are found between various types of social phenomena. For instance, data
could be obtained about the degree of juvenile delinquency (this could be difficult) and the

availability of recreational facilities, but this does not prove whether recreational facilities
influence the conduct of youth who are equal in other respects. When sociologists attempt this
type of study, they may find that recreational facilities are a major antidote for crime, but it is
more likely they will simply gain some insights into the role of recreation as one of the many
factors which influence social behavior. In earlier days, sociologists were often intrigued with the
idea that one or two factors played a major role in forming personality. Now they are inclined to
think that every part of a persons social life must be analyzed in relation to his/her total
activities.

Is Common Sense Enough?

Since sociology does with topics which are a familiar part of our daily living, the
accusation sometimes made is that the sociologist is simply one who uses tortuous language to
discuss subjects which could be handled by a simple common sense approach. Undoubtedly,
common sense is required of the sociologist as well as others but, by itself, does not give us
reliable knowledge about social life. Roucek and Warren indicate some of the shortcomings of
the exclusive reliance on a common sense approach:
COMMON SENSE SAYS

SOCIOLOGICAL INQUIRY FINDS

A person honest in gambling will be honest in Honesty in one situation tells relatively little
business.
about behavior in a different situation.
You can tell a criminal by his/her facial There is no relation between behavior and any
features.
type of physical feature.
The genius is generally
impractical, and unsuccessful.

unhealthy, The genius and near-genius are usually above

average in health, emotional adjustment, and
income.

To promote change, get the backing of The common tao often refuses to follow
prominent citizens.
prominent leaders who favor change and is
more impressed by leaders in his/her own
group.
The Chinese are clannish and will have little Chinese intermarry with Filipinos and adopt
to do with Filipinos.
customs and attitudes when given the
opportunity.
High business profits take money away from High business profits provide funds for more
laborers.
development, more jobs, and higher wages.

COMMON SENSE SAYS

SOCIOLOGICAL INQUIRY FINDS

Men are intellectually superior to women.

Neither sex is superior in inherited intellectual

capacities.

Colds are caused by wet feet and chills.

Colds are caused by viruses, although

exposure may lower resistance.

Everyone knows that immigrants contribute more than their share of crime, but it just
happens not to be true. Everyone knows that hereditary traits are transmitted from mother to
child through the blood stream, but it just isnt true. Common sense is often mistaken and the
only way of determining when it is and when it isnt is through rigorous scientific investigation.
But even when common sense knowledge is essentially true. It is most often started in
such vague form that it is practically useless, if not misleading. Such statements as You cant
change human nature can be true or false, according to what is meant by human nature. The
sociologists use of obscure terms is not usually an attempt to impress. It is rather the use of
precise concepts whose meaning is agreed upon by specialists, in order that precision of meaning
may be communicated.

Models of Society: Competing Perspectives

As with practitioners of any science, sociologists seek to generalize about the phenomena
they study. This means they would like to discover some underlying principle or idea which can
explain all occurrences, not just a few cases.
Two of the major theories in sociology are the functionalist and conflict models of
society. According to the functional model, the different parts of society are closely inter-related.
Like the different organs of the body, the institutions of society are seen as distinct to structure
but united in their contribution to the proper functioning of society as a whole. For example, the
family system serves the larger social needs of biological reproduction and child rearing, while
educational institutions serve to transmit certain skills and values to the younger generation.
Functionalists are also interested in investigating how changes in one part of society are
likely to have resulting effects on other social patterns. For example, the change from agrarian to
an industrial economy may have many effects on the family. The type of family system which

worked most effectively in the rural, agricultural economy may no longer function well in an
urban, industrial setting.
In contrast to the functional approach is the conflict model of society. According to
proponents of this theory, social institutions are seen as having arisen, not so much because they
serve the interests of society as a whole, but because they worked to the advantage of certain
socially powerful groups. Moreover, since society is seen as composed of groups which are in
conflict over scarce and socially-valued resources, one groups gain will be translated into a loss
for the remaining members of society.
Conflict theorists tend to be most interested in who benefits. They tend to see institutions
of social control, such as the police and military, more for the protection of the rich and their
property than for the good of the community as a whole. Various organs of the mass media are
seen as controlled by socially powerful groups to manipulate and control public opinion.
Throughout the discussion, reference will occasionally be made to the functionalist and
conflict models of society. This is to show how the various specialized studies conducted by
sociologists may be related to the broader sociological theories. It will be well to keep in mind,
however, that these competing models are still very much open for debate. Clearly, they should
not be considered equally factual in nature as, for instance, an estimate of the Philippine birth
rate or even a listing of major Philippine values. What these competing models can do, however,
is to enrich the students understanding of how all of us (both professional and student
sociologists) can use the sociological perspective to better understand our society and the role we
play in it.
CONFLICT AND FUNCTIONAL VIEWS
Functional

Conflict

Society is a collection of teams which work Society is the field of conflict.

together.
Social class prepares people to work together.

Social class enables people to combine forces

against other groups.

Values evolve by social consensus.

Value consensus is an illusion maintained by

a dominant group for its own interests.

Churches and schools cultivate common Churches and schools cultivate values which
values.
protect the privileged.
Government enforces rules for the common Government enforces rules which guard
good.
privileges of dominant class.
Inequality arises because of differing Inequality is unjust and is caused by power
contributions and abilities of individuals and differences.
groups.

Sociology and Group Values

Both fears and hopes are often express about the effect the study of sociology may have
on the values cherished by certain institutions. Actually, sociology is a science which, like
physics or chemistry, may be used for purposes serving different goals. The study of group
organization, for example, is important for any group and would be equally useful to Christians
or Muslims, democrats or fascists, capitalists or communists. The principles of public opinion
formation may be used to convert the heathen, promote foreign policy, conduct a political
campaign sell soap, or promote any other activity in which people are interested. The sociologist
as an individual will probably prefer some groups to others, but sociology as a science is neutral.
This is brought out clearly in a discussion of the relation of Catholicism to sociology. The
opinions hesitated here would apply equally to other social groups who may be concerned about
the effects of sociology on their beliefs and institutions:
Observations, descriptions and classification of social facts do not depend on faith and
morals; sociology is concerned with things as they are and not as they ought to be; the
supernatural is of no concern except as it appears in the natural order and becomes observable to
the scientists. The same applies to the theory of sociology; being scientific, this must be
formulated so that its truth can be demonstrated, not directly but indirectly, and the facts
apprehended must be guaranteed by the postulates. There does not and cannot exist a Catholic
theory of sociology; there can be only sociological theories.

One reason for the ethical neutrality of science is that there are many questions not
susceptible to scientific treatment. Questions like Is there a God? and What is the purpose and
destiny of the human race? are not scientific questions because they cannot be treated factually.
Such questions are important but the scientist has no tools for handling them. Scientists can study
human beliefs about God, or a persons destiny, or beauty, or anything else, and they may study
the personal and social consequences of such beliefs; but these are studies of human behavior,
with no attempt to settle the truth or error of such beliefs themselves.
Sociology as a social science cannot tell us what we should want, it may tell us how to
get what we want. Sociology cannot protect us from disaster through wrong choices, but it may
protect us from disaster caused by ignorance of the consequences of our actions. A program of
Christian social action may make use of sociological knowledge, along with knowledge from
medicine, psychology and other fields. There is also a field known as sociology of religion is
which sociological methods are used in studying religious behavior and religious institutions
with neither condemning nor supporting them. Sociology is a science, not a set of values or an
outline for living.
The technical or applied social sciences such as politics, education, social services, and
economics are related to sociology in a different way. They are, in differing degrees, applications
of the principles that sociology and psychology deal with specifically. Hence, sociology may be
regarded as fundamental to the other social sciences. One might also note here that professors of
other disciplines claim that what they study is also fundamental to the others.
The economist, for example, is interested in the factors which influence business activity.
He/She soon learns that to understand business activity, he/she must know something about the
manner in which people usually operate in human groups. The sociologist is not interested in
business as such, but is interested in social patterns which govern the actions of labor leaders,
business promoters, consumers, and workers. The same type of analysis could be made of
political science, social welfare, and education. The major task of the sociologist is to study
human groups and, by so doing, he/she helps the specialized sciences in their tasks and from
them obtains more data which may be used in the analysis of group conduct. There are also some
specific fields such as criminology, the family, population, race relations, and the like, which did
not receive much academic consideration until the sociologists made them the object of scientific
inquiry. Finally, we have become interested in the way patterns of human association affect
various areas of human life which have long been the subject of study, and this we have the
sociology of law, religion, education, and industry, to name a few which are fairly well
developed.
Sociologists find that every kind of human activity is affected by the way in which social
influences (or if you prefer, group pressures) encourage or discourage moral behavior, crime,
scholarship, religious faith, business enterprise, athletics, or any of the many ways that people
interact with one another. This does not mean that people do not have responsibility for their own
actions. It does mean that the ideas which influence us are those which we select from the
various groups we have encountered. All persons can excuse their actions on the basis of group
pressure. The wise person is the one who looks critically at all groups and uses those ideas which
lead to a more satisfactory life.

Remember the young Chinese student who was impressed with the importance of
studying society and we wondered why he felt there was value in studying group relations? Two
answers seem appropriate. First, as he says, millions of people are affected by society, whether it
is good or bad, rational or irrational. Second, the individual and his/her ideals and ambitions are
primarily determined by the groups with which he/she come in contact.

2. THE NATURE AND ROLE OF GROUP BEHAVIOR

Bureaucratic processes in large organization have instilled in most government
employees a respect for technocratic knowledge and expertise and a disdain for their
clients capabilities in conceptualizing, designing, and implementing programs.
-

Ma. Concepcion P. Alfiler, Philippine

Administration, January 1983, p. 35.

Journal

of

Public

The foregoing statement is another way of saying that people with presumed expertise are
often ignorant of the requirements of successful group activity. It is here that the sociologists
may make a contribution to the planners of government programs and the promoters of private
business all of whom are doomed to failure unless they can be successfully involve groups of
people in the plans they expect to implement.
The human group is the fundamental object of scientific analysis for the sociologist
just as the living organism is for the biologist. Thus a logical way to approach the study of
sociology is to examine the concept of group from a sociological perspective.

The Individual and the Group

Group life is indispensable to the individual. If it were not for the protection, care, and
attention that an infant receives from his group, it is doubtful if he could survive. When a child is
born he is physically, psychologically, and socially helpless. He is completely dependent upon
other human beings for his physical needs and organic wants. As he grows older and develops
physically and socially, he plays with other children in the neighborhood. He begins to realize
that more and more pleasures are possible only in groups. A child cannot play hide and seek by
himself; a boy cannot play baseball alone, nor can he indulge in other competitive games by
himself. He has to belong to a team in order to enjoy certain types of fun. Many satisfactions in
life are thus enjoyed only through human association and group life.
An individual finds himself belonging to a complex of social groups. He belongs to the
family group, the play group of children, and the neighborhood group. When he goes to school,

he joins the school group, clubs, athletic societies, debating teams, and religious organization. As
he matures he joins groups in which he works for a living for himself and his dependents. He
becomes a member of church groups in order to satisfy his need for religious guidance and
inspiration; he fraternizes with other members of his group for the pleasure of social interaction.
Sociology is primarily concerned with studying man in his social relationships. Two of
the most important factors in social relationships are the interaction with others which takes
place within the group and the culture which is transmitted by the group. This discussion and the
following are devoted to the nature and influence of culture and group interaction. The rest of the
discussions is concerned mainly with an elaboration of the themes in different areas of social life.

Definition of a Group
The group is defined as any number of persons who share a consciousness of
membership and interaction. A group is not a mere collection of individuals but an aggregate of
personalities acting and interacting with one another in the process of living. To be a member of
the group, one must participate in the common life and activities of the group.
For example, a collection of people on a bus is a mere collection of persons, not a group.
They are bound up with their individual desires, lack any kind of feeling of unity with each other,
and are thrown together merely because they use a common method of transportation. But let
some event happen which draws them together and the situation is entirely different. If the bus is
stopped by the bandits and the passengers are forced out of the vehicle, then the processes of
group life begin to operate. A feeling of a significant common identity emerges, some individuals
become leaders and others become followers: the response to the situation is in terms of the
group as a unit. Under these circumstances or any others, which give the passengers a common
concern and sense of responsibility, genuine group of life emerges.

Nature and Character of Groups

While there is some evidence that the tendency for grouping is not confined solely to
humans, there are certain characteristics that make human groups unique and different from the
bonding together of the lower forms of animals, such as a pack of wolves, a school of fish, or a
colony of ants.
In human groups there is a level of consciousness that accompanies the process of group
formation. Lower animals do not, in all likelihood, give any thought to their relationships with
one another. Dogs would hardly think of forming a canine relations committee to promote a
harmonious relationship among different breeds. On the other hand, humans worry about
whether they are in the right company, whether marriage with a right person from another race or
religion is the right thing, and they verbalize their pleasure in getting to know others. Much

of human behavior is influenced by this consciousness as people attempt to initiate and sustain
desirable relations and to terminate or avoid undesirable ones.
Another aspect of human consciousness as related to group membership is the degree to
which the group is determined by the meaning that persons have one another. With animals,
living together refers to immediate physical presence. A wolf pack, for example, is simply a
number of wolves who travel together. With man the situation is quite different. Isolation the
absence of group membership is by no means synonymous with physical separation. Being
lonely in a crowd is a recognition of the fact that a person may often feel dissociated from
other people in his immediate group. On the other hand, people may feel quite close to loved
ones from whom they are far removed physically. A man and a woman may be married even
though separated and communicating only by letter or telephone. No sociological study of
human groups can avoid a concern with the way people themselves conceive their relationship
with others.
The moral indoctrination of the young in society is likely to be laden with rules related to
the formation of group membership: marry your own kind, choose the right friends, join the
Scouts, the YMCA, the Catholic Womens League, etc. In choosing associates and maintaining
relations with them, a person is likely to be made continually aware that he is conforming to, or
deviating from, the expectations of others.

The Effect of Isolation

Group life is indispensable to all humans. Individual strength and character come from
association with the group. All people, regardless of race or culture, find personality fulfillment
through group life. When an infant is born, he is completely dependent upon other humans for
his physical, social and emotional needs. Without the protection, care, and attention of the group,
survival would be doubtful. The process of becoming human takes place through the group.
Most human activities cannot be enjoyed apart from a group.
There is a certain case such of a child named Anna. The story goes this way, entitled as
Achievement and Isolation:
At 5 months, Anna was brought into her grandfathers house. She spent the next
5 years lying on a bed in a dark and scarcely furnished room upstairs. Annas mother
worked all day on the farm and was away from home most evenings, so Anna saw almost
nothing of her or anyone else. She was seldom fed, seldom cleaned, seldom moved, and,
apparently, never spoken to or loved.
When Anna was discovered at age six, she was malnourished, sick, and filthy. She
was totally lacking in any of the social skill that primary relations normally provide. She
could neither walk nor talk. She gave no evidence of intelligence or communication

After about two years of professional care, Anna demonstrated a mental

development approximately that of a one-year old. She could walk and feed herself, but
she still could not talk. By the time of her death at ten years of age, she was talking at
about the level of a normal two-year old and had made further progress in caring for
herself and dealing with others.
- Kingsley Davis, Final Note on a Case of Extreme Isolation,
American Journal of Sociology
52 (March 1974): 432-437.
This case is one of the several in which individuals, deprived of group contact, failed to
develop what are usually considered minimal human capabilities.
Much of what we call human nature are really traits and characteristics acquired through
cultural exposure and interaction with others. Speech is one example. Children are not born
predisposed to speak one language or another. This illustrated by a story, possibly, apocryphal,
concerning a deliberate attempt to avoid language socialization:
Seven hundred years ago, Frederick II, Holy Roman emperor, conducted an
experiment to determine what language children would grow up to speak if they had
never heard a single spoken word. Would they speak Hebrew then thought to be the
oldest tongue or Greek or Latin or the language of their parents? He instructed foster
mothers and nurses to feed and bathe the children but, under no circumstances, to speak
or prattle to them. The experiment failed, for every one of the children died.
Whether or not this story is historically true, it illustrates an important aspect of human
development. Our potentialities are not developed automatically with age, but are dependent on
the kind of group contact we experience. This applies not only to language but to art, sports,
religion, business, school work, and every kind of activity.
Kinds of Group Life
Human social groups may be classified in numerous ways. Many attempts have been
made to do this, and the most common basis to differentiation has been according to function and
structure. Social groups may be voluntary or involuntary, social or anti-social, permanent or
impermanent, public or private. However, all groups, regardless of the basis of their
classification, may be considered under the heading of primary or secondary.
Primary groups are small face-to-face groups in which contacts are direct, personal,
and immediate. They are characterized by a strong we feeling. The term primary groups
was popularized in sociological literature by Charles Cooley, who called them the nursery of
human nature. He describes them as:
those characterized by intimate face-to-face association and cooperation.
They are primary in several senses, but chiefly in that they are fundamental in forming
the social nature and ideals of the individual. The result of intimate association,
psychologically, is a certain fusion of individualities in a common whole, so that ones

very self, for many purposes at least is the common life and purpose of the group.
Perhaps the simplest way of describing this wholeness is by saying that it is a we; it
involves the sort of sympathy and mutual expression. One lives in the feeling of the whole
and finds the chief aims of his will in that feeling.
These groups become very effective because they are personal in nature; they have the
elements of intimacy. Although such direct contact as face-to-face relationship is generally
present, it is not absolutely indispensable. What is indispensable is the intimacy and fusion of
personalities. It is possible that two persons may carry on a correspondence, as between pen pals
before or nowadays as text mates, having all the elements of a primary relationship even when
they have not met. The relationship involves identification and subordination of ones wishes and
ambitions to the good of the group.
The primary groups, because of their intimate contacts, exercise a tremendous influence
on the individual members. They exert a direct and lasting influence upon the origin and growth
of a persons basic ideals in life. The family, the neighborhood group, the work group, the school
group, and the play group of children are examples of primary groups.
It was Cooleys view that primary groups are the central and crucial unit of social
organization down through the ages and in all societies. They are fundamental because they
express and respond to a universal human nature. Cooley pointed out that no matter how
rational, formalistic, and complex a society grows, the need for small, informal, responsive,
affective, inclusive, and spontaneous relationships always exists. Primary groups will persist in a
secondary group-dominated world because the human need for intimate, sympathetic association
is continuous need. People cannot function well unless they belong to a small group of people
who really care what happens to them. Whenever people are ripped from family and friends and
thrust into large, impersonal, anonymous groups, as in a college dormitory or an army camp, they
feel such a great need for primary groups that they promptly build them again.
Primary Groups Socialize the Individual
The family provides companionship and fellowship. Its members acquire the we
feeling; their contacts are intimate, personal, and face-to-face. In the family the members learn to
cooperate with one another and to recognize the feeling of responsibility and duty to the people.
A child is born into the group as a helpless being devoid of knowledge of the social
world. He is born with certain potentialities, impulses, tendencies, muscular coordination with
his parents and those immediately around him develop his feelings, attitudes, and habits. As the
child acts, those around him react by showering him with encouragement, approval, and praise
when he is good; but they will also rebuke, frown, blame, and even punish him when he is bad.
Through the process of reward and disapproval, the child learns early in life the patterns of
behavior expected of him by his primary group.

