GRADE

12
UNDERSTANDING

CULTURE, SOCIETY
AND POLITICS

THE INTERPRETIVE
DYNAMICS OF
SOCIETY

Prepared by:
MS. JUDY ANN T.
FLORES
Saint Paul School of Buug
UCSP Teaher
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Hello, my dear Paulinian!

St. Paul School of Buug warmly welcomes you to this unique SY 2020-2021. This is different from the traditional
way of learning in a traditional classroom, for we will be conducting our class in a remote/distant way of teaching &
learning according to the learning modality that you have chosen, for our safety and well-being as we protect ourselves
from this COVID 19 pandemic. Please know that Face to Face teaching and learning will only happen if and when our
local DOH, IATF and LGU would already allow us to do so. Meanwhile, SPSB is offering you iPAUL (inclusive Paulinian
Adaptive Unimpeded Learning).

I am _________. I will be your teacher in _________. You may contact me at 09____________ or FB Messenger
__________ or email me at ___________, from Monday to Friday EXCEPT WEDNESDAY at 3:00-4:30 pm ONLY. While I
will be making every effort to respond to your queries as soon as possible, but be sure to contact me only on this
specified time allotment for Consultation. I hope and pray that you are safe and in good health at home.

This learning packet/module is designed to help you find your way through this subject. This will guide you on
what to do in your remote/distance learning. The Learning Packet/Module will be sent to you through FB Messenger or
emailed to you or picked up from the Principal’s Office on our agreed day & time. You will be notified when will be next
set of learning packet/module ready for you. Likewise, you are expected to submit your accomplished tasks/activities/
worksheets on our scheduled day & time. For hard copy, your submitted works/requirements must be put inside an
envelope properly labeled with your Name, Grade Level & Section. These shall be the basis for your Attendance &
Participation in assessing how much you have learned and thus, basis for your Grade.

Hand in hand with this Learning Packet/Module, you are required to have your own Textbook in this subject.
Please get your textbook from your Class Adviser.

Be reminded also that our lessons this school year shall follow the given MELCs of DepEd. Therefore as we go through
our lessons, the pages in your textbook might not follow how it is presented in its table of contents.

Still basing on DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015, assessment will be modified using the following (until such a new
guideline from the Department of Education is given):

Page |2
Hello, my dear Paulinian!

St. Paul School of Buug warmly welcomes you to this unique SY 2020-2021. This is different from the traditional
way of learning in a traditional classroom, for we will be conducting our class in a remote/distant way of teaching &
learning according to the learning modality that you have chosen, for our safety and well-being as we protect ourselves
from this COVID 19 pandemic. Please know that Face to Face teaching and learning will only happen if and when our
local DOH, IATF and LGU would already allow us to do so. Meanwhile, SPSB is offering you iPAUL (inclusive Paulinian
Adaptive Unimpeded Learning).

I am _________. I will be your teacher in _________. You may contact me at 09____________ or FB Messenger
__________ or email me at ___________, from Monday to Friday EXCEPT WEDNESDAY at 3:00-4:30 pm ONLY. While I
will be making every effort to respond to your queries as soon as possible, but be sure to contact me only on this
specified time allotment for Consultation. I hope and pray that you are safe and in good health at home.

This learning packet/module is designed to help you find your way through this subject. This will guide you on
what to do in your remote/distance learning. The Learning Packet/Module will be sent to you through FB Messenger or
emailed to you or picked up from the Principal’s Office on our agreed day & time. You will be notified when will be next
set of learning packet/module ready for you. Likewise, you are expected to submit your accomplished tasks/activities/
worksheets on our scheduled day & time. For hard copy, your submitted works/requirements must be put inside an
envelope properly labeled with your Name, Grade Level & Section. These shall be the basis for your Attendance &
Participation in assessing how much you have learned and thus, basis for your Grade.

Hand in hand with this Learning Packet/Module, you are required to have your own Textbook in this subject.
Please get your textbook from your Class Adviser.

Be reminded also that our lessons this school year shall follow the given MELCs of DepEd. Therefore as we go through
our lessons, the pages in your textbook might not follow how it is presented in its table of contents.

