Culture

- is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and
behavior. ( Shcefer, 2007).
- It includes the ideas, values, and artifacts of groups of people.
- Way of life of a group of people.

Elements of Culture

1. Material culture
- Refers to the physical or technological aspects of our daily lives, including food, houses,
factories, raw materials.

2. Nonmaterial culture
-

Language

- Is an abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture.
- It includes speech, written characters, numerals, symbols, and non verbal gestures and
expressions.
- The foundation of every culture.
- May color how we see the world.
- Serves to shape the reality of a culture. According to Saphir and Worf, since people can
conceptualize the world only through language, language precedes thought.

* Phone
- Sounds ( a, e, i, o, u)
* Morph
- Two phones put together
* Syntax
- Morphs put together

Norms
- Are established standards of behavior maintained by society. These are rules that govern
human behavior and define what ought to do and not to do in a given situation.

Types of Norms
1. Formal Norms
- Norms that have been written down and specify strict punishments for violators.

2. Informal Norms
- Norms that are generally understood but not precisely recorded.

Types of Informal Norms

* Mores
- Are norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society. Though unwritten
but violations can lead to severe punishments.
Example: suttee/sati, FGM (Female Genital Mutilation)
* Folkways
- Are norms governing everyday behavior. Simple and habitual and violations are
with little concern.

Sanctions
- Are penalties and rewards for conduct concerning social norm.

Values
- Are the collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, and proper in
culture.
- They indicate what people in a given culture prefer as well as what they find important
and morally right.
- Influence people's behavior and serve as criteria or evaluating the actions of others.

Beliefs
- Are the ideas that people hold about the universe and the total reality surrounding
them.

Characteristics of Culture
* Culture is learned.
* Culture is shared/ transmitted from one generation to next or from one group and society
to another.
* Culture is dynamic and always changing.
* Culture is cumulative and evolving.
* Culture is diverse.

Process of Cultural Change and Expansion

1. Innovation
- the process of introducing an idea or object which are new to culture.
* Invention
- results when existing cultural items are combined into a form that did not exist before.
* Discovery
- involves making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality.
2. Diffusion
- a process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group and society to society.

Culture is like an iceberg

Visible (above the water)
- Behavior
Not Visible (below the water)
- Perceptions
- Attitudes
- Values
- Beliefs
Attitudes toward cultural variation

Ethnocentrism
- refers to the tendency to assume that one's culture and way of life represent the norm or
are superior to all others.

Xenocentrism
- refers to the tendency to assume that a foreign cultural element is superior compared to
his/her own culture.

Cultural Relativism
- views people from the perspective of their own culture. It places priority on understanding
other cultures, rather than dismissing them as "strange" or "exotic."

Aspects of Cultural Variation

Subculture
- is a segment of society that shares a distinctive patterns of mores, folkways, and values
that differs from the pattern of the larger society.

Counterculture
- a subculture that conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger
culture.

Culture Shock
- a feeling of frustration, uncertainty, and disorientation when immersed in an unfamiliar
culture.

Cultural Lag
- a period of maladjustment when the material culture is still struggling to adopt to a new
material conditions.

Cultural Universal
- a common practice or belief or belief found in every culture.