Primary Group are Sources of Fundamental Social Ideals

We have mentioned that groups consist of a number of interacting personalities.

Interaction consists of cooperation or conflict. In the life of an individual, there are clashes of
interests, wishes, values, or attitudes. At the same time, there is cooperation; through processes
of adjustment, the fundamental human values emerge in the personality of the individual. This
situation constantly occurs within the primary groups. In the quarrels of the childhood, the
individual obtains his first lessons in tolerance, understanding, sympathy, cooperation, mutual
regard and respect for one another. Within the family group the child learned the fundamental
and basic patterns connected with sex, parenthood, and kinship. The ideals of service, freedom,
justice, and toleration are formed largely in the experiences of neighborhood life.

Secondary Groups
Secondary groups are those which do not necessarily involve face-to-face association or
intimate and personal relations. The members are aware of them and take cognizance of them,
but they do not feel that their lives are bound up in them except in time of social crisis. The
members may be separated from one another by distance or by lack of personal physical contact.
Their contact may be through correspondence, through the press, through the radio, telephone,
and other means.
The essential characteristics of secondary groups is their casualness in contact.
Relationships within the secondary groups lack the intimacy and that we feeling so
conspicuous within the primary groups, but the face-to-face contact may not be excluded. For
instance, a student in a very large class sees and hears the lecturer, but he may never get to know
him. Many teachers and businessmen are members of professional organizations, but their
participation in these groups has not extended beyond paying the annual fees.
Secondary groups may be governmental units, political parties, religious organizations,
athletic and social clubs, and business corporations. The possibilities are varied and numerous;
society is full of different types of groups. The primary groups existed from primitive times, and
for a considerable number of years they were the only forms of human association. The
secondary groups are a later development and did not emerge until civilization was far advanced.
Acuff and his associates cite as one of the paradoxes of the secondary group the fact that
it frequently requires persons to become nonpersons (only roles) by not allowing their emotional
or affective involvement to enter the situation. They use as an illustration the example of an old
man who had been struck by a car and was being undressed in the hospital emergency room. He
resisted because there were women present. The young, impatient intern then bluntly told him:
Those are not women; they are nurses. In this particular secondary social setting, the nurse was
a nonperson.
Primary groups are concerned with relationship; secondary groups are justified by their
ability to reach goals. A good Mah Jongg group is one that has fun; a good business corporation
is one that makes money.

The concepts of primary and secondary groups are often confused because the two
overlap. A work, for instance, may have both primary and secondary aspects. The work group is
organized to get a job done and this is a trait of secondary groups. However, the work groups is
also concerned with relationships and pakikisama. Its members tell stories, crack jokes, and
encourages intimacy on a first-name basis. This is the primary group aspect and it may either
reinforce the secondary goals or work against them. If the group sees its interests and those of the
employer as the same, it will encourage mutual helpfulness in reaching production goals. But if
conflict is present, the group may limit production and hold back ambitious workers who are
regarded as rate busters.
Most secondary groups also harbor primary groups and thus are committed both to goal
attainment and to fostering pleasant primary relationships. The factory, office, or school have
definite secondary goals to meet, but also develop small-scale associations of mutually agreeable
persons who derive an emotional satisfaction from the relationship. In fact, some husbands or
wives may be jealous of the primary group attachments their spouses form with the opposite sex
in the work place.

Gemeinschaft and Gesselschaft

Somewhat similar to the concepts of primary and secondary groups are the concepts of
gemeinschaft and gesselschaft developed by the German sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies. These
terms do not have any direct translation in English or in Filipino, so sociologists continue to use
Tonniess original terms. There is a rough English equivalent in the terms community
(gemeinschaft) and society (gesselschaft), but by no means do these represent the same thing
in the two languages. In Filipino, the closest equivalent to the concept of gemeinschaft is the
popular term bayanihan which suggests mutual helpfulness and implies the existence of a small
intimate group.
Gemeinschaft is a social system in which most relationship are personal or traditional and
often both.
The concept of gemeinschaft was inspired by the lingering German peasant communities
which still carried some of their feudal heritage. These were communities in which written
agreements were rare and people lived on the basis of customary arrangements. People were
surrounded by relatives, and the exchange of money was less important than the direct barter of
goods and services. Except for occasional feast days, life was monotonous but seldom lonely.
The resemblance to the rural barrios in the Philippines is obvious.
There seems to be no Filipino word which quite captures the meaning of gesselschaft
either, and there is no exact English equivalent. In the gesselschaft the community of tradition
and unwritten custom has been replaced by the society of bargaining and contracts. People are
separated from their relatives and live among strangers. The gesselschaft flourishes in the

modern metropolis. Some of the contrasting aspects of the bayanihan. Some of the contrasting
aspects of the bayanihan and the gesselschaft relationships are summarized in the following:

COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS
______________________________________________
Bayanihan
Gesselschaft
______________________________________________
Customary
Communal
Personal
Informal
Sentiment
General

Efficient
Individual
Impersonal
Formal, Contractual
Realistic
Specialized

General Character of Groups

In-Group and Out-Group Feeling. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines,
guerilla units were formed everywhere. One such unit was organized in Polo (now Valenzuela),
Bulacan, which is not far from the city of Manila. Nearness to the city and the fact that Polo is a
town directly in the path to the central provinces attracted many strangers who were either
evacuees or just passers-by. Whenever any of these persons were in town, the first thing the
townsfolk did was to find out who the stranger was, what his purpose was, and how long he was
staying. Any outsider from the group was considered a prospective Japanese spy, and therefore
an enemy. He belonged to the out-group and the in-group would not accept him until he
could prove his motive and identity himself completely with the in-group.
The out-group and in-group relationships exist whenever there is a feeling of strangeness
or enmity between groups. We feel suspicious, antagonistic, and scornful toward the members of
the out-group, but we are predisposed to be understanding and sympathetic to anyone in the ingroup. An illustration of the in-group, out-group feeling may be seen in the sentiments and
attitudes of many Filipino Muslims who consider Christian Filipinos su mga Filipino aya (those
Filipinos). Similarly, both Christians and Muslims talk of Moros rather than of Muslim
Filipinos.
Ingroups and outgroups are important because they affect behavior and attitude. We
expect support and understanding from fellow members of an in-group. We expect indifference
or hostility from those in the out-group. Among some primitives the in-group was determined by
kinship. When two strangers met, the first thing they did was establish a relationship. If kinship
could be established, they were friends both members of the ingroup. If no relationship could
be established, they were enemies and acted accordingly.

Modern society is based upon many ties beside those of kinship, but the establishment
and definition of in-groups is equally important. People placed in a new social situation will
usually make cautious conversational feints to find out whether or not they belong. When they
find themselves among people who are of the same social class, the same religion, the same
political views, people who enjoy the same sports or music, then they have some assurance that
they are in the in-group. Members of the in-group are likely to share certain sentiments, laugh at
the same jokes, and define with some unanimity the activities and goals of life. Members of the
same cultural traits, but they lack certain essentials to break into this particular social group.
The out-group and in-group feeling can be found in either the primary or the secondary
group. In modern society, we find that individuals belong to so many groups that they may have
a number of both in-group and out-group relationships which overlap. One may be a member of
a senior class in which a freshman will be considered as belonging to an out-group; yet the same
senior and freshman may both be members of an athletic team in which case, they have an ingroup relationship to each other. Thus, we find that in modern social groups the in-group or outgroup relationship does not have the same meaning and intensity as it would in a more simple
society. Some in-group, out-group relations are more salient than others. A Catholic Cebuano
physician might feel less social distance with Protestant Tagalog physicians than with Catholic
Cebuano laymen. On the other hand, a Muslim farmer might feel closer to Muslim jeep drivers
than to Christian farmers.

Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the extreme preferential feeling which individuals have for the customs
of their own group. It is the idea that ones group is more important than any other. It is an
expression of group solidarity combined with antagonism toward outside groups.
Under the Nazi government of Germany, the Germans were taught that they belonged to
the master race which was superior to all others. The Japanese before the World War II
believed that they were the chosen people to lead all Asiatic races in a co-prosperity sphere.
The Americans think of the United States as the most democratic country in the world today.
Filipinos believe that they are the most modern of the Oriental peoples. Interestingly enough,
every country has something equally outstanding of which to boast. Even the primitive tribes are
inclined to regard themselves as better that other groups. In fact, the more limited the contacts
with the rest of the world, the greater is the degree of ethnocentric feeling. Ethnocentrism is
important to the group because it serves to develop and reinforce the solidarity of the group and
strengthen their we feeling. Ethnocentrism does not necessarily have any rational basis. It may
lead the group to exaggerate its virtues and ignore its weaknesses while being unaware of the
very real virtues of other groups. In war such an attitude leads a group to underestimate the
enemy and often results in disaster; in peace and in attitude my blind the group both to
difficulties is has to overcome and opportunities which may enrich it. Even primitive societies
have a nave belief in their superiority. Worsley describes the New Guineans (also known as
Irian) evaluation of the Europeans:

The Europeans were not regarded as all-powerful but as rather pathetic, ignorant
people who could easily be cheated or stolen from. Their ignorance of sorcery was
lamentable. These men are not men: they are merely gods, said the natives, judging
the Europeans to be beings whose lives were inferior to those of living men. Again, they
spoke the (New Guinea) tongues very badly; why should one try to make out their
uncouth speech?
As illustrated below, geographical names are often ethnocentric. The Philippines is less
ethnocentric than many countries, since it is still named after King Phillip of Spain. Street names,
however, do sometimes manifest an ethnocentric tendency. The boulevard around Manila Bay
was named Dewey Boulevard by the Americans in honor of the American admiral. After
independence, this was changed to Roxas Boulevard in honor of the late president.

ETHNOCENTRISM AND AFRICAN PLACE NAMES

Before African Rule
Dahomey
Belgian Congo
Gold Coast
Nyasaland
Leopoldville
Lorenco Marques
Bathurst
Fort Lamy
Southwest Africa
Tanganyika
Rhodesia

After African Rule

Benin
Zaire
Ghana
Malawi
Kinshasa
Maputo
Banjul
Njamea
Namibia
Tanzania
Zimbabwe

This is the case of ethnocentrism on both sides. Europeans tended to select names which
emphasized European influence while Africans reversed the process when they gained power.

Xenocentrism
Xenocentrism is the exact opposite of ethnocentrism and means a preference for things
foreign. It is the conviction that what comes from far away has a special quality or charm which
the local product can never equal. It is the enemy of Filipino nationalism and preserves the
colonial mentality which feels that anything indigenous is inferior. It makes people pay high
prices for consumer goods they feel indigenous goods can never equal, such as foreign cigarettes,

liquor, or Paris-designed clothing. It encourages an over-evaluation of foreign and a neglect of

local authors. It makes people spend money on foreign travel and neglect beautiful spots in their
own country. While it is especially virulent in the Philippines, it is found everywhere, even in
countries which many Filipinos consider the acme of perfection.
In contradiction to xenocentrism is xenophobia, which is a distrust of anything foreign
and is equally irrational. The reasonable individual knows that no country or locality has a
monopoly on charm or quality and no country is without special virtue.

GROUP PRESSURE ON INDIVIDUALS

Group life may be stimulating or monotonous depending on the kind and amount of
stimuli present. Life in the group is sometimes satisfying, but at other times it may be frustrating.
Individuals in the group are generally sensitive to one anothers opinions; they seek group
approval and avoid group disapproval. Hence, the group can and does exert pressure on the
activities of individuals. The individual in the group is not completely free to choose any course
of conduct that he desires. Whenever he deviates from the group opinion, his activities are
restrained through disapproval and punishment. This group pressure may be direct or indirect,
but it is always present.
It is the intense interaction within the group and the concern with group loyalties which
led to gang (barkada) wars and fraternity rumbles. This may be seen in Jocanos list of the ten
basic rules observed by a gang:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Uphold group loyalty with your life.

Do not squeal; if you do, you and your family will suffer.
Do not be selfish; share with your gangmates what you have.
Do not form another group which will lead to the disorganization of the unit.
Do not steal from or deceive a gangmate.
Do not keep your weapon after having used it; if possible, use somebody elses
weapons for whatever you do.
7. Do not molest any member of your gangmates families, especially their women.
8. Do not be careless; avoid being caught.
9. Do not disobey the leader, especially during critical situations.
10. Preserve your tattoo; it is a symbol of your identity.

When the interests of the individual conflict with those of the group, he has four
alternatives. He may submit to the mores of the group and stifle his own ideas; he may work
within the group to change some of its ideas and so become a reformer; he may become a
revolutionist and seek to change the nature of the group by force; and finally, he may leave the
group and seek fellowship with another which is more to his liking. In the bayanihan type of

society, it is very difficult for the individual to resist group pressure; in the gesselschaft, group
pressure is still strong but it is easier for the individual to change his group relationship.
Group pressure often operates on the unconscious and unorganized level. The folkways,
mores, and group ideals are the forces involved, and they are made effective by public opinion
and gossip. Unorganized and informal forms of social control are found to be more effective than
laws and regulations. Human beings have a strong desire for acceptance and approval, and this
feeling is the basis of social control through informal methods.
A growing recognition of the value of group activity in helping individuals has led to a
group approach to many situations once regarded as individual. In mental institutions, patients
are helped backed to health by group therapy in which they share their fears and profit from the
knowledge that they are not alone.
Those who remember hours of lonely practice in learning musical instrument would be
interested to know the success in group piano instruction may make the lonely practice session
outdated. Teachers have found that students in group sessions have greater interest, are less likely
to give up, and learn more rapidly.
People with less commendable objectives have also discovered the power of group
participation. Santos found that marijuana addiction both formed the basis for group solidarity
and was kept alive by group interaction. Smoking a joint as well as getting supplies of the drug
was the nexus of group life. In other words, group reinforcement may play a vital role either in
strengthening addiction or in breaking it.

