Foundations of Culture Politics and Society
Foundations of Culture Politics and Society
Foundations of Culture Politics and Society
Germo, Avelino
Macabenta, Arlyn
Landicho, Jhanlie
Margallo, Justine
Marsaba, Crisanto
Culture
Culture is the fabric of ideas, beliefs, skills, tools, aesthetic objects, methods of
thinking, customs, and institutions into which each member of society is born.
Culture is a part of the environment which man himself has made. - Smith,
Stanley, and Shores
The complex whole which includes knowledges, beliefs, art, morals, law,
customs, and other capabilities gained by man as a member of society. -Bertrand
Classification of Culture
Static or Dynamic
Static – It emphasizes cultural transmission
Dynamic – It emphasizes change
Stable or Unstable
Stable – Folkways and mores are satisfying. New elements and traits are
incorporated smoothly and without conflict.
Unstable – Conflicts exist between the traditional and radical groups and
their values.
Forms of Culture
Components of Culture
Ways of Greeting!
Functions of Culture
Concept of Society
Meaning of Society
It is human beings and institutions by which they live together in their culture.” -
Linton
A society consists of all people who share a distinct and continuous way of life
(that is a culture) and think of themselves as one united people.” - Dressler
A social group that occupies territory, recruits its members by intergroup sexual
reproduction, has a shared comprehensive culture,” - Bertrand
Shared identity and culture. Serves as basis for people’s pattern of action
and behaviour.
A common language.
A gradual shift from the hunting and gathering lifestyle for a more sedentary life.
2. Agricultural societies
Food production became more efficient due to new methods of farming, the
inventions of more advance tools and the establishment of permanent
settlements.
3. Industrial societies
Agricultural societies transformed into industrial societies during and after the
Industrial Revolution.
4. Post-industrialist societies
The set of beliefs, ideas, values, practices, knowledge, history and shared
experiences, attitudes as well as material objects and possessions, accumulated
over time and shared by the members of society
Ethnocentric approach
Ethnocentrism
Relativistic approach
Considers cultures as equal and holds that there are no “superior” and “inferior”
cultures and each is unique in its own way.
Cultural relativism
Structural functionalism
Believes that society is a stable and orderly system, also consider culture as a
glue that binds society together, leading to social order.
Conflict theory
It holds that social order is maintained by domination and power, rather than
consensus and conformity.
Symbolic interactionism
Views individual and group behavior and social interactions as defining features
of society.
There can be no culture without society and there can be no society without
culture.
Educational Implications
Cultures differ and one should not judge another culture by using his own culture
as basis
Travel, education, and reading about other societies are ways of bringing about
tolerance and understanding between nations.
With more diffusion between cultures, one global society may result.
With the U.S. as the best example of people getting along in spite of different
sub-cultures, perhaps a one world concept may be brought about someday.
Unity in spite of diversity.
Since culture is learned, the school should inculcate in the young, good aspects
of the culture.
Since culture changes, the change should be for the better and society should
decide what those changes should be.
The home, the school, and the church should guard against borrowing from other
cultures things that are against the Philippine way of life.
Political Science
Public Administration
Examines government functions and how decisions and policies are made.
Political Economy
Evaluates the interplay between economics, politics and law and its implication.
Comparative Politics
Multiculturalism
Cultural sensitivity
This view believes that not all cultural practices, traditions and views can be
integrated.
Institutions:
The term "institution" is commonly applied to customs and behaviour patterns important
to a society, as well as to particular formal organizations of government and public
services. As structures and mechanisms of social order among certain species,
institutions are one of the principal objects of study in the social sciences, such as
political science, anthropology, economics, and sociology (the latter being described by
Durkheim as the "science of institutions, their genesis and their functioning"). Institutions
are also a central concern for law, the formal mechanism for political rule-making and
enforcement.
Social Institutions:
A social institution is a complex, integrated set of social norms organized around the
preservation of a basic societal value. Obviously, the sociologist does not define
institutions in the same way as does the person on the street. Lay persons are likely to
use the term "institution" very loosely, for churches, hospitals, jails, and many other
things as institutions.
