UCSP NOTES:
on human
behaviour & social
All about Culture, Society
& Politics
groups. They are interrelated
and, to some extent, reflective
of each other.
DEFINITIONS:
Society – an organized group or
groups
of
interdependent
people who share a common
territory, language, and culture,
who act together for collective
survival and well – being.
Culture – “that complex whole
which include knowledge,
beliefs, arts, morals, laws and
any other capabilities and
habits which acquired by man
as a member of society.” It is
generally, defined as the sum of
individual’s way of life.
Politics – it refers to the
“theory, art, and practice of the
government”. This includes:
power relations & decision
making
Note: There can be no
without a society and
there are no known
societies that do not
culture.
culture
so far,
human
exhibit
Understanding
society,
culture and politics is essential
to broadening our knowledge
CULTURAL VARIATION:
1) Gender – is the sociallyconstructed characteristics of
being male or female. It is the
most limiting social label.
Sexual orientation - biological
orientation of being male or
female
Gender orientation - sociallyconstructed characteristics of
being male or female or the
femininity and masculinity of a
person
2) Socio-economic status –
refers to the category of people
who have more, less or the
same socioeconomic privileges
in society. The 3 classifications
are Lower class, Middle class
and Upper class.
Upper class 2 classifications:
• Traditional Rich > made up of
descendants of powerful elite
families who acquired wealth
through inheritance
• Nouveau Rich (new rich) >
families
with
humble
beginnings
and
often
experienced
rags-to-riches
fortune.
3) Ethnicity – it is the
expression of the set of cultural
ideas held by a distinct ethnic
or indigenous group.
4) Religion – it is an organized
system of ideas about the
spiritual
sphere
or
supernatural,
along
with
associated ceremonial and
ritualistic practices
5) Exceptionality – refers to the
state of being intellectually
gifted and/or having physically
or
mentally
challenged
conditions
concerning
personality,
behaviour,
communication, intellect and
physical appearance
6) Nationality – it is the legal
relationship that binds a
person and a country.
In Order for us to influence
society positively, we have to
broaden our perspectives by
learning the 3 major disciplines
in social sciences that study
culture, society and politics:
33Three
PERSPECTIVES/STUDIES:
1) Anthropology – study of
human species, its immediate
ancestors and their cultures.
We can LEARN suspending
judgement
THROUGH
appreciating
cultural
differences.
2) Sociology – It deals with the
scientific study of human
interactions, social groups and
institutions, and the human
world as such. We can LEARN
empathy
THROUGH
sociological imagination by
questioning
aspects
and
perspectives on society and
social conflicts.
3) Political Science – study of
governments
and
politics,
wherein the latter is defined as
the activity through which
people make, amend, and
preserve the general rules
under which they live. We can
UNDERSTAND
more
the
exercise and manifestation of
power THROUGH engaging
with social and political
problems
and
evaluating
different perspectives.
COMPONENTS
CULTURE:
OF
• Symbols – according to
sociologist Elizabeth Lawley
(1994),
Symbols
are
illustrations used to represent
a particular meaning of
something. (Ex. Ring, Hug, I
love you’s, etc.)
• Values – these are what shape
a society by suggesting what is
good & bad, beautiful & ugly
sought or avoided.
• Beliefs – are the means by
which people make sense of
their experiences, or ideals that
people hold to be true, factual,
and real. (Crapo 2001)
• Language – defined as the
system of symbols that
individuals
utilize
to
communicate, interact, and
share their views, thus, creating
an
understanding
among
individuals.
• Social Institutions – defined
as the organized system of
social relationships which
embodies certain common
values and procedures.
There
are
6
generally
recognized institutions namely;
Media,
Religion,
Family,
Education,
Economy
and
Government
• Norms – defined as rules or
expectations that are socially
enforced.
CLASSIFICATIONS:
a) Folkways – norms which
members of the society have
come to accept as the proper
way of dealing with their
everyday living and social
interaction. (RIGHT VS RUDE –
considered rude but there are
no consequences)
b) Mores – social norms that
are widely observed within a
particular society or culture.