Groups and Personality

To a large extent, groups determine the personality of the individual. The type of
personality an individual acquires will depend upon the extant and kind of his experiences in the
different groups of which he is a member. Groups are composed of individuals acting and
interacting upon one another; thus a continuous process of adaptation and adjustment takes place.
Personality emerges out of this process of interaction and adjustment in the group.
Two important factors should be considered in the study of personality the factors of
heredity and environment.
The Hereditary Factors of Personality
Heredity does not develop human nature by itself without assistance, but it furnishes the
raw materials out of which experience will shape and mold personality. Each individual is born
with certain biological structures inherited from his parents, who in turn inherited them from
their ancestors. These biological structures include the nervous system, the ductless glands, the
organic drives, and the general and specific capacities for mental behavior. Heredity furnishes the
mechanisms, but experience determines the way they will be used. Although intelligence is
partly hereditary, a degree of mental alertness can be acquired. Hunger is a native and innate

drive, but the different attitudes and habits built around it are a result of conditioning and
experience.
Personality develops through contacts resulting from the varied interactions and
adaptations of different individuals in their collective efforts to satisfy their human needs and
wants. These interactions are learned behavior which is commonly found in all cultures and in all
ages. In any group life, there is leading, following, teaching, imitating, fighting, praising,
blaming, and ostracizing. These processes furnish the social experience necessary for the
formation of personality.
Specific events and circumstances in the environment influence the development of
personality. These are social situations characteristic of group life. The individual finds himself
in a series of social situations to which he must react. For example, the child is early infancy
must learn to control his physiological tensions and visceral tensions in accordance with
approved usages of his family and social group. When he is hungry and he cries, he is not fed
until it is time to feed him. He must learn to control the contradictions of the muscles of his
stomach and put up with his hunger feelings and endure the intervals between feeding times. The
child must learn to manage and control his bladder and bowel movements to conform to the
requirements of the group. Even his emotional reactions must be controlled and trained. His
energies must be directed toward socially approved channels. His ways of feeling, thinking, and
behaving are patterned after those of his own group. Thus the experiences of early childhood are
of the greatest significance in the development of personality.

MECHANISM OF SOCIAL INTERACTION

We have learned that individuals are born into established groups and receive stimuli to
which they react and so develop their personalities. We have learned the significance of the
process of interaction and the value of group experiences in affecting personality. Whether an
individual becomes a leader or follower, a bully, or a liar; whether he feels superior or inferior;
whether he is selfish or unselfish depends upon how he meets the challenges of social
experience.
The development of social attitudes which affect the growth and development of
personality depends upon how an individual makes use of certain fundamental behavior
mechanisms. These are imitation, suggestion, empathy, and identification.
Imitation is a reaction both unconscious and conscious. The blundering and grouping
ways of an infant in learning such motor reactions as closing and opening the hands and
articulating sounds in his first attempts at learning speech are illustrative of unconscious
imitation.
Imitation means copying an object or action. Conscious imitation involves setting up a
model or pattern. This implies selection and deliberation. However, imitation is possible only if
one already possesses the behavioral patterns necessary to imitate a particular behavior. A child

cannot take on the mothers manner of speaking if he was not yet acquired the ability to speak.
Likewise, one has to have previous lessons in music if he wants to imitate the techniques of the
masters.
Suggestion and imitation in many cases overlap, but they are actually independent of one
another. The main difference between suggestion and imitation is that in suggestion, the tendency
to react is already present and can be directed in any situation almost automatically, while in
imitation, the tendency toward action has to be motivated and aroused. In ordinary life someone
may suggest some course of action and almost unconsciously the suggestion is carried out,
especially if the initiative comes from a respected or beloved person. In a child, the response is
almost automatic. A tone of voice, a look, or a word is enough to convey to the child what an
adult in authority wants him to do.
A childs response to suggestion is not always positive. Sometimes resentment and
defiance are shown against a person in authority. In this case, the childs response is negative and
aggressive. There is a tendency to thwart every suggestion coming from a disagreeable source.
Empathy is the ability to put ones self in place of another and to feel as the latter would
if confronted by the same circumstance. When he watches a baseball game, he identifies himself
with the pitcher or the catcher and he responds to what he sees. In watching a movie, the
audience gets vicarious experiences through living the life of the hero or heroine in imagination.
Imagination plays an important role in arousing sympathy, although it is difficult to
imagine what one has not actually experienced. We shudder when a person falls because we have
gone through the experience of falling and suffering. The degree and intensity of our sympathy
depend upon our past experience in a similar situation.
Identification is closely akin to empathy. It is the ability not only to place ones self in the
position of another but actually to feel that he is that other person. In our sympathy with the
misfortune of another, we are not satisfied with the thought that we have suffered as he is
suffering, but we feel that his pain is also ours.
Exclusion from the in-group can be brutal process. Most primitive societies treated
outsiders as part of the animal kingdom; many had no separate words for enemy and
stranger, showing that they made no distinction. Not too different was the attitude of the
German Nazis who excluded Jews from the human race.
It is impossible to understand the repeated brutalities of history without understanding ingroups and out-groups. This distinction makes it psychologically possible for even decent and
humane persons to commit cruel acts. People who commit atrocities on out-groups are often
quite compassionate toward fellow group members.
On the other hand, persons may become identified with a group different from the
ancestral one. The late Pedro Abad Santos was a rich landowner in Pampanga. Because he
sympathized with the lot of the small tenants, he became their leader, and their disputes and

problems with the other landlords became his. He devoted his life to the amelioration of the
common tao. In this fashion, he sought to identify himself with the tenant group.
The fact that in-group and out-group classification cuts across many lines does not
minimize their intensity; the subtlety of some distinctions makes exclusions even more painful.
One may crave membership in a group which excludes him.
Stereotypes
Out-groups are generally perceive in terms of stereotypes. A stereotype is a group-shared
image of another group or category of people. Thus, Ilongos are stereotyped as mayabang or
hambog (boastful, braggart); Maguindanao or Maranaos as polygamous, fierce, and treacherous;
Ilocanos as frugal and stingy; Leyteos as impulsive and violent; Boholanos as greedy; etc.
People, no matter how educated, appear to engage in stereotyping. For instance, a book
entitled The Filipinos in America, written by a Filipino author, contains paragraphs of ethnic
stereotypes that are, in many cases favorable but are still stereotypes.
For example, he says:
Inclined toward the less rewarding occupations, materially speaking, the Visayans
in the United States are either musicians, music instructors, singers, painters, writers, or
film editors. They seem to possess a talent equal to their ambition for success, the kind
that rates a magazine cover in Las Vegas, and the kind that draws critics from faraway
Italy. But while artists by nature, they do not without their share of surgeons, engineers,
lawyers, nurses, and small-time businessmen.
Stereotypes are applied indiscriminately to all members of the stereotyped group (all
Ilocanos are frugal), without allowance for individual differences. Stereotypes are never entirely
untrue, they bear some resemblance to the characteristics of the persons stereotyped or they
would not be recognized. But stereotypes are always distorted in that they exaggerate and
universalize some of the characteristics of some of the members of the stereotyped groups.
Just how stereotypes begin is not known. Once a stereotype has become part of the
culture, it is maintained by selective perception (noting only the confirming incidents or cases
and failing to note or remember the exceptions) and selective interpretation (interpreting
observations in terms of the stereotypes).
It is also maintained by selective identification (mukhang tagabaryo they look like they
are from the rural areas) and by selective exception (Hes not behaving like a Tagalog). All these
processes involve a reminder of the stereotype, so that even the exceptions and the incorrect
identifications serve to feed and sustain the stereotype.
One example of stereotyping is found in a survey of the opinions of Chinese and Filipino
students in a Manila university. They were asked to appraise Chinese, Filipino, American and

Japanese by choosing between opposite traits. Maximum agreement with the indicated
characteristic was expressed by a score of 35 and maximum disagreement by a score of 41, while
intermediate judgments were expressed by smaller scores. The judgment was on the groups
similarity to the first word in the line, not its opposite. Thus in the score of 32 indicated that
Chinese were considered thrifty.
The researchers summarized the findings on Filipinos as follows:
Filipinos are judged relatively loose. This appears where the Filipinos are significantly
judged to be relatively generous, spontaneous, lenient, gay, flexible, cooperative, and trusting.
However, Filipinos are not judged as unmixed examples of impulse expression on a Latin or
Mediterranean model. The most striking instance is where Filipinos are judged tactful (and
devious) rather than frank (and tactless). This finding corresponds to the observation of
anthropologists that Filipinos tend to preserve smooth interpersonal relations by avoiding the
statement of unpleasant truths.
JUDGMENT OF NATIONALITY QUALITIES OF FILIPINO AND CHINESE
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Scale

STIMULI
Chinese
scale

a. Thrifty - Extravagant
b. Generous - Stingy
a. Self-controlled - Impulsive
b. Spontaneous - Inhibited

American
scale

Japanese
scale

32
7

Filipino
scale
-18
17

-20
28

23
7

24
6

-8
8

11
22

13
15

a. Independent - Conforming
16
b.
Cooperative
Uncooperative
11

-28

35

18

16

28

17

a. Tactful Tactless
b. Frank Devious

12
-5

25
41

19
4

17
1

VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS
One of the effects of American control of the Philippines was an enormous increase in the
number of voluntary associations. Voluntary associations are nongovernmental groups which
persons are free to join or not, although they may lose certain benefits if they are not members.

Years ago a French observer commented on the American scene in terms that now would apply
to the Philippine as well:
Americans of all ages and all dispositions constantly form associations The Americans
make associations to give entertainments, to found seminaries, to build inns, to construct
churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner, they found
hospitals and schools. If it is proposed to inculcate some truth or to foster some feeling by the
encouragement of a great example, they form a society. Wherever at the head of some new
undertaking, you see the government in France; a man of rank in England; in the United States,
you will be sure to find an association.
Voluntary associations have the advantage of providing for group action when there is not
enough consensus to support government activity. Sometimes, the task will be taken up by the
government after the voluntary association has pioneered. Thus, the work of planned parenthood
associations was followed by a government program for population control. At other times, it
seems appropriate for the activity to remain strictly voluntary. For instance, the country clubs
which provide golf courses for the affluent are unlikely to be taken over the government.
Other voluntary association includes religious groups such as the Knights of Columbus,
fraternal associations, luncheon clubs, womens organizations, professional associations, and
many others listing would require several pages. Sometimes, these associations are actively
involved on governmental affairs as the NAMFREL (National Movement for Free Elections). In
addition to the specific services they provide, voluntary associations are a feature of a democratic
action which enable citizens to work in an organized fashion for activities or causes which
concern them. Education, for instance, has benefited greatly from the activities and fund raising
of parents-teachers associations. Participation is often class linked. Wealthy people, typically,
will belong to many associations, while poor people belong to few, if any. When associations are
small, they run on a primary group basis with a great deal of interaction between officers and
members. As they grow larger, they assume a bureaucratic character.

FORMAL BUREAUCRATIC ORGANIZATION

Much social activity is carried on by secondary groups and implemented by a
bureaucracy. Government is a major example, but bureaucratic patterns are also found in
education, religion, and business as well as some of the voluntary associations. A bureaucracy is
defined as a pyramid of personnel who conduct, rationally, the work of a large
organization. Its features include specialization, merit appointment, impersonality, and a chain
of command to see that orders are faithfully followed.
To see how bureaucracy develops in all large organizations, let us follow the pattern in a
growing business concern. With only two or three employees, the work is divided by mutual
agreement and each employee has access to any supplies which are needed. When the work force
grows to seven hundred, the situation changes. Then one needs a specific list of duties for each
person along with a formal system of controls to keep supplies in order and to prevent thievery.
Very little is done informally and usually a written record is kept of all transactions.

Bureaucracy is a good way to get things done and to limit corruption, but it has problems.
One is that, sometimes, the routine becomes so important that employees cease to think about the
ends they are trying to accomplish and simply go through the motions regardless of the results
thus practices may continue long after they have ceased to be effective. One of the classic
examples is the continuation of providing horses in a mechanized army.
Bureaucracy is both essential in a large organization and subject to abuses. Many of the
courses in college labeled Business, Public, or Educational Administration are devoted to trying
to maximize the efficiency of bureaucracies while minimizing problems.

Networks
The tendency of middle and upper-class people to join several voluntary organizations is
related to their realization of the value of networks. The network consists of a number of
individual acquaintances with memberships in various organizations. Thus, one individual may
be a member of the Chamber of Commerce, others of the Rotary club, a religious organization, a
university alumni chapter, a political party, and an informal group which gathers in a bar for
after-work cocktails. Comments in one group setting spread to another and a comparatively few
individuals may influence a great deal of group activity. Social power is determined, in part, by
the link to the organization. The individual who belongs to an important network is in a position
to affect group action in a variety of spheres. Conversely, one with a limited network of group
contacts is likely to find that his or her influence is also limited.

Group Dynamics
Mentioned in the early discussions, there were some experts who got frustrated because
of their inability to involve groups in their plans. A realization of this problem has led to a
scientific study of groups which is called group dynamics. One of the findings of group
dynamics is that the structure of the group makes a difference in the interaction of its members.
For instance, there is a greater feeling of equality and satisfaction in the circle where no person is
considered the leader. On the other hand, production is greater and the quality is more uniform in
the wheel where the one in the center is the leader. In contrast to its lower production, the circle
was found to adapt to new techniques more rapidly than other patterns did.

Which person is located so as to be best informed and most influential?

Position affects communication. Each circle represents a person and spokes represents
communication channels.
In the Philippines the major problems in work groups have not been so much those of
structure as of conflicting values. For the most part, workers have grown up in a system of values
typified by the traditional family. Thus the worker is accustomed to doing as he is told, but also
expects to be surrounded by a warm, friendly group which knows him personally and where his
status is determined by age, sex, and kinship. By contrast, the manager has often been educated
in an achievement-oriented society in which status is determined by ability to produce, workers
are impersonal and interchangeable units who can be moved about as needed, and innovation is
prized. Such manager-worker, interaction often leads to mutual discontent. Workers feel that
management is callous and inconsiderate, while management feels that workers are immature,
incapable of being trained, and lacking in responsibility.
Two main approaches are made to this situation. One is that management should follow
policies consistent with the traditional expectations. Change should be introduced cautiously and
leaders should be those whose age, sex, kinship status, and perhaps ethnicity are compatible with
high status.
The other approach is that efforts should be made to develop the positive type of
qualities. This means that attempts will be made to involve workers or members of other groups
in a type of participation which is new in their experience. This is not a simple process and, at
first at least, will slow down group response. Hopefully though, in the long run, it will develop
people equipped to function at a high level in group situations.

FACTORS THAT PROMOTE/IMPEDE PARTICIPATION

AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

Promoting Conditions
1. Realizes that what he thinks and feels
is important and that he can think and
talk intelligently.
2. Is confident that he has the capability
to mold himself and his environment.
3. Is conscious and aware of the societal
factors that impinge on him as an
individual.
4. Has actual experience in participating
in group problem analysis or problemsolving situations.

Impeding Conditions
1. Feels that what he thinks is not
important; can hardly articulate his
thoughts.
2. Feels incapable of acting on his own
or transforming the environment.
3. Is not aware of the socio-politicoeconomic conditions that influence his
life.
4. Has no notion nor experience in any
collective involvement which entails
discussion and analysis of issues with
other individuals.

USE OF STATISTICS
In studying group dynamics as well as other social relationships, sociologists make
frequent use of statistics.
There are many people who have no use for statistics. Often they dont like statistics
because they do not understand them. Statistics, like shotguns, are dangerous when handled by
the ignorant and may be abused by the careless and the unscrupulous. Those who know the uses
and abuses of statistics realize that statistics are nothing more or less than organized, measured
facts. They are as trustworthy or untrustworthy as the scientific competence of the person
compiling them. To reject statistics is but a way of rejecting facts.
While this is not a discussion of statistics, it may help to understand the inevitable
reference to statistics if a few terms are defined. These are mode, median, mean, and correlation.
The mode is simply the number which appears with the greatest frequency, the mean another
term for average, and median a number which has an equal quantity of items both above and
below, thus putting it in the midspot or median. Correlation is a little different type of concept
and refers to the relationship of two variables. If, for instance, there was a correlation of zero
point three (0.3) between grades in general and grades in English, we would assume that
competence in English had an important effect on academic ability in general. By the way, 0.3 is
considered a fairly high correlation and it is seldom that we find a larger correlation than this
when we are studying social relationships.
Sociologists undertake a great many statistical studies. Regardless of its nature, almost
any research is likely to involve the statistical organization and comparison of facts at one point
or another. The sociologist must be something of a statistician; the citizen who hopes to be
intelligently aware of the world he lives in must have some understanding of statistical
interpretation. The census and the other sources of easily available data will provide the
sociologist many of the understanding of social life. In other cases he will have to make field

studies himself in order to get the factual information he needs. Whether he uses statistics
gathered by someone else or he conducts his own survey, a knowledge of statistics is vital in his
work.

3. Culture and Behavior

The Tinguians have a culture . . . akin to the better known Igorots of Mountain Province.
Their attire is multicolored, notably the batik; their men are in G-strings; their women
wear bead necklaces, antique jewelry (that are often the envy of many a sophisticated Ilocano
matron) and are tattooed.
Their music is provided by . . . musical instruments a gansas (gong) and cymbals (which
somehow betray and Islamic influence, and their dances are semiprimitive.
Their burial practices wherein their dead are buried in an upright manner, whether
sitting or standing, but mostly sitting or standing, but mostly sitting are quite unique.
Their modes of marriage, wherein the dowry is an inevitably feature, is often
characterized by lengthy and prolonged celebrations the longer, the more prestigious which
often lasts for a full moon (their way of reckoning a calendar month). On such occasions, cows,
carabaos, goats, dogs, deer, wild boar, and chickens are slaughtered for the feasting of the entire
populace.
-Nid Anima, Death of a Culture: Tinguian
(Quezon City: Omar Publications, 1982), pp. 5-6.
This brief description of Tinguian culture is typical of mountain groups in the Philippines.
Often such a culture is regarded as primitive, but it is actually a complex pattern designed to
provide the right answer to Tinguians in most of their daily life situations.
As used by sociologists and other social scientists, the word culture is not just the culture
associated with the sophisticated appreciation of literature and the fine arts. To the sociologist
every person who learns and follows the way of his society has culture. Thus, the Tinguians are
just as cultured as anyone else in the world. Or to take another example, the crudest bolo used by
the Bagobos for wedding their farms is as much as a cultural object as the most highly
sophisticated intercontinental ballistic missile of the USA or Russia.