Social institutions are patterns of behaviour grouped about the central needs of human
beings in society. In all societies, the institution of family plays a central role. Social
institutions are therefore social patterns directing the ordered behaviour of human
beings in the performance of their basic activities. The continuity of institutional
practices is further assured by the development of rituals. The central aspects of
institutions are the functions they perform and the pattern, established to carry out the
functions. The claims of institutions upon the members are also known as loyalties. The
institutions of a society are connected in a close end interdependent pattern. Institutions
are connected through status and role of the members.
(3) Socialization
Sociologists often reserve the term "institution" to describe normative systems that
operate in five basic areas of life, which may be designated as the primary institutions.
Social institutions are patterns of behavior grouped about the central needs of human
beings in society.
Social institutions are therefore social patterns directing the ordered behavior of
rituals.
The central aspects of institutions are the functions they perform and the pattern,
Social institutions are the great conservers and transmitters of cultural heritage.
In shorthand form, or as concepts, these five basic institutions are called the family,
government, economy, education and religion. Institutions are the most important
agencies in the formation of personality. Social institutions are the great conservers and
transmitters of cultural heritage. Cultural heritage is thus transmitted through social
interaction.
TYPES OF SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS ANFD THEIR FUNCTIONS
The family unit is vital to the daily lives of most individuals in society. It contributes
significantly to the maintenance of society and transmission of any society’s culture to
its new generation.
There are several view points on the origin of the family. For Kathleen Gough, the family
emerged more than two million years ago. She traced family life of man to social and
physical lives of man’s closest relatives like apes and monkeys. The bible account
locates the origin of the family to God’s creation of Adam and Eve as first parents of
man. They lived in companionship and raised children in line with realities of the
definition of a family. On their part, evolutionary theorists argue that family and marriage
evolved through a lineal process that ran through promiscuity, group marriage,
polyandry up to the present stage of monogamy. However, Marxist perspective
championed by Marx and Engels (1972), original publication 1884) had a contrary view.
They contended that the family arose in response to the development of private
property and inheritance. In their opinion, private property and the desire of men to pass
on their belongings to their own children not only define the origin and persistence of the
family in society, but also fuels her critical role in the reproduction of the capitalist
system.
There are two major types of the family. The nuclear family, also called conjugal family
consists of an adult couple and their unmarried children living together. The other type
is the extended family in which relatives in addition to parents and their children live
together or close to one another. An extended family consists of several nuclear families
united by social ties of brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, children, wives, husbands,
parents and grandparents etc. The structure of the extended family enables it to fulfill
basic functions of the family better than her nuclear counterparts. For instance, the
presence of more adults facilitates effective child care and socialization (Egbue 2002).
Also, crises situations like death, divorce and illness involve less strain for family
members since there are more people who can provide assistance and emotional
support (Scheafer and Lamm, 1997). Presence of large number of family members in
the extended family arrangement might as in traditional agricultural societies boost
prosperity. This is because as it means more hands to work the farms and more
sources of economic support to members in difficult situation. Nonetheless, frequent
intra-family conflicts are often experienced in extended than nuclear families and this
could also be counterproductive.
d. Status Placement – One’s initial social identity and class position in society
is related to the family he or she was born into. Such ascribed status may
however not persist throughout life.
i. Physical Maintenance of the Young and the Aged – The family provide
care, nurture and protection of the young. It also bears substantial
responsibility of caring for aged members until their death.
The economic institution, often simply referred to as “the economy” is responsible for
the production, exchange, distribution and consumption of goods and services in
society. It could also be called economic system, a term which refers to the social
institution through which goods and services are produced, distributed and consumed in
society. The ultimate aim is the satisfaction of economic and bio-social needs of society
through rational use of limited resources available. Basic among the economic needs of
society are food, clothing and shelter.
The economic institution has strong link with other institutions of society. Its character
impact on social behaviour and influences the nature of other social institutions. Goods,
services and fund from the economic sector are indeed essential for survival of society
and its institutions. In recognition of the immense importance of economic institution,
Marx described it as the foundation or ‘infrastructure’ upon which other social
institutions which he collectively defined as ‘superstructures’ revolve. It is noteworthy
however, that the economic institution is in turn influenced by other social institutions.
There are a variety of forms which the economic institution or system have taken in
history across societies. Such diverse modes of economic organization practiced over
the years by different societies were influenced by several factors including the level of
technology at their disposal for tasks of production and distribution.
Among preindustrial societies, Egbue (2002) identified and discussed the following
economic systems which sequentially emerged among the people.
a. Hunting and Gathering Societies: These are the earliest form of economic
system. It was composed of small groups of people related to one another
who constantly migrate in search of food. They had minimal technology and
lacked division of labour. Also, there was little inequality in terms of material
goods. The basis for social differentiation was ascribed characteristics as
gender, age and family background.
b. Horticultural Societies: They were less nomadic and planted seeds and
crops with the aid of digging sticks and hoes. Technology remained limited.
This economic system which emerged more than 900 years ago achieved
some social surplus in food production to meet the needs of those not
engaged in agriculture. This development gave room for specialization in
other tasks within horticultural societies.
On the other hand, industrial societies according to Dushkin (1991) are societies that
rely chiefly on mechanization for production of their goods and services. This is in
contrast to post-industrial societies which are technologically advanced nations whose
economic system have shifted from manufacturing to service industries with processing
and control of information at centre stage. Industries may however be categorized as
primary, secondary or tertiary. At onset of industrialization in a society, production is
usually at primary industrial stage.
Irrespective of the economic system in place in a society, the expected functions could
be summarized as follows.
d. To strive and maintain smooth, synergistic link with other social institutions for
effective functioning of society.
The Political Institution
Man is a political animal; hence sociologists see politics, government or political system
as a cardinal feature of every society. Irrespective of their size, all social groups have
members with powers to control others and to entrench order in their domain. There
were forms of political organization even among stateless societies that cut-across kin-
group meetings, age-set command, gerontocracy, royal court, women groups etc. All
these constitute aspects of political systems.
A political system refer to a set of rules and some apparatus for keeping social order,
distributing power and allowing decisions to be made in a society. The ultimate aim of
the system is the achievement of set goals of the group.
The issues of ‘power’ and ‘authority’ are central to all political systems. While power is
the ability to manipulate others with or without their consent, authority is the formally
recognized right to exercise power (Rose, Glazer and Glazer, 1976).
Among traditional societies of Africa, two major types of political systems – centralized
and uncentralized models were distinguished. While centralized political system had
identifiable centralized authority, including administrative and judicial structures, the
uncentralized arrangements of hunting and gathering societies or some segmentary
lineage groups lacked them.
c. It protects lives and properties of members of the society from internal and
external threats.
d. It maintains relations on behalf of members of a society, with other social
groups for mutual benefit of the two groups.
Religion refers to the way people behave in seeking answers to the ultimate questions
posed in life. Durkheim (1947) sees it as a unified system of beliefs and practices
relative to sacred things. Religion is found throughout the world. It is characterized in
each case by unique set of elements, beliefs, practices, emotions, rituals and
organization.
All forms of religion whether Jewish, Christian, Moslem and traditional African type
provide explanations to why we exist, why we succeed or fail and why we die etc. They
also attend to sacred and profane (ordinary) issues, situations and events.
c. Religion defines the spiritual world and gives meaning to why man exists and
his ultimate fate thereafter.
f. Religion could also promote social change. This depends on which values,
norms and aspirations that are being propagated by religious groups. The
protestant ethics was identified by Weber (1956) to have propelled the spirit
capitalism.
Education is a formal process in which some people consciously teach while others
adopt the social role of learner (Scheafer and Lamm 1997). It can also be described as
the channel of transmitting new ideas, values, moral, skills, knowledge and norms
cherished by society. In this context, education has strong links with socialization.
Education is also viewed as a social institution because it comprises that segment of the
basic social structure which meets the educational needs of society (Igbo, 2003). This
suggests that educational institution contains within it a set of values, norms, sanctions,
procedures and beliefs which guide the functioning of the educational sector in society.
b. Formal education is a very useful instrument for social and indeed, national
integration. In plural societies like Nigeria, teaching of history, geography and
shared cultural beliefs could foster sense of oneness among her
heterogeneous peoples.
c. Education serves as a tool for manpower development and for screening and
selection of individuals for positions in society.
f. Educational institutions are the engine houses for innovation in society. They
develop new knowledge and skills that benefit society.
References:
Zerihun Doda, M.A. 2005, Introduction to Sociology Debub University