Still basing on DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015, assessment will be modified using the following (until such a new
guideline from the Department of Education is given):

Page |3
 LIFE PERFORMANCE OUTCOME:
LPO5: Caring, Committed ADVOCATES for Peace and Universal
Well-Being
PROGRAM OUTCOME:
PO1: Describe the major economic, political, social, and environmental challenges that they
and millions of Filipinos face in leading productive, fulfilling lives, and develop viable
alternatives for addressing them.

ESSENTIAL PERFORMANCE OUTCOME:

EPO8: Anticipate where extra assistance and support for team functioning may be
needed, and spontaneously offer them EPO8: Continually set and re-set challenging

CONTENT STANDARD: PERFORMANCE STANDARD:

The learners demonstrate an Acknowledge human cultural
understanding of: variation, social differences, social
change, and political identities
1. human cultural variation, social
differences, social change, and
political identities

MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCY:

1. Articulate observations on human cultural variation, social differences, social change, and
political identities.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOME:

• The
describe
learnersand/or
will be make
able toa articulate
representation of the
observations on arrangement, relative spacing,
human cultural variations,
social
and differences, social change,
relative motion of the and politicalinidentities.
particles each of the three phases of matter

• distinguish between acid and bases and give examples

• apply simple separation techniques such as distillation, and chromatography

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• compare consumer products on the basis of their components for use, safety,
quality and cost
A. Filling in the Circle with the appropriate words.

Suicide Value of children

Diest/Food Clothing
National Flag Marriage ceremony
Language Type of Government
House Designs Table Manners
Contractualization Respect for old people
Inheritance Sports
Weaving designs Women in Labor Force
Crime Religion
Women as government officials Accent

Culture

Society

Politics

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Time Frame
2-Weeks
Note: Please Pass as soon as you
finish the Activity Worksheets prior
to the weeks given.

Introduction
Society and Culture: Niche and Fugitive Concepts

Society and culture are two durable constructs in the vocabulary of the
social sciences. Although they can be claimed as “Niche concepts” in sociology
and anthropology, these terms are so malleable that other disciplines (such as
political science, psychology, history, and economics to mention a few) have
been quite successful in expanding their respective frontiers using them as tools,
in this context, culture and society become fugitive concepts as their explanatory
features move beyond the ambits of their original disciplines.