Culture Distinguishes Humans from Animals

Culture is what distinguishes man from the lower animal forms, making him unique. For
whereas the social systems sustained by some insect communities are shaped exclusively by
biologic-genetic forces, the social systems of man are shaped by culture. Only men produce

culture, and in turn, culture produces men; i.e. culture shapes a man in terms of its own design,
image, and style and has enabled him to become preeminent in the animal kingdom.
The importance of culture becomes apparent when we consider the limitations of mans
natural state. By nature man is a tropical creature. Without culture he cannot survive cold. He
does not possess sharp teeth, claws, or great speed to defend himself. He has no natural tools for
digging, climbing, or killing to obtain food. Human offspring are unable to care for themselves
for years and so are burdens to the mother seeking to survive.
Without culture man would be greatly disadvantaged compared to other animals and
would perhaps hardly multiply in number. Fortunately, his highly developed brain enables him to
create culture, which helps him overcome his physical disadvantages and allows him to provide
himself with fire, clothing, food and shelter. The length of infancy insures that his progeny will
have an extended training period in which to learn his culture.

Definition of Culture
Like group, culture is a concept in sociology which has a common meaning expressed in
a variety of definitions. The classic definition of culture indicates its inclusiveness and is
provided by an eminent English scholar, E.B. Tylor. He defined culture as that complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society. Leslie A. White refers to culture as an organization of
phenomena that is dependent upon symbols, phenomena which includes acts (patterns of
behavior); objects (tools and things made by tools); ideas (beliefs, knowledge); and sentiments
(attitudes, values). In this sense, culture means the entire life followed by a people and
everything learned and shared by people in society. It includes all socially standardized ways of
seeing and thinking about the world, establishing preferences and goals, and also consisting of
the rules which generate and guide behavior. More specifically, the culture of a particular
people or any society is everything that one must learn to behave in ways that are
recognizable, predictable, and understandable to those people.
Other anthropologists have developed another definition of culture based on the premise
that all behavior is, in the final analysis, a product of how people think about things their
cognitions. Thus, they speak of the cognitive model of culture. Simply stated, this model views
culture as a mental map which guides people in their relation to their surroundings and to other
people. To be useful, this map must be shared, to a greater or lesser extent, by a number of
interacting people or by a whole society or a significant part of it. To be sure, each person may
have a slightly different map, each family a somewhat different version which it passes on to the
next generation, but the general outline and the details of the map will be shared by a large
number of people.
Another way of expressing this is to speak of differing perceptions. Persons from varied
cultural backgrounds see the same objects and situations differently. To an educated,
sophisticated Manilan, for example, a tree may be a natural resource which provides lumber or

shade. But to a Tiruray in the mountains of Cotabato or to a Negrito in the hinterlands of

Zambales, it may be viewed as a living thing with a spirit of its own and needs, wishes,
perceptions, and desires. The differences in the perception of things define reality for people, and
often that which governs our actions is not what we actually see but what we believe. When a
group of people believes in the reality of omens and spirits, then omens and spirits are real to
them, and this perceptions will govern their actions. The poet, T.S. Eliot, described culture as
simply The way of life of a particular people living on one place.
Culture also includes mans material inventions and accomplishments such as tools,
weapons, instruments, etc. Bolos, missiles, atom bombs, cars, etc. are part of mans culture and
form much of his social heritage. These material aspects of culture, called artifacts, tell much
about the things that a people value and the processes with which that people provide solutions to
their biological and cultural needs. In fact an anthropologist who specializes in archeology can
reconstruct the social and cultural life of prehistoric peoples by examining carefully the material
objects he unearths from archeological sites. For instance, on the basis of archeological findings,
Professor Jocano estimates that a fairly complex human society existed in the Philippines 25,000
years ago.
The cultural elements of human existence, however, are not primarily physical but mental
or ideational. The things that really count are ideas and meanings. A piece of metal may be a
material artifact, but the important thing about it is its meaning within a given cultural setting. It
may be used as a weapon in one culture, but in another it may hang about a persons neck as an
amulet to ward off hostile environmental spirits. Scholars generally agree that the key to culture
lies in the minds of individuals, and that peoples mentifacts or ideas are the foundation of
culture.

Difference between Culture and Society

Sometimes culture and society are interchangeably. While these two concepts are
interdependent and interrelated in that no society can exist without a culture and not culture can
develop without a society, they are not the same.
A society is a group of people bound together in a more or less permanent association
organized for collective activity. A society is made up of individuals who are interacting with
each other in a shared pattern of customs, beliefs, values and traditions. The common pattern to
which they are reacting is the culture of the society. Culture is a system of behavior shared by
members of a society while society is a group of people who share a common culture.
A succinct definition of society is given by Horton and Hunt: A society is a relatively
independent, self-perpetuating human group who occupy a territory, share a culture, and have a
most of their associations within this group. Society and culture express different aspects of the
human situation.

Language and the Transmission of Culture

What gives human beings preeminence is the fact that they are the only living creatures
known to be capable of communicating intricate systems of symbols, storing knowledge, and
transmitting this knowledge to a new generation. Because of language, an individual does not
have to start anew at birth to develop a way of life. He builds upon and improves the
accumulated wisdom of the past.
Without language, man would be little better off than the animals . . . In a society without
language, each individual would have to begin exactly where his parents began; he could
possess no habits, not group habits; his behavior, in short, would be confined to the
organic level.
In the same article, Professor Murdock cites evidence showing that nonhuman creatures
have habit-forming capacity, social life, and intelligence, but they fall short of possessing culture.
Recent studies have clearly demonstrated that the anthropoid apes possess intelligence,
insight, or ideation, of an order comparable to that of man, inferior only in degree;
that both apes and men, for example, solve the problems by intelligent behavior as
opposed to the mere trial-and-error learning characteristic of the rest of the animal
world. Yet, in spite of their intelligence, the apes lack culture.
The great difference is the lack of language among apes. Language is the key factor in the
human races success in creating and preserving culture; for without language, the ability to
convey ideas and traditions is impossible. With language persons can perpetuate and pass on
knowledge from one generation to the next. Language is also one way we classify human beings.
One example is the higher prestige assigned to speakers of English in the Philippines.

Characteristics of Culture
The first essential characteristic of culture is that it is learned. If a child born in the
Philippines of Filipino parents were moved shortly after birth to Japan and brought up by
Japanese parents, he would develop one of the traits of Filipino culture. Instead he would
manifest all the behavior patterns of the Japanese, including language and dietary practices.
Among the many sources of learning, the most important is usually the family or parents.
Playmates, working companions, schools, churches, books, television, radio, and the like are
additional sources. Although humans, like animals, learn much by simple imitation, many
important parts of culture are taught largely by precepts. One can imagine the number of children
who would fail to survive childhood if they had to learn the danger of poisons by experience
rather than by being warned and scolded.

The poet, T.S. Eliot argues that not only does the family transmit culture, but that upperclass families have a unique obligation in that respect. He argues that one of the functions of the
upper-class family is to serve as a model of the essence of the culture of the group. Upper-class
culture is merely an aspect of the culture of the total society. However, the greater leisure,
wealth, and prestige of the upper-class family gives it an advantage both in acquiring a complex
culture and in transmitting it to the young. Eliot feels that without a fairly stable upper-class,
culture will revert to simpler, cruder forms.
The second characteristic is that culture is shared by a group of people. Each person
probably has a few idiosyncrasies, things not done by anyone else within the group. These
individuals habits are not part of the culture because they are not shared, but they could become
so if they were learned by others and became the customary actions of a group.
Third, culture is cumulative. Knowledge is stored and passed on from one generation to
the next, and new knowledge is constantly being added to the existing stock. Each culture has
worked out solutions to the basic problems of life, which it then passes on to its children.
Consequently, the child gains free time to devote to making changes or improvements or
facing the new situations he may encounter. The jeepneys and pedicabs in the Philippines are
good examples of the cumulative quality of culture. Their invention involved the use of materials
which are invented in different place of the world.
Fourth, culture is dynamic. No culture is ever in a permanent state. It is constantly
changing. The changes may be imperceptible, but they are changes nonetheless. The practices of
today will never be the same tomorrow. The dynamic character of culture stems from its
cumulative quality.
A culture is always changing because new ideas and new techniques are added and old
ways are constantly being modified or discarded. This is as true for the most isolated and simple
complex society. The degree of change and the rate of change may vary enormously. Change is
slow in a primitive, isolated society and rapid, but nowhere does the culture of a group remain
static.
In our age the rapid changes that occur from one generation to the next are brought about
by new cultural ideas being introduced either from within or from without. Those changes that
occur within the society are the result of discoveries or inventions, while those from outside are
brought about through the medium of culture borrowing.
Culture also grows by the spread of traits from individual to individual and from one
group to another. The spread of a cultural trait is called diffusion. Diffusion taking place within
the group is sometimes called primary diffusion. Intergroup or intersociety diffusion is the
passing of traits from one society to another. The term borrowing is used for the group that
receives the new element.
Diffusion is the principal source cultural change. Most cultures are built up through an
accumulation of borrowed traits.

One form of diffusion is the movement of words from one language to another. Filipino
languages have borrowed many words from Spanish, Chinese, and English. There is also a
reverse process and Avelina J. Gil reports having come across some 350 Tagalog words which
are listed in English dictionaries. A partial list includes the following:
bagoong
baguio
balut
bangos
banig
barong-barong
barong tagalog
bayong
bruja
caimito
camisa
chinelas

chopsuey
cocoa
duhat
durian
gabi
gogo
gulaman
ilang-ilang
jeepneys
kaingin
manga
mani

querida
saba
salakot
sago
tienda
tinikling
tuba
yoyo

Regardless of whether it is material or nonmaterial, the borrowed trait must be adapted or

fitted into the culture of the group taking it on. Those new traits which are the most readily
modifiable or which meet an existing need adapt themselves quickly to the new culture. Most
borrowed traits tend to undergo some modifications as they are adapted into the new culture
pattern. At times, though, a new trait may be completely taken over without adaptation. Presentday Filipino culture is the result of the borrowing of diverse culture elements and fitting them
together to form a workable unit.
Fifth, culture is diverse. The sum-total of human culture consists of a great many separate
cultures, each of them different. Even in such a basic problem as providing someone to care for
children during the years of infancy and youth, there are a great number of workable alternatives.
People must be careful then to avoid assuming that their way of doing things is the only
practical or right way.
Finally, each culture is a whole, a system with many mutually interdependent parts. For
example, the choice of a marriage partner involves many different parts of culture. Religion,
economic class, education, and ideas of beauty and romance all play a role.

Culture as a System of Norm

One of the salient qualities we have noted about culture is that it provides us with
guidelines for action. It serves as a guide for proper conduct in our day-to-day interaction with
others. Another way of saying this is that culture tells us how things should be done. Thus we say

that culture is normative since it regulates our actions and conduct. A norm is nothing but a
behavior expectation, an idea of how people are supposed to act and behave. For example, in the
rural areas of Visayas and Mindanao (and to a much lesser extent in the cities), when a family
member dies, relatives, friends, and neighbors come and contribute some amount of cash to the
family of the dead. The contribution is usually placed on a plate or in a box beside the dead
person. They are no longer expected to help make the coffin. The bereaved family serves food to
the visitors during the nine days of prayer, after the day of burial, during the last day of the
prayer for the dead (katapusan or patapos), and at the end of the first year of the death (hubkas or
babaing luksa).
Another behavior expectation in the Philippine concerns the keeping of the family purse.
Filipino husbands are expected to turn over their monthly income to their wives, who keep the
family budget. In most American families it is the husband who keeps the family purse and
makes the budget.

Folkways
The term folkways comes from the title of a famous book on customs published in 1906
by the pioneer American sociologist William G. Sumner. This classic book, Folkways shattered
many of the popular ideas about customs and culture patterns. Sumner brought forcefully to the
attention of the students of his day the important fact that infinite variety of customs exist and
that these customs have a strong compulsive nature.
A societys folkways are the norms which the members have come to accept as the proper
way of dealing with their day-to-day problems of living and interacting with each other through
either trial-and-error, sheer accident, or some unknown influence. Once established and accepted,
these patterns are endorsed, by most members of the society and become the way of the folks or
their folkway.
Any single culture has such a wide variety of customs or folkways that to list them would
be monumental task. It would be an unending task because new folkways arise and old ones may
change or even die. The folkway of a group are the behavior patterns of its everyday life. The
reason the sociologists adopted the use of the term folkway rather than keep the older term
custom was to emphasize that these were the accepted behavior or ways of the folk or group.
Folkways involve the way we eat, how we dress, and a myriad of other behavior patterns that we
follow because they have been impressed upon us from the time we were born. Changes and
additions are gradual, for folkways adapt themselves to each generations conditions of life.
Many of the folkways that govern your behavior today will be quite different from those that will
govern the behavior of your children. To observe changes in the folkways, all one has to do is to
contrast the patterns of behavior that were followed by your parents with those that you follow at
the present time. A generation or two ago the folkway which involved the segregation of girls in
middle-class families was still strong enough to prevent many families from sending their
daughters to the co-educational schools and colleges which were then just starting in the
Philippines. Today coeducation is an accepted folkway among Filipinos.

As a member of a group you follow these folkway because, as the result of trial and error
adjustments of the past, they are the practical solutions to daily needs. Pressures, both direct and
indirect, operate on the individual to make him conform to these group habits. You follow
customary practices so you will not be too different from the rest of your group and invite
disapproval or ridicule. At times the social pressure that makes one conform to the folkways is so
powerful that even the laws will be violated if it is necessary to do so to follow the folkway.

Mores
Certain customary behavior patterns or folkways fall in a special category because they
have taken on a moralistic value. These special folkways which involve moral or ethical values
are termed the mores of a society and involve respect for authority, marriage and sex behavior,
patterns, religious rituals, and other basic codes of human behavior. They are considered
essential to the groups existence and accordingly the group demands that they be followed
without question. To the group, the mores delineate the right or proper way to be behave
contrary to this right way cannot be permitted. While the term mores is simply the Latin word for
custom, the sociologist has designed it as a special word for the type of folkway which is simply
which is all-compulsive. Mores define rules of conduct that are associated with intense feelings
of right and wrong.
A member of a group who violates the more for antisocial. In a sense he is an enemy of
the groups, for he is attacking its moral and ethical foundation and hence- he must be punished as
a warning to others that such behavior will not be tolerated.
The strength of the mores is illustrated in the customary practices of certain societies
which may require physical discomfort, pain or even torture to be borne in order to carry out the
mores. The scarification and teeth-filing practices of primitive groups demonstrate that physical
comfort is secondary to the accepted customary practice. In a tribe where teeth-filing practices
may be found, not only will every boy and girl have to undergo this painful procedure, but they
will be expected to comply without showing fear or revealing the pain they may suffer. Nor
should the student think that mores of this nature operates so strongly only among primitive
groups. A highly complex civilization such as that of classical Chinese society required an
exceedingly painful foot-binding custom to be followed with respect to girls of the upper classes.
The result of tight binding of the foot from early childhood was to create a small, hoofshaped
foot. Through the centuries, the deformed foot had come to be regarded as a sign of status as
well as an element of beauty. In short, the custom had come to be regarded for the physical pain
that the small girl suffered during the years that her feet were tightly bound.
The manner in which mores can make anything seem right is seen by comparing certain
moral values in a society at different periods of its history as well as by comparing different
societies. In most societies incest is abhorred and a prohibition against this behavior exists in the
mores. A violation of the incest rule is severely punished, often by death in some simpler
societies. Yet under certain circumstance and at special times, the mores might operate to make

incest the proper way. The required marriage of brother and sister of the royal family in such
places as ancient Peru, Egypt and classical Siam (Thailand) illustrates the power of the mores to
determine the apparent rightness of a form of conduct.
Mores, like ordinary folkways, are subject to change, although it might be said that
changes in the mores, generally occur more slowly than changes in the folkways. But they do
change, and what may be considered right and proper at one time may be considered wrong at a
later period in the same society. A common example used to illustrate this is to show how slavery
at certain times in a peoples history may have been considered proper and right. In the early 19 th
century, when slavery was still legal, even the Bible was quoted to show that slavery was not
only proper but was still he will of God as well. Later the mores surrounding the slavery patterns
were completely reversed so that slavery came to be considered immoral and wrong.
Mores, then, are extremely powerful. The important thing is that to the members of a
group following them, they are all-compulsive at the time they are operative.