Mores are a society’s most
important values. (RIGHT VS
WRONG – punishable, possible
punishment/s)
c) Laws – formalized mores
that are legislated, approved
and implemented in a society.
d) Conformity – defined as the
state of having internalized
norms as part of social
expectations (The act of
following or abiding by the
norms being practiced)
e) Deviance – despite the
tendency of social control to
enforce conformity, there are
forms of behaviour that are
distinctly set away from a
norm. (The act of NOT
following the norms being
practiced)
2 TYPES OF DEVIANCE:
• Formal – actions that violate
enacted laws such as robbery,
theft, graft, rape, and other
related
to
food
are
manifestations of deviance)
ASPECTS OF CULTURE:
1) Dynamic,
Adaptive:
Flexible
and
- Cultural behaviours allow
people to fit into and adapt to
their respective environments.
(Culture may change overtime)
2) Shared and Contested:
- This concept means that
various members of the society
or group commonly share
ideas, activities and artifacts.
3)
Learned
through
Socialization or Enculturation:
that are NOT acceptable to talk
- through the process of
socialization or enculturation, a
person eventually acquires the
prevailing attitudes and beliefs,
the forms of appropriate or
inappropriate behaviour into
which they are born, and the
behavioural
patterns
and
values of the society.
about or do. (Note: taboos
4) Patterned social Interaction:
forms of criminality.
• Informal – refers to violations
of social norms that are NOT
codified by law.
f) Taboos – defined as concepts
This may be viewed as:
• Inherent – the subject is
willing or volunteers to interact
• Emergent – the subject
interacts because of the
introduction of stimuli to
respond
5)
Integrated,
unstable:
at
7) Requires Language and
other forms of Communication:
- Language has been called “the
store house of culture.” It is the
primary means of cultural
transmission, the process by
which one generation passes
culture to the next.
times
For a society: ideas, activities,
and artifacts are not only
shared; their arrangement
more or less fit together and
interlocks to form a consistent
whole.
ETHNO,
XENO
AND
CULTURAL RELATIVISM:
6)
Transmitted
Enculturation
Socialization:
- Greek word “ethno” meaning
people, nation or cultural
grouping; Latin word “centric”
meaning center
through
and
- acquired through learning and
interacting with others, ideas
and activities are handed from
generation to generation.
Socialization – learned through
observing
Enculturation
–
through teaching
learned
• Ethnocentrism:
- Refers to the tendency of each
society to place its own
culture’s patterns at the center
of things; the view that one’s
group is SUPERIOR compared
to others.
- It is not always negative
because collectivism develops
cultural
pride
which
is
important in nation building.
Examples: White Supremacy,
Nazi Germany, when you think
of another culture’s traditional
food as gross, etc.
Cultural Imperialism: it is when
you are forced to follow a
culture. This leads to “culture
shock”
- Cultural relativism helps
mitigate
ethnocentrism
because it teaches mutual
respect across cultures since it
made one to appreciate the
beauty of cultural diversity.
However, this can be difficult to
practice.
• Xenocentrism:
- The belief that one’s culture is
inferior
to
another;
a
xenocentric usually has high
regard for other cultures.
Examples: Filipinos preferring
imported goods rather than
locally made ones, etc.
3) Cultural Relativism:
- The practice of viewing
another culture by its own
context rather than assessing it
based on the standards of one’s
Ucsp notes:
culture.
- There
arebiocultural
cultures. Especially
Human
and social evolution, human rights, etc.
pain inflicting ones, in some
parts of the globe which
• British Naturalist Charles
majority cannot understand
Darwin says in his book “On the
(Ex. Female mutilation in many
Origin of Species (1859)” all
African countries) but people
organisms have undergone
still come to accept/respect.
evolution or the process by
which beings developed from
earlier beings.
• He concluded that each specie
was not created at one time in a
fixed form,
•
In
Anthropology
and
Sociology, it is significant to
study evolution. Everything
that people have at present is a
product of millions of years’
drastic changes in Earth.
• As human beings gained more
knowledge about the universe,
they gradually altered the
world
to
patterns
that
benefitted them.
BIO-CULTURAL
EVOLUTION:
> This explains the physical
transformation of modern
humans from hominids into
thinking modern humans or
Homo sapiens sapiens
Cultural Evolution of Man:
1) Paleolithic Age (Old Stone
Age)
- Traditionally coincided with
the first evidence of tool
construction and used by Homo
some 2.5 million years ago.
- Their cultural developments
include the use of simple
pebble tool, learned to live in
caves, making paintings, and
discovered the use of fire.
