Cultureculturechangecharacteristicsofculture 100831030825-phpapp02

EDWARD B.TAYLOR

Culture - is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals, customs and other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society

PERSELL

Culture – is all the socially learned behaviors, beliefs, feelings, and values the members of a group or society experiences

HORTON and HUNT

Culture – is an elaborate system of standardized expected ways of feeling and acting which the members of society generally acknowledge and generally follow

BRINKERSHOFF

Culture- is the total way of life shared by members of a society. It includes material products as well as patterned repetitive ways of thinking, feeling and acting

NORMS

• Refer to shared rules about acceptable and unacceptable social behavior

• These occur in things that people ought to do and ought not to do, governed by rules which society approves

VALUES

• Are the absolute standards of what society considers as proper and good

• May be defined as those standards to which a group or society judges the desirability and importance of persons

FOLKWAYS

• These are customary ways of thinking, feeling and acting which usually have no particular moral significance

• Types of behavior which have become habitual and repetitive to a number of individuals or a group.

• Example: Folkways centering around such activities as eating, fighting, dressing, marriage, birth, death, art, etc.

• Americans- it is natural for them to use their fists,

• For Latin Americans, they would resort to the use of knives;

• For Filipinos, they call each other names

MORES

• Customary ways which take on added importance and become compulsive and essential to the well-being of a group

• Any individual who does not conform usually suffers

• Respect for authority, sex and marriage behavior, private ownership of property, division of labor, anti-slavery

• Customs which seem to the people as “right” at the time until they are shown otherwise

Example:• Ancient Egypt allowed marriage

between brothers & sisters among families of royal blood; in modern time its abominable and immoral through the influence of Christianity

• Pre-colonial Filipinos (primitive);

Women do not cover the body from the waist upwards

• In Old China- the practice of foot-binding

Laws

• Is a group expectation which has the formal sanction of the state

• The degree of formality implicit in the law is greater than that of folkways or mores.

CULTURE CHANGE

• Culture is always changing as man adds new techniques to the old, constantly modifying and improving them, discarding what no longer seems useful and acceptable.

• The changes that occur within the society are brought about by discovery and invention, while the changes originating from outside are a result of culture borrowing.

• The principal source of culture change is culture diffusion.

Culture Diffusion

• Is the spread of a culture pattern from one group of people to another people and from one culture area to another.

Culture diffusion results take place either by:

1. accident- as when a person migrates

2. Direction – during conquest or assimilation

Culture Shock

• When people encounter a new culture and they can sense and feel the existence of a culture that is different from their own, they feel lost and confused

Cultural Relativism

• It is understanding the meaning of the actions of the members of other groups in terms of their motives, values and habits.

• The behavior patterns of other people should not be judged in terms of our values and norms, but rather in terms of their particular culture.

• Views culture as the result of people’s attempt to do what is good for them- each group’s solutions to the task of survival are as valid as those of others.

Ethnocentrism

• The belief that ones culture is superior to other cultures. It is the belief that one’s own culture represents the only true and good way and, therefore, his own culture is the best.

Subcultures

• Smaller cultures within a larger one.

SOCIETY

• Maybe defined as a group of people living in a more or less stable union, pooling their efforts to obtain a common objective by collective action, and feeling that they belong together.

Characteristics of Culture

1. Culture is learned- it is not instinctive or innate; it is acquired by the individual through experience

2. Culture is Varied –

• All peoples have varied cultures• Human groups of different

societies have different cultures; all peoples have their own cultures which vary in numerous ways.

3. Culture is a Group Product- it results from the spontaneous accumulation of man’s experience in living with other humans.

• Every generation puts its imprint upon the culture of subsequent one.

4. Culture is Transmitted from Generation- this is effected consciously or unsconciously; orally or in writing, maybe transmitted by suggestion, formal communication, reward or punishment.

• Man through the medium of language and writing has been able to pass on the elements of culture from one generation to another.

• Culture is transmitted and shared resulting from habits of human experiences

5. Culture is Adaptive- culture is continually changing

• When man needs anything, he invents ways of getting what he wants or adapts what other men have discovered to meet his needs.