Mores and Laws

In certain societies many of them mores are formalized in the shape of laws. Not all laws
are necessarily mores, nor all more part of the legal code. Ordinarily, however, the laws of a
nation are simply framed by legalizing in the form of codes or formal statutes the ethical and
moral values embodied in the mores of the group. At times in our modern society this legal
formalization of certain mores brings about a type of cultural lag. Mores tend to change and
many of our modern societies have found themselves with out-moded laws which people no
longer follow. At an earlier period these may have been mores and were legalized in the statutes
to intensify the conformance of the group to them. As the time changed, so did the mores,
resulting in an outmoded law. Often these outmoded laws tend to be forgotten and may remain
on the statute books for a generation or more without being repealed. Their main significance to
a student of sociology is in their eloquent testimony of how mores change over a period of time
within the same society.
If the law and the mores should come in conflict, the mores may prove to be the stronger.
Not frequently, we have instances where laws made for a group are broken without hesitation if
the mores demand a different way of behavior. In the United States a law to prohibit the sale of
liquor failed to work because the use of liquor was sanctioned by the mores of a large part of the
population. Another example of the inability of law to counteract the mores is seen in the failure
thus far of efforts to force the mountain peoples of the Philippines (and for that matter Southeast
Asia in general) to abandon the practice of kaingin which they had long considered the right
form of agriculture.

Tecnicways

The pace of modern life often forces adjustments which cannot be left to the slow pace of
the mores and the folkways. These are known as tecnicways, or the social adjustment to
technological change. Many examples of this type of change can be given. The mores have long
sanctioned the idea that men could travel on the roads as they chose, but the spread of
automobiles has forced the introduction of traffic laws. Such laws are not rooted in the mores and
few people have a feeling of guilt when they disobey them, but they are a necessary part of every
modern country. Similarly, tobacco farmers have long been used to growing crops in the manner
they please, but when tobacco is grown for use in making cigarettes in distant markets, it
becomes necessary to tell the farmer what kind of crop he can raise and the conditions of its
cultivation. Education itself may be seen as tecnicway, and one often resisted by parents who
wish to have their children work in the fields rather than attend school. The older mores
sanctioned the parental control of the childs time, but the complexity of modern society
demands a type of education which the home is unable to give.
Tecnicways represent a type of cultural change almost the exact opposite of folkways and
mores. The folkways and mores develop without conscious planning over a long period of time.
Tecnicways are the result of a purposeful scientific analysis of social needs and may be made
effective in a short span of time. Tecnicways frequently meet opposition, but the trend of the
times indicates that tecnicways will increase in the future and the power of the folkways will
recede. At times, the changes forced, either by tecnicways or simply by massive diffusion from
other societies, may be so great that the culture loses its unique character and ceases to exist.

Institution
When the folkways and mores become so integrated that activities are formalized on a
unit basis, they become the institutions of a group. An institution is an organized system of
social relationships which embodies certain common values and procedures and meets certain
basic needs of the society. In most societies there are usually five recognized institutions: the
government or polity, the family, education, economy and religion.
Culture and the Group
It is through the possession of a common culture that the members of a society acquire
the feeling of unity which enables them to live and work together as a functioning entity. The
functions that culture plays for the group have been well summarized by the Gillens, who points
out that the culture performs three important functions in group life:
1. It sets up a series of patterns for meeting the biological demands (primary drives) if the
group members for sustenance, shelter, reproduction, and protection.
2. It provides rules that enable the individual members of a group to adjust to their
environmental situation. This enables the group to act as a unit whenever the situation so
demands.

3. Through the common culture, the members are provided with channels of interaction
which help prevent conflict. It outlines for the individual the acquired needs of his group
and provides for their satisfaction. Thus culture not only provides a pattern for the
development of the individual but also allows a way in which the group can adjust to its
basic needs.

Manifest and Latent Aspects of Culture

Culture may be classified in manifest and latent aspects. The manifest aspects are those
which are obviously intended and are usually applauded. The latent aspects are covert or hidden,
are sometimes considered undesirable, and are often unrecognized. The manifest and latent
concept is similar to that of intended and unintended consequences.
A few examples may help to make these concepts more undesirable. Education is often
cited in this regard. The manifest function of the schools is to educate the young: a latent
function is to keep them off the labor market. Similarly, the manifest function of the prohibition
of divorce is to prevent the breakup of families; a latent function is to maintain the querida
system, since an aggrieved wife cannot threaten the erring husband with divorce. The manifest
function of spraying with DDT was to destroy insect pests; a latent function was to destroy vital
elements of the ecological system. Such a listing could be extended indefinitely; the point is that,
in evaluating a cultural trait, it is necessary to look at both manifest and latent consequences.

Culture and the Individual

As pointed out in a previous paragraph, the culture provides the individual with a large
number of ready-made adjustments which he has only to learn. In most of his ordinary ways of
behaving, the individual does not have to waste time in trivial-and-error methods, nor does he
have to analyze and solve daily problems.
By providing a set of familiar stimuli to the individual to which he has only to respond
in a familiar way, a great deal of confusion in the life of the individual is prevented. Ordinarily,
we do not realize how significant this familiar type of response has become to our behavior. You
have only to be plunged into a different culture to realize how much of your life is channeled in
ready-set ways. A Manila driver suddenly set down in Hong Kong where the traffic is on the left
side of the road, would be plunged into an unfamiliar situation and would react in a confused
manner. A Filipino student attempting to board a bus in San Francisco or New York City by the
center door of the bus not only would find himself in a state of confusion, since his action would
throw the other passengers momentarily into an unfamiliar situation. Confusion would result.
Our daily life flows smoothly because our culture has mapped out channels of behavior for us.

The Organization of Culture

Culture Traits and Culture Complex
While the culture of a group is an integrated network of folkways, mores, systems of
beliefs and institutional patterns, we can break this larger total system into simple units or
elements called cultural traits. A cultural traits, either of a material or nonmaterial nature,
represents a single element or a combination of elements related to a specific situation. It is
cultural element which cannot be broken down into any smaller segments. Examples of cultural
traits from lowland Filipino culture include such practices as the wearing of wooden clogs,
kissing the hand of the elders after Sunday mass and the Angelus, the use of a bolo by the farmer,
and the countless other single acts or objects. Yet simply to list the separate traits existing in a
culture would result in a mere inventory which would not give an integrated picture of how the
culture operates. Culture traits do not exist as separate, unrelated entities but operate
meaningfully only in relationship to others. Clusters of culture traits are known as culture
complexes which, in turn, group together to form a culture pattern.

Culture Patterns
The clusters of related traits that are involved in wet-rice agriculture in the Philippines is
an example of a culture pattern. This wet-rice pattern represents a complex of many cultural
traits, involving the use of the carabao or water buffalo, a certain type of plow and harrow, a
flooded field, special varieties of rice, special methods of planting and transplanting, and a host
of other traits. All these complexes of traits form an integrated pattern which eventually results in
a crop of rice.

Universal or Basic Culture Patterns

Although basic may vary tremendously from place to place as to its content, there are
certain basic patterns common to all cultures. These uniformities are called the universal patterns
of culture. Since satisfaction of the wants of persons everywhere is basically the same, certain
common denominators of behavior result. People in all societies face fundamental needs relating
to the sustenance, to procreation, and to the protection of the group. Around these fundamental
needs, people everywhere have built up parallel patterns of behavior. Wissler, an American
anthropologist who first used the phrase universal culture patterns, set up these categories:
1. Speech and Language
2. Material Traits
a. Food habits
b. Shelter
c. Transportation
d. Dress

3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

e. Utensils, tools, etc.

f. Weapons
g. Occupation and Industries
Art
Mythology and Scientific Knowledge
Religious Practices
Family and Social Systems
Property
Government
War

Anthropologists have demonstrated over and over that regardless of complexity of detail,
all cultures tend to conform to this fundamental plan.

Alternatives and Specialties

Every society has customs which are required of everyone. It also has other patterns from
which the individual is allowed to select two or more possibilities. Linton calls these choices
alternatives. The Filipino may choose to follow one of several religious faiths or, at the price of
some disapproval, none at all. He may travel by ship, bus, jeepneys, or plane. He may eat at
home or in restaurants, remain single or become married. The marriage may be either a religious
or a civil ceremony or both. The bride may be either a full-time housewife or a working wife.
All of these are matters in which many societies allow no individual choice. In other
words, actions, which are optional in some societies may be either required or prohibited in
others. Some societies dictate he choice of religious faith, the manner of travel, the mode of
marriage and the occupation of both the wife and the husband. On the other hand, some societies
allow a choice which Philippine society denies. In many societies a couple may either remain
married or secure a divorce. Other societies allow parents to either keep or destroy their babies
and permit husbands to either forgive or execute an unfaithful wife. The fact that different modes
of action are permissible in one society is no indication that the same choices will be allowed in
another.
Specialties are elements of the culture which are shared by some, but not all, groups
within a society. Baby-nursing is obviously a female specialty not shared by men. Policemen and
soldiers are expected to show bravery not required of other people. The physician is expected to
ignore personal comfort in answering call for his services. Nearly every group in society each
age, sex, and occupational and religious group has traits not shared by others in the same
society.

Subcultures

Sometimes the special culture traits of a particular group are too numerous and too
interwoven to be called specialties. Resident aliens in the Philippines develop a blend culture
of both the Philippines and their mother country. Regional and religious groups long resident in
the modes of Philippines have also developed ways of behavior that mark them off from the rest
of the society. Economic groups, whether of high, low, or middle status, usually develop
distinctive modes of conduct. The adolescent has special styles of behavior, thought, and dress
along with a special vocabulary which adults can scarcely translate, so that one may speak of
teenage culture. Institutions tend to develop specialized behavior patterns, so that one may
speak of prison culture or the culture of school or of the factory.
Patterns such as those, which are both related to the general culture of the society and yet
distinguishable from it, are called subcultures. All societies have a common cultural core along
with numerous subcultures. The individual lives and functions mainly within these subcultures.

Cultural Relativism
It is impossible to understand what the actions of member and values of other groups
mean if we analyze them in terms of our motives and values; we must interpret their behavior in
the light of their own motives, habits, and values. The same behavior has different meanings in
different cultures, and we must look at the behavior in relation to the culture of the society in
which it takes place. In short, the meaning of behavior is related to the culture in which it occurs.
Many examples can be cited of behavior which has a different meaning in different
cultural contexts. If an employee in a Manila business office stays home until noon or weekday,
this probably indicates either illness or a lack of a sense of responsibility. The same thing could
not be said of the farmer, since his labor varies with the season rather than with the day of the
week and, during the interval between harvest and the next planting, he may have a little work to
do. The interaction of Americans and Filipinos in business activities has also brought about
behavior which has to be interpreted in the light of cultural backgrounds. Americans assume that
a frank, concise, and rather brusque approach in which criticism is freely voiced is a sign of
acceptance, whereas Filipinos tend to take this type of approach as kind of insult involving
rejection and a loss of face.
Although Philippine culture is assuming a greater degree of uniformity throughout the
country, there are still subcultural differences which affect the meaning of behavior. One
difference which is rapidly disappearing concerns the relation of clothes and modesty. Urban
nightclubs sometimes come as close as the law allows to featuring topless entertainers as a
deliberate type of sexual allurement. However, in the remote mountain districts barebreasted
women go about their tasks with no thought of sexual suggestions but quickly run for cover
when word spreads that lowlanders with a different cultural interpretation are in the vicinity.
Similarly, if a lowland Filipino boy or girl announced that he was going to sleep elsewhere, this
would be taken as a sign of revolt against parental authority.

Considerations of cultural relativism are often brought up in relation to the question as to

whether subcultures should be exempted from laws which are otherwise applicable to the entire
country. This has been especially true of laws relating to the marriage and divorce. Christian take
Filipinos take it for granted that polygamy is wrong and, with somewhat less unanimity, have
also agreed to outlaw divorce. But Filipino Muslims and some of the animistic mountain groups
feel that these regulations are based on the culture of a Christian society and have no relation to
their own norms the principle of cultural relativism has been used to support the stand that
subgroups should be exempted from laws which run contrary to their mores.
Sociologists are sometimes accused of undermining morality with their concept of
cultural relativism and the claim that almost everythings right somewhere. From this it may be
surmised that if right and wrong are merely social conventions, one might as well do as he
pleases. This is a grave misunderstanding. It is approximately true that everything is considered
wrong somewhere but not everywhere. The central point in cultural relativism is that in a
particular cultural setting, certain traits are right because they work in that setting while other
traits are wrong because they would clash painfully with parts of the culture.
There may be some traits which should be judged wrong by an absolute in any culture.
One, for instance, is human sacrifice which was widespread in the past, but which few people
would defend today. Even here, however, it is necessary to understand the relation of the trait to
the total culture. Human sacrifice was usually the final act in a ritual which emphasized the
solidarity of the group and their belief in themselves and in supernatural powers. Hence, the trait
cannot be seen in isolation, but must be looked at in relation to its context. If it is desirable to
abolish this or other cultural traits, the question always remains, What type of substitution or
other adjustment will serve the function of the trait discarded?

4. SOCIALIZATION, CONFORMITY AND DEVIANCE

Culture trends to standardize personalities by channeling the experience of all individuals
along the same broad stream. But life is made up of so many instances, so many situations, and
such rich variety of experience, that absolute standardization can never be realized . . .
Persons of identical status nevertheless do not have the same experience. The mother
prefers one child over the other. Once child burns its finger; another does not. One infant falls
into the river; another does not. No two persons ever have the same social experience, not even
identical twins.
-

E. Adamson Hoebel and Everett L. Frost,

Cultural and Social Anthropology.
(New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1946), 63.

It is clear that human society has enough common details so that all of us similar in some
respects. Yet society is divided into groups that expose us to different types of experience. Some
incidents, however, are unique to the individual and shared by no one else.

SOCIALIZATION
The individual personality is shaped and developed within the society through the process
of socialization, by which the individual internalizes culture and becomes an active participant in
society. There is an ongoing series of processes and techniques that molds members of a society
into an acceptable way of living and doing that society considers proper and desirable. In a
broader sense, socialization is learning to be a member of a group. This process occurs through
social interaction and transmission of the culture of the group.
Human beings develop their potential by learning and interacting with others. Infants
enter the world as dependent, helpless beings, aware of only of their physical needs and unable to
satisfy them. They are subject to internal pressures and tensions, to instinctive biological drives.
They function with behavior patterns similar to those of a newborn animal, but with one great
difference they have unique and awesome potential to produce and use symbols and language
in communication and interaction.
The family is the first agent of socialization satisfying the infants primary drives. The
mother eases hunger and ensures that her child is warm, clean, and helped to sleep. She provides
affection, protection, and closeness while shaping aggressive and competitive behavior.
Parenting choices early on determine whether the developing child views the world as friendly or
hostile.
Socialization is based on the communication of meaning and value. In earliest infancy,
bonding takes place by mutual communication between infant and mother. The childs messages
are in the form of cries, smiles, and other body language. The mother responds to these
messages. From her behavior, the infants behavior acquires meaning. Each interaction with a
family member is a contingency dilemma, the solution of which teaches the infant how to get
rewards and avoid unpleasant consequences.
Parents further define behavior as the child grows. The proper role for each stage of
development is learned. If mutual expectations are met, the child will modify behavior to meet
the changing expectations of family and society.
With growth, the child acquires language, slowly at first but with increasing rapidity.
Language enhances communication and enables the child to better meet parental expectations.
With verbal communication come values and attitudes as a child tries to mirror his/her parental
modes. These aspects of socialization are called identification and internalization. This process
by which an individual internalizes values and attitudes, beliefs and convictions, norms and
sanction and acquires the culturally accepted behavior patterns of his/her group is what we have
to label as socialization.

Anthropologists named the early stages of socialization child rearing. The patterns of
child care, the behavior which is emphasized or discouraged, and the pattern models which are
rewarded or punished are all culturally determined.
Such cross-parent child-rearing practices explain similar personality configurations on a
society. Thus, our knowledge of Philippine child-rearing patterns aids us in understanding the
Filipino personality. Widely spread behavioral norms such as respect for elders, utang-na-loob
(reciprocity), pakikisama (maintaining harmonious relationships, courteous language, hiya, and
amor propio emerge from similar parenting styles.

