Philippine CulturePhilippine Culture

CULTURESet of shared attitudes, values,

goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or

organization

ETYMOLOGYThe etymology of the modern term "culture" has a classical origin. In

English, the word "culture" is based on a term used by Cicero in his Tusculan Disputations, where he wrote of a cultivation of the soul or "cultura animi", thereby using an agricultural metaphor to describe the development of a philosophical soul, which was understood teleologically as the one natural highest possible ideal for human development. Samuel Pufendorf took over this metaphor in a modern context, meaning something similar, but no longer assuming that philosophy is man's natural perfection. His use, and that of many writers after him "refers to all the ways in which human beings overcome their original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human".[4]

As described by Velkley:[4]

The term "culture," which originally meant the cultivation of the soul or mind, acquires most of its later modern meanings in the writings of the 18th-century German thinkers, who on various levels developing Rousseau's criticism of modern liberalism and Enlightenment. Thus a contrast between "culture" and "civilization" is usually implied in these authors, even when not expressed as such. Two primary meanings of culture emerge from this period: culture as the folk-spirit having a unique identity, and culture as cultivation of inwardness or free individuality. The first meaning is predominant in our current use of the term "culture," although the second still plays a large role in what we think culture should achieve, namely the full "expression" of the unique of "authentic" self.

COMPONENTS OF CULTURECulture varies from one another and it shares four major components, these are the communication, cognitive, material and behavioral aspects.Communication components include language and symbols. Through having a language, a group of people interact with one another, socially sharing their thoughts, feelings or ideas to the people with same language.

Language forms the core of all cultures throughout society. The symbols are considered as the backbone of symbolic interactions. A symbol might be considered as anything that holds a particular meaning and are recognized by the people that share the same culture. Different cultures have different symbols, it is cross-culturally and it might be change over a period of time.

Cognitive component - It includes Ideas, Knowledge and Belief, Values and Accounts.Ideas, Knowledge and Belief are basic units of knowledge construction. Ideas are considered as mental representation and are used to organize stimulus. When Ideas are link together it will organize into larger systems of information which will become knowledge.Knowledge now is considered as storage of information fact or assumption, and these knowledge can be passed down from one generation to another.Belief on the other hand assumes that propositions, statement, description of fact are true in nature. These acceptance were influenced by the external authorities such as government, religion, or science rather than proven true from the individual's direct experiences.Values serve as guidelines for social living. Culturally, it can be defined as the standards of desirability, goodness and beauty.Accounts are considered to be a way on how people use the language for their explanation, justification, or to rationalize, excuse, or legitimize a behavior towards themselves or to the others.

Behavioral components -Behavioral component is the major component of culture that is concerned about on how we act. It includes norms which further categorizes in Mores, Laws, Folkway, and Rituals.Norms are considered as rules and expectations eventually set by a particular society that serves as guides to the behavior of its members. It varies in the terms of the degrees of importance and might be change over a period of time. It is reinforced by sanctions in the forms or rewards and punishments. These are standards accepted by society culturally and serve as obligatory and expected behaviors of the people in different situations in life.Mores are kinds of norms that are considered to be as a customary behavior patterns which have taken from a moralistic value.Laws serve as the formal and important norms that translated into legal formalizations. Folkways are considered as behavioral patterns of a particular society that is repetitive and organize. Rituals on the other hand are those highly scripted ceremonies of interactions which follows a sequence of actions. Examples are baptism, holidays and more.

Material component -This includes materials or objects created by humans for practical use or for artistic reasons. These objects are called as “material culture”. Material components serve as an expression of an individual culture.

CHARACTERISTICS It is shared.

The culture is shared by the social interaction may take in many forms to transmit the beliefs, values and expectation of the human society. The exchange of social ideas may provide understanding and learning the human culture and tradition.

It is a group product.The group product is the by-product of culture is shared by the social activities of the society. The group products provide important knowledge and experiences about the racial and ethnic activities.

It is the result of life long social experience made by those living in certain communities that governed by the family of elders. They formed tribe with their own cultures and traditions that have been dependent in hunting, fishing, and agriculture. The culture and tradition are passed on to the succeeding generation by educating the children from all the social life activities of the tribe.

It is learned.The cultural transmission or enculturation is the best way to describe culture is learned. The people acquire information about the culture by many ways. This is done by learning the language and other form of educational information of the society.

It is Symbolic.The communication process uses symbols to identify the given actions, attitudes and behaviors of the people.

a) The use of language has varied types of symbols depending on its natural environment, exposure and education to groups or tribes, the social experience and influence.

b) The social experiences as a whole provides specific communicative symbols along arts, music, literature, history and other forms of societal actions.

c) The abstract knowledge is reinforce in the way they understand and learn the feelings, ideas and behaviors of certain group of people in the society.Culture is adaptiveThe cultural adaptation is the evolutionary process that modifies the social life of the people in the given natural environment.

Culture is compulsory.The human beings always consider the harmonious relationship with any of group cultures being grown for a period of time.

1 .The group members of the conformed with the ways of living within the bounds of beliefs, expectation, and norms.

2 .The behavioral conformity is expected to follow any violations within the norms have specific sanctions as to the provisions of law or even a given set of norms in the social context.

3 .The social interaction of man follows the collective activities with common goals including specific norms, traditions, and beliefs which is followed as a blue print of its distinct cultural existence in the society.

Culture is cumulative.The cumulative culture may be passed from one generation to the next generation. Those pertinent knowledge and culture are gradually built as it is useful to the society. However, the information that is no longer useful to the society may gradually phase out.Culture is dynamic.

There is continuous change of culture as new ways of life evolved by the changing conditions of the societal life. There are cultural practices that no longer useful today.

Culture is diverse.The culture is different from each other as we must consider the social experiences, traditions, norms, mores and other cultural ways in the community.