Pre-Test

Lesson 1
Activity 1: Knowledge
Activity 2: Critical Thinking
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ActivityLesson
3: Performance
2
Activity1: Knowledge
Lesson 1
THE INTERPRETIVE DYNAMICS OF
SOCIETY
What makes society possible?
At the end of this lesson the learner
should be able to
1. Describe the construction of society
through hidden rules of society.
2. Analyze the different forms of
interaction present in society.
Lesson Pre-Test
True or False: Assess whether the
statements in column A are true or false
in Column B, write T if the statement is
true and F is the statement is false
A B
1. Society is a historical
formed entity.
2. conflict over limited
resources may spark
cooperation more than conflict
3. Symbols are something
that represents something
else.
4. When parts of a system
perform their assigned
functions, social order is
assured.
5. Unwritten and invisible
rules are more powerful than
written ones.
A. Society as a Concept
Just like other terms in the social
sciences, the word society was coined
by social scientist to facilitate their
exploration of social phenomena. It is a
tool to grasp the complexity of the
phenomenon it represents and a means
to explore its many other dimensions
hidden by its normative use.
B. Society as a Facticity
Societyis formally defined as
constituting a fairly large number or
people who are living in the same
territory, are relatively independent of
people outside their area, and
participate in a common culture. This
textbook definition or society is limited
and limiting for several reasons. It is
limited simply becauseit belittles the
most important component of these
phenomenon-interactions. it is limiting
because the interpretive tradition of
sociology may provide more coherent
definition of society. In this perspective,
society is seen as anoutcome of multiple
interactions of people upon which
succeeding interactionsare made
meaningful and possible. The definition
simply means that society only exists it
there are people interacting and their
interactions constitutethe process that
defines society.An informal way to
concretize the above definition of
society is to assessits power in shaping
the lives of the people inside it. At this
point, bear inmind the twin concepts of
social forces and social facts because
they arethe mechanics of operation of
society as a factual entity.We can liken
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society to a deity. A deity or God is
supposed to possessthe tripartite (i.e.,
three-fold) powers reserved for Him
alone-omnipotenceomniscience,
omnipresence (all-powerful, all-knowing,
and everywhere)The analogy of society
to a God suggests the immense power
of society tomake or unmake lives of
people. Society is all-powerful because
it 'agentscontrol and runs the machinery
or social control. It is all-knowing
becauseits library' keeps all possible
knowledge and collects the memories of
thepeople who form it. It is everywhere
because its 'spies' are scattered in the
Tour corners of the land.
C. WHAT MAKES SOCIETY
POSSIBLE:
THREE THEORETICAL
PERSPECTIVES
The formation of society and its
continuous development has been a
subject of dramatic debates among
social scientists, sociologists in
particular.The contentious issues do not
exclusively involve historical questions
asthis concern has already been
explored by political science. However,
thelatter's version of the origin of society
appears to be one-sided as it
onlyfocuses on power relations and
governmental issues. The
anthropologicalversion was equally
limited because it narrowed down the
explorations tothe cultural dimensions of
society. The sociological approach
appeared moreplausible as it
amalgamates the political and
anthropological dimensions of
the development of society as a social
entity.The problem with the sociological
approach is that most of the attempts
to explain the origin of society are
decidedly theoretical in nature. That is,
theexplanations are not historically
inclined (although some incorporated
somesort of historical analysis such as
the historical critical tradition. The
caveatsare heavy on the types of
"processes suspected to be the
primogenitor ofsociety defined as a
matrix of varied interpretive interactions.
The three classical theories of the origin
of society are (1) the structural-
functional, (2) the conflict theory, and (3)
symbolic interactionism. Thesetheories
are called by different names, but their
basic assumptions aboutthe "possibility"
of society remain the same. the basic
question they askis not historical in
nature (as referred above); rather it
inquires about thenature of the
processes that created the possibilities
of human interaction. The question is:
"What makes society possible?"
D. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
AND SOCIAL ORDER
The structural-functional school
of thought looks at social "order"
Itargues that society is made possible
by cooperation and
interdependence.Given this line of
argumentation, this view sees society as
a system withparts, and these parts
have their respective functions to
perform. The healthand condition of the
entire system is dependent on these two
processesof functions and
interdependence. As such, this basic
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allusion to parts,functions, and
interdependence reflects the succeeding
theoretical principlesin almost all areas
of sociological investigations -from
social stratification,to deviance, to
institutions, to socialization. This
overemphasis on functionsproves to be
providential to the structural-functional
perspective becausewith it, proponents
of this school of thought are able to
uncover interesting insights about the
nature of social inequality and deviance,
insights that remains elusive even to the
symbolic interactionism approach.
E. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM AND
MEANING-MAKING
Unlike the previous two theories,
symbolic interactionism does not
dealwith either order or conflict. Instead,
it explores the issues of meaning-
makingand why this is crucial in
understanding order or conflict as
processes thatbrought about society.
Humans as social beings have the
capacity to generate meaningfrom their
surroundings, be it social or otherwise.
Meaning is importantbecause it is the
basis of actions towards or against
specific elementsof the environment.
Meaning cannot be derived easily as it
is lodged onand ascribed to symbols-
anything that can stand as a
representation osomething. Symbols,
like meaning, are interpreted
intersubjectively by social actors. The
constellations of meaning assigned to
an object, event, or person become the
basis of social interactions, and they are
constitutive of events arnSocial
phenomena. The latter statement
means that interpretation of symbolmay
have a reality-making effect on people
implicated in an interaction Situation.
W.I. Thomas' definition of situation is a
classic examplewhy definitions of
situations have real effects on people's
actions and interactions. So to answer
the question "What makes society
possible,” the symbolic interactionism
perspective would say symbols and
meanings.
F. RULES: INVISIBLE HAND OF
SOCIETY
Rules are guides in the performance
of roles and in everyday actions and
interactions. they provide order in a system
characterized by thepresence of many
actors with different businesses and agenda
to pursue,What orchestrate the
simultaneous yet orderly transactions and
interactionsare the rules.With this thought,
rules are essential in the everyday conduct
of themembers of society. In cases where
there are conflicts, rules become thearbiter
of disagreements and people's respect for
rules gives then thisorganizing power over
human actions over time.However, not all
rules are visible, that is, written and
understood by all. Thewritten ones are
easily seen and hence are easily observed
and obeyed. A lotof difficult situations are
made simpler by written and visible rules.
Thesituation is different, however, in cases
where rules are invisible and unwritten.At
first, you may surmise that invisible rules
create more disorder thanorder, which they
are meant to establish in the first place. This
assumptionproves to be incorrect as our
lives are made more meaningful by
unwrittenrules. Our mundane and daily
actions are guided by these unseen
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ruleswhen riding public transportation like
jeepney, when queuing at aMcDonald's or
Jollibee order counter, when reciting in
class, when using thetoilet, when crossing
the street, etc.Unwritten rules are exciting to
study because they give invaluableinsights
into the nature of social behavior. Without
us realizing it, almost90% of our day-to-day
actions are governed and shaped by these
invisiblerules. You may not know that rules
exist, for example, in certain contexts
orSituations. By simply observing how
people act, behave, and interact, youmay
gain sufficient information as to what
unseen rules are in operation particular
situations and contexts.
G. CONFLICT THEORY AND CONFLICT
The Marxist-inspired perspective on
the question of society looks at theother
side of the issue. Instead of putting
importance to social order, theconflict
perspective sees society as an arena.
Social actors are gladiatorsfighting for their
very lives. The winner takes the rewards
and is assured offreedom. Resources and
their scarcity make up the bone of
contention in every conflict situation.
However, the conflict approach does not
take the usualassumptions about the nature
and ethos of conflict. Rather than
emphasizingcompetition, which is very clear
in the metaphor of "arena" and
"gladiators,this view sees conflict as
something positive and advantageous. For
theproponents of this view, conflict makes
change and dynamism-features
of society that have not been clearly
conceived by the structural functionaltheory-
possible. Conflict brings about a new set of
relations and interactions,which produces
new dynamism in society. So to answer the
question "What makes society possible?,
the conflict theory invokes the social
processesrather than functions and
interdependence.
F. CULTURE AND SOCIETY
The relationship between society,
culture, and personality is stressed byRalph
Linton: "A society is an organized group of
individuals. A culture is anorganized group
of learned responses. The individual is a
living organismcapable of independent
thought, feeling, and action, but his
independenceis limited and all his resources
are profoundly modified by contact with
thesociety and culture in which he
develops.A society cannot exist apart from
culture. A society is always made ofpersons
and their groupings. People carry and
transmit culture, but theyare not culture. No
culture can exist except as it is embodied in
a human society, no society can operate
without cultural directives. Like matterand
energy, like mind and body, culture and
society are interdependentand interactive
yet they express different aspects of the
human situation.One must always keep in
mind the interdependence and the
reciprocalrelationship between culture and
society. Each is a distinguishable conceptin
which the pattern and organization of the
whole is more important thanany of the
component parts.
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I. KNOWLEDGE