Theories of Socialization
Social scientists maintain that human behavior is learned from others rather than
determined biologically. Some theories that support this explanation are the reinforcement
theory, cognitive theory, symbolic interaction theory, and interpersonal theory.
Reinforcement theory, as described by Thorndike and Skinner, claims that the individual
can be conditioned to act in any way if the appropriate rewards and punishment are repeatedly
applied. In contrast, cognitive theory is concerned with the internal state of the individual,
his/her perceptions and increasing abstract reasoning ability, as he/she learns, at varying ages,
participate in society.
Symbolic interactions claims that individuals are capable of creating their own solutions
to lifes problems. It emphasizes the role of language in socialization and focuses on the
individuals self-concept arising from interaction with others. Thus, the symbols to which people
attach meaning and value are the basis of human communication. Cooley maintained that each
person develops a self and feelings about this self through interactions with others. He
emphasized this point in his concept of the looking-glass self, with the notion that a persons
self is a reflection of how others perceive him/her. There are three steps we follow in the process
of building our looking-glass self: (1) our understanding of how we look to others; (2) our notion
of the way others judge the image we think they perceive; and (3) our interpretation of the
importance and meaning of the judgment of others.
In infancy and childhood, we gain impressions of our looking-glass self primarily from
our parents and other family members with whom we have intimate contact. A child who learns
from his/her family that he/she is inferior may cling to a feeling of inadequacy even though
he/she attains spectacular success in later life. Conversely, a child who develops self-confidence
from his/her family may preserve that feeling even though he/she meets with disappointment in
adult life.
In later life, however, we do tend to become discriminating in the selection of our social
mirrors. This means that as we mature, we select reference groups to whom we give special
attention. Our reference group consists of people whose opinions and judgment we value. This
varies with different individuals the scholar would probably be concerned about the reactions

of other scholars, the adolescent about his/her image with his/her peer group, and the student
about the opinions of teachers and classmates.
It is not necessarily true that the image we get from our reference groups is an accurate
one, since our perception and interpretation may be faulty. It may be that an ego-boosting remark
we take at face value is flattery, while a scolding may have been caused by the boss headache
rather than a reaction to our inadequacy. Life is a continual round of reappraisals, with many
chances of making mistakes in forming the looking-glass self. As with other explanations of how
we create ourselves, however, it is important to note that things we learn earliest are those most
difficult to change in later life, thus, early influences and images tend to dominate our lives.
Sullivans interpersonal theory emphasizes that human beings are the product of their
relationships with significant others (like the reference group), or individuals important to them.
Individuals seek goals of satisfaction and security (feelings of belonging). Anxiety is that result
of a feeling of alternation and disapproval. In relating to others, individuals develop many ways
which are designed to reduce tension and conflict in interpersonal relations. For example, the
child tends to emphasize those aspects which are pleasing to significant adults. In focusing on
those performances which bring favor or disfavor, the self is developed as a system of reflected
appraisals.
A child is born into a society with an established pattern of role relationships. There is a
range of behavior expected between various persons depending on sex, age, status, and other
factors. Each individual develops a concept of self as a result of early relationships which
become increasingly difficult to change as more learning takes place. This self-concept is learned
from significant other people and leads to predictability within the family. An individuals
personality develops within the matrix of interpersonal experiences he/she becomes, in part, a
compromise between their expectations and individuals own capacities. Personality patterns are
learned and since the demands of different cultures are different, so are the personalities which
emerge as responses to those demands.
The emphasis is on current motivation the present determinants of behavior. As the
prescribed roles change, so does the child, sometimes gradually, sometimes abruptly. Role
definitions change with age; therefore, the childs behavior also changes. New behavior is a
fulfillment of shared expectations rather than an expression of earlier childhood expectations.
Since interpersonal theory is culturally oriented, it is necessary to look for different
personality dynamics, different areas of conflict, and different personalities. This theory provides
the concepts needed for the understanding of differences and offers the possibility of identifying
other conflict areas which would be denied by a more instinctive theory with its emphasis on
physiological universals.
The theory also points to areas of fruitful inquiry since it emphasizes the importance of
role models and the expectations of significant others. It is important to consider the attitudes and
reports of mothers, as well as the activities the child shares with the mother or with significant
older persons.

None of these theories is wrong. All can be helpful in describing and explaining the
intricacies of human socialization. Because of its group emphasis, symbolic interaction is the
theory with which sociologists are most comfortable.
Socialization in the Philippines
Studies in the Philippines child-rearing practices have been conducted by a number of
social scientists. Psychologists Guthrie and Jacobs describe the expectations and behavior of
Philippine parents toward their children. They attempt to interpret the role of early childhood
experience in the determination of Filipino adult behavior and personality using Sullivans theory
of interpersonal relationships as a basis.
In the Filipino family, children are generally considered assets, blessings, gift from
God. Family life is centered on them. Filipino children are usually breastfed on a flexible
schedule for about a year. Their other needs are taken care of as long as possible. Dependency
becomes a conflict area only when disapproved and is usually interpreted in the framework of
close interpersonal relationships and respect. Parents teach their children how to handle hurt,
anger, fear, and curiosity and to control their whims or desires in culturally approved ways.
Filipino children have many opportunities to observe adult models since they are not
excluded from adult activities and are generally surrounded by many members of the family.
Since they are in continuous contact with adults, they soon learn the techniques of dealing with
stress and of getting along with others. Modesty, respect, self-control, and hiya serve to suppress
expressions of anger or disobedience.
In a wide network of interpersonal relationships, Filipino children learn the value of
utang-na-loob a pattern of reciprocal obligations, gratitude and loyalty. They become
considerate of others and sensitive to what others think of them.
Age, sex, and role are important factors to consider in raising children. Role behavior is
related to the position and status of the individual in the family and that of the family in the
community. The older children have special tasks and responsibilities toward the younger ones
and in turn are entitled to a certain respect. After the age of five, sex roles become somewhat
more defined. At puberty, work and play activities for boys and girls are more clearly
differentiated. Masculine and feminine role expectations are communicated to young adolescents
as they approach manhood or womanhood.
Special tasks and responsibilities are taught to the child through demand training which
takes place when the child is able to understand instructions. The most consistent form of
demand training, particularly among lower-income families, is asking the child to do errands.
This is practiced to a lesser extent in the middle- and upper income families where domestic
helpers do the errands.
Parental values and expectations as well as concepts of ideal behavior influence parents
behavior toward their children. Expectations still emerge from the traditional culture. Filipino
parents value respect, obedience, gratitude, and trust in God. However, modern influences like
education, mass media, and exposure to other cultures often cause the younger generation to

question the ways of their parents. The result is a mixture of old and new patterns. Attitudes and
practices surrounding birth, feeding and weaning, toilet training, dependency, hostility, and
sexuality are undergoing change even as some traditional elements remain.
As the Filipino child grows older, the influence of playmates in the neighborhood, the
peer group, and later, classmates in school becomes greater. Paz P. Mendez and F. Landa Jocano
describe peer influence on the Filipino adolescent. Sociologically speaking, adolescence is that
stage in life where the individual emerges from the family cocoon to widen his/her social circle.
It does not constitute emancipation for the kin nor the replacement of the family. Filipino
adolescents develop close ties with a peer group, the barkada. Peers are considered a very
important reference group. In selecting friends, adolescents place high value on personality and
similarity of interests, and are quite selective. Members of the barkada feel very comfortable
with each other on boy-girl relationships, school, family, sports, and recreation. The barkada
fosters unity and cohesion among its members, especially during joint activities, whether picking
fruit from a neighbors yard, dancing in town fiestas, or doing volunteer work in beautifying the
church or town plaza. In urban areas, the barkada find themselves watching movies, eating, or
shopping, joining sports or beautification activities in the residential subdivisions, or just
studying together.
These Philippine patterns of socialization throw light on Filipino personality traits such as
hospitality, politeness, close emotional family ties, utang-na-loob, pakikisama, hiya, amor popio,
and sensitivity, and the often contrasting modern characteristics of practicality, autonomy,
success, achievement, progress, and productivity now espoused mainly in urban areas.
In fear of too rapid change, family-life movements and organizations in the local,
regional, and national levels, and in church, in government, and in civic agencies give much
attention to the culture-preserving primary role of the family in the socialization and
development of todays Filipino youth.
Formal education also plays an important role in Philippine socialization, since high
premium is placed on college degrees and titles. Nonformal programs like seminars, workshops,
and skill-training courses also prepare the individual to be a responsible and productive member
of society. The government has acknowledged the tremendous contribution of nonformal
programs to socialization with the institutionalization of the Bureau of Nonformal Education in
the Department of Education. The Philippines has joined the worldwide movement of basic
knowledge, skills, and values that allow adults and out-of-school youth to improve the quality of
their life and increase their opportunities to participate in the development process. Membership
and participation in religious activities in the parish and in the barangay also play a part in the
socialization of the Filipino. Later, adult socialization continues on the farm, in the factory, and
in other work environments.
With the influx of modern ideas and better education, Filipino women who comprise
half of the population have become more aware of their rights and have organized womens
groups. Through wider participation in activities outside the home, in the labor force, in the
professions and in other community affairs, Filipino women play an increasingly significant role
in the development of society. Quite a number, including the first woman president, Corazon C.
Aquino (1986-1992), have made an impact on both national and international movements. But

though Filipinas have both status and power vis a vis men, public leadership positions come
slowly. Equal pay for equal work, protection from unfair labor practices, and liberation from
sexual harassment and exploitation in the workplace still remain to be achieved particularly for
women from lower-income groups.
CONFORMITY
Human life is a group life. It is people living together, sharing a common culture that
regulates their collective existence and provides methods for the satisfaction of their needs and
their adaptation to their environment. Normative systems prescribe the behavior required of
members to maintain order and stability and to coordinate the peoples activities in the pursuit of
group goals and objectives. Norms are rules and regulations, formal or informal, which specify
(1) the modes of behavior and the acceptable means to achieve desired ends, (2) the specific
roles of individuals occupying different positions, and (3) the actions permitted or prohibited to
certain members of a group.
Since members of a social group are bound together by their adherence to a common
culture, it is easy to understand why some degree of conformity to group norms is necessary. The
erosion of confidence in the cultural norms of a social group leads to anomie lawlessness and
social instability and tends to destroy the group, just as the deterioration of the cement which
blinds bricks together in a wall will leave only a pile of rubble hardly resembling the original
structure. Thus, the continuity of social life is safeguarded by formal or informal means of social
control, censure, and punishment of those members who refuse to follow the acceptable patterns
of behavior. Social order can be maintained only if social life is organized and institutions
defined and regulated through folkways, customs, mores, rules, and laws.

Conformity and Social Control

Social control, then, is the process by which conformity and adherence to socialization
and approved values are ensured. The means of social control in a group are varied. They range
from the socialization process itself, in which the members are taught what is considered to be
desirable or undesirable, to coercion, physical violence, propaganda, and other less obvious ways
of imposing conformity. In modern times, the influence of mass media newspapers, radio,
cinema, and TV is recognized as a powerful means of social control under most circumstances.
In the hands of those with no loyalty to the culture, however, the media can be used to undermine
norms.
Some of the pressures toward conformity come from individuals, since most of their
needs, interests, and desires can be satisfied only with their social group. In a sense, these are
developmental, since they are acquired by the person in the course of social experiences. Other
forces that ensure conformity are external, derived from the demands of social life. Formal and
institutionalized means of social control are enforced by authority, power, law, government, and

religion. Informal control consists of mores and traditions, unwritten standards and values, and
sanctions and punishment.
The individual acquires the internal constraints that encourage conformity in the process
of socialization which begins in the family, the peer group, and the school. In the course of
socialization, the individual learns to be sensitive to the judgment, opinions, and expectations of
others. These serve as effective instruments of social control.
DEVIANCE
For the most part, human behavior does follow the social norm, but there are occasional
individuals whose behavior does not agree with the practices of society. These individuals have
developed a general attitude or specific interest which society does not encourage. In a society
which emphasizes a sense of the group or community, an independent-minded individual may be
looked upon as lacking loyalty. Among cultures that have a tendency toward understatement and
nonverbal communication, frankness may not be appreciated. Women and young people who are
outspoken may be considered aggressive or disrespectful.
In most cases, socialization effectively develops conforming citizens. However, human
nature and society are too complex for us to expect absolute uniformity. Deviation does occur.
There will be some individuals whose actions do not coincide with the type of behavior desired
by the society. In a closed, traditional society, such individuals are often shunned and/or isolated
by group members. In an open and more democratic society, they may be tolerated and have
some chance to influence the values of the group. Given the opportunities, they may become
great inventors and social innovators. In a rigidly authoritarian society, however, they could
become frustrated or persecuted victims of strict adherence to traditional norms and standards.

Deviance and Social Change

Moreover, it must be recognized that society is not a static structure that can exist without
change. Any social group is dynamic both in process and structure. Group life requires some
room for freedom and creativity. Progress cannot be achieved without some degree of deviation
and change. Absolute conformity to social norms stifles the individual and leads to passivity,
indifference, and stagnation.
The occurrence of rallies, pickets, strikes, civil disobedience, student activism, and other
forms of demonstrations and rebel movements may be viewed as signs of protests against the
prevailing norms and practices of the established social, political, and economic order. New ideas
and changing values and attitudes lead to new behavior and may be escalate into social
movements and start social change.
Social change refers to a significant shift or modification in the lifestyle of a society,
affecting major segments of the population and bringing about transformation of its social
structure, its institutions, and its traditional values and patterns of behavior. Social change may

lead to either development or retrogression. The deviant may be an innovative thinker

championing constructive ideas, a radical misfit attacking the social order, or a maladjusted
person caught in the grip of a destructive vice. Though revolution can bring about rapid change
in political institutions, socio-cultural change always occurs slowly. This explains why most
revolutions ultimately fail. Seventy years of the Communist Revolution failed to create the New
Soviet Man. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) broke apart into Russia and other
states. The Russians survived a 70-year attempt at resocialization.

Form of Deviant Behavior

When an individuals behavior transgresses the norms of the group, he/she is subjected to
negative social sanctions such as disapproval, ridicule, deprivation, or punishment.
One may deviate either by resisting social norms or by observing them more fully than
the average person. Florence Nightingale, who introduce wartime nursing, and the infamous
murderer Jack the Ripper, are both deviants. The saint and the criminal, the genius and the school
failure are all deviants. The constructive type of deviant retards it. Both, however, may suffer
because their behavior varies greatly from that of the average person. Either type is an interesting
social phenomenon, but in this text, our emphasis will be on the destructive type.
Techniques for social control are never completely effective in any society. Some amount
of deviations is tolerated as long as minimum conformity to the cultural standard is maintained.
Deviation itself is patterned rather than random. Merton points out four distinct forms of
deviance: innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion.
Innovation, as a form of deviance, refers to the use of new or illicit techniques to achieve
desired ends. When societys goals are stressed more heavily than the methods by which they are
reached, people are likely to disregard moral or legal standards to achieve them. The individual
acquires the cultural emphasis of the goals without internalizing the norms by which they are
reached. For example, people in business may use unfair practices to gain big profits, students
may cheat on exams or use bribery to obtain high grades or a pace in the government board
exams. However, innovation may also mean the individual finds ways to an approved goal which
saves him/her time and effort, without the use of illicit means. This type of innovator is what
modern society rewards a person able to save time and effort while achieving desired social
goals.
Realism results when one who cannot achieve valued goals gives up trying but
continuous to conform to prevailing rules and outward forms to ally the anxieties created by
lowered levels of aspiration. An example is the meticulous, rule-abiding official or the cautious,
fearful employee who over conforms.
Retreatism is a total escape from a situation where one cannot achieve desired goals and
gives up all sanctioned means to reach them. Retreatism is, thus, a complete rejection of valued

ends and approved means. We may consider drug addicts, alcoholics, and prostitutes as falling
under this category.
Rebellion results from the frustration generated by very limited opportunities to reach
desired goals and leads to alienation form the norms, standards, and institutions by which the
goals are normally reached. Rebels advocate change and the introduction of new values and
institutions. Examples are student activists who reject prevailing norms and resort to disapproved
means, including violence, to achieve their ends. Drug abusers, some from affluent and
prominent families, may have started on drugs as a form of rebellion against any number of
factors parental neglect, over-permissiveness, rigid authority, corruption.
Drug addiction is often a misguided attempt to shake off social control. Individuals,
having been warned against drugs by parents and teachers, suspect that these authority figures
are trying to deny them something that must be very good. As adolescents, they are looking for
ways to evade being controlled and to manifest their independence. They little realize that drug
addiction becomes more confining than the most rigid adult control. Teachers, physicians, and
parents object to drugs not because they wish to control the youth; rather, they wish to guide
them toward freedom of choice, as they know that free choice ends when slavery to drugs begins.
The deviant-turned-drug-addict has given up on life and has abandoned real independence. To a
great extent, drug therapy centers on helping the individual regain lost freedom.
In Jocanos study of slum dwellers in Manila, he points to the street-corner gangs (kantoboys and barkada) as a prominent feature of slum life. Street-corner gangs get involved in street
fights and petty crimes and often end up as criminals later in life. He reveals how deviant
females become involved in prostitution and other activities. These deviant groups develop their
own distinct subculture. They have goals, set up norms, and put up sanctions, creating their own
forms of social control. The youthful deviant may be manifesting independence, but he/she is
definitely a conformist in the barkada.
Aldaba-Lim states that, in the mid-eighties, a new breed of vulnerable children and youth
drug dependents, teen-aged mothers, and child prostitutes has arisen in the cities and capitals of
the developing world, including Manila. These street children have lost the basic support
mechanism of their families, are left on their own, and are subject to abuse, exploitation, and
other dangers. As is true in other developing nations, there are deep economic roots to the
problems of child abandonment and prostitution in the Philippines, Aldaba-Lim asserts that the
real problem of the street child is not abandonment but poverty of the land, of education, of
potential, of esteem, of opportunity. A poverty of the body and of the spirit.
This problem is on-going. There are millions of street children roaming Philippine urban
centers. Almost a hundred thousand live in the streets of Metropolitan Manila. Despite programs
such as day-care centers, street schools, and shelters supported by government and
nongovernment organizations, this number is expected to grow as a comprehensive solution to
the problem of poverty eludes political and social institutions. The Philippines is the only country
among the Northeast Asian and Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries where the
incidence of poverty and the number of poor families actually increased during the 1980s. The

new addition to the ranks of the poor numbered about 3.1 million from 1985 to 1991 (giving a
kind of glimpse but not the updated figure).
Individual or group deviation gives rise to social problems. Deviant behavior is a
disregard for standards of propriety. It varies from mild misdemeanors, amusing or irritating
eccentricities, apathetic neglect of responsibilities, violations of the law, and covert defiance of
sexual mores to delinquency and crime.
To some extent, deviance may represent a failure in socialization. Deviant behavior,
however, is too complex a phenomenon to be explained solely by faulty socialization. Changing
conditions in society like economic crisis, political instability, and more decadence often result in
social disorder.
Deviance often becomes a problem because of the intolerance of a conforming society.
Drug addicts turn to crime because outlawing of drugs has made the drugs too expensive for
them to buy on an average income. Similarly, homosexual behavior may become flagrant
because homosexuals feel unable to openly proclaim their sexual preference. Though society
may cause deviant behavior, it does not invalidate its consequences. The drug addict inevitably
suffers from a slowness of response which is likely to cause accidents in an industrialized
society. Also, drug-induced lethargy and lowered energy output could seriously hinder social
advance if drug addiction affected a high proportion of the populace.
Homosexuality has problems regardless of the attitudes of straight society. Perhaps the
most dramatic is the association of homosexuality with the dreaded acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome (AIDS), a disease for which there is no cure even until now. Medical reports indicate
that homosexual activity and use of nonsterile drug paraphernalia are major factors related to the
transmission of AIDS.