2) Neolithic Age (New Stone
Age)
- Occurred sometime about
10,000 BC
- Their cultural developments
include; stone tools were
shaped
by
polishing
or
grinding,
Settlement
in
permanent
villages,
Dependence on domesticated
plants or animals, crafts
(pottery and weaving) and
food producing cultures.
(NOTE: stones are more
polished and advanced |
agriculture was discovered,
they were able to breed
animals and create huts)
• It is to the Homo habilis that
people owe their first relics of
tools.
Early Humans:
> are the humans during
prehistoric, Paleolithic and
Neolithic period.
• More sophisticated toolmaking
techniques
were
applied and they made tools
from volcanic stones.
• They used these tools for
hunting and gathering.
1) Hominids/Hominoids
• For humans, history started at
hominization, or evolutionary
development
of
human
characteristics
that
made
hominoids distinct from their
primate ancestors.
• Bipedalism – (of an animal)
using only two legs for walking
• They are the first to make and
use stone tools for survival.
(Ex. Sticks and stones for
digging)
2) Homo Habilis (The Handy
Man)
• They have smaller teeth
suggesting that they mostly ate
softer foods.
• Arms were long and they had
larger brains, they have the
height of about 3 to 4 feet and
their brain is half the size of the
modern human.
3) Homo Erectus (The Upright
Man or the Skilful Hunters)
• Their Brain size is about 2/3
of the modern human brain
size with the height of about 5ft
and walks upright.
• They are more intelligent and
more adaptable.
• They were the first humans to
build huts and turn the skin of
animals as rugs. They were also
able to make containers and
spears (herbivore/omnivore)
• This specie had the capacity
to manipulate his environment
in order to survive.
• They manifested cultural
evolution because they used
their intelligence to invent and
develop different technologies
to respond to their needs.
• Their achievements include
the invention of hand axes,
constructed
dwelling
and
discovered fire.
• They learned to stay in one
place unlike the Homo habilis
who had to move from one
place to another due to
weather conditions.
• They were the first to control
growth and breeding of some
plants and animals.
• They learned to settle in one
place. This act gave birth to
villages and towns.
•
Crafted
Speech/Language
metals
• They were the ones who
discovered agriculture and
learned how to farm and breed
animals. They also learned to
do permanent settlements
hence, gave birth to villages
and towns
4) Homo Neanderthalensis
• They are similar to Homo
erectus. They were found in
Africa and Asia. They were the
first to bury the dead and offer
animals.
• They learned to turn the
animal skin into clothes. They
also had beliefs, rituals, etc.
Homo Habilis & Homo ErectusPaleolithic Period
Homo
NeanderthalensisTransition from Paleo to neo
Homo sapiens
Period
-
Neolithic
THE DEVELOPMENT OF
SOCIETIES:
5) Homo Sapiens (The Wise
Man)
1) Hunting
Societies
• Their Bigger and more
complex brains led them to
gain more knowledge about
their surroundings.
• The oldest and most basic
way of economics subsistence
is hunting and gathering. They
lived in caves and underground
houses
and
Gathering
• They produced simple forms
of tools used for hunting and
gathering plants.
• For the pastoral societies,
their principal subsistence is
animal domestication.
• Scientists describe the
relationship of men and women
as being EQUAL.
• They were mostly located in
the dry regions where planting
crops was not possible.
• Since these societies rely on
nature, they frequently move
and do not have permanent
settlements.
• Problems: Inequalities due to
uneven power/elites
• Men were tasked to hunt
large animals like moose, deer,
and elk.
• Humans began to farm and
domesticate animals as their
form of subsistence
• Women were responsible for
collecting vegetables, berries,
fruits.
• They produced tools and
developed farming skills that
can support and sustain a town
with a thousand population.
2) Horticultural and Pastoral
Societies
• They produced and used
simple hand tools to plant
crops.
• They used hoes and digging
sticks for seed planting.
• They are described as semisedentary societies because
they do not frequently move as
opposed to hunting and
gathering
societies.
These
societies subsist through smallscale farming
3) Agricultural Societies
• Sheep, goats, pigs were the
first animals domesticated,
•
They
also
settled
permanently and improved the
technology in farming. Money
became a form of exchange
replacing barter system.
(Note: The difference between
horticultural and agricultural is
that agriculture has more
advanced tools)
4) Industrial Societies
•
Advanced
forms
of
technology were applied and
machineries were invented
•
This
transformed
the
agricultural society into a
production-manufacturingbased one.