Activity 1
Name: ____________________________________ Date:_________________-
Grade & Section :_________________________ Remarks:_____________
Date of Accomplishment: ______________________

CULTURE CONFLICT THEORY RULES

Name: ______________________________ Date: _________________
SOCIETY SYMBOLIC STRUCTURAL
Grade & Section:______________________ Remarks: ________________
INTERACTIONISM FUNCTIONALISM
Date of Accomplishments:________________
1. ________________________________________
Activity 2
2.________________________________________
. A. If society and culture are two different concepts tat make sense of human actions
3.________________________________________
and4. the product of such actions, how do you map their merging and diverging points?
________________________________________
Illustrate these points using a cognitive diagram.
5._________________________________________

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P a g e | 12
Name: ______________________________ Date: _________________
Grade & Section:______________________ Remarks: ________________
Date of Accomplishment needed: ________________

Activity 3
. A. Conduct a participant observation activity that describes the hidden rules that
govern social interaction in a specific context. These invisible rules that govern will
identified through the behavior of people in actual interactions or situations. You can
choose from any of the following situations:

1. Riding the LRT or MRT

2. Riding the public jeepny or van
3. Buying food in the canteen
4. crossing the street
5. Listening to a class lecture

Explain the different actions, behavior, and interaction that you have observed.
Write the different visible and unwritten rules that you have observed from the
activity. What are your realizations? Based from the activity, how do you govern our
everyday life?