Crimes
Crimes involving assault against persons and property are found in every nation, and the
Philippines is no exception. The use of bodyguards and the presence of authorized and
unauthorized vigilantes testify to a growing fear of criminal activity. Total crimes in Manila have
increased, particularly heinous crimes such as rape, armed robbery, and kidnapping. This has
prompted police authorities to equip their staff with more powerful firearms to cope with rising
crime. The general upsurge in violence in the countryside, partially the result of New Peoples
Army (NPA) and Muslim separatist group activity, has made many once-quiet rural districts even
more perilous than the city slums.
There are no simple answers to the crime problem. Police and courts are essential, but
their effectiveness is greater when supported by a unified citizenry.
If there is a general moral consensus and relatively few deviants, crime is minimized.
When there is conflict and no general respect for law, crime abounds. Poverty usually increases

the crime rate, but prosperity is never so great that some people do not find crime tempting.
Crime is usually of greatest in rapidly growing areas with large numbers of teenagers and young
people rather than in relatively stable communities. The greatest deterrent to crime is a cohesive
family system accompanied by effective schools, strong churches, a dependable economy, and
population stability. To the extent that areas lack any of these, they will be faced by high rates of
criminal activity.

CRIMES and DELINQUENCY

2014
Reported Crimes
Total
1,161,188
Solved
-------Efficiency Rate (%)
-------Index Crimes
492,772
Crime against Persons
258,444
Murder
9,945
Homicide
5,520
Physical Injury
232,685
Rape
10,294
Crime against Property
231,005
Robbery
52,798
Theft
164,589
Carnapping
12,517
Cattle Rustling
1,101
Solved
-----Efficiency Rate (%)
-----Non-index Crime
510,378
Solved
-----Efficiency Rate (%)
-----Crime Rate (per 100,000 population)
Philippines
1,004
Index
493
Non-index
511

Source: Philippines in Figures 2015

2012

2013

217,812

1,033,833

79,878

295,237

36.67

28.56

129,161

457,944

51,069

245,821

8,484

9,072

3,022

6,409

34,825
4,378
78,092

222,931
7,409
212,123

26,968

52,578

43,606

146,583

6,919

11,326

579

1,656

50,142

112,634

26.1

24.6

88,651

575,889

60,574

182,603

68.33

31.71

226

1,053

134

466

92

586

5. SOCIAL PROCESSES
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
- Old, old, clich
Society constantly changes. The ways in which changes occur are called social
processes. A concise definition of a social process is that it is the repetitive interaction that
creates patterns of interaction called social structure. This underlying form of social organization
affects and sometimes dominates the behavior, attitudes, and values which explain other social
processes. Those processes include here are competition and conflict, assimilation and
acculturation, cooperation and differentiation, stratification and amalgamation. These social
processes always involve more than one person, but they may apply to large or small groups.
Since much of the activity of social life may be understood in terms of these processes, it may be
helpful to make a in brief analysis of each type, but first it is a must to see and examine social
structure.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE
There are three and only three dimensions that describe the ways in which people can
interact. These are direction, number and intensity. In direction, individuals can interact with
people at the same social level as themselves (horizontal interaction) or with people either
socially above or below them (vertical interaction).
In number, individuals can interact either horizontally or vertically with one other person
(dyadic interaction) or with more than one person (polyadic interaction).
In intensity, individuals can interact with others vertically or horizontally, dyadicly or
polyadicly; and, infrequently, on a single matter of little importance (single stranded) or,
frequently, on many matters of great importance (multistranded).
Interaction between Social Classes
The terms horizontal and vertical are used to designate different types of class
relationships. If one has horizontal relationships, this means that interaction is confined largely to
those of the same social class. Thus, the rich would associate with the rich, the poor with the
poor, and the middle classes with other in-betweens. Horizontal relationships seem like the most
natural type to many people, since those at the same class level are likely to face common
problems and are inclined to have a similar view of life. Those who do not react this way,
especially if they are of a lower class, are often accused of lacking class consciousness. In spite
of the supposed ease of interaction with those of the same class level, the Philippines has many
examples of vertical relationships.
Two kinds of structure dominate Philippine life vertical and horizontal.

Vertical relationships externals to the extended family are often in the form known as a
patron-client relationship in which the rich family is the patron, protecting the other family in
times of trouble, through some forms as loaning or giving money, helping to see that education is
available for the children, providing emergency health care, and the like. The poor family, in
return, may render personal service and often political support to the patron family. If life is seen
in terms of conflict, the conflict will be not between different social classes, but between two or
more sets of patrons and clients. The patron-client relationship create a vertical, dyadic,
multistranded structure. Relationships within a family are mainly horizontal, dyadic,
multistranded structures even as though, within the nuclear family, the relationships are polyadic
and not dyadic.
Each of these structures has different behavior and value rules pertaining to
communication, needs fulfillment, and stability.

Communication Behavior and Value Rules

In a multistranded relationship, communication is informal and carried out face-to-face.
This is called communication behavior.
In a vertical relationship, messages flow in vertical patterns with more messages from top
(patron) to bottom (client) and fewer from bottom to top. Horizontal communication is limited,
even frowned upon, because the goal is to keep clients oriented toward the patrons need. In a
horizontal, multistranded relationship, vertical communication is limited and is used to connect
the family to the larger world. This is known as communication direction.
In a vertical relationship, peremptory commands come from above, humble requests from
below. Polite terms are used to distinguish the command role (patron) from that of the
subordinate (client). These are referred to as communication styles.

Need Fulfillment Behavior and Value Rules

In vertical relationships, the value of things exchanged appear unequal to the external
observer, but to those in the relationship, they appear equal. Good patrons must provide whatever
they can for their followers. This often leads, in political and economic life, to what other
cultures may call cronyism, favoritism, and nepotism. To Filipinos, this behavior is generally
seen as necessary and acceptable as long as it does not exceed some unstated norm.
In horizontal, multistranded, dyadic relationship, the needs of family members are usually
dissimilar. But things exchanged to meet needs are of roughly equal value.

Participation Behavior and Value Rules

In patron-client relationships, clients are easily and frequently mobilized by patrons. In
agriculture, clients, when called, quickly appear to work the patrons land. Politicians build
extensive patron-client networks to gain both votes and campaign workers. Business managers
likewise find that client workers can be motivated to greater productivity.

Stability Behavior and Value Rules

Multistranded relationships are highly stable. The degree of stability is inversely related
to the speed of change. This is because the greater the number of strands which tie people
together, the more upsetting change is. On the other hand, though change may be slow, these
relationships create strong feelings of belonging. Few individuals feel either alienation or
anomie.

Social Structural Norms

Structures require glue of some kind to hold them together. In vertical or horizontal,
multistranded societies, a set of social norms serves as the glue. These norms have different
names in different multistranded societies, but regardless of name, they perform similar
functions. In the Philippines, patron-client dyads and horizontal, multistranded relationships are
supported by the norms of utang-na-loob, hiya, and compradrazgo (ritual parenthood).
Utang-na-loob informs people of the continuing obligation they owe others, whether they
are at the same or at different social levels. Hiya is the sense of shame felt by individuals and
their kin when debts of obligation are unpaid. Compradrazgo is used to link families to the larger
world. Usually, the family attaches itself to important patrons, the ritual parents, who can help
the family survive. More often, ritual parents are higher on the social ladder, although
occasionally, they may be of the same social level, and serve to expand the size of the kinship
group.

STRATIFICATION
It is customary for the geologist, in analyzing the earths surface, to indicate different
layers (strata) which have different geological characteristics. In somewhat the same way, the
sociologist looks at society as comprising different class layers or strata and thus speaks of
stratification.
Stratification involves a great many aspects since it means that people in different strata
have different privileges, different responsibilities, different education, and different attitudes

toward religion, government, and family. The basis for stratification is the difference in wealth
and income.
In rural Philippines, these differences are expressed primarily but not exclusively in
land ownership. In the past, it was not uncommon for a few hundreds or even thousands of
hectares of land while many others were landless. Some individuals were very large landowners;
others were moderate or small landowners; others were tenants; and still others, the agricultural
laborers, with no claim to even a parcel of land. Land reform has altered this situation in many
parts of the country and is still important although, as Malcolm Churchill states, it is now
important for equity reasons, not for economic reasons. Population has grown so rapidly, it has
already outstripped the availability of land, and land reform can, therefore, no longer make a
significant contribution to economic growth. There simply is no longer enough land to go
around, leaving many rural people landless and entirely dependent on wage labor.
In urban areas, stratification is manifested through prestige and income in different
professions and business occupations. The physician has more prestige and income than the
wage laborer and, therefore, occupies a higher rank in stratification. Likewise, the army general
is regarded differently than the junior-grade officer or the private.
Rural society tends to have relatively few occupations and a great gulf exists between
large landowners and the rest of the rural populace. Urban society also often has a great gulf
between the top and bottom brackets, though it tends to develop many occupations of
intermediate prestige and income which constitute the middle class.
Stratification in the Philippines has not been so much a way of separating different
groups of society as it has been a way of bringing them together. Many observers have remarked
on the presence of vertical patron-client relationships where an individual in the lower class,
usually a tenant or farm laborer, follows the lead of the more substantial landowners. He/She
looks to them for favors and, in return, assists them with labor and votes during elections. Thus,
the factions in the rural scene are more likely to be between various groups of tenants and
landlords than a division between different social-class groups. Similarly, a tradition is
established whereby leadership is expected to come from the upper strata. This vertical
relationship minimized some of the stress and conflict which might otherwise occur in the rural
society though it may reduce the initiative of those in the lower strata.

CONFLICT AND COMPETITION

The two processes are often confused both in theory and in practice. They each imply a
struggle for scarce goods. In conflict, the struggle is carried on by eliminating or weakening
those who might become competitors. In competition, the struggle is carried on through the
development of excellence. Thus, if two store owners were in competition, each owner would
endeavor to attract customers by selling goods at lower prices and by giving better service. If
they were in conflict instead of competition, they might seek to physically harm one another or
destroy each others property.

Conflict
Whenever human beings are gathered together, conflict usually occurs. This conflict
often comes about because one party or the other finds that his/her amor propio has been hurt.
Philippine culture has devised a number of techniques, known as pakikisama in some areas,
which are designed to prevent or minimize conflict arising from this source.
Conflict also occurs because people feel that others have not kept their status obligations
that landlords have not been sufficiently considerate of their tenant, parents of their child or
children of their elders.
Group conflict results not because of personal wrongs, but because of identification with
groups thought to have opposing interests. It often takes two forms in the Philippines. One is
conflict between economic groups; the other is conflict between ethnic groups.
A persistent conflict between ethnic groups is that between Christians and non-Christians
in Mindanao, one which has revolved around land ownership. The non-Christian family does not
have a legal document to prove their ownership of a piece of land. They have always lived there
and assumed that the land was something that could not really be sold. The Christian settlers,
however, are generally family with legal forms governing land ownership and have obtained the
proper papers. Thus, a varied definition of land ownership is involved. Non-Christians frequently
feel they are being defrauded of what are rightfully theirs, while the Christians feel that they
have complied with all the requirements of law made for the transfer of land. This kind of
tension has erupted in Muslim-Christian conflict and there is also occasional conflict between
members of smaller non-Muslim groups and Christian settlers.
Economic conflict often involves a landlord and tenant. During the last three or four
centuries, there have been occasional instances when usually a forceful leader and proceeded to
attack the haciendas of the landlords and sometimes the towns in which absentee landlords
resided. The tenants would loot, rape, and kill in their desire to avenge real or fancied wrongs.
Such movements, sometimes classified under the term colorum, frequently had somewhat of a
religious base with the leader claiming to have a divine type of revelation. These revolts were
local in character and were eventually put down.
Later, the socioreligious movements were joined by NPA which had a Communist base.
These movements kept some parts of the country in considerable turmoil. The peasant movement
frequently became a government within itself, which levied taxes and took vengeance on those
who informed the government authorities against them. These movements have never had
enough nationwide appeal to alter the balance of Philippine politics, but they have been quite
significant in several local areas.
Sometimes labor disputes reach the conflict stage. When this happens, the labor union
tries to drive the employer out of business or the employer seeks to destroy the union. The
unions weapon is a strike, which prevents the employer from doing business, while the
employers weapons is a lockout, which deprives the labor union members of wages.

Usually, strikes do not quite reach the conflict stage and are a means of testing the
intensity of feeling. That is, they indicate both how strongly a business will resist the unions
demands and how strongly workers will resist an employers offers. Ordinarily, both sides are
anxious to settle and agreement is reached. However, strikes can reach a destructive conflict
phase and labor legislation seeks to prevent this. In a high-unemployment society, however, the
unions strike weapon is far less effective than in a nation whose labor is scarce.
Disputes between different groups within a nation have sometimes reached the stage of
civil war as in the mid-1990s situation in Bosnia when other alternatives failed and two sides
resorted to armed conflict.
The cost of conflict is evident to the casual observer. In addition to the loss of life and
property, there is also the disruption of social relationships. When conflict is at a high pitch, it is
practically impossible to carry on the normal processes of human living. Anyone who has the
ability to reflect on social cost is therefore anxious to limit or avoid conflict, if at all possible.
Because once begun, the conflict process is difficult to stop. Each aggressive act instigates a still
more hostile retaliation.
The conflict process tends to grow more bitter as it proceeds. Grievances are told and
retold within each group and hostile attitudes are intensified. As a result, each group develops a
set of moral arguments which justify a chain of even more savage retaliations. Conflict may
frequently escalate to a point where the cost of the battle is far greater than any possible gains
which might be won.
Having detailed the cost of conflict, we should perhaps ask if there are any possible gains
from conflict. The major gain is probably that conflict forces us to face issues and to do
something about them. In this respect, group conflict may be compared to the effect of a fever in
the human body costly and dangerous but calling attention to deep-seated troubles which must
be remedied if health is to be maintained. Just as the treatment of a fever goes beyond merely
maintaining order and tries to treat the basic disturbance. The end result of the conflict maybe the
issues are resolved at least for a time in a fairly definite manner. An example might be seen in
the religious differences. Instead of just piously deploring the conflict, the moderates became
committed to a definite program the separation of the church and state so that religious
differences might be tolerated. Perhaps, if the Philippines had been forced in times past to reach
some definite resolution of Muslim-Christian differences, later conflict might have been avoided.
As indicated before, some sociologists see conflict as the major social process. They
interpret social life as a constant conflict interrupted by an occasional truce. Other sociologists
see social life as, primarily, cooperation disturbed by occasional conflict.
The cost of conflict has stimulated efforts to settle disputes without a resort to violence.
Foremost among these are the establishment of courts of law. Persons who feel they have been
injured by other people may bring suit for compensation. Thus, they have a chance to protect
their interests without engaging their opponent in armed combat. The substitution of judicial
decision for personal conflict is one of the high achievements of a civilized society.