• Problems: Poverty & Violence
5) Post-Industrial Societies
• Development of Information
technology and computers.
• Education as the basis of
social mobility
• Lesser inequalities but birth
of new social issues
• Every person can hold
various statuses at any point in
time
TYPES OF STATUS:
A. Ascribed Status
- These are given at birth or
assigned later in life. (Ex.
Gender, age, race, family,
membership)
B. Achieved
• Increase of population
- It is acquired wilfully and
consciously through effort,
talent,
decisions,
and
accomplishments. (Ex. Being an
honor
student,
club
membership,
educational
degree, career, even a thief)
What is society?
2) Roles
Society refers to people who
live in a defined territory and
share a way of life or culture
(Macionis, 2017).
> Roles are a part that
someone has in a particular
activity or situation. (Ex. A
person can be a daughter, a
student, and/or a vlogger)
• ICT and Education | Relied on
computers
• Birth of businesses through
selling etc.
Components of society:
1) Status
• Status is any position that an
individual can occupy in
society.
• Simply, a “position” in a social
system.
Note: However, there are times
when people find it difficult to
decide which of their different
statuses is the most important.
Thus, role conflict occurs.
3) Social Group
> It is a unit of people who
interact with some regularity
and identify themselves as a
unit.
A. Primary Group - This is a
small and intimate
and
members have direct access
and interaction with each
other. (Examples: family &
friends)
> It is a collection of people
interaction
together
in
an
orderly way on the basis of
shared expectations about one
another’s behaviour.
> A group is different from an
aggregate (an aggregate does
not interact and do not feel a
sense of belongingness)
HOW
SOCIETY
ORGANIZED:
IS
• Social Aggregates – a simple
collection of people who
happened to be together in a
particular place but do not
significantly interact with one
another. When the relationship
starts to go beyond mere “copresence” a GROUP starts to
emerge
TYPES OF GROUPS:
I. According to Influence
B. Secondary Group - This is
formed to perform a specific
purpose and members interact
to accomplish the goals of the
group. (Example: PT groups)
II According to Membership
A. In-group - It provides
members
a
sense
of
belongingness and loyalty
(Examples:
clubs,
small
community, basketball team)
B. Out-group - It is a group that
an individual is not a member
of and there is a sense of
antagonism towards the group.
(Example: Women’s basketball
team may have a sense of
antagonism towards the Men’s
basketball team because the
latter gets more funding.)
C. Reference Groups - They
provide a person with a set of
standards to check against and
to know if one is doing well or
needs improvement. (Example:
the school for new teachers)
4. Network - The entirety of
social
connections
an
individual takes part in for
whatever purpose.
ENCULTURATION &
SOCIALIZATION
• The “nature” viewpoint
explains the idea that humans
react to what their instincts tell
them.
• The so-called “nature”
viewpoint became less popular
during the 20th century as more
psychologists tried to reason
out that human behaviour is
closely attributed to learning.
Socialization:
> Is a form of interaction by
which
people
acquire
personality and learn the way
of life (culture) of their society
> Socialization allows the
individual to learn the norms,
values, language, skills, beliefs,
and other patterns of thought
and action hat are essential for
social living
What are the processes of
Socialization?
1. Enculturation
> It is the process by which
individuals learn their group’s
culture through experiences,
observation, and instruction.
> Occurs when cultural
knowledge is passed on to the
next bearer who will ensure the
continuance of their tradition
and practices.
> (Ex. an Ifugao child learns
how to plant rice by becoming
an apprentice to his father, a
skilled farmer.)
2. Acculturation- it is the
process of exchange of values
and customs from one group to
another. The groups remain
distinct even though the two
groups
exchange
cultural
features.
3. Assimilation- it is the process
of cultural absorption of a
minority group into a main
cultural body, leading to the
disappearance of the culture of
minority group.
Overall, enculturation
socialization result to:
and
a) Identity formation:
> It is the development of an
individual’s
distinct
personality. An individual’s
identity is formed through
his/her interaction with other
people.
goals and outcomes. This is the
criteria on which people base
their judgements regarding
behaviours and decisions.
Personality vs Identity
> They are created and shaped
in the community through time.
It does not happen overnight.