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 Initial – Revised – Final Guide
Read the outcomes above and fill out the Initial column on the table below (Initial-Revised-Final Guid
Write your expectations on what you will become based on the program outcome, essential performa
Initial outcome, intended learning outcomes, and appliedFinal
Revised performance commitment.
(What Am I Expected to?) (What Have I Become?)
     
     
     
     
     
   
   
   
 
   
   
   
   
 
 

P a g e | 14
Lesson 2
ASPECTS OF CULTURE

Guide Question:
What explains the enduring patterns of our ways of life of that thing we call culture?

At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

1. Explain the anthropological and sociological perspective on culture and society
2. Describe culture and society as a complex Whole
3. Identity aspects of culture and society
4. Raise questions toward a holistic appreciation of cultures and societies

Pre-Test

Assess whether the statements in column A are true or false. In column B, write
T if the statement is true and write F if the statement is false.

A B
1. Culture is composed of both material and nonmaterial components.
2. Culture shock is a two way process; you are shocked by the people d o
things, and people are shocked by your actual reaction.

3. Culture involves behavior more than attitude.

4. Culture is a technology itself.
5. Cultures of people around the world are vastly different form each
other. Some are inferior cultures and some are superior cultures.

P a g e | 15
A. THE
COMPLEXITY OF CULTURE

Culture is a people are a way of life. This classic definition appears generic,yet it
prefigures both the processes and structures that account not onlyfor the development
of such a way of life, but also for the inherent systemsthat lend it its self-perpetuating
nature. This is perhaps the reason whyE.B. Taylor describes culture as that complex
whole, which encompassesbeliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts,
symbols,knowledge, and everything that a person learns and shares as a memberof
society"The 'complex whole" in the above paragraph suggests that culture cannot be
simply broken down into a set of attributes. It means that an understandingof a part can
only be achieved (or is only possible) in relation to the otherparts of the system. This
then requires an approach where one can, all atonce, get an appreciation of what
culture is all about without being botheredby its complexity or by any definition that
attempts to capture such complexity.

B. THE WHAT, HOW, AND WHY OF CULTURE

One way of achieving this is by asking not only about the 'what' aspectsof
culture, but also the how ‘and why' of it. The table on the next page depicts this
approach. What column contains the actions, artifacts, languageand behavior that
characterize a given culture? The 'how' column identifiesthe processes that guarantee
the transmission and dissemination of thecontents. The 'why' column pinpoints the
reasons why individuals complyand the mechanisms that facilitate the performance of
expected behavior.Although change is not clearly reflected in the table, it is assumed
that sourcesof change, whether internal and external, simulate the generic
processesouter formation. Otherwise, any attempts to change the system willeasily the
deployment of the 'why' mechanisms, notably the machineriesof social control.e
discussion of culture cannot be done in isolation. This means thatother concepts are
directly and indirectly implicated, especially in relation to the “why” component.
Notwithstanding, the question to be asked is "Whations or formal arrangements sere as
situations that facilitateposture of individuals to and reutilization of, the culture contents?
Context that the concept of society becomes a handy counterpart of culture. Sociology,
a social science that deals with human interactions in formal and informal settings,
provides the necessary momentum to complete the culture picture (see Table No.4)

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 C. ENCULTURATION AND THIRD CULTURE SHOCK
A counterpart concept of socialization, enculturation refers to the
gradualacquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group by aperson,
another culture, etc. It is not as pervasive as socialization, which is alifelong or "womb to
tomb" journey. Enculturation starts with actual exposureto another culture and the
duration and extent of exposure account for thequality of the resulting enculturation.
Third, culture shock is a good example of enculturation, Individuals who have stayed for
quite a good portion of their lives in a foreign culture may be shocked by their birth
culture once exposed to it again. The shock created by their birth culture is a product of
their enculturation in the second culture.

D. ASPECTS OF CULTURE
E.B. Taylor, an English anthropologist, was the first to coin the term in culture' in
the eighteenth century. The study of society is incomplete withoutproper understanding
of the culture of that society because culture andsociety go together. Culture is a unique
possession of man. Man is born andbrought up in a cultural environment. Culture is the
unique quality of manwhich separates him from the lower animals. Culture includes all
that manacquires in his social life.

E. DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE
There are several definitions of culture in the circulation. B. Malinowskidefined it
as "the handiwork of man and the medium through which heachieves his ends." R.
Redfield, on the other hand, defined culture as "anorganized body of conventional
understandings manifests in art which,persisting through tradition, characterizes a
human group:" V. de Robertdescribed culture as "the body of thought and knowledge,
both theoreticaland practical, which only man can possess.' But the one that seems
tocapture the full essence of the concept is that of E.B. Taylor, who said thatfuture is
P a g e | 17
'that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morale,S, Custom, and any
other capabilities and habits as acquired by man asa member of society area exists in
the minds or habits of the members of society. Culture ispeople s shared ways of doing
and thinking. There are degrees of viscidityCultural behavior, ranging from the
regularized activities of persons Can only see human behavior. This behavior occurs in
regular internal reasons for so doing. In other words, we cannot see culture as
suchpatterned fashion, and this fashion is called culture.

F. CHARACTERSISTICS OF CULTURE
1. Learned Behaviour:
Not all behaviour is learned, but most of it is learned; combing one’s hair, standing in
line, telling jokes, criticising the President and going to the movie, all constitute
behaviours which had to be learned.Sometimes the terms conscious learning and
unconscious learning are used to distinguish the learning. For example, the ways in
which a small child learns to handle a tyrannical father or a rejecting mother often affect
the ways in which that child, ten or fifteen years later, handles his relationships with
other people.
2. Culture is Abstract:
Culture exists in the minds or habits of the members of society. Culture is the shared
ways of doing and thinking. There are degrees of visibility of cultural behaviour, ranging
from the regularised activities of persons to their internal reasons for so doing. In other
words, we cannot see culture as such we can only see human behaviour. This
behaviour occurs in regular, patterned fashion and it is called culture.
3. Culture is a Pattern of Learned Behaviour:
The definition of culture indicated that the learned behaviour of people is patterned.
Each person’s behaviour often depends upon some particular behaviour of someone
else. The point is that, as a general rule, behaviours are somewhat integrated or
organized with related behaviours of other persons.

4. Culture is the Products of Behaviour:

Culture learnings are the products of behaviour. As the person behaves, there occur
changes in him. He acquires the ability to swim, to feel hatred toward someone, or to
sympathize with someone. They have grown out of his previous behaviours.
In both ways, then, human behaviour is the result of behaviour. The experience of other
people are impressed on one as he grows up, and also many of his traits and abilities
have grown out of his own past behaviours.
5. Culture includes Attitudes, Values Knowledge:
There is widespread error in the thinking of many people who tend to regard the ideas,
attitudes, and notions which they have as “their own”. It is easy to overestimate the
uniqueness of one’s own attitudes and ideas. When there is agreement with other
people it is largely unnoticed, but when there is a disagreement or difference one is
P a g e | 18
usually conscious of it. Your differences however, may also be cultural. For example,
suppose you are a Catholic and the other person a Protestant.
6. Culture also includes Material Objects:
Man’s behaviour results in creating objects. Men were behaving when they made these
things. To make these objects required numerous and various skills which human
beings gradually built up through the ages. Man has invented something else and so on.
Occasionally one encounters the view that man does not really “make” steel or a
battleship. All these things first existed in a “state nature”.
Man merely modified their form, changed them from a state in which they were to the
state in which he now uses them. The chair was first a tree which man surely did not
make. But the chair is more than trees and the jet airplane is more than iron ore and so
forth.
7. Culture is shared by the Members of Society:
The patterns of learned behaviour and the results of behaviour are possessed
not by one or a few person, but usually by a large proportion. Thus, many millions of
persons share such behaviour patterns as Christianity, the use of automobiles, or the
English language.Persons may share some part of a culture unequally. For example, as
Americans do the Christian religion. To some persons Christianity is the all important,
predominating idea in life. To others it is less preoccupying/important, and to still others
it is of marginal significance only.
8. Culture is Variable:

Culture varies from society to society, group to group. Hence, we say culture of
India or England. Further culture varies from group to group within the same society.
There are subcultures within a culture. Cluster of patterns which are both related to
general culture of the society and yet distinguishable from it are called subcultures.
9.Culture is transmitted among members of Society:

The cultural ways are learned by persons from persons. Many of them are
“handed down” by one’s elders, by parents, teachers, and others [of a somewhat older
generation]. Other cultural behaviours are “handed up” to elders. Some of the
transmission of culture is among contemporaries

G. FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
1. Culture Defines Situations:
Each culture has many subtle cues which define each situation. It reveals
whether one should prepare to fight, run, laugh or make love. For example, suppose
someone approaches you with right hand outstretched at waist level. What does this
mean? That he wishes to shake hands in friendly greeting is perfectly obvious –
obvious, that is to anyone familiar with our culture.But in another place or time the
outstretched hand might mean hostility or warning. One does not know what to do in a
situation until he has defined the situation. Each society has its insults and fighting

P a g e | 19
words. The cues (hints) which define situations appear in infinite variety. A person who
moves from one society into another will spend many years misreading the cues. For
example, laughing at the wrong places.