Since courts tend to be slow and litigation expensive, there is sometimes an agreement to
use the less formal process of arbitration. Under this system, two or more disputants agree to
accept the decision of a third party. This process is often used in labor relations as a means of
protecting both employees and employers while avoiding strikes.
All of these alternatives in conflict are very likely to involve compromise. Opponents
have to settle for less than their complete objectives to come to an agreement. Compromise is
always difficult and often seems like a surrender of noble ideas. However, it may contribute
more to human progress than a conflict which kills people and destroys national property.

Competition
Competition is both personal and impersonal. It has often been said that other than
romantic, there is relatively little intense personal competition in rural Philippines. This,
however, is not to say that there are no clear-cut illustrations of competition in the rural scene.
Certain aspects of the barrio/barangay fiesta are strongly competitive, for example, the race for
barangay queen or muse. The competition surrounding this event may reach an intensity which
produces some conflict and results in families spending large sums preparing and presenting their
candidate to the community.
The barangay public schools is a principal purveyor of competition in rural Philippine
life. The vying for scholastic honors and other positions of prominence sparks sharp competition
among those who can stay in the running. The same children and families may be involved year
after year. Such competition is not limited to the child alone; it may extend to whole families and
may even result in bad blood between family groups, where real or imagined injustices are
involved.
Rural athletic events, especially basketball, volleyball, and softball, contribute to the
development of the spirit of competition between teams and barangays. Certain barangays
become well-known for producing hard-fighting teams and these teams extend the image of the
barangay as they match skills with other barangay teams. In spite of this, college physical
education teachers complain that one of the many deterrents to the healthy development of
highly skilled teams is that a spirit of competition, as well as training in the basic playing skills,
has to be built up. They have noted this lack of competitive spirit in students from the rural areas.
In urban areas as well, intense personal competition is found in the classroom and in
romantic situations. Everyone knows the joy of being favored by one of the opposite sex and the
pain of being rejected. Marriage, supposedly, limits, even if it does not end, this romantic
competition. The ranking of students by grades is a form of competition in which the top student
may get a scholarship and the bottom one flunked. Contests for political office or for leadership
positions in organizations also involve keen competition.

Effects of Competition
Competition operates as one method of allocating scarce rewards. Who can best cultivate
a particular section of farmland? This could be decided on the basis of land title. But if a family
is going to keep the title, it must be willing to exert the energy and care required to enable it to
meet the cost of operation and still make a profit. Who are to be hired by the upper echelons of
government and business? Those who have competitively demonstrated their superiority. Who
are to enjoy the luxuries of society? Those whose competitive prowess in business, farming, or
other activities has brought them this kind of reward.
It would be possible to allocate scarce goods by other methods. We might ration goods on
the basis of need, age, or social status. We might distribute scarce goods by lottery or we could
divide them equally among all people. Each of these methods creates difficulties. Needs are
highly debatable; people do not have identical needs and it is difficult to figure out whose needs
should be considered the most important. Giving equal rewards to people who are unequal in
their needs, effort, or abilities seems certain to be disputed. Competition is an imperfect method
of assigning rewards, but it works and eliminates a lot of arguments. To some extent, competition
promotes the activity of the total group. When people strive for scarce prizes, they necessarily
exert themselves in ways that contribute to group welfare. Any teacher knows how a contest may
energize lethargic students. The thrill of a race or contest is one of the best incentives to stimulate
creative effort. This has even been applied in Socialist countries which formerly abhorred the
idea of competition but now have factories engaged in contests with each other for maximum
increase in production in what is frankly described as Socialist competition.
The farmer may be only dimly aware of impersonal competition, but he/she feels its
effects keenly. For instance, sugar from the Philippines is in competition with sugar form Brazil.
If Brazilian sugar planters can produce sugar more cheaply than Filipino planters, the price will
fall and Philippine producers will either have to accept lower returns or shift to another crop. On
the farm, the one with the plow and the carabao is in competition with the one with the tractor.
The extent to which one or the other will be used in a farming operation depends on their
respective performance in terms of capital and labor costs. Thus, a great deal of rural life is
determined by forces of competition, of which the farmer may be only dimly aware. These
competitive forces may stimulate farmers to greater effort, but these also limit the adjustments
they can make. The limitation comes from the fact that any change in farming operations, which
increases costs, may damage the competitive position of the farmer in either the national or the
international market.
Advertisements in the newspapers, TV, and radio are constant reminders of business
competition. Businesses seek patronage by convincing consumers that their products are cheaper
or of better quality than those of their competitors.

Limits to Competition
There are, of course, limits to the extent competition may stimulate human energy. Some
people may feel inferior or be so discouraged by frequent losses that they refuse to compete.
Consequently, competition must be restricted so that all contestants feel they have a chance. A
business concern will frequently have a contest so arranged that all the salespeople stand to win
something even though only one can get the first prize. In golf, players will assign a number of
strokes to be taken off the score of those who are less skillful to keep the game on a more even
basis. Governments set minimum wages to create a floor beneath which the wages of the less
capable will not be allowed to fall. Promotion may be based on seniority as much on merit.
A final difficulty with competition is the tendency to turn competition into a conflict. To
accept defeat while a coveted reward is claimed by a more skillful competitor is not easy and the
rules of competition are often broken by a resort to conflict. Indeed, competition is not applicable
in every situation and creates difficulties, but it remains a useful process in social life.

ASSIMILATION AND ACCULTURATION

Assimilation is the term used for a process in which an individual entirely loses any
awareness of his/her previous group identity and takes on the culture and attitudes of another
group. Thus, if an Ilocano moves to a Visayan area and comes to the point where he/she speaks
only Visayan and assumes the folkways of the local group, we can say that he/she has become
assimilated. This undoubtedly happens to many individuals over a period of time, but as migrants
usually move in groups, there is a tendency to cling, at least in some degree, to ancestral
customs.
Acculturation, on the other hand, does not imply the loss of an older culture, but merely
the acquisition of some new traits from another culture. Thus, to go back to our previous
example, if the Ilocano learns a Visayan dialect but also speaks Iloko, we can say that this a form
of acculturation. It is also acculturation when a farmer learns about new seed, a new fertilizer, or
a new political philosophy.
Acculturation is favored by contact of any kind, especially when the contact occurs under
the terms in which the new trait has been given a favorable status. When rural migrants first
move to the city and gradually learn some urban customs, they are becoming acculturated. When
they think, feel, and act like city dwellers to the extent that they feel out of place in the rural
barangay, they have become assimilated.
The interaction of Filipinos with Americans in the Philippines may be considered an
example of acculturation. Many Filipinos learn English language and at least some of the
mannerisms of Americans, but do not abandon Filipino folkways or languages and so could not
be regarded as assimilated. Likewise, a California study indicated that this may be true, for a
time at least, of Filipinos who have migrated to the United States. Filipinos living in San

Francisco are found to cling to some Filipino customs even though they have adapted, in many
ways, to American culture.
COOPERATION
Competition and cooperation are not necessarily antithetical, although they may seem to
be. They are actually two different means of obtaining similar ends. Cooperation has been
defined as the association of people for a common belief; a form of social interaction of people
working together for a common purpose; the act of working together to one end. It is the
bayanihan spirit, one of the chief characteristics of Philippine rural life. It can be illustrated by
the house that walks in which the cooperative effort of from 10 to 50 men, depending on the
size of the house, are cooperatively coordinated to move a rural home from one location to
another. Cooperation is still the basic method of accomplishing most of the arduous tasks in the
rural areas. Not only house-moving but house-building, planting, harvesting, preparations for
such functions as weddings, christenings, birthdays, funerals, recovery from disaster, and the like
are all accomplished with the exchange of nothing more than the physical effort required and a
little sumsuman (something to eat and drink). What was known as the work bee or work
ring in American rural life some years ago is still a part of the Philippine rural scene. If the
process of cooperation, which is in effect in many parts of rural Philippines, were suddenly
called to a halt, a vital part of its life would cease. Some observers have called it a symphony of
rural life.
Most of the cooperation is carried on with a minimum or even the complete absence of
formal arrangements. Participants in the process take their roles without official assignment. The
use of the sahid with its small puyo net, in fishing barangays clearly illustrates this. Here, as
many as a hundred people may be cooperating to drag in the half-kilometer net with no more
than one or two persons in a semi-formal role of leadership. The catch is shared cooperatively,
with the division being made in an informal, yet basically systematic, fashion.
While the bayanihan type of cooperation is still a factor in rural life, its use seems to be
decreasing. As farming becomes more scientifically planned and less a traditional way of life,
there is a tendency to put more activity on a cash basis. When labor is paid wages, the farmer can
calculate the cost fairly accurately. When there is an expectation of reciprocity. This involves the
returns of labor at a future date when farmers may prefer to be busy with their own affairs.
Likewise, it is hard to arrange reciprocity for landless workers who do not operate a farm of their
own. Bayanihan cooperation is still present, but is no longer taken for granted as it was some
years ago.
The suki relationship between sellers and buyers is another form of cooperation.
Ordinarily, the interests of buyers and sellers are regarded as antagonistic, since the buyer hopes
for a low price to be as high as possible. In the suki pattern, the antagonistic motives are
minimized. The buyer agrees to patronize a particular seller who, in turn, will offer a discount
and sometimes, credit. The seller is assure a steady market, while the buyer receives concessions
of a kind not usually given. In this fashion, the buyer-seller relationship is changed from one
competition or conflict to one of cooperation.

Organized Cooperation
Bayanihan type of cooperation is spontaneous, traditional, and usually restricted to those
with whom one has links of reciprocity for kinship or previous favors. It may not be helpful in
other types of joint effort which are deliberate or enacted rather than traditional and spread
beyond the immediate group. A major example of this type of cooperation is the formally
organized cooperative society. This society is organized to help the members in terms of buying
supplies, getting loans, marketing products, or securing needed services such as irrigation. It
consists of an agreement to proceed in a common fashion to share costs and profits, either
equally or according to contribution. Although cooperative societies got off to a slow start in the
Philippines, the early 90s saw a resurgence of interest as various NGOs pushed the basic idea.
They are often urged as a means by which farmers may reduce the expenses of using the
middleperson and thereby increase their incomes.

Symbiotic Cooperation
Another type of cooperation might be termed symbiotic. This is not traditional
cooperation such as the cooperative society. It consists of a recognition of the fact that our entire
life is made up of cooperation with many people whom we may never see and of whose
existence we may not even be aware. The farmer is this cooperating with the shipbuilder who
makes the vessel by which sugar and copra may be transported to another country. Similarly,
farmers cooperate with urban laborers for whom they raised food. Conversely, urban laborers
cooperate when they make farm implements, clothing, and radios for farmers. The marketplace
draws people into a network of cooperation even though the motivation for each transaction is
personal profit. The motive is elf-interest, but the effect is to maintain a network of cooperative
relationships in which people work to furnish the goods and services desired by others. In this
sense, our entire life depends on how smoothly ad successfully the symbiotic cooperation is
carried out. Everyone engaged in symbiotic cooperation may be thinking of his/her profit, but the
pursuit of self-interest leads to the activity which is helpful to others.
The main ideological dispute is not between those who reject cooperation and those who
exalt it; it is between the advocates of different types of cooperation. The classic economist
believes that the most effective integration of human effort would be guaranteed by a policy of
allowing people to be governed entirely by their pursuit of self-interest in the marketplace. If
they produce goods or services which are not needed, an unfavorable reaction such as a fall in
prices would call them back to the proper cooperative relationships. Others, however, advocate
various forms of organized cooperation ranging from the consumer cooperatives to the enforced
overall planning of the Communist ideal as was enforce in the former Soviet Union. The
Philippine economy is a blend of symbiotic and deliberate cooperation.

DIFFERENTIATION
The rural barangay is frequently regarded as a homogenous group entirely devoted to
farming. Everyone living in the barangay is engaged in farming except for an occasional teacher
or government worker. This picture has been changing with the appearance of specialized
organizations which have specific and limited missions. Eisenstadt had defined differentiation as
a description of the ways through which the major social spheres of society become dissociated
from one another, attached to specialized collectives and roles and organized in relatively
specific and autonomous symbolic and organizational frameworks within the confines of the
same institutional systems. Insular government agencies have, from the beginning of the
American regime, served the Philippine farm and other rural needs in relatively specific and
autonomous framework.
Farming is still the predominant interest in rural areas, but the present larger barangay is
marked by the presence of various agencies which have only a tangential connection with
farming. There will be a family planning unit, a puericulture center, a barangay school, perhaps a
high school, a variety of agricultural service agencies, a social welfare office, and an assortment
of commercial establishments. People working in these establishments will usually be paid a
salary which does not fluctuate in terms of agricultural prosperity at least not directly. This
greater specialization is bringing to the rural community something of the differentiation of
people and associations found in urban life.

AMALGAMATION
Amalgamation is the opposite of differentiation since it reduces the number of social
units while differentiation increases them. It is seen most obviously when the two families are
united through the marriage of the son of one and the daughter of another. Amalgamation,
through intermarriage, often supports acculturation and assimilation. When two become one,
they may also bring together divergent cultures, as in the case of marriage involving those of
Chinese and Filipino ancestry.
Amalgamation is not restricted to intermarriage and may involve business firms, political
parties, or even nations. In fact, one of the favorite activities of businesspeople is joining together
what had been two competing firms. The amalgamation of nations is occasionally attempted but,
at least in the twentieth century, has seldom been successful. For instance, in the 1960s,
Singapore amalgamated with Malaysia, but differences were too great and the two areas
separated after a few years. Amalgamation on the religious scene occurred when several
Protestant churches combined in the Philippines. Conversely, either the World Council of
Churches or the United Nations is not an amalgamation, since the participating churches or
nations keep their separate identities although they agree to cooperate.

6. PHILIPPINE VALUES
No elite anywhere in the world has pardoned so many of its errant members as the
Philippine elite. Despite all the financial corruption, political mayhem, personal violence, and
treason of the last 45 years, few if any members of the elite have been punished not even
martial-law torturers, the coup leaders who nearly wrecked the country in 1987 and 1989, nor the
contractors who stole from the Mount Pinatubo rehabilitation funds.
- Dennis Murphy,
The Manila Chronicle,
January 4, 1993.

Value is a word indicating worth. In business it denotes a products desirability in relation

to its price (e,g, carrots are of good value they are nutritious and inexpensive). In other realms,
values are indicated comparatively as in I value saving money more than having a good time.
In brief, value is the worth of something.
In the social sciences, values are deep-rooted motivators of behavior. They define what is
important to us and indicate the course of action we may take when confronted with choices.

TRADITIONAL PHILIPPINE VALUES: AIMS, ASPIRATIONS, AND GOALS

In recent years, many social scientists have appraised Philippine values. This is not a new
endeavor, as we can glean from Dr. Jose Rizals reactions to the supposed indolence of the
Filipino, from textbooks written by Camilo Osias in the mid-twentieth century and even from the
works of writers during the early Spanish period.
Those values we have designated as Filipino are not unique to the Philippines; they are
found in different countries throughout the world. The justification for designating these values
as Filipino is that they seem to be more influential here than in most other countries.

Smooth Interpersonal Relationships (SIR)

It has been discussed aforementioned that social acceptance continues to be a prime value
in Philippine society. Filipino choices are motivated by traditional values rather than by absolute
standards of right and wrong. Social acceptance is a traditional value and, as the paragraph
indicates, crosses all social levels. It is an important Filipino need which depends on the

maintenance of Smooth Interpersonal Relationships (SIR). People are reluctant to take action
which will impact unpleasantly on those in their peer group.
Father Frank Lynch defined SIR as :
. . . a facility of getting along with others in such a way as to avoid outward signs
of conflict, glum or sour looks, harsh words, open disagreement, or physical violence. It
connotes the smile, the friendly lift of the eyebrow, the pat on the back, the squeeze on the arm,
the word of praise or friendly concern. It means being agreeable, even under difficult
circumstances . . . a sensitivity to what other people feel at any given moment and a willingness
and ability to change tack (if not direction) to catch the lightest favoring breeze.
Every society places some emphasis on smooth relationships and the avoidance of open
quarrels, but not to the extent practiced in the Philippines, Americans, for instance, are often
described as openly expressive of their feelings without much regard for the sensitivity of others.
Reflecting not only on his own studies, but also on several others, Lynch found that the high
desirability of SIR in the Philippines had been adequately demonstrated.

Maintaining SIR
Life often involves us in conflicting situations. Romantic love may mean competition for
the affections of one of the opposite sex. Parents and children may differ as to which occupations
are more desirable. Landlords and tenants may not agree on what to plant or how to cultivate
crops; several students may compete for an office which only can occupy; some citizens may feel
that intensive farming is the only way to eliminate poverty; other stress desirability of replacing
farms with factories.
When people are divided in many ways, how many harmony, or at least the appearance of
harmony, be maintained?
Three of the ways which may be used to preserve smooth relationships are euphemism,
pakikisama and the use of a go-between.
In the desire to please and to avoid hurting others, Filipinos employ euphemistic language
gave indirect answers, try hard not to say no, and remain silent to convey their disagreement.
There is also a tendency toward giving overt approval regardless of real feelings