Personality – characteristics of
a person that distinguish
him/her from the others
> The acceptable and widely
practiced values are called
Identity – the fact that who or
what a person or a thing is (ex:
appearance, expressions, etc.)
(NOTE:
Personality
is
determined by both nature and
nurture)
b) Norms:
> Are fundamental to the
establishment of social order in
any society.
> Through the practice of such
norms,
an
order
was
established – an order which
allows those who created the
norms to benefit from the
resulting status quo.
In the Philippines, there are
two most popular norms are;
Norms of Appropriateness and
Norms of Tact and Courtesy
c) Values:
> Values are standards people
use to determine desirable
conventions.
NOTE: The two most important
values that Filipino possess:
Value of Industry and Utang Na
Loob
DEVIANCE
CONFORMITY:
AND
• Conformity - refers to the
obedience to norms that makes
a person acceptable to a
particular group, society, or
setting. It is acceptance to
cultural
goals
and
the
legitimate/ approved ways and
means of achieving them.
• Deviance
> It is the violation or defiance
of social norms to breaking of
conventions and realms of
morality. It centers on the
violation of the mores. Since
deviance is basically socially
constructed
and
only
determined by members of
society, there is no existing list
of universal deviant behavior
across
cultures.
The
commitment of crimes is one of
the most common deviance.
> Sociologists view deviance as
rooted in society and very
evident in three ways:
1) It exists in relation to
cultural norms
2) People become deviant as
others define them that way.
3) Both norms and the way
events are defined are related
to patterns on social power.
MECHANISMS TO SOCIAL
CONTROL:
• Social Control - attempts by
society to regulate people’s
thoughts and behaviors.
1. Labelling Theory
This theory tells us how
members of society label
others, whether they are
deviant or not. When people
defy or do not conform to social
norms, people label others as
deviant.
2. Gossip
This practice is often seen in
small-scale communities where
people know each other
personally. Society reinforces
what norms should be followed
and punishes the deviants by
putting them to shame.
3. Laws
Laws are formal codes of
conduct that are met with
negative
sanctions
when
violated. By providing clear
definitions of relationships
among individuals, including
expectations on how people
should behave in particular
contexts, Laws serve as guides
to the daily lives of members of
society
STRAIN THEORY:
• This was advanced by
sociologist Robert Merton who
claimed that the operation of
society actually encourages
crime and other types of
deviance.
• This theory states that
deviant behaviour occurs when
people experience strain or
tension when culture imposes
goals that individuals should
achieve,
but
the
social
environment makes it hard or
challenging for individuals to
meet such goals.
• Merton’s Theory was further
expanded by the study of
Richard Cloward and Lloyd
Ohlin.
• They pointed out that the
criminal type of deviance can
result not only from the lack of
culturally approved means to
achieve success but also from
the
availability
of
unconventional means to do so.
55 DIFFERENT WAYS THE
SOCIETY REACT TO STRAINS:
1) Conformity – individuals still
accepts cultural goals and tries
to achieve them through
culturally approved methods.
This type is called the hopeful
poor.
2) Innovation – people still
accepts cultural goals but go
about in achieving it in a
culturally disapproved way.
This type is called the surviving
poor.
3) Ritualism – individuals still
live in society and follow its
culturally approved ways, but
they no longer try to achieve its
cultural goals. This type is
called the passive poor.
4) Retreat – individual’s no
longer desire to achieve
cultural goals and have
abandoned
the
culturally
approved ways of achieving
goals. This type
retreating poor.
is
called
5) Rebellion – individuals
challenge existing culturally
accepted goals by coming up
with new ones. They also
follow decent and legal means.
This type is called the resisting
poor
HUMAN RIGHTS:
• According to Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
human rights refer to norms
that aim to protect people from
political, legal, and social
abuses.
• Human rights as universal
inalienable,
interdependent
and indivisible, and equal and
non-discriminatory.
In the pursuit of understanding
Human Dignity, Rights and the
Common Good, three main
ideas are offered from the
perspective of international
law:
1) Inherent – refers to human
dignity which is involved in the
constitution
or
essential
character of something
2) Intrinsic – it is accompanied
by the word human; it
expresses the idea that dignity
cannot be separated from the
human condition.
3) Permanent – means our
human rights do not change
• The commission on Human
Rights of the Philippines was
created in 1987 through E.0 N0.
163
• It is an independent national
human rights institution that
ensures that the human rights
of individuals, especially the
marginalized are protected