2. Culture defines Attitudes, Values and Goals:

Each person learns in his culture what is good, true, and beautiful. Attitudes,
values and goals are defined by the culture. While the individual normally learns them
as unconsciously as he learns the language. Attitude are tendencies to feel and act in
certain ways. Values are measures of goodness or desirability, for example, we value
private property, (representative) Government and many other things and experience.
Goals are those attainments which our values define as worthy, (e.g.) winning the race,
gaining the affections of a particular girl, or becoming president of the firm. By approving
certain goals and ridiculing others, the culture channels individual ambitions. In these
ways culture determines the goals of life.
3. Culture defines Myths, Legends, and the Supernatural:
Myths and legends are important part of every culture. They may inspire, reinforce effort
and sacrifice and bring comfort in bereavement. Whether they are true is sociologically
unimportant. Ghosts are real to people who believe in them and who act upon this
belief. We cannot understand the behaviour of any group without knowing something of
the myths, legends, and supernatural beliefs they hold. Myths and legends are powerful
forces in a group’s behaviour.Culture also provides the individual with a ready-made
view of the universe. The nature of divine power and the important moral issues are
defined by the culture. The individual does not have to select, but is trained in a
Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or some other religious tradition. This tradition gives
answers for the major (things imponderable) of life, and fortuities the individual to meet
life’s crises.
4. Culture provides Behaviour Patterns:
The individual need not go through painful trial and error learning to know what foods
can be eaten (without poisoning himself), or how to live among people without fear. He
finds a ready-made set of patterns awaiting him which he needs only to learn and
follow. The culture maps out the path to matrimony. The individual does not have to
wonder how one secures a mate; he knows the procedure defined by his culture.
H. ETHNOCENTRISM
Ethnocentrism is the view that one's own culture is better than all others; it is the
way all people feel about themselves as compared to those from other cultures. There
is no one in our society who is not ethnocentric to some degree, no matter how open-
minded he or she might claim to be. People will always find some aspect of another
culture unnatural, be it religious practices, a way of treating friends or relatives, or
simply a food that they cannot manage to get down with a smile. This is not something
we should be ashamed of, since it is a natural result of growing up in any society.
However, it is something we should constantly keep in mind when we study other
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cultures, so that when we try to make value judgments about another way of life, we can
look at the situation objectively and take our bias into account.
I. CULTURAL RELATIVISM

Cultural relativism is a complex concept that has its intellectual roots in

discussions about relativism in the philosophy of science and the philosophy of
language. The general concept of relativism in sociology is associated with critiques of
positivism in science and concomitantly, social science, which largely emphasize the
differences between the focus and methods of inquiry associated with the natural and
social sciences. Relativism is typically viewed in contrast to realism, which is the idea
that what is true and real exists independently of the mind. This opposition between
realism and relativism was influenced by the work of Immanuel Kant in his (1788)
Critique of Pure Reason, who argued that the material and social world is mediated
through our minds: that people’s experience of the world is mediated through the
knowledge and ideas they hold about the world. Consequently, this relative
epistemology—or cognitive relativism—makes it difficult to identify universal
experiences that hold true for everyone, because it is likely that one person’s
experience of an event or activity will not be the same as that of another person.
Cognitive relativism, then, refers broadly to an intellectual stance that rejects the idea of
an absolute viewpoint and the existence of objective criteria for making judgments about
what is or is not real or true.

J. XENOCENTIRSM AND XENOPHOBIA

Xenocentrism is the preference for the products, style, culture, people, significant

others, and food of others, rather than of one's own. ... Both xenocentrism and
ethnocentrism are a subjective take on cultural relativism.Xenophobia, simply put, is the
fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers; it is embodied in discriminatory attitudes and
behaviour, and often culminates in violence, abuses of all types, and exhibitions of hatre

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P a g e | 22
Name: _________________________________ Date: ____________
Grade & Section: _______________ Remarks: ______________
Date of Accomplishments needed: ________________

ACTIVITY 4

A. Assess whether the statements in column A are true or false. In column B, write T if
the statements are true and F if the statements are false.

A B
1. it is the habit of each group to take for granted
the superiority of its culture.
2. Cultural relativism does not mean that all
customs are equally valuable, nor does it simply
that no customs are harmful.
3. Equality and similarity do not necessarily
translate to real or imagined inferiority/
superiority of cultures out there.
4. as an attitude, ethnocentrism promotes greater
appreciation of cultures that one encounters
along the way.
5. Ethnocentrism is a sense of value and
community among people who share a cultural
tradition.

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II. Critical Thinking
Name: _________________________________ Date: ____________
Grade & Section: _______________ Remarks: ______________
Date of Accomplishments needed: ________________

ACTIVITY 5
B. Define the following terms/concept:
Sociology Social change Social Diversity
Anthropology Cultural Diversity Ethnography
Political Science Social Inequality Symbolic Interactionism
Social Fact Power Relations Sociological Imagination

P a g e | 24
Name: _________________________________ Date: ____________
Grade & Section: _______________ Remarks: ______________
Date of Accomplishments needed: ________________

ACTIVITY 6

Genocide Events
This research-based activity. List down three notorious genocide events in
history. You may consider past and modern events. Try to describe each event in
terms of the following.

Event, time, and Perpetrators Targets Justifications for

country (When and (Leading Figures (Who were the Victimization
where event who orchestrated people victimized in (Articulated reasons
happened) the event) the event) by the perpetrators)

P a g e | 25
 Chapter Post Test
I. Knowledge
Matching type: Match column B with column C. Write the letter of the correct answer on
column A.
Column A Column B Column C
1. Its library creates, A. Symbolic
collects, stores, interactionism
receives, and
manipulates human
memories
2. Its agent occupy and B. Culture
control all the
influential positions
in its domain
3. Its argues that C. Society as
society is made omniscience
possible by
cooperation and
interdependence
4. It argues that D. Xenocentrism
symbols and
meanings make
society possible.
5. A social science that E. Enculturation
deals with human
interaction in formal
and informal
settings.
6. The gradual F. Multiculturalism
acquisition of the
characteristics and
norms of a culture or
group by a person or
another culture.
7. These are guides in G. Xenophobia
the performance of
roles and everyday
actions and
interactions.
8. Practice of H. Cultural Relativism
comparing other
cultural practices
with those of one’s
own and

P a g e | 26
 automatically finding
those other cultural
practices to be
inferior
9. The idea that all I. Material aspect of
norms, beliefs, and culture
values are
dependent on their
cultural context and
should be treated as
such.
10. The fear of what is J. Ethnocentrism
perceived as foreign
or strange.
11. Component of K. Structural
culture that deals functionalism
with the physical
expressions of
culture
12. Refers to the ideas L. Rules
and intangible
human heritage
produced by
members of a
society.
13. A concept that M. Society as
values the peaceful omnipotent
coexistence and
mutual respect
between different
cultures inhabiting
the same territory.
14. Refers to preference N. Sociology
for the foreign.
15. It refers to the O. Nonmaterial aspect
values, beliefs, of culture
behavior, and
material objects that
form the totality of
the way of life
humans.

P a g e | 27
Page 22
Direction: Write a Check mark
(/) in the circle if and only if
you have completely answered
the following activities.

Pre-Test

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Activity 4

Activity 5

Activity 6

Post Test

P a g e | 28

Page 23
Online Rsources
http://anthropology.unt.edu
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/political-science/
Political Science. (n.d.). The American Heritage® New Dictionary of
Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved March 22, 2016 from
Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/political-
science

Other Resources
Contreras, A. 2015. Personal Conversation, Feb 20.
Erasga, DS. 2016. Selfieying: A Universal Culture or Culture Universal
Conference paper. 44th Annual Conference of the Canadian
Sociological Association, May 27-June 3, 2016, University of British
Columbia, Ottawa, Canada.
Mills, C.W. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. London: Oxford Universily
Press.

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