WHAT IS CULTURE?

Etymology

• From latin word “cultura” which means care, or

• “cultus” which means civilization

• Based on the long period of dependency of the human person; he has to be taken care of by people around him…the care and training provided to the individual accounts for the differences in culture.

Difference in culture…

• Clothing

• Mannerism

• Language

• Beliefs

• Taste for food

Culture according to Edward Taylor

“ culture…refers to that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”

To Robert Redfield…

“ an organized body of conventional understandings manifest in art and artifacts, which, persisting through tradition, characterizes a human group”

Other definitions/explanation:

• Culture may be thought of as a design for living…permitting people to live together in an organized manner.

• Culture is man’s social heritage transmitted from one generation to another through language.

• Culture is the total configuration of institutions that people in a given society share in common.

• Culture represents design for living; the interrelated network of norms and roles….

• Culture consists of patterns, explicit or implicit, of behavior acquired an transmitted by symbols…including their embodiment in artifacts…the essential core of culture being the traditional ideas and their attached values.

• The heart of culture is to be found in the invention and use of tools, that is in artifacts and other artificial, objective instruments. Foremost is the people’s ability to learn from the group to which they belong.

Types of Culture

• Material culture- physical object or artifacts; concrete tangible things man creates and uses.

• Non-material culture- is the meaning and substance inherent in culture; includes words people use, habits, ideas, customs, behavior…Laws, techniques, knowledge and lifestyle.

Components of Culture

•Norms- social norms which are guides or models of behavior that tells us what’s proper and not, appropriate and inappropriate, right or wrong. It regulates people’s behavior in a given society.

Forms of Norms

• Folkways-customary patterns of everyday life that specify what is socially correct and proper in everyday life.

Sumner: “folkways are a great mass of usages of all degrees of importance, covering all interests in life philosophy, forming character, and containing a life policy”

Folkways are repetitive petty acts…produces habit in an individual and customs in a group of people

Examples: shaking of hands, bathing frequently and regularly, not drinking liquor in church, etc.

• Mores- code of ethics and standards of morality in Society…standard for sex behavior, family relations, attitudes toward authority, religion and the unfortunate sector of society.

Violations results in strong disapproval and even severe punishment.

• Laws- norms enforced formally by a special political organization….

Example: constitution, declaration of Human Rights, traffic laws, civil laws….

• Values- represent the standard we use to evaluate the desirability of things. It defines what is good, right and moral.

Robin Williams major value orientation:

1. Achievement and success2. Activity and work

3. Moral Orientation4. Humanitarianism5. Efficiency and practicality

Filipino Values according to Fr. Jaime Bulatao:

1. Emotional closeness and security in the family2. Authority value3. Economic and social betterment4. Patience, suffering and endurance

• Language- system of symbols that have specific and arbitrary meaning in a given society.

• Fashions, fadz and crazes- short-lived social norms, i.e. styles of clothings, bags,shows, houses, cars, appliances….the prestige and status of a person depends on the use